The Rakehell Regency Romance Collection Volume 2(131)

"Then there are a pair of brothers next to them, the Teagues. The large clan near them are the Lynches. A pleasant enough family, even if the vicar shakes his head because they're Catholics. Honestly, how can you censure someone because they follow the dictates of their conscience? Not permit them to own property, vote…"



"Oh, please, darling, not Catholic Emancipation right now. At least wait until coffee. You know how it agitates your digestion."



"Aye, wife, that it most certainly does. It makes me sick to my stomach."



Clifford laughed. "Spoken like a true Rakehell. But I agree with Charlotte. One problem at a time, and no sense in getting agitated. It's going to take a campaign just as long, if not longer, than the tireless anti-slavery one which Wilberforce waged, to win this point in the Commons. Most Protestants, even moderate Anglicans, actually believe them to have tails."



"Damned lot of superstitious nonsense," the Duke scoffed.



Vanessa smiled. "True, but you have to admit, this is a most mysterious country, full of superstitions and bizarre monuments like those things they call dolmen. You know, the big triangular slabs said to signal the resting places of the ancient ones, the druids."



"With their flat slabs on top, they look like sacrificial altars."



They all agreed with Thomas, but Vanessa said, "They could be both. Who knows? It's said that a powerful group of druids once lived along this coast, in particular a husband and wife with remarkable powers, and her brother. They were supposed to have lived in a magical cave here at Ardmore, and a ruined old fortress up on the hill. Together they fought to hold back the tide of the Norman invasion being launched from Wales."



At the mention of a cave, Elizabeth started and shivered. Was it possible that she had stumbled upon a magical cave? The ghost of the former druid who had lived there?



She shook her head. It was ridiculous to be so fanciful. Her enigmatic lover had been real, warm, vibrant and alive. Very much alive, she thought with a blush.



She tried to concentrate on what her brother was saying.



"That sounds like Vevina and Stewart, and her brother Wilfred. Clancar Castle dates from the fourteenth century and is said to have all sorts of old dungeons and secret rooms. Will's house is a sixteenth-century ruin reputed to be situated on the remains of a much older house. Not that it was any fault of his that it was allowed to fall into disrepair. It was something to do with Stewart's brother Samuel, apparently, looking high and low for something. He sacked the place, apparently. He was always a rival of the Joyces.



"Their being away fighting to protect England from invasion for the past few years is just like the druids you were mentioning."



"What do you think they were looking for?" Elizabeth asked when she trusted herself to speak again.



Thomas sighed. "The Fitzgerald name has been linked with treasure for many years. Something to do with the exodus of many of the leading families from this area when the English began to clean out the good Catholic families who refused to conform to Protestantism. That period was known as the Flight of the Wild Geese. So maybe treasure? Who knows?



"All I know is Vevina and Will fled for their lives, and joined the army, Vevina disguised as a boy. She met Stewart, they fell in love, and eventually married. They've been in the Peninsula ever since."



Charlotte looked from one to the other to see that they were all finished with their meals, and rose from her chair. "You'll find out all about them tomorrow. Right now I fancy some music, and then off to bed. To sleep," she added in an undertone to her fond husband, who had already slipped one arm around her waist with an enthusiastic grin.



Normally their light banter would not have bothered her, but she looked away and her cheeks flamed.



Thomas and Charlotte were oblivious, but Vanessa saw her look of consternation. Under cover of asking her to turn the pages for her at the pianoforte, she took the girl to one side.



"I'm sorry that we all seem to do nothing but embarrass you these days with our too-heated demonstrations of regard for one another."



"It's not that. I mean, it's a bit odd, but delightful that you're not all so stiff and formal like most of the people in London and Bath. I just can't help wonder, well, if I'm normal," she confided in a whisper. "The thought of having a real beau, a, a lover, is so distressing and yet so thrilling sometimes that I really don't know what to think. I mean, what happened to Jane…"



"Is not going to happen to you. Do you understand?" Vanessa said firmly. "Your sister was foolish and let her head be turned by a suave manner and lying words. Even Charlotte was almost taken in by him, for Heaven's sake, and she was brought up in a lot more of a worldly way than the two of you ever were."