A Dangerous Masquerade (27 page)

             
She struggled feebly, trying to push her attacker off and screaming.  Her peril made her shrug off the feeling of weakness and she  bucked and arched beneath his weight, clawing at his face with her nails and trying to throw him off.  Screaming again and again, she fought as hard as she could but she knew he was too strong for her. In the end he would overcome her resistance.

             
All of a sudden she heard voices and there was light from a lantern hanging from a cart.  Two figures loomed out of the darkness and the man attacking her was hauled off of her and sent flying.  Dimly aware of a fight and angry voices, Constance tried to gather her senses.  She had to get up and run away before someone else grabbed her, but even as she reached her feet her head whirled and she fainted, but this time, though she wasn’t immediately aware of it, someone caught her.

‘How ill is she, Doctor Morgan?  Will she recover?’ Moraven looked at the physician as he finished his examination.  ‘She fainted and she hasn’t come to herself since.  What did that devil do to her?’

             
‘Very little, I imagine.  She has a few bruises and scratches but she wasn’t violated, as far as I can tell.  I think her fever has more to do with the sodden condition of her clothes – and, by the look of her, she hasn’t eaten in a while.’

             
‘I think she didn’t have very much money,’ Moraven said and cursed.  ‘She has been ill-treated by people who should have known better, sir.  If anything happens to her I swear I’ll bring them to justice if it’s the last thing I do.’

             
‘She has a fever and we must take good care of her until it abates, sir – then she will need rest and good food for a while. Are you able and willing to provide that, my lord?’

             
‘That and more – anything she needs.  Please visit her every day, sir.  I want her to have the best treatment available.’

             
‘Then I shall send my daughter to nurse her,’ the doctor said.  ‘Jane will do the things that need to be done for her.  If she is a lady she needs more than the rough services of the innkeeper’s wife, who has enough to do with looking after her customers.’

             
‘I thank you for your kindness,’ Moraven said an oddly humble note in his voice.  ‘I am happy to pay for your daughter’s services.’

             
‘ I doubt Jane will take anything from you,’ he replied with a smile.  ‘But you shall have my bill when our patient is better.’

             
‘Thank you – and thank you for coming out on such a night.’

             
‘I am dry enough in my carriage and I have other patients to see.  If she wakes give her some of the mixture I’ve left for you – and I shall call again in the morning about eleven.’

             
Moraven nodded, leaving the doctor to find his own way from the inn.  He was not sure when the doctor’s daughter would arrive to nurse Constance, but in the meantime he had no intention of leaving her to the none too clean attentions of the innkeeper’s wife.  He would sit with her for as long as she needed him and attend to her wants himself.

             
Sitting on the edge of the bed, he stroked her hair back from her forehead.  She’d been very cold until they took her wet things off and wrapped her in blankets.  As yet she had no nightrobe, but Moraven would send to the market and buy something plain and sensible.  Jim was an amenable man and if he had no time to go himself, he would undoubtedly have another relative who would know just where to purchase what was needed for her comfort.

             
‘You have to get better, Constance,’ he said and bent to kiss her softly on the lips.  ‘I love you.  Truly, I love you.  You may not believe it.  I can hardly believe it myself, but it’s true.  I can be a better man than I am – at least I’m willing to try if you’ll have me.’

             
A wry smile touched his sensual mouth.  It was easy to say these things when he knew she couldn’t hear him, but would he find it as easy when she came to herself?  If she did – but she had to, because her death would send him back to the dark places he’d frequented in his mind before he found her.

             
‘I haven’t been a good man, my love – but if you can care for me I’ll try not to relapse into the bad ways, for your sake.’

             
A lump rose to his throat as she made a moaning sound and he touched her forehead, finding it hot and damp.  She was so ill and he wasn’t sure what to do for the best.  Should he bathe her in cool water – of should he keep her wrapped in blankets?

             
‘You mustn’t die,’ he said fiercely.  ‘I won’t let you die, do you hear me, Constance.  I won’t let you die.’

             
‘I doubt if she can hear you, sir,’ a voice said behind him and he turned to see a rather plain young woman dressed in grey.  ‘I think perhaps she needs to be sponged down to cool her – and that’s something best left to me, wouldn’t you say?’

             
Moraven hesitated.  She was suggesting he leave the room.  He wanted to refuse, but in his heart he knew Constance would prefer to be nursed by this young woman.

             
‘You will take care of her – and send for me if…’

             
‘I shall send for you when she is comfortable.  There is no reason why you shouldn’t sit with her for part of the night, sir, if it is your wish – but I can take care of her better if we are private.’  She smiled at him.  ‘I am used to nursing my father’s patients.  It is my vocation in life.’

             
‘Yes, thank you.  I am a fool.  She is precious to me.’

             
‘Every life is precious, sir.  We shall all take great care of her and with God’s help she will recover.’

             
Moraven inclined his head and walked from the room.  For a long time he had shut out any beliefs he might once have had about a benign God.  It had begun with his mother’s desertion when he was a child, continued when he lost the young woman who had promised to wed him to a virulent illness – and become entirely lost when his friends turned against him.  His years of secret work had shown him the evil that was in the world.  Could he believe in a divine force for good?

             
No one had meant as much to him as Constance.  Not his fiancée, not his friends not even his mother who had cheated on his father and deserted him.

             
‘If there is a God then I’m asking…’ he said in a choked voice.  ‘No, I’m praying.  God damn it, I’m begging.  Please don’t let her die.’

‘You may return now, sir,’ Moraven turned from his contemplation of his brandy glance as the young woman entered the private parlour where he’d taken a belated supper.  ‘She is sleeping but she responded to the cool bathing and I managed to give her some of my father’s medicine when she was lucid for a moment.  We must hope that the fever has broken, but it may come again later.  Perhaps if we take it in turns to watch we may both rest for a while.’

             
‘I’ll go up to her now.  Please go home and rest for a few hours, ma’am.’

             
‘I am Jane West, sir.  I live close by.  I will see to my husband and children and then return and sit with her until morning.’

             
‘Thank you.  I am grateful to both your father and you, Mistress West.’

             
Jane smiled and nodded and went out, pulling her cloak about her.  Outside the wind was whistling and it had begun to rain again.  Moraven shuddered to think what would have happened to Constance if he and Jim hadn’t arrived just as that brute was attacking her.  If he hadn’t actually killed her, she would almost certainly have died in the night.

             
He walked up to her bedchamber and went in.  A candle had been left burning on a chest on the far wall.  Its light was dim but sufficient for him to see that Constance was more peaceful than she had been.  He carried the wooden armchair closer to the bed and sat down so that he could watch her.  She looked as if she were sleeping, though as he watched her face creased with pain and she cried out.

             
‘Papa…’ she moaned.  ‘Please don’t go tonight…don’t leave me to gamble…’

             
‘I’m here,’ Moraven said.  ‘It will be all right, Constance.  Everything will be all right…’

             
‘No, it won’t…papa is dead…Madeline is missing.  I have to help the children…that man will hurt them.  Papa…please don’t leave me again…’

             
He stroked her forehead.  ‘You won’t be alone again, Constance.  I promise I shan’t desert you again.  I’ll look after you.  You mustn’t be afraid.’

             
‘Moraven…’ Constance moved restlessly.  ‘Moraven…’

             
For a moment he thought she had woken and knew him, but then he saw that she was still dreaming, tears trickling down her cheeks.

             
‘It’s all right, my love.  I’m here.  I’m with you.’

             
‘He’s gone…’ Constance turned her head from side to side on the pillow, as if in distress.  ‘He’s gone…I don’t know…I don’t know…’  She gave a little sob.  ‘Love him…love him…Jonathan…’

             
Moraven stiffened as the pain shot through him.  Was she crying for him or her lost husband?

             
She had cared for him, Moraven, but he’d abandoned her.  She had devoted herself to nursing Lord South until he died and then she’d brought hi body home to his family.  Had she fallen in love with the young man during the time she was his nurse?  It would be the first time it had happened, but the idea was so painful that he hardly knew how to bear it.

             
He fought his feelings of despair and reached out to touch her cheek.  She was beautiful and he loved her.  Even if she had feelings for the man she’d been married to such a short time it didn’t matter.  He couldn’t abandon her – but he wouldn’t force her to choose.   She had to get better before she made her decision.

             
Moraven’s jaw firmed.  He would make certain that Summerton gave her what belonged to her.  She must know that she wasn’t reliant on his generosity.  If she still cared for him, wanted to be with him, it would be all he could ask of life, but he was ready to stand aside.  He would be there for her in the background, and he would make certain she was financially independent, but she must choose.

             
A wry smile touched his mouth.  Always before he’d taken what he wanted without concerning himself about whether it was right or wrong but Constance’s happiness was everything to him.  He loved her but if all he could be to her was a friend, then so be it.

             
He leaned back against the curved back of his chair, stretching out his long legs and closing his eyes.

             
‘Water…please could I have water…’

             
His eyes opened and he stared at the bed.  Constance was awake but he wasn’t sure if she knew him.  He went to the wash stand in the corner of the room and poured water from a jug into a glass, bringing it to her.  She looked up at him, frowning as if trying to place him.

             
‘Don’t worry,’ he said and bent over her. Placing an arm beneath her shoulders to support her as he held the glass to her lips.  ‘Just a few sips.  A little at a time.’

             
She took three sips and then closed her eyes.  He let her sink back against the covers and turned to put the glass down.  A hand touched his arm.

             
‘Moraven…is it you?  I thought…but it wasn’t and that man…’ she gave a cry of alarm.  ‘He tried…he tried…’

             
‘He didn’t manage it, Constance.  We found you just in time.’

             
‘Have you been searching for me?’

             
‘Yes.  Since I returned to France and found the house for sale.’

             
‘Madeline returned.’

             
‘Yes, Sister Helene told me.  I spoke to Summerton in London.  He was doubtful at first but he has agreed to give you Jonathan’s own money.’

             
‘Did you force him?’

             
‘No, of course not.  What makes you think I would do that?’

             
‘Because I know you…’ She sighed.  ‘I feel so ill.  My throat hurts and my head is spinning.’

             
‘Do not try to talk or sit up suddenly.  You should sleep.’