Kingdom's Dream (27 page)

His nearness was driving her mad and she wanted to hit him for the pain he'd caused her. ‘We've been through all this,' she said quietly. ‘You were living with Rhiannon, she was like a wife to you, and you kept that from me.'

‘Because I knew you would be shocked and hurt. I wanted you to get to know me and thought then you might understand my reasons for taking her in.'

‘But you and she were . . . Well, she wasn't just a housekeeper to you, was she?'

‘No, she wasn't – but I'm an ordinary man, Katie, I need a little love and comfort after a day on the line, working my body almost to breaking point. I'm no plaster saint and I can't apologize for what I did before I met you.'

He had a point. ‘Bull, just give me a little time, and then perhaps we can try again.'

Bull's face lit up. ‘Do you mean that, Katie?'

‘Yes, I suppose I do.'

The door from below stairs opened and Rhiannon rushed out. ‘Oh, Bull, I knew it was your voice I heard. Have you come to fetch me? Is that why you're here?' She clung to him tightly.

Bull looked from Rhiannon to Katie, his colour rising. ‘What are you doing here, Rhiannon?'

‘Katie helped me get a job in service – so you see I've changed now, Bull, I'm respectable.'

‘I'm sorry, Rhiannon.' Bull disengaged himself from her embrace. ‘I meant what I said. You have no place in my life now, I'm sorry.'

Rhiannon fell back, then turned on Katie. ‘See what you've done? You've set him against me. I'll never forgive you for this, Katie Cullen.' She retreated towards the kitchen.

Before Katie could speak she heard the master call, ‘Katie, if that is my visitor send him in at once.'

‘I'll speak to you later, Katie,' Bull said, as he went towards the library. ‘We can talk properly then.'

As the door closed behind the two men Katie sat on the stairs, still clutching the duster, and asked herself why life was so complicated. Her heart was telling her to listen to Bull, to forgive him, but her head was telling her she could not trust him.

She wanted to cry but instead she rubbed her cloth into the tin of beeswax and began, very carefully, to polish the banister.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Llinos looked at the letter again. At last Joe was coming home to her. Lloyd was staying with ‘his people': he had chosen a bride from the tribe of Mandan Indians and he was remaining with her on the plains of America. Llinos sank into a chair. Now that the damage was done and their son had been coerced into living like a savage, Joe was coming back to her.

‘You fool, Joe!' Llinos said to herself. She'd had plans for Lloyd, plans that had involved him marrying well, living a gentleman's life in Swansea, giving her grandchildren. ‘Joe, how could you do this to me?'

Eventually, she folded the letter and put it into a drawer. It was pointless to write a reply because Joe would be half-way across the Atlantic by the time it arrived in America. As for Lloyd, he no longer seemed to care about her: there was not even a personal note from him in Joe's letter. It seemed that her elder son had shaken the dust of Swansea from his feet for good.

Llinos smoothed down her hair. She was meeting Eynon in town and she didn't want him to see that she was upset. Eynon, her dear friend, he was always honest with her, would never betray her. Llinos sighed. She guessed that her meeting with him this afternoon had something to do with Jayne: Eynon always consulted her when he was uneasy about his daughter.

It was a fine warm day and as her carriage drew up outside the Mackworth Hotel tea-rooms Llinos told herself she would enjoy her afternoon with Eynon. She would forget her woes and laugh with him as she used to.

He was there before her, waiting in the plush lounge with a glass of brandy at his side and a cigar in his hand. He rose to greet her with a smile of pleasure. ‘Llinos, how good to see you.' He took her gloved hands and kissed her wrists. ‘As beautiful as ever.'

His hair was perhaps a paler shade of gold now, touched with white, and his face bore the marks of time, but his eyes were as bright as they always had been.

‘Will you have wine, Llinos, or tea perhaps?'

‘Tea, please. Let's take it in the conservatory – this sunshine is too good to miss.'

The waiter led the way, carrying Eynon's glass on a silver tray as if it were a priceless treasure. The respect he was accorded by the people of Swansea meant that Eynon was treated with great courtesy wherever he went.

The sun-splashed conservatory was a pleasure to behold, with plants and inviting soft sofas. Llinos felt almost content. Here with Eynon there was no need for polite conversation: they were at ease with each other, a mark of their lasting friendship.

‘Any news of Joe?' Eynon had seated himself opposite her, and as their eyes met, Llinos's resolve not to talk about her problems evaporated.

‘Funny you should ask,' she said dryly. ‘I had a letter this morning.'

‘Not good news, then.'

‘It seems that my son has found an American Indian wife and intends to settle there with her.'

Eynon took her hand. ‘I can see you're upset, Llinos, but Lloyd is a man and must make his own way in the world.'

Llinos smiled briefly. ‘You sound like Joe.'

‘Perhaps I've learned to be more philosophical about things now that I'm an old man.'

‘Stuff and nonsense, you'll never be an old man! If I admit you're old I'll have to be old myself and I can't allow that, can I?'

The waiter brought the tray of tea and set it on the table: the fine bone china was almost translucent in the sunlight. ‘Why can't life always be so pleasant, Eynon?'

‘Because the people around us complicate it,' Eynon replied. ‘You and I should abandon our families and run away together, live on some sunny island off the Spanish coast.'

‘That sounds wonderful.'

‘But it's an impossible dream, isn't it, Llinos? You have your family and I have mine, and they go on needing us. At least Sion is too young to be a trouble yet.'

‘He's a joy.' She drank some tea, and looked at Eynon over the rim of her cup. ‘But you want to talk to me about Jayne, don't you?'

‘You're a witch, girl! How do you always know what I'm thinking?'

‘Feminine intuition.'

‘Well, I
am
worried about Jayne, it's true, but that's not the only reason I want to see you, Llinos. I just love being with you.'

Llinos hid a sigh. ‘What's wrong with Jayne?'

‘The poor child is unhappy, and I don't know what to do about it.'

‘Has she talked to you?' Llinos was determined not to give anything away. If Jayne chose to discuss her marriage with her father that was her business, but Eynon would hear nothing about it from Llinos's lips.

‘No, but she and Buchan hardly speak to each other. The atmosphere between them is so strained it's almost impossible to have a decent conversation with them.'

‘Have you any idea why?' Llinos tried to hide her discomfort.

‘I think something is seriously wrong but I don't know what it is. Do you, Llinos?'

‘Would Jayne tell me about her marital problems?' She was not being honest with him but it was not her place to tell him the truth about his son-in-law.

‘Jayne has bought a substantial amount of railway shares and Dafydd is angry about it,' Eynon said. ‘I think that's what started the downward slide.'

‘Why should Dafydd worry about the shares?' Llinos said. ‘After all, they both have more money than they will ever need.'

Eynon smiled wryly. ‘It's not about the money, though, is it, Llinos? It's about power, about Jayne doing what Buchan could not in buying into the Great Western Railway.' He smiled proudly. ‘She was one step ahead of him there.'

‘Jayne is an astute young lady.' Llinos poured more tea and tried to be calm. If Eynon knew what had really gone wrong in his daughter's marriage he would take a horse-whip to Dafydd as sure as night followed day. ‘Dafydd is a man and Jayne will always outwit him.'

‘You're very sure of female superiority. And they say man has the better mind.'

Llinos smiled. ‘Ah, but it was a man who said that.'

Eynon lifted his hands in defeat. ‘I give in. I can't win an argument with you or with my daughter.'

‘And that proves my point. But if you want my advice, just keep away from Jayne's marriage.'

‘Can I do that, though, Llinos?'

‘You
have
to, or you'll be in the wrong whatever you do or say. Just lend a sympathetic ear and say as little as possible. Haven't you learned yet that a parent's place is to be in the wrong? Jayne will sort out her own problems – she's a capable young woman.'

‘I suppose you're right. Now, let's forget Jayne and talk about other things,' he made a wry face, ‘because whenever I think of Buchan I have the strongest urge to kill him.'

Llinos had not realized Eynon's feelings went so deep. She steered the conversation into safer channels and they talked about their childhood, and Llinos's latest dragon patterns.

‘This is pleasant, Eynon,' Llinos said. ‘Remembering the past is so peaceful.'

‘We're good for each other, Llinos,' Eynon said. ‘You and I are like a pair of gloves – meant to be together.'

‘Go on with you!' Llinos said. ‘You're a sentimental old fool.'

‘I thought you told me I wasn't old.' When Eynon laughed his whole face lit up and Llinos saw, as she often had, what an attractive man he was. It was a pity she had not fallen in love with him. How uncomplicated her life might have been if she had.

Eynon touched her hand. ‘You're still a beautiful woman, Llinos – fine eyes, hardly a touch of grey in your hair and a figure most young girls would envy.'

‘Flatterer! But I confess I was thinking much the same of you. I think you grow more handsome as the years go on.'

‘You see? A matched pair as I said.'

The door to the conservatory swung open and Llinos saw Dafydd Buchan walking towards her. By the look on his face he was not happy. He came across the room with measured steps and Llinos knew that something was very wrong.

Without asking, he sat down and faced Eynon. ‘I've spent all morning looking for you,' he said abruptly. ‘You have to talk sense into your daughter. She's a stubborn, foolish woman.'

Eynon bristled. ‘How dare you come in here and interrupt us without so much as a by-your-leave?'

Dafydd ignored him. ‘Many a husband would take a stick to her for the way she's behaving,' he grated.

‘I would not advise you to do anything of the sort.' Eynon's voice was filled with loathing. ‘If you lay a hand on my daughter I will thrash you myself.'

‘You don't understand,' Dafydd persisted, still not looking at Llinos. ‘She refuses to do her marital duty by me.'

As his words sank in Eynon smiled. ‘Is that all? I thought she had at least taken a lover or two. Good heavens, man, haven't you learned the art of seduction yet?'

Llinos tried to defuse the situation. ‘Dafydd, please lower your voice,' she said, ‘or do you want the whole of Swansea discussing your grievances?'

He looked at her then, his eyes cold. ‘This has nothing to do with you. It must be sorted out man to man.'

Llinos was appalled. She had never thought Dafydd considered women inferior to men but now he was telling her to keep her place. She picked up her bag and gloves. ‘Perhaps I should leave you two
gentlemen
to get on with it, then.'

‘No!' Eynon said. ‘Please, Llinos, stay. I won't have this – this blackguard drive you away. I'll take you home when I'm ready.'

He turned to look at Dafydd. ‘So my daughter does not wish to share your bed.'

‘That is so. How am I to get children if my wife will not obey me? Tell me that.'

‘I'm afraid I've no advice to offer on that score.' Eynon grinned. ‘I was never in such a position.'

‘I'm not lacking in manhood, as Llinos will confirm.' He did not look at her but Llinos was outraged. Humiliated and angry, she wished she was anywhere but in the sunny conservatory of the Mackworth Hotel being insulted.

‘I must go.' She got up, almost tripping in her haste.

Just then Jayne came into the conservatory, serene, in control of herself. As always, she looked elegant, hair shining and curled, her clothes freshly pressed. She crossed the floor and stood beside her husband.

‘So, Father, are you going to tell me to do my duty and be a good wife?' She sounded amused rather than angry. ‘If so, you will be wasting your breath.'

‘Sit down, Jayne, and you too, Llinos. People are staring,' Eynon said. ‘Come, let's talk this over like civilized people.' He was still angry, but for the sake of appearances he was doing his best.

Reluctantly Llinos took her seat again. She knew Jayne's iron will, and the girl looked very sure of herself.

‘Jayne,' Eynon said, ‘I'm not going to lecture you. You are grown-up, a married woman, and you must sort out your own affairs in private.'

‘Huh!' Jayne's eyes were on her father. ‘It's not me having the “affairs” but my precious husband.'

Llinos took a deep breath. The worst was going to happen: Jayne was about to tell her father everything.

‘Jayne, shall we talk privately?' she asked gently, but Jayne was in no mood to listen.

‘I've had enough of secrecy,' she said, ‘enough of covering up for my loving husband.'