Lady Vengeance (24 page)

 ‘Why thank you, ma’am! Ah, that’s much better. ‘‘Tis a damned cold night and for all the luck I had I may as well have stayed indoors instead of getting chilled to the bone.’

 Having placed the boots on one side of the hearth, she returned to his chair and stood before him.

 ‘There’s snow on your collar, Ralph. Let me brush it away before it melts into your neckcloth…’

 Her fingers flicked over his collar and, aware of his eyes, upon her, she looked into his face, a faint smile in her eyes. She did not protest as he pulled her down onto his lap and kissed her, instead her own arms crept around his neck.

 ‘Your skin is very cold,’ she murmured, ‘my bed is warm. You had best share it with me.’

 He held her away from him, a mixture of disbelief and amusement in his eyes.

Elinor touched his cheek. ‘Come to bed, Ralph. It is quite ridiculous that you should have to sleep on that narrow truckle-bed downstairs when this one is wide enough for us both.’

 She rose and he followed her across the room.

 ‘My dear, are you sure this is what you want?’

 ‘Yes,’ she reached out for him. ‘Yes, I am sure.’

 Taking her hand, he sat down upon the bed and leaned over to kiss her. Elinor felt the rough tickling of his beard, still chilled from the night air. Then, when he had shrugged off the rest of his clothes he slipped between the sheets and Elinor warmed his cold limbs with her own soft body. She found herself considering the moment: it was the first time she had willingly embraced any man. She knew a fleeting moment of panic as she first touched his naked skin, but it was replaced almost immediately with a feeling of comfort, a security that she had not known for many years.

He kissed her, gently at first, then with a growing intensity as Elinor responded to his touch. For the first time she felt pleasure in a man’s caresses; his hands gently explored her body, his fingers moving lightly over her thighs, arousing in her a passion as she had never known before. His body, firm and unyielding, was pressed against her and Elinor abandoned herself to the new and delightful sensations, forgetting everything in the pleasure of the moment.

* * * *

 Daylight was peeping through the cracks in the shutters when Elinor awoke, her body still wrapped around her sleeping companion. She lay very still, wondering at the feeling of peace that enveloped her. Until now the men who had used her body had done so purely for their own pleasures, but Ralph’s gentle caresses had drawn responses from Elinor that had both surprised and delighted her. No man had ever given her such pleasure.

 Sensing her wakefulness, Ralph stirred. Even in the gloom she thought his eyes smiled at her.

 ‘Elinor.’ He raised himself on one elbow, watching her face in the gloom. ‘I know your story, I am aware that you have no cause to like men. Why did you take me to your bed? Was it for my sake, because you think you should repay my kindness, or did you truly desire it?’

 He felt her stretch beside him, like a cat.

 ‘Oh, for any number of reasons. I hope you do not regret it, Ralph. I do not.’

 ‘Not at all,’ he murmured, kissing her hair, ‘I have been wanting to do that since the first day I brought you here.’

 She smiled and moved willingly back into his arms.

 ‘Well, I have been here for more than three weeks, sir, we have a little time to make up, do we not?’

 She kissed him.

 ‘You’re a damned fine woman, Elinor,’ he murmured, his lips close to her ear. ‘You should be consorting with nobility, not a common highwayman.’

 ‘My experience of noblemen leads me to believe that they are a great deal more villainous than you will ever be!’

 He pulled away from her, taken aback by the bitterness in her retort.

 ‘What, did you never meet one honest gentleman?’

 For an instant the disturbing image of Lord Davenham flashed into her mind. She pushed the thought away.

 ‘They consider only their own pleasures,’ she answered shortly, and taking his face in her hands she pulled him close, kissing with an intensity that aroused their passion once again.

 They breakfasted late, giggling like children in their newfound happiness, and neither of them sharing the landlord’s gloom at the prediction that the heavy snowfall during the night would keep them indoors for at least a week.

 ‘Poor Jem, he’ll be very short of customers for a while,’ said Ralph, returning to Elinor’s room after a brief descent to the taproom. ‘He says there are high drifts in the lanes, so there’s no likelihood of visitors today. It should be quite safe if you would care to come downstairs for a while. I’ve asked Jem to have a fire made up in the private parlour. I must return to Hoddesdon.’

 ‘Oh, surely not – the snow is too deep!’

 Touched by her disappointment, Ralph took her hands in his own.

 ‘I can walk across the fields. I will be needed at the school, Elinor, I must try and get back. I will return to you just as soon as I can – trust me!’

 With Ralph gone, Elinor found the days at the inn dragging by. She was pleased to be able to leave the seclusion of her room, for as her health and strength returned she was increasingly frustrated at being forced to remain hidden away.

 Jem Carew’s gloomy prediction proved correct. The snow remained with them for a week, during which time no traveller came within sight of the Green Dragon. At last there was a break in the weather and a steady thaw set in. Within a couple of days the snow was diminishing rapidly, leaving only patches of white upon the landscape where the drifts had been thickest. Waking one morning to this changed world, Elinor felt her spirits lift. She went downstairs, alert for any sign of strangers. Upon meeting her hostess at the foot of the stairs and being assured that the inn was empty, Elinor made her way to the private room set aside for the use of such travellers as did not wish to mingle with the rough working men who frequented the tap-room. Ralph found her there some time later. She was sitting in one of the high-back armchairs beside the fire, deep in thought, turning the large ruby brooch idly between her fingers.

 ‘How’s this, Mistress Brown?’ he rallied her. ‘Have you no occupation for those idle hands of yours? I will ask Megs to find you some small task – what shall it be, there’s a chicken to be plucked and drawn for dinner, or shall I set you to some sewing?’

 ‘Ralph!’ she jumped up and ran into his waiting arms. Only after he had kissed her did she answer his question, saying with mock severity, ‘I have not prepared a dinner, but I would inform you, sir, that I have already mended a dozen torn sheets! Oh I have missed you. Can you stay?’

 ‘Only for a couple of days. But you were lost in your own thoughts when I arrived – will you not share them with me?’

 She held up the ruby.

 ‘I have been pondering why this jewel should be so important. Julian Poyntz told me he thought I was no longer alive, and that Lord Thurleigh had recovered the stone, and James Boreland too was most anxious to find it. There is a mystery here, Ralph, and this, this blood stone holds the key.’

 ‘Let me look at it.’

 She handed him the brooch. He went over to the window and began to examine it closely.

 ‘I thought when I first saw it that the setting was too large for such a stone,’ he said, turning the ornament over and over between his fingers. ‘I wonder….’

 Elinor followed him.

 ‘Do you think there might be some secret catch?’ she asked, watching as his fingers moved delicately over the finely worked casing, examining every detail of its pattern of leaves and flowers.

 ‘I don’t know. If there is a catch it’s well hidden amongst the ornate detail of the setting. Yes! Yes… I have it!’ He pressed a tiny flower bud, and the plain gold backing of the brooch opened upon its hidden hinge. Peering over his shoulder, Elinor could see the back of the ruby, and was surprised to note that it was cut exactly as the front of the stone, as if the ruby had originally been intended to be seen from both sides. Ralph turned the brooch slightly to allow the light to play upon the inside of the gold casing. He gave a low whistle.

 ‘I think we have discovered the secret.’

 The inside of the cover had been engraved with letters so small they were difficult to read without the aid of a glass, but by turning it to catch the very best of the light, Ralph could just decipher the words.

 ‘Well?’ demanded Elinor. ‘What does it say?’

 ‘Enough to cost men their lives,’ he replied quietly. ‘Look here: ‘Loyal subjects to the true King James.’ And there is a list of names, ‘Guy Morellon, Marquis of Thurleigh – Bishop Furminger – James Boreland – George Rowsell – Julian Poyntz.’ And there’s a date, 1745.’

 Elinor stared at him.

 ‘But – those are the very men – I don’t understand….’

 ‘When exactly did you see these men, Elinor? Think hard, love.’

 ‘It – it was some eight years ago…it would be December, ‘forty-five.’

 ‘Then there we have it. Charles Stuart was in England then. These men must have had the intention of joining forces with the Stuart as he marched south. Fortunately for Thurleigh and the others the Jacobites started north again before they had openly declared themselves. No doubt the night you saw them they were gathered together to await news from the Prince.’

 Elinor took the brooch and stared at it, turning it slowly between her fingers.

 ‘Lord Thurleigh must have been very sure of the outcome to commit himself so openly to the Stuart cause.’ She looked up. ‘Ralph, do you think this is sufficient evidence of treason?’

 He shrugged, saying slowly, ‘Used properly, I don’t doubt it could ruin Thurleigh, at least.’

 ‘Then it is just what I need. Did I not tell you Fate is using me in this matter?’

 Ralph looked as if he was about to reply, but he checked himself, merely saying, ‘Well, the weather is still too uncertain to travel far, so there’s nothing to be done about it today. Put the brooch away, Elinor, and forget about it for the present, if you can.’ He clapped his hands, saying brightly, ‘Now, what would you care to do this morning, ma’am? I am entirely at your disposal. I had the forethought to bring a backgammon board with me. Would you care for that, or shall we play at cards?’

 The thaw continued and roads that had been impassable because of the snow now became rivers of mud, causing just as many problems for travellers, but it ensured Elinor’s seclusion. Ralph Belham was the only visitor, and his patience and gentleness continued to work their magic, Elinor responding to his caresses as she had never done to those of her husband. Philibert de Sange had been interested only in his own sensual pleasures and his wife’s humiliation. For her own survival Elinor had learned to repress her revulsion and indeed all other emotion, protecting herself from further pain with a cold, impenetrable barrier of reserve. Ralph had broken through that barrier and she gave herself to him willingly, pleased at his enjoyment of her body and astonished that she, too, should find pleasure in their union.

By the time the snow had disappeared from even the highest ground, Elinor felt that something inside her had melted too. She tried to explain this to Ralph one morning as she lay in bed, still wrapped in blankets, watching him dress.

 ‘I did not know there could be such pleasure between two people,’ she told him, smiling. ‘Until I met you, dear Ralph, I had only known men who considered their own pleasure. I cannot think that I have ever been so – so comfortable as I am with you. I would like to stay here for ever and ever.’

 Ralph laughed and when he had finished buttoning his waistcoat he sat down on the side of the bed, his eyes smiling tenderly at her.

 ‘There is nothing I would like more, my dear, but we both know it cannot be.’

 Her green eyes smiled up at him. ‘Oh? And why is that?’

 He took her hand, his voice gentle. ‘You do not love me, Elinor. I am not the man for you.’

 ‘How can you say that, after these past few days?’

 ‘They were very special, but I am not the only man who will give you such pleasure, believe me. Besides, child, I have twice your years. You are far too young and beautiful to waste your life with me.’

 She sat up, frowning. ‘You are serious! Ralph, do you – do you not love me?’

 ‘Aye, child. Too well to keep you here with me.’

 ‘But it is where I
want
to be!’

 ‘For the moment, perhaps, but that will change. Already I have seen the restlessness in your eyes.’

‘Oh but –’

 ‘Pray now, child, do not argue with me.’ He smiled tenderly at her anxious face. ‘Our time is not yet over, and we can enjoy each other’s company for a little while longer, but some day you must leave here.’

 ‘No!’ she sat up, flinging her arms about him and burying her face in his shoulder. ‘You have made me happy, Ralph. You are the only man who has ever made me so.’

 ‘Aye, child, but you have told me that your experience of men is limited. Soon you must go back to your world, take up your old life. I doubt not that you will find a good man – a
young
man – who will make you happy.’

 ‘But why should I do that when I have found happiness here, with you? Why should I give that up now?’

 ‘And what of this solemn quest for revenge that you have pursued so diligently?’ he teased her, but gently. ‘Is that over?’

 ‘Yes, yes! I will hand the ruby brooch to someone else – a government minister, or even the King! They can make of it what they will!’

 He laughed softly. ‘Oh Elinor, I wish I could believe that. But I have come to know you too well. Come now, dry your eyes. This is not a moment for tears, my love. Let us enjoy the time we have left.’

 ‘I’m sorry.’ Elinor sniffed, gratefully making use of the handkerchief he held out to her. ‘You are right, Ralph. There is no reason for us to be downcast. Wait for me to dress and we will breakfast together.’
And mayhap, given time, I can persuade you to let me stay,
was her unspoken thought.

 It was a full week before the weather had improved sufficiently for Ralph to resume his nocturnal activities. There was little traffic on the highway, for he found the roads to be thick with mud, some of them flooded, making travel almost impossible. There was just the occasional farm wagon, or a post-chaise taking advantage of the moonlight to continue its perilous journey to London. For the first time since embarking upon his nefarious career, Belham was aware of a desire to get back to the inn, put Devon in his warm stable and enjoy a cosy supper with Elinor beside a blazing fire. He laughed to himself as he turned his horse off the highway.