Patricia Rice (22 page)

Returning home only to change clothes and saddle a horse,
Wyatt evaded his mother’s hysterical questions and set out for the Eddings
estate.

He was met at the door by the lanky butler. The man gave no
indication of their earlier meeting but merely informed him that Lady Cassandra
was not at home. Wyatt clenched his teeth and refused to budge.

“I must speak with her. Jacob, isn’t it? If she’s not at
home, then I must speak with you and the lady’s maid. The business of living in
this dangerous pile of rocks has to end.”

That received a flicker of interest from the impassive butler.

“The only chairs are in the kitchen, m’lord. It does not
seem proper. I will tell her ladyship that you have been here.”

“I’ve sat in kitchens before. This concerns you as well as
Lady Cassandra. Let me in, Jacob, I’m not leaving until I know I have your
cooperation.”

Jacob hesitated; then, throwing a glance over his shoulder
to Lotta waiting in the shadows, he stepped aside to allow the earl to enter.

Merrick glanced around in hopes of finding some sign of
Cass, but he could sense that she wasn’t here. She had known this would be the
first place he would look. Disappointed, he followed the servant into the
burnt-out remains of the kitchen.

His glance took in everything, from the cracked bowls piled
beside the caldron of water to the tense expressions on the servants’ faces.
The maid was a bounteous lass with a golden face and a defiant stance. Wyatt
couldn’t blame the butler for hovering protectively. Both must harbor some
loyalty to Cass or they wouldn’t be here. He came immediately to the point.

“One way or another, I intend to marry Lady Cassandra. Until
I can, I want to know that she is safe. That means prying her out of this piece
of hell. I am willing to set her up anywhere that she might be comfortable, so
long as it is safe. I am asking your cooperation, assuming you have her
ladyship’s best interests in mind as well as your own. I am willing to take you
into my employ starting today if you are in agreement with me.”

Neither servant hesitated to agree. Merrick kept his smile
to himself. Stronger men than Cass had been brought to their knees by nagging
servants. Her loyal army had just decamped to the other side.

~*~

“Don’t be ridiculous, Lotta. The room is no more damp than
it has been, and I shall not die of consumption for it. Leave off your
complaining. You and Jacob have been the souls of misery for days now. What has
got into you?” Cassandra jerked on her best morning gown and began to fasten
the bodice without her maid’s help.

“You’ve been looking sickly lately, and we worry. You
shouldn’t have spent the night in the rain. You ought to see a doctor. You
could be ailing for something.”

Cass felt worse than sickly. She felt humiliated,
frightened, anxious, and worse: she wanted Wyatt again. She had avoided him at
every turn while wishing desperately to fall into his arms. If only she knew
how to make him see reason, but the one thing that would certainly convince him
of the wrongness of marriage was not her secret to give. She couldn’t humiliate
her mother by revealing to Wyatt the indiscretion that had led to her birth.
Wyatt would scorn Duncan’s blackmail, and Duncan would shame all of them before
the world.

“There’s nothing wrong with me, Lotta. I don’t need a
physician. I don’t intend to look for another house. We haven’t the money. If
you wish to leave, I will be happy to provide you with references.”

Cassandra dreaded the day when Lotta and Jacob would take
her up on that offer. Lotta and Jacob weren’t just servants, they were the only
friends she had. But she had chosen this life, not they.

“You can’t go on living like this, no more than we can,”
Lotta protested. “It just ain’t right. You’ll have to take up gambling soon
just to keep this place in rags and boards to block the wind. You’d best be
thinking about it.”

Cassandra received the same sermon from Jacob when she went
in to breakfast, except he declared that Lotta had been feeling poorly lately.
And his own joints were feeling the damp. They would need fires to ward off
illness, and where would the money come from for coal or kindling?

Cassandra was tempted to reply that they could chop down
Merrick’s prized forest, but they were quite apt to do that without her
encouragement. And the first blaze they set in the ruined fireplaces would burn
down what remained of the house. Just the small fire they kept in the kitchen
filled the house with smoke.

Now that she was feeling a little stronger in her
resolution, she felt safe in visiting the village again. The hens they had
bought were producing a few extra eggs that might be traded for a small pat of
butter. Perhaps she would see Bertie, and he could take her to visit Thomas. He
should be sitting up in a chair by now, and she had promised to teach him a few
card tricks.

Her patience was rewarded. She found Bertie so easily it was
almost as if he had been waiting for her. Expressing delight, he agreed to
accompany her on her errands if she would accompany him on his. In the
meantime, he would send a boy with a message to warn Thomas of their arrival.

Cassandra realized later that she should have been
suspicious, but it was the first sunny day in forever, and she was feeling
confident.

She might be a fallen woman, but the world didn’t know it
yet. That she could still feel Merrick’s possession, knew now what a man could
do to a woman’s body, did not seem to be visible for all to see.

Bertie dawdled over his decision at the leather shop, and
then he expressed a deep desire for tea before setting out for home. Cassandra enjoyed
the fresh scones and jam at the tea shop. She had never thought much about the
food put upon the table as long as it settled the pangs of hunger, but a steady
diet of Lotta’s meager cooking had left a definite desire for better.

When they returned to the street, it was to meet Wyatt just
climbing down from his curricle. Bertie had seated her so she could not see out
the window, and Cass cast him a suspicious glare, but she could not pin blame
on him. He could not know how much she wished to avoid the earl.

Merrick greeted Cassandra with a deep bow, then caught her
hand and held it against his arm. “Well met, old boy. I was just on the way to
fetch Lady Cass. On her brother’s instructions, I have been scouting the
perfect residence for her, and I have finally found one I think will suit. I am
most eager to show off my discovery. Shall you accompany us?”

That malicious lie was quite the outside of enough, but when
Cassandra opened her mouth to object, Bertie interrupted.

“I’ve told the family I’ll be directly home. Bring Cass by
when you’re done inspecting the property, and we’ll have a rousing time
discussing whether or not she should settle for your choice.” He bowed to
Cassandra. “It will be good to know you’ll be a permanent neighbor.”

What could she say? That Merrick meant to make her his
mistress, and she needed rescuing? That was absurd. She
wanted
to be Merrick’s mistress. Sort of. She just didn’t want to
be ordered around. And she didn’t want to put Merrick in the position of
protecting her. Should Rupert return, that position could be fatal.

But with no proper argument, she waved farewell, and allowed
Merrick to assist her into the curricle. She held her tongue until they were on
the road out of town.

“That was not very noble of you, my lord.” Cassandra crossed
her arms and glared at the dancing larkspur along the roadway.

“It’s the perfect solution. Wait until you see it,” Wyatt
answered.

“I will not allow you to set me up like some light- skirt,
Wyatt. I have my own home, and I’m doing quite nicely without your help.”

“You are living in a leaky cave and courting pneumonia. I
expect nothing of you. All I want to do is keep you safe until I can make
arrangements with Rupert.”

Cassandra’s jaw set even harder. “You must stop talking like
that or put me out right here. I’ll not trade one husband for another as a man
does horses. What is between Rupert and myself is none of your affair.”

“I’ll not argue that now. First, we must get you into a
decent house. I don’t think you’ll disagree with my choice.” Wyatt steered the
curricle down an overgrown lane. “There hasn’t been much time to make
improvements. I’ll have men clear this lot now that the rain has broken.”

Cassandra couldn’t hide her curiosity as she gazed up at the
overhanging elms and around to the riot of rhododendrons lining the drive. The
direction seemed familiar, but it had been a long time since she lived here,
and she had not yet reacquainted herself with all the area. They seemed to be
close to her home, but they had come at it from a different direction.

The trees opened onto a small clearing. A climbing rose covered
the side of the stone cottage with red. The thatched roof had been newly
mended, and Cassandra drank appreciatively of the scent of fresh-cut grass. The
diamond-paned windows gleamed with recent scrubbing, and she knew Wyatt was
responsible. She had no doubt that the inside would be as fresh and scrubbed as
the outside, and her fingernails clenched into her palms as she tried to hide
the longing for just such a home.

It was little use pretending. She scrambled down from the
curricle with Wyatt’s assistance and practically ran up to the door.

“Your land runs just the other side of the hedgerows,” he
said. “I’ll have a stile built so you can supervise your planting. The cottage
isn’t large, but it’s snugly built. The bailiff before MacGregor had a family
and used to live here. It’s been empty for some time and suffers from neglect.
You will be doing me a favor to look after it.”

“Wyatt, I can’t,” she protested as he threw open the door,
but she stepped inside anyway. Her heart raced as they crossed the threshold
together. This was the way a husband should introduce his bride to his home,
with pride and excitement. But this wasn’t Wyatt’s home. It was one of his many
properties.

She couldn’t seem to cling to that harsh thought. The wide
whitewashed hall led to two sun-filled front rooms with low beamed ceilings.
Wyatt proudly pointed out the hand-carved built-in cupboards, and Cassandra ran
to inspect them. The rooms were so clean and dry and full of light, she couldn’t
suppress her delight. A home like this was all she asked. She didn’t need
mansions. She just wanted to be warm and dry and left at peace.

She raced to the kitchen and servants’ rooms in the rear,
then danced up the narrow center stair to the low-ceilinged rooms above. Again,
latticed windows thrown open to the air filled the rooms with light, and
Cassandra crowed with delight at the view over her bramble-strewn pastures.

Merrick watched her with hope as she flitted from window to
window. For one brief moment he saw her as a caged bird, but he shook the image
away.

He saved the largest upstairs room for last. Cassandra had
thrown off her bonnet, and her hair glinted in the sunlight as she stepped into
the spacious room equipped with fireplace and a crochet-draped tester bed. No curtains
yet hung on the windows, but this was the room he meant to be hers.

Her light muslin clung to her slender figure as she swung
around to face him with a smile of delight. “It’s truly lovely, Wyatt. Do you
really think you might persuade Duncan to pay the rent on it? Just for the
summer. After harvest, I should be able to pay it myself.”

Merrick knew full well that Duncan would part with none of
his coins for a sister who had thrown away their chance for riches. He was not
accustomed to lying, but the truth would only send her fleeing to her
ramshackle cavern.

The truth was, he had never notified Duncan of her
whereabouts and had no intention of doing so until their marriage was a fact.
He brushed a wisp of hair from her cheek.

“Of course. The rent is very reasonable since you will be
looking after the property for me. You will stay, then?”

Wyatt’s caress meant more than his words. Cassandra saw the
emotion in his eyes, and warmth welled in her heart. She ought to be angry with
him, but she could not remember why. Instead, she rose on her toes to kiss his
lips.

She was unprepared for the sudden blaze of hunger. This fire
in her belly always caught her by surprise, but now she knew where it led.
Instead of resisting, she leaned more fully into Wyatt’s embrace. This was what
she wanted: a lover, a home, and freedom. She had not known it before, but it
seemed so natural now.

Wyatt crushed her against him, and Cassandra parted her lips
in complete surrender. She sensed his tension, his resistance to desire, and
she kneaded her hands over the taut muscles of his neck. The tension slowly
drained, and his kiss became ravenous, demanding more.

It was as if they had been apart years and not days.
Cassandra wasn’t certain how they came to be upon the bed, but she arched
eagerly as Wyatt cupped and lifted her breast. It was a reckless madness that
he had taught her, but it was a madness that gave her more pleasure than she
had ever known in her life.

A breeze blew across her skin as Wyatt undressed her, but it
didn’t cool the heat that sensitized every inch exposed to his touch. Cassandra
gazed up into his dark eyes and her midsection clenched in recognition of what
came next. She was no longer innocent of a man’s touch, and the knowledge was a
powerful aphrodisiac.

Wyatt’s linen and shirt fell open beneath her nimble
fingers, and she explored the rough texture of his hair there, comparing it to
the glossy thickness about his head and neck. He breathed her name as he
divested her of gown and chemise, and little flames ignited along her skin
where his breath touched.

It was a magical fantasy world where he took her, one where
the toplofty Earl of Merrick and the Countess of Eddings’ bastard daughter didn’t
exist. They were just man and woman, Adam and Eve, discovering the delights of
forbidden fruit. Cassandra cried a little and shivered as Wyatt’s hand explored
and possessed the aching junction between her legs.