Shackles of Honor (42 page)

“A kiss then. To seal the promise,” Ellis announced from behind her. Cassidy turned her head and glared at him, horrified that her own brother would make such a suggestion.

“Yes! Yes!” Devonna chimed in. “Seal it that way, Mason darling.”

Cassidy watched Mason’s chest rise and fall heavily as he strove to contain his indignant anger. Yet he looked to his father, who nodded encouragingly, and then to Cassidy’s father
,
saying, “Sir?”

“By all means, my boy. Permission given,” Cassidy’s father chuckled.

Mason turned his attention to Cassidy. The fire in his eyes was not that of anger but of what she could not fathom. Cassidy felt her mother’s hand at the small of her back, urging her daughter forward and into the arms of the man that would be her husband.

An odd expression of triumph overtook Mason’s features as he looked in turn to each person in the room. “A kiss you shall have then. All of you. The kiss of promise of what will be. Unquestionably.”

Before Cassidy could act, she was bound tightly in his arms
,
and his mouth hovered a breath from her own. Cassidy knew he did not intend the sweet, quick kiss that was often acquainted with such engagement ceremonies. Rather, he intended to prove to all in the room that he, and only he, still controlled his actions, if not his destiny. Upon seeing the determination in his eyes, she decided not to struggle or pull away from him. But when, in the next instant, his mouth was heatedly thorough as he kissed hers, her knees feeling oddly weak at the taste of it, she clung to his shirt with her small hands for support, savoring and returning his affection. Even standing in his father’s chamber, her father, her own mother
,
and his not a foot from them, his kiss sent her senses blazing. Oh, how completely she loved him. How deeply rich was her heart’s need for his love in return. How wonderful was his kiss! How magnificently warm and moist was the flavor of it.

“Here, here! Well done, my man!” Ellis’
s
amused voice called out suddenly. “Give them all what for!”

With one final, demanding gesture of the kiss, Mason released Cassidy and looked to his father. “It is done. Of my own free will, Father. And of hers,” he said, his voice deep and booming like his father’s.

“Well done at that, Mason,” LaMont chuckled as he caught sight of Cassidy steadying herself for a moment on her mother’s arm. “Now, all of you young people go back about your business. Devonna, Calvert, Cylia
,
and I must sit together awhile.”

Ellis took Cassidy’s arm
,
and they left the room together, followed by Mason. After Mason closed the door to his father’s chamber, Ellis put a hand on his shoulder and said, “Well, done, my man. I always say…if you’re going to do something, do it thoroughly!”

“My father would not have accepted anything less than thoroughness,” Mason told him, grinning triumphantly.

Ellis chuckled, kissed Cassidy quickly on the cheek
,
and very sarcastically said, “
I leave you two love
birds about your business then.” And with merry amusement in his eyes
,
he was away.

All day Cassidy had awaited the opportunity to thank Mason for his kindness to Katie and Thomas. All day she had struggled and fidgeted, going over and over in her mind what she would say to him, how she would articulate her thanks and great admiration. And now, it was all for naught. She could think of nothing so well-spoken to say to him, for now there were the jewels on her finger and at her throat, finely crafted at great expense. How then to thank him?

“It looks rather like
,
” Mason mused out loud, “a shackle one might find on a condemned man in the bowels of the darkest prison, does it not?” He made a tight fist, turning it this way and that as he studied the gold band at his wrist.

Cassidy was hurt that he would view her gift as such. “It’s like the one worn by my father. I…it means a great deal to him. He values it above all other worldly possessions,” she stammered.

“And,” Mason said, his eyes searching hers probingly, “do you know why it is that it is his greatest treasure?” he asked her.

“No,” was the only answer she could give him, for she did not know the true answer. “No.”

“Well, Bliss,” he whispered triumphantly, “I do.”

Cassidy felt humiliated and vexed simultaneously. Why was it that he should know so many things that she did not? Why should Mason hold a knowledge of her father that even she did not hold?

“Tell me then,” she demanded. “If you know, then tell me.”

“It’s not my place,” he mocked. “But I will wear my shackle…for it’s very significant, is it not? And you will wear the
Carlisle
ring like she who went before you. And you will own the fine jewel that I’ve placed about your neck this night. And Katie and Thomas will wed and live happily ever after. In that you may find comfort.”

Gasping, Cassidy buried her hurt of the negative remark about the bracelet and remembered her intention. “I…I
do
thank you so deeply for that benevolent act, sir. I
—
”

“Do not thank me for doing what should have been done long ago. You shouldn’t have had to bring their situation to my attention. I should have been aware of it already,” he mumbled, his tone that of self-scolding.

Unconsciously, in an effort to cause him to realize the importance of his action, Cassidy took the sleeve of his shirt tightly in her fist. “You cannot be expected to know everything about the personal situations of everyone under your management. People prefer to keep their personal and private lives as just that…personal and private. You had no way of knowing of their dilemma.”

“Tom didn’t feel he could come to me, approach me
,
and discuss his need of higher position and wage. Am I so unapproachable?” he asked. The frown of sincerity astounded Cassidy. Of course he was unapproachable! He was breathtaking to look upon, in addition to the radiance about him of pure perfection and dominance.

“Of course!” she answered rather disgustedly. “Quit feigning ignorance. It does not become you,” she told him, only then realizing that she still held tightly to his shirt. She released him at once and made busy smoothing the wrinkles from her skirt.

“What does become me, then, Bliss?” he asked, his voice low and mocking in tone.

He was baiting her. Cassidy knew from the intonation in his speech, the amused glint in his eyes.

“Not one thing,” she answered nonchalantly.

Immediately she looked up at him when he burst into uncharacteristic laughter. Cassidy stood in awe! Never had she seen him react so. His smile was broad, displaying his perfectly straight, dazzlingly white teeth. His eyes narrowed with mirth, his entire countenance was different. Cassidy had a brief vision appear before her eyes of Mason as a youth
—
strong, rebellious, roughened, adorned in the jewelry of pirate booty.

“You send me to bed in merriment, Bliss. I cannot remember the last thing said to me that struck me so amusing!” Shaking his head, still chuckling quietly, he moved past her and down the corridor toward his own chamber.

Once inside her own chamber, Cassidy closed the door behind her, leaning back against it as several tears trickled down her face. “Oh, Mason,” she whispered to herself. His name felt like a warm confection on her lips. “Please find something in me to love. Take me in your arms and hold me close to you that I may ever know you are real and not some beloved dream from which I shall awaken one day, finding nothing in life worth living for.” She drifted to sleep eventually with the name of “Mason”
on her lips
and the memory of his kiss thereupon.



Morning after morning Cassidy awoke to find Mason gone. Always he was off somewhere to do business of some sort. Her mother and father lingered at
Carlisle
for a few days longer than Ellis’
s
week. But once they had gone, Cassidy did not feel the first stages of panic and loneliness as she had before. Could it be that she was beginning to accept her place at
Carlisle
?

The trip to
Carlisle
had been hard on Cassidy’s father. He needed to be home healing in his own bed, and she understood the need for her mother to accompany him. Ellis had business to attend to as well, and Cassidy understood as she watched Ellis ride away early one morning that the illness of Mason’s father had put great responsibility on his son’s shoulders. That is why Ellis had more time of his own, more time for her, she realized. For her father was, even with his leg splinted, still able to tend to most of the business at hand.

Katie and Tom wed as planned. The ceremony was delightful
,
and their love for one another was so very evident that it had sent Cassidy into weeping immediately. She was ashamed of her instant weeping because deep within she knew it spawned from selfishness at her own lot in not having Mason’s love, rather than intense joy for Katie and her Tom.

Mason attended the wedding, of course, as did his mother. Cassidy had sat between them in the
Carlisle
pew of the little country chapel
,
and when she had begun to weep, Mason had rather indifferently handed her his handkerchief. Dabbing at her tears with it, her deeply discouraged emotions only intensified as she breathed in the smell of him that clung to the handkerchief. “MLC” were the initials perfectly embroidered on one corner of the cloth
,
and Cassidy ran her thumb lovingly over them once, glancing up to ensure that Mason did not see her do so.

The wedding was the only other public appearance that Cassidy and Mason made in each other’s company. Mason was as jovial and attentive to Cassidy as he had been at their engagement ball. He was ever the gentleman, assisting her in and out of the carriage, his hand at her back when they entered the chapel and whenever they were walking together.

After the wedding, Mason was again gone each morning before Cassidy arose. She spent a part of each day in reading to or visiting with Lord Carlisle, whose condition worsened before her eyes seemingly hourly.

One morning, several days after Katie’s wedding, Cassidy entered the library in search of a book she had fallen asleep reading the night before but awakened to find missing. Assuming Katie had tidied her chamber and returned the book to its shelf in Carlisle Manor’s grand library, she entered to find Devonna slumped over in a chair, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Milady!” Cassidy exclaimed, going at once to kneel on the floor before the woman. “What is it? Please let me help you bear whatever burden is causing you to weep so.”

Wiping at her eyes angrily, Devonna tried to smile as she looked to Cassidy. “He grows worse with each day. Every morning I awaken
,
and my first thought is, will today be the day I lose my love?” Instantly tears filled Cassidy’
s own eyes. She too
had thought daily that it might be the last that any of them shared with Lord Carlisle. The great sadness in her own heart, she knew, must be manifest millions of times over in Devonna’s. Further, to her horror, there was nothing that could be said
,
n
o encouraging words. Reaching out, Cassidy embraced Devonna comfortingly, letting the woman sob for some time.

Finally, raising her head and wiping frustratedly at her cheeks with a handkerchief, Devonna said, “I have suffered great loss in my life, darling. I have tried to bear it as well as my strength would allow. I have suffered so much already that I do not understand this! Why is he being taken from me?”

“I know not,” is all that Cassidy could say.

Devonna smiled, cupping Cassidy’s cheek lovingly in her soft hand. “You are such a comfort to me, darling. You will make my son’s happiness and give me grandchildren to help fill the voids in my heart.” Rising, she left the room. Cassidy knew where she was bound, for Devonna had taken to spending more and more time with Lord Carlisle, even watching him as he slept now.