The Cornish Heiress (48 page)

“My dear,” Roger exclaimed, hurrying toward her and taking
her hand, “you should not have come down. You should be in bed after the
exertions of this past week. I have never been so furious with that harebrained
boy in my life. To drag you—”

“Do not be silly, Roger,” Leonie said. “Megaera is not
tired. She is frightened to death of you and me. Is it not so,
petite
? Come,
sit with me, and Philippe will bring you a cup of tea. There is no need to be
frightened.”

“Yes, but I think there is,” Megaera said, “for I am afraid that
I am not at all the kind of person you would have wished your son to marry.”

“Now that is what I call taking the bull by the horns,”
Philip remarked. “Meg, my love, tact is not your strong suit.”

“There is no way to be tactful about the things I have done,”
Megaera snapped, quite revived by her fury at Philip’s casual attitude.

This was reasonable, as she could not know that Leonie had
laughed her head off at Megaera’s direct attack on the subject of debts by
smuggling to pay them off. Roger had clicked his tongue sadly over the
silliness of women, pointing out that if she had gone to the creditors and
explained her problem—or rather, had a solicitor do it for her—very likely the
payments could have been adjusted to the income of the estate and the whole
enterprise would have been unnecessary. No comment at all had been made about
the physical relationship; Roger and Leonie could not afford to be “holier than
thou” on
that
subject. Now Leonie cocked her head at Megaera’s
statement.

“Why, what more have you done than Philippe has told us?”
Leonie asked with an interested expression. “Did you murder your husband?”

“Leonie!” Roger roared.

Leonie shrugged, and winked at him. “No, one can see from
poor Megaera’s face that not only did she not do it but she never would have
thought of such a thing.”

“That’s true,” Megaera agreed, but added defiantly, “but I
was
glad
. And I didn’t turn in his murderer.”

“That, I think, was not wise,” Roger remarked judicially.

“It certainly wasn’t,” Philip laughed, since he wasn’t
grateful at all. He turned around and tried to murder Meg twice.”

“But he must have been a horrible man,” Leonie pointed out,
her golden eyes bright with what Megaera was shocked to see was approval.

“The murderer or the husband?” Philip asked teasingly.

“The murderer, too, no doubt, but I was thinking of the
husband.”

“Yes, he was,” Megaera said, “but that’s not important now.”

“You are wrong
petite
,” Leonie contradicted with a
brilliant smile. “It is most important because Philippe, he needs to be loved
with a whole heart. It is hard sometimes for a woman who has loved her first
husband to give without reservation to the second.”

Megaera blushed hotly. “I love him,” she admitted. “Perhaps
you will think I have loved him too well. I—“

“You shot two men to keep him alive,” Roger interrupted. “I
am not going to complain about how well you love Philip.”

“No you cannot afford to do that,” Leonie put in
mischievously. “That would be too much like the pot calling the kettle black.”
Then she took Megaera’s hand. “
Petite
, do not distress yourself.
Philippe has told us all we need to know. What is past is past. There is no
need anymore to worry. All, will be arranged. Philippe desires to marry very
soon, but you must say what is your desire and all else can be left to the men
of business.”

“Oh, I want to marry soon too,” Megaera cried, and then
turned red as a beet while Philip laughed at her. She looked back and forth
from Roger to Leonie. “You—you don’t mind? The smuggling? The debts?”

Roger just smiled at her. His smile was softer than
Philip’s, warming and reassuring.

“Poof!” Leonie gestured it all away. “The land will pay back
itself without trouble, and how can we, whose dearest friend has been a
smuggler all his life, speak ill of it? No, there is only one thing you will
have to do—”

“My father? But he can stay—”

“Not that, Meg,” Philip came forward and took her hand. His
mouth was laughing, but his eyes were full of love. “Leonie is jealous of your
ability as a shot.”

“Yes!” Leonie exclaimed. “For me it was necessary to put the
gun right to the head of the beast. That is very inconvenient. You will teach
me,
n’est-ce pas, petite
? Roger and Philippe only laugh at me, but you
will have patience and teach me well.”

Leonie paused and watched approvingly as Philip pulled
Megaera to her feet and kissed her passionately. “But I think I will have to
learn fast, before the little ones come,” she murmured.

Roberta Gellis was driven to start writing her own books
some forty years ago by the infuriating inaccuracies of the historical fiction
she read. Since then she has worked in varied genres—romance, mystery, and
fantasy—but always, even in the fantasies, keeping the historical events as
near to what actually happened as possible. The dedication to historical times
settings is not only a matter of intellectual interest, it is also because she
is so out-of-date herself that accuracy in a contemporary novel would be
impossible.

In the forty-some years she has been writing, Gellis has
produced more than twenty-five straight historical romances. These have been
the recipients of many awards, including the Silver and Gold Medal Porgy for
historical novels from the West Coast Review of Books, the Golden Certificate
from Affaire de Coeur, The Romantic Times Award for Best Novel in the Medieval
Period (several times) and a Lifetime Achievement Award for Historical Fantasy.
Last but not least, Gellis was honored with the Romance Writers of America’s
Lifetime Achievement Award.

The author welcomes comments from readers. You can find her
website and email address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.

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The English Heiress

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