The English Witch (7 page)

Her small grin made him even more restless than usual—or maybe reckless was more accurate a description, because in the very next moment he reached out and pulled her to him. He bent his face to hers, and then there was nothing left but to kiss her. He told himself it was that grin, provoking him.

Miss Ashmore certainly had not meant to let him kiss her in the first place or to kiss him back in the second. But his mouth was so unexpectedly gentle as it touched hers that it gentled her own response. Then there was a warmth, and it was so welcoming and tender and made her feel so very peaceful and cozy and safe in his arms, that she did respond. He'd pulled her closer until her heart was pounding, and the press of his lean, muscular body had kindled warmth into blazing heat, and everything familiar had been whirled away by the maelstrom into which he drew her.

She was, suddenly, very afraid of him, because he was drawing her into danger, and she was following too willingly. His fingers were in her hair. He kissed her forehead and her eyelids and her cheeks, and when his lips found her mouth again they were hungry, demanding, urgent. Because she did not want him to stop, tears—of frustration, anger, shame, she hardly knew—welled up in her eyes as she tried to push him away.

"No," he whispered, crushing her closer. "Not now."

"Yes, stop. Now," she gasped. "Please stop—you must stop. Please."

He barely seemed to notice her effort to push him away. "Alexandra." His voice was hoarse.

"Let go of me."

Very unwillingly he released her from his embrace; but he clasped her hand to keep her from fleeing. "This is a terrible time to stop, my love," he told her. He sounded rather breathless as though he'd been running hard.

"Oh, please. No 'my loves.' And will you let go of me? I must go back."

"You can't do that now, Alexandra. Look at you. Your wicked fiancé has disarranged your hair, and your eyes are wet. You look exactly as though—well, exactly as you should under the circumstances." Releasing her, he offered his handkerchief. "And you hate me, which is a great deal worse."

She dabbed absently at her eyes but made no other effort to restore herself to rights. Stunned and confused, she spoke without thinking. "It isn't that...I don't know what it is. I don't understand."

At the moment, there were a few things he didn't understand either. There was, for instance, the totally ungovernable desire. If she hadn't begged him to stop in that desperate voice, he wasn't sure what would have happened. Surely it must have stopped at some point. He refused to think beyond that.

She wasn't looking at him, but was staring off into the dark distance, as though some secret might be stored there. Somewhere in that distance there was music: a mournful, lonely voice calling to the heavens. Her face was like cool marble in the moonlight, so still did she stand, gazing off at nothing. He wanted to touch her, to make her warm again and yielding as she had been—but no, that was quite impossible. Firmly, he turned his mind away and became more charming. "I do hope you'll settle on hating yourself then, because you'll be kinder to me, and I do need a great deal of kindness now after being so cruelly rejected."

"Rejected?" She looked up in astonishment at those strange cat eyes, but they were blank and innocent.

"Isn't that what it was? 'No' and 'stop' to me mean rejection, especially when uttered in such anguish. Yet you needn't expect me to apologise. I'd gladly do the same again, even to be rejected again though that isn't the least bit pleasant, and you may certainly apologise if you like. I'm a very forgiving sort of person, you know."

Good heavens, but he was impossible.
To chatter at her so when she was racked by emotions she could neither understand nor name. She stared at him. He stared back, his face still blank and innocent, as the silence lengthened between them. It was not a peaceful sort of silence. Something seemed to vibrate within it. That something finally drove Alexandra to regain her self-command and make a rather tart comment on his magnanimity.

"Yes, magnanimity is one of my failings. But come," he went on briskly, "your current state of dishevelment is unconscionably tempting, and I don't think I can contemplate you another minute without doing something perfectly dreadful."

Thus admonished, she attended to her hair—as best she could, with his helpful interference. He insisted the pins were in wrong and, looking very grave, pulled them out almost as quickly as she put them in. His touch, as he handed them back to her, made her tremble.

"Will you please stop helping me?" she snapped. "I'll be out here all night at this rate."

"You didn't think I intended to let you go back in so soon? However tedious my company seems to you, we've been here only a very few minutes."

"That's quite long enough to be alone in a dark garden with a gentleman, even in Albania. It's hardly proper."

"No, it isn't proper at all, and if I could think of some beautiful lie to convince you to stay—well, obviously, you can't trust me to behave myself."

"That's true. And it's very tiresome and unfair of you, Mr. Trevelyan—"

"Mr. Trevelyan, still."

"Randolph, then."

"Basil, you wretched girl.
Basil. "

"Basil, then." Seeing the triumphant smile he wore, she smiled, too. He might have all the experience, but he needn't always have the upper hand. "Basil then, my love, my sweet," she went on in falsely ardent, breathless tones so like his own that she startled the smile off his face. "You are monstrous unfair. For you show me not only that I'm not safe in your company, but that you're unsafe in mine. I must look out not only for myself, but for you as well—since you seem bound and determined to compromise me."

"Do I?" he asked. He made no move to stop her when she stepped away. His smile was gone, and the bland innocence had turned to watchfulness again.

"Oh, yes. But I gave you my promise, and I mean to keep it, regardless of how difficult you make it for me. I will save you from yourself, Basil, my love. So rest easy."

She turned then and left him.

Although she found the voyage unspeakably tedious, Alexandra inwardly cursed the favourable winds that sped them on to England and the Burnhams. They learned along the way that the defeated Buonaparte had preceded them and, even now, was being ogled by curious mobs at Tor Bay. Their own vessel's captain, however, had no interest in twice-vanquished Corsicans and, furthermore, was in a tremendous hurry. He made directly for Portsmouth. There they were amazed to find both Henry Latham and Lady Bertram waiting for them, and in very short order these two contrived to separate Alexandra from her father.

Papa, it is true, did not leave his daughter willingly, but Lady Bertram swept all his objections away as though they were so many odd bits of scrap in her path.

"To Yorkshire?" she repeated, in magnificently disdainful, disbelieving tones. "At this time of year and after so arduous a journey? Unthinkable, my dear boy. I fear you must be near collapse yourself to harbour such a notion." To his stunned protests she answered severely, "You have cheated me of her company for six long years—and after dear Juliet had promised me I might give the girl a Season." This, of course, was a monstrous fib, but Papa didn't know that.

When he attempted to explain about betrothals and impatient Burnhams, Lady Bertram only gazed coldly down her patrician nose at him and demanded
what
he was thinking of to subject his daughter to the scandal that must arise if she were married so soon upon her return and in such a havey-cavey way.

Sir Charles was not easily cowed, but he was operating under certain disadvantages. He did not like being cast as the villain of the piece, especially when his solution was so reasonable. At once it settled both his debt to the Burnhams and the matter of finding his troublesome daughter a steady husband. Furthermore, there was nothing wrong with Randolph. His character was blameless, he was comfortably well-off, and he was good-looking enough to please any number of romantic females. If Alexandra would only cooperate, her father would not have to waste time dawdling in England when there was so much to be done in Albania. Still, Sir Charles considered himself a just man, and there was this business of Mr. Trevelyan's six years' toil. The tale appeared to be a great piece of nonsense concocted by his scheming daughter and Clementina's nephew, and yet it might be true.

Therefore, though he resented Lady Bertram's high-handed ways and mistrusted his daughter, he was somewhat relieved to have the problem taken off his hands temporarily. He'd like to have the leisure to think things over without being influenced by either Alexandra's sophistries or Mr. Trevelyan's treacly blandishments. To save face, however, he goaded Lady Bertram into delivering a few more ominous predictions and biting comments before giving himself up to be led away by the affable Mr. Latham.

Basil was led away as well, along with Randolph. Alexandra had time only to bid a hasty farewell to her two fiancés and kiss her father's cheek before she was whirled off in the countess's luxurious carriage.

"Well," the great lady said, "that went a deal easier than I expected. Your father was rather more fuddled than usual—I expect that accounts for his not being so obstinate as usual. I was anticipating quite a battle. What, I wonder, accounts for his fuddlement?"

"I think you have your nephew to thank for that, my lady.''

"Aunt Clem, if you please. You never used to be so formal, Alexandra. Or is the wretched boy to blame for that, as well?"

The scrutiny of those sharp, brown eyes was a trifle disconcerting. Lady Bertram had such a way of ferreting out secrets—almost as if she read your mind—and Alexandra did not like to have her mind read. Still, she made herself meet that gaze directly and answered, "No, that's my own doing. You were so majestic back there that I'm in awe of you myself."

"Well, your father is not easily awed normally. But tell me, how did Basil unsettle him so?"

Alexandra gave her a slightly abbreviated account of their make-believe romance. Actually, it was only abbreviated in two particulars, for though it was very easy to confide in dear Aunt Clem, one must draw the line at discussing her nephew's embraces. Broadminded as the countess was, she might think Alexandra compromised, and that would never do.

Lady Bertram found the recitation highly amusing. "Leave it to Basil to find excuses for kissing a pretty girl."

"Oh, but he never—"

"Well, if he never then it most certainly cannot be my nephew we speak of. He is not in the habit of exerting himself on anyone else's account without making it as agreeable to himself as possible. I am disappointed, however, he could contrive no better scheme. It is not at all what I'd hoped for. Still, I daresay he found it immensely entertaining." Her tone, softened. "I hope he did not misbehave terribly, my dear."

Alexandra coloured slightly, though she replied calmly enough. "Oh no, of course not. It was all for show. He did have my father to convince and Dhimitri as well—at least until we were aboard ship. He was very successful. As you saw yourself, Papa was rather confused. The only push he made was to tell Randolph to stir himself."

"Nevertheless, in your father's eyes you're still betrothed to Randolph. It really makes me wonder at Basil."

"You speak as though he regularly accomplishes miracles, Aunt Clem."

"I know he's solved far more difficult and delicate matters
for The Crown. It is usually a matter of pride with him to
succeed completely at what he undertakes, particularly if it is something devious."

"Perhaps, then, the problem was beneath him."

"That would be a first," the countess muttered.

"Besides, Papa was suspicious of him. Add that to the problem of paying back Mr. Burnham. He did fund Papa's work generously and had those travel accounts published. He looks after all of Papa's business now—though there's little enough profit in it for him."

"Yes, a philanthropist, I'm sure," was the dry observation. "How warm you are in defence of your tormentors, Alexandra."

"I've been trying to see it through Papa's eyes, Aunt Clem. After all, I've made so many difficulties for him. And I honestly wish I could care more for Randolph."

The fervour with which she expressed that wish made Lady Bertram raise an eyebrow ever so slightly, but lost in her own thoughts, Alexandra continued, "Papa says I'm only being obstinate—and maybe he's right."

The eyebrow elevated another fraction.

"After all," the young woman went on hurriedly, "Randolph is a kind and honest man. One could do a great deal worse, I suppose."

"Undoubtedly."

"Once he began taking the trouble to talk with me, I found him, well, not disagreeable company. He was most considerate throughout the voyage, certainly, and he
is
sincere and straightforward. One never wonders what he means, really—" She caught herself up in time and went on more matter-of-factly, "At any rate, I think better of him now than when I wrote you. Yet, if I hadn't written and your nephew hadn't come and shaken Randolph out of his complacency, I might never have seen his—Randolph's—better qualities."

Though the words were rational enough, there was an edge of despair in the tone. Nonetheless, Lady Bertram only nodded and remarked, "Basil comes out of the adventure quite a prodigy of virtue. How very distressing that must be for him, after devoting so much time and imagination to wickedness."