He laughed softly. "Oh, no, my lady. This is my interrogation. Who hurt you?"
Lingering caution insisted she conceal the precise details of her plight. She"d seen how greed changed men. She couldn"t risk that happening to Sir Gideon if she told him who she really was. But his gallantry toward her meant she owed him more than the shabby falsehoods she"d produced so far.
"My brothers. They"re trying to force me to marry a wastrel. I cannot...will not stomach the match." Her hands fisted in her skirts. It seemed odd, uncomfortable to trust a man even a little after all she"d been through. "When they realized my opposition was more than a girlish whim, they resorted to stronger persuasion." Close to the truth. Close enough to salve her stinging conscience, anyway.
Sir Gideon"s face remained expressionless as he listened. What did he make of this tale that belonged in a gothic novel? Did he even believe her? At least he showed no skepticism.
"Why are your brothers so eager for you to marry this man?"
His lack of histrionics calmed her. Her hands slowly uncurled until they lay flat upon her lap. Her voice emerged almost normally. "They owe him money. My inheritance becomes my husband"s if I marry or mine if I turn twenty-one unwed."
"When do you turn twenty-one?"
"The first of March."
"That"s only three weeks away."
"You perceive my brothers" need for urgency," she said dryly.
"Self-serving maggots," he bit out with sudden savagery.
She"d misjudged his calmness. Looking closer, she realized he was furiously angry. His voice was quiet, his manner unthreatening. But she had a sudden vivid memory of the man who overcame every adversary in the Portsmouth brawl. Foreboding tinged with satisfaction shivered through her. She wouldn"t like to be Felix or Hubert if Sir Gideon got his hands on them.
"I"m so sorry for telling lies," she whispered, guilt twisting her stomach into knots. She twined her hands together and gazed down, unwilling to meet his searching eyes. Eyes clever enough to discern she still wasn"t completely honest.
"You were in danger. You had no reason to trust me."
"Except you saved my life," she said almost soundlessly.
Except you"re fine and handsome and brave. And I"ve held you while you were sick and unaware. And watched you sleep through a long dark night. You make my heart beat like a drum, and I can hardly breathe when I look into your eyes.
She glanced up in time to catch the annoyance that crossed his face. "It was nothing."
"It wasn"t nothing to me." She raised her chin and stared unflinchingly at him.
"Miss Watson, I don"t want your grat.i.tude," he snapped.
She hid the pang of hurt his response provoked. And refrained from insisting that she"d be grateful to him until the day she died.
An awkward pause fell.
When eventually he resumed his questions, his expression didn"t lighten. "Presumably someone other than your brothers has custody of your fortune while you"re a minor. Why didn"t you appeal to them?"
"My trustees claim they"re powerless to intervene." Her voice was husky with chagrin she couldn"t help feeling when Gideon refused her thanks. "My brothers convinced them I"m wild and flighty and need a man"s guidance."
She"d spent many a night cursing the spineless solicitors at Spencer, Spencer and Crosshill. Old Mr. Crosshill had been her father"s friend, but he"d been dead four years. His egregious nephew had advised her to accept her stepbrothers" plans with suitable female obedience.
"No relative offered you shelter?"
"None with the power to stand up to my brothers." Charis"s voice flattened into grimness. "Believe me, Sir Gideon, I"ve a.s.sessed all options. Only one remains. Will you put me down at the next substantial town we come to?"
"What do you intend?"
To survive the next three weeks without surrendering either to privation or my stepbrothers.
"I only have to avoid my brothers until the first of March." Heat climbed in her cheeks. Her pride abhorred what she was about to ask. But she must conquer pride for survival"s sake. "If you lend me a few shillings, I"ll repay you when I come into my inheritance. I couldn"t find any money to take with me. Which must seem hen-witted, but..."
"Miss Watson."
"I"m not solvent right..."
"Miss Watson." His voice was sharper.
She relapsed into silence, embarra.s.sed at her nervous babbling. Tears of humiliation rose to her eyes. She didn"t want to set out alone. More than that, she didn"t want to leave Sir Gideon, which was just too pathetic to admit. How had he so quickly become the most important person in her life? It seemed absurd. Unreal. Dangerous.
He appeared displeased. Again. "Confound you, I"m not going to slip you some blunt and put you down defenseless and alone in a strange place. If any town between here and Penrhyn was big enough to offer a hiding place. Haven"t you looked out the window, girl? We"re well into the wilds of Cornwall."
She gulped back the lump in her throat while fugitive hope stirred in her heart. "Oh."
He looked in better health, more like the man she"d met than last night"s invalid. He looked clever and purposeful and invincible. He looked like he would keep her safe forever.
His deep voice was firm. "We aren"t far from my home. I hope you"ll accept my offer of sanctuary."
Five.
Gideon expected Miss Watson to demur. After all, only yesterday she"d been so desperate to escape that she"d risked her life to run away. But she turned a solemn hazel gaze in his direction and, after a moment, nodded.
He couldn"t help noting her beautiful eyes, remarkable even in her bruised face. A striking mixture of green and gold, they were the shifting, fascinating color of the tarns he remembered from the woods near Penrhyn.
"I accept, Sir Gideon. Thank you." Her lush lashes lowered to shade her eyes to malachite. "I just hope your many kindnesses to me don"t bring you trouble."
More d.a.m.ned grat.i.tude. He dismissed her remark with a grunt. "I"m not sure how kind you"ll think I am when you see the house. I haven"t been back since I was sixteen. Even then, it was far from luxurious. Lord knows what state the place is in now."
According to his father"s solicitors, the old manor still stood as it had stood through four hundred years of wild Cornish weather. They hadn"t, however, been able to vouchsafe the property"s condition. Ramshackle, Gideon guessed, reading between the lines of legal nonsense.
Neither his father nor his older brother had been much of a manager. No reason that should change because Sir Barker Trevithick"s despised younger son vanished into Asia. Before breaking his neck in a drunken hunting accident, Sir Barker hadn"t known whether his second son was alive or dead. Nor, Gideon grimly knew, had he much cared. But then, he"d thought the succession rested safely in Harry"s plate-size hands.
Like so much about Gideon"s return to England, the deaths of his father and brother aroused conflicting reactions. Neither had ever evinced an ounce of affection for him, and he wasn"t hypocritical enough to pretend to mourn their pa.s.sing. Nonetheless, there was a...regret when he thought of two lives so close to his own wasted in debauchery and drunkenness.
Curiosity lit Sarah"s face, and she leaned forward, bracing herself against the jolting carriage. "Has the house been unoccupied since you left?"
"No. My older brother lived there until last winter, when a fever took him."
He kept his voice steady and unemotional. Still, the girl"s expression filled with compa.s.sion. "I"m so sorry," she whispered.
Her ready sympathy made him uncomfortable. "We weren"t close." To say the least. Wild beasts received a more tender upbringing than the two young Trevithicks.
"Then I"m sorry for that too," she said. "Family is important."
"Not to me," he said tersely. "And I hardly think your experience is any improvement on mine."
Her jaw firmed. "My brothers" brutality can"t destroy my faith in human relations. That would give them too great a victory."
Again, he couldn"t stifle his admiration for her indomitable spirit. "You"re a brave young woman." And she"d need every sc.r.a.p of that bravery before she was done. He paused and forced himself to set before her a factor she should consider. "It will be a bachelor establishment, Miss Watson. Me. Tulliver. A few servants. Akash when he arrives in a couple of days."
Briefly, she raised her good hand to touch her mottled cheek. The gesture indicated uncertainty and drew his unwilling attention to her face. This morning both the bruising and the swelling had subsided. A hint of her true features emerged like a shadowy reflection in a mirror. With a doomed sinking in his gut, Gideon recognized that Miss Watson promised to prove a beauty under her injuries.
When he"d rescued her, he hadn"t spared a thought for her physical attractions. She was just a woman needing help. The last thing he wanted to deal with was a winsome female. She would only be a blistering reminder of everything he"d never have.
Fate clearly was in a mood to torment him.
"No ladies at all?" She sounded hesitant. He couldn"t blame her. For a gently bred girl, the prospect of moving into a masculine household must be daunting. "No aged spinster aunts or widowed cousins?"
"I"m afraid not." He wished he could rea.s.sure her that his aid came without risk of consequences. He wished to G.o.d he had some alternative plan for her safety. "We may get away with it. I"ve been abroad a long time, and I have no plans to join local society. The house is remote, and the villagers distrust outsiders."
Nervously, she plucked at the bandage on her arm, her fingers long, pale, and graceful. He noticed she held her arm more easily against the swaying carriage. Clearly Akash"s potions had relieved the worst of her pain.
There was a troubled silence before Sarah spoke. "My safety is more important than my name." She sounded as though she reached that conclusion reluctantly. As she looked up, she managed a shaky smile. "I still can"t see why you take this trouble. Your generosity to a stranger does you credit."
Gideon shifted uncomfortably under her wholehearted approbation. He desperately needed to shatter the encroaching intimacy, fine as spider"s web, strong as steel, but something in her unblinking regard forced the truth from him.
"I abhor injustice. I abhor bullies. Everything in me resists allowing men who treat a woman as you"ve been treated to profit from their evil." His voice roughened with emotion. "While there is breath in my body, Miss Watson, I"ll do my utmost to ensure your freedom and security."
Immediately he repented his impulsive declaration.
Her eyes glowed gold as a streak of sunlight striking a forest pool. Her lips parted, but no words emerged. She leaned toward him but, thank G.o.d, didn"t touch him. Even so, his skin itched as though she reached for him.
d.a.m.n, d.a.m.n, d.a.m.n. He should have recognized the looming danger before this. He needed to destroy this building affinity, not encourage it. Why hadn"t he kept his blasted mouth shut?
At last he interpreted exactly what her expression portended. His inescapable conclusions made his stomach lurch with nausea.
Miss Watson regarded him with unstinting, uncritical, and completely unwarranted hero worship.
Following his moving declaration of unconditional protection, Sir Gideon"s withdrawal was tangible. She stifled a p.r.i.c.kle of hurt she had no right to feel.
He spent most of the day asleep. Or feigning sleep. She couldn"t be sure. What she could be sure of was that he wouldn"t welcome her curiosity. Even though curiosity about him gnawed at her mind like hungry rats.
His apparent oblivion provided her with uninterrupted hours to study her companion. The mysterious ailment had pa.s.sed although he was still pale and gaunt. Charis was guiltily aware that her reckless escape had prompted his attack although she had no idea why. His suffering had been so extreme, she could hardly bear witnessing it. The agonizing frustration was that she could do so little to help.
She gathered he endured these awful spells on a regular basis. What on earth was wrong with him? She hadn"t seen anything like his illness before although she"d nursed her father and her mother and ministered to many sick tenants on the estate.
Gideon Trevithick puzzled her. He fascinated her. She"d never known anyone to compare to him. She"d never known anyone who affected her the way he did. He was such a compelling mixture of strength and vulnerability. Every time she looked at him, her heart launched into a tipsy dance. This breathless excitement was unfamiliar and frightening. None of her suitors had stirred this hunger for their merest presence.
Perhaps she felt this way because he"d saved her. First in Winchester, then from those vile miscreants in the alley. A shudder rippled through her as she imagined what would have happened in Portsmouth if Gideon hadn"t appeared like a guardian angel. Degradation and death had edged so close.
But as her eyes traced Sir Gideon"s dark features, she knew her interest went beyond grat.i.tude. Deep and sincere as that grat.i.tude was. He was beautiful, he was brave, he was damaged, he was frighteningly clever. And the briefest sight of him made her breath jam in her throat.
Dear Lord, she"d known him little more than a day, and already she brimmed with giddy, irrational longings. What state would she be in after three weeks in his company?
At least the continuing silence served one good purpose. He didn"t question her further, saving her from dredging up more lies to p.r.i.c.k her conscience. Ingrained habits of mistrust and caution urged her to keep her ident.i.ty secret, although if anyone deserved her honesty, it was Sir Gideon.
Now she was about to move into his house. A forbidden thrill raced through her at the prospect. A thrill mixed with apprehension. If the world discovered she lived under his roof without a chaperone, she"d be ruined. Another good reason to keep her ident.i.ty secret.
She glanced across at her sleeping rescuer and couldn"t help thinking that ruin had never looked so alluring.
Oh, Charis, wicked, wicked. The angels weep for you.
Charis"s endlessly circling thoughts eventually took on the carriage"s rocking rhythm and lulled her into a half-waking state. Each lurch of the coach worsened her aches and reminded her she was far from recovered after Hubert"s beating.
For most of the day, they traversed rough moorland. In the late afternoon, Charis was awake to notice they pa.s.sed between two gateposts, worn and covered in ivy. Rampant lions held carved stone shields so old and moss-encrusted, any detail was long obliterated. Rusted gates hung drunkenly, smothered in weeds that had died last summer and never been cut back. Soon after, they entered a thick wood.
Charis stirred to mark the change in the landscape but was too tired to ponder its significance. She stretched stiff muscles and bit back a moan as the movement tested her injuries. With a sigh she couldn"t restrain, she leaned her head back against the seat, hoping to heaven there wasn"t another night of travel ahead. She was heartily sick of the rattling, b.u.mping coach.
They continued for another half hour or so. Interlacing branches above the rutted track turned the interior of the carriage into shadowy mystery. In his corner, Sir Gideon was a silent, magnetic presence, his long legs stretched across the well between the benches, his arms crossed over his hard chest. She had no idea whether he was asleep or pretending.
To her regret, Charis knew she looked like she"d been dragged through a bush. She"d been a fright yesterday, and the day"s traveling would only worsen her appearance. Since he"d changed his clothes, Gideon had regained his louche elegance. Even the faint beard darkening his jaw enhanced his masculine appeal, adding a rakish air to his chiseled features. She closed her eyes and told herself to think of something other than Sir Gideon. A command impossible to obey.
Through her fog of discomfort and exhaustion, Charis heard Tulliver shout and felt the carriage shudder to a halt. She opened dazed eyes. They"d left the wood, and late sunlight flooded through the windows.
She leaned her head out the window and looked up at the grizzled figure in the driver"s seat. "Why have we stopped, Tulliver?"
"Look, miss." He gestured with his whip. "Penrhyn."
With a glance at Sir Gideon"s motionless figure, she forced her tired muscles into ungainly movement. She scrambled from the coach and turned in the direction Tulliver indicated.
And fell in love at first sight.
They were on a slight rise. Behind stretched the woods they"d just driven through. In front, the land sloped gently down to the cliffs. Beyond was the glory of the sea, deep blue in the fading light.
Part of sky, sea, wild landscape was the house perched on the edge of the cliffs, looking westward. Centuries old. Worn. Welcoming, even at this distance. Its soft golden stone glowed in the long rays of sunlight. Penrhyn called to Charis across the pale winter gra.s.s that trembled in the fresh sea breeze.
"It takes your breath away, doesn"t it?"
Reluctantly, she tore her gaze from the house to look at Gideon, who emerged from the carriage behind her. He"d been nurtured in this glorious place. No wonder he was so remarkable. She swallowed to shift the lump of emotion that lodged in her throat at the house"s perfect beauty. "It"s magnificent."
He stopped beside her, close enough for her to be aware of his commanding height. She wasn"t an especially short woman, but he made her feel small and fragile. Her heart did its usual dip and leap at his nearness. How she wished she could control her foolish reactions.
"Yes, it is." His voice was calm. Artificially so, she guessed. Although his striking face was impa.s.sive, she couldn"t mistake the tension in his lean frame. "I wondered if it had changed. It hasn"t."
Charis frowned, confused by the currents swirling beneath his calm surface. For someone who had left his home many years ago, he appeared less than overjoyed to be back. "How could you bear to stay away for so long?"