Highwayman Husband

Vaguely irritated by the intensity of his inspection, Laura glanced down at her soiled apron. ‘I suppose I do look a sight, don’t I?’

‘What are you doing?’ he asked, casting a casual glance about the room.

‘These rooms have hardly been touched in two years, and I thought that now you’re back you might want them reopening.’

‘Why close them in the first place? Did you take exception to cleaning them?’

Stung by what she mistakenly took to be a reprimand, Laura bristled. ‘Not at all. Why not close them? I didn’t need them. The house is enormous, and with just myself living here it hardly seemed worth keeping servants to clean empty rooms. Every now and then I see to it that a superficial cleaning is done, and fires lit during winter months to keep them aired.’

With a look that betrayed a mild degree of amusement he nodded. ‘Since when did ladies of the manor start doing menial chores themselves? We are not exactly in the position where we’re too poor to employ extra servants.’

‘I know, but I’m not above or averse to doing housework—or scrubbing floors, even, if I have to. Do you want these rooms reopened?’

‘Yes, but from what I’ve seen, you’re going to have your work cut out. Are you sure you’re up to the challenge?’ Lucas asked, but she seemed so eager, and her smile so disarming, that he really believed she was looking forward to the task. He noticed the carving of the horse she held and reached out to take it from her. His long, lean fingers traced its lines. ‘This was a keepsake of my mother’s,’ he murmured distantly. ‘When her horse died, my father carved its likeness and gave it to her one Christmas.’

‘It—it’s beautiful. Your father must have been extremely talented,’ Laura remarked generously.

‘No, he wasn’t,’ Lucas countered. ‘You’re being too kind. He would be the first to tell you that he was no craftsman. It’s a poor likeness, but Mother loved it.’

After placing the carving on the mantel beneath the portrait he turned, folding his hands behind his back and looking thoughtfully about the room with deceptively lazy eyes.

‘This is one room in particular I would like to make use of. It was my father’s study. We spent many an hour discussing matters that were of import at the time—issues from as far afield as India and America, to what was happening here at Roslyn. Sometimes Mother would be seated by the fire, quietly occupied with her sewing—listening.’

‘Why did you go away?’ Laura found herself asking, for it puzzled her, when he had so much here in Cornwall, why he would want to leave it.

Lucas shrugged absently. ‘That is a question I have asked myself countless times during my imprisonment. My parents didn’t want me to leave Roslyn, but they didn’t try to dissuade me, either. I was young and restless, with a sense of adventure and a yearning to see foreign places. I wanted more than what Cornwall had to offer, so I went to work for the government. I suddenly found myself surrounded by intrigue—danger. It appealed to me. But in the end I always knew I would come back to what I know and understand. My father knew it, too. Roslyn is my home—my life,’ he finished quietly, as if speaking his private thoughts aloud.

Uncertain of his mood, and with a sense that he had momentarily forgotten she was there, Laura remained still, watching him.

After a moment Lucas’s gaze came to rest on her once more. A shaft of light slanting through the window fell on her small proud head with its crown of shining curls. With her delicate hands clasped in front of her, her dark eyes were watching him intently, causing something to stir within his heart.

She was completely female, not just feminine but womanly, lovely, and she also had the softest, most inviting mouth he had ever seen. There was a vulnerability about her, a sweet, wild essence that still belonged to the girl he had married, and he remembered how these qualities had appealed to him as much then as they did now. Despite the unpleasant circumstances which had led to their marriage, he had felt proud to have her at his side on their wedding day.

Unconsciously she reached up a hand to brush away a wisp of hair, and the movement of her arm lifted the rounded fullness of her young breast. Lucas’s eyes narrowed in appreciation and he felt his blood run warm in his veins and the heat of it move to his belly.

He didn’t understand why Laura had such a volatile effect on him, but he understood that he wanted her, wanted her soft and willing in his arms. He tried to tell himself that this growing fascination with his wife was merely lust caused by two long years of abstinence, but he knew it was more than lust that held him enthralled.

Shoving his hands into his pockets, he moved closer to where she stood and looked down at her. His expression was grave and serious, at the same time inquiring. ‘Do you enjoy your life at the manor, Laura?’ he asked unexpectedly. ‘A young woman—alone in this great house without company?’

‘I—I have John and his wife.’

‘They’re good, loyal people, I grant you, but they are servants.’

‘Their position has nothing to do with it. I have become extremely fond of them both, and class them as my friends.’

‘Do you not long for the gaieties of city life?’ he asked, watching her closely. ‘I wouldn’t blame you if you had chosen to seek the social whirl. Do you regret not doing so?’

‘Do I look regretful? I don’t long for any kind of social whirl,’ Laura told him frankly. ‘I am happy here and never lonely.’

‘Nevertheless, London can be a very alluring place to a young woman who suddenly finds herself an extremely rich widow. Your protected upbringing would never have prepared you for the situation you found yourself in on my alleged demise. Weren’t you tempted to leave all this behind? After all, it meant nothing to you.’

‘No,’ she said quickly, offended that he might think that and eager to make him understand otherwise. ‘I’m not like that. When you know me better you will see that I do not shake off my responsibilities so easily, Lucas. I told you last night that I considered it my duty to remain, and that I have come to love this place. I did not speak lightly. Oh, it can be unnerving when there is a storm,’ she admitted, ‘and at times the wind does seem to buffet the house so hard I often think it’s about to be blown off its perch. Sometimes it shrieks so loud I feel frightened when I hear it.’

‘And yet you stay.’

‘Yes. It’s my home. Besides,’ she said, the trace of a smile tugging at her lips, ‘what sort of figure do you think I should cut in London without the right escort?’

‘You have your brother and his wife, and Carlyle is often in London, I hear. Did he not ask you to accompany him?’

‘No. And if he had I would have refused,’ she said with absolute honesty.

‘But you must miss your brother and his family,’ Lucas persisted.

‘I told you that I have seen them recently. Philip and Jane brought the children to Roslyn for the summer months.’ She looked sideways at him. ‘Are you, by any chance, telling me that I should not have stayed at the manor after all, Lucas? Are you trying to get rid of me?’

Lucas shook his head. ‘No, indeed,’ he answered, ‘and I am extremely grateful that you didn’t desert the old house and those dependent on the family for subsistence. But, on reflection, I realise that it can’t have been easy for you.’

‘It was a difficult time, I admit that, but the way I saw it I had no choice.’

Lucas smiled and ran a finger down her cheek, gently taking hold of a stray curl and hooking it behind her ear, thinking how adorable she looked with her hair all mussed up and smudges of dirt on her lovely face.

‘I have every reason to be grateful to you for your loyalty. You certainly looked after my interests in my absence. I can see I could not have left my affairs in more capable hands.’ He nodded slowly, his astute gaze on her face while a slow smile drifted across his own. ‘You’re a strange creature, Laura, and not a conventional one. I can see that. Just as I think I’m getting to know you, some new trait shows itself.’

‘May God spare me from being predictable,’ she laughed, quite appalled by the idea and sharing his humour.

‘Something tells me you’ll never be that. That’s your appeal,’ Lucas responded quietly. He gave her a long, silent look, and then moved away. ‘I have things to do and I shall disrupt your work no longer.’

‘What are you planning to do with yourself today?’ Laura asked, reluctant to see him go.

‘Oh, this and that,’ he replied casually, shooting her a brief smile before disappearing out of the door.

Alone once more, Laura wandered around, mechanically going about her chores. Her emotions seemed to be all over the place, and thoughts of Lucas filled her head. She had a feeling that something deep inside him was reaching out to her, and, finding an answering response in her, this strong, magnetic pull was drawing them closer together. The thought warmed her.

Despite their volatile encounter on the road last night and the angry words they had exchanged—when Lucas had made it plain that he expected complete obedience from her, that she would be governed by him and bend to his will—every instinct that she possessed told her that he was a sensitive man, capable of great gentleness as well as strength.

Laura waited all day for Lucas to return to the house. When he failed to do so and the light began to fade, she went in search of John. ‘I thought our guest would have returned by now, John. Would you instruct George to saddle my horse? I think I’ll ride to Stennack. I believe that is where I shall find him—don’t you?’

‘Aye, my lady. That’s where he’ll be.’ John watched her go, seeing there was an added spring to her step, and that her large eyes were aglow and animated. He smiled, his wrinkled face alight with happiness for her.

Laura rode along the narrow, winding path along the top of the cliffs, with Stennack always within her sights. She breathed deeply the crisp October air, tasting the salt of the sea on her lips. She came to a place where the land was broken by a fast-flowing stream which looped its way through the valley below, among marshes and reedbeds, until it was funnelled into a deep lagoon.

Following the path down, she paused, gazing at the still waters, quiet and beautiful, but, as everyone in these parts knew, depending on the weather, this could change and be quite frightening. Over the years several drownings had occurred here, and at least one ghost was reputed to walk and disappear into the cold and mysterious black depths.

But this did not trouble Laura, her mind being too preoccupied with other matters. At the end of the lagoon the water spilled into Roslyn Cove, running out to the sea. Slowly she followed its course, the precipitously wooded cliffs rising on either side. At the point where the river ran onto the sands the rocks fused above, forming an archway through which she could see the sea beyond, with the last rays of the setting sun resting on its dark waters with a translucent clarity.

Further out in the cove there was a large number of rocks, some of which showed themselves at half-tide, some at low water, but by far the greater of these never appeared at all. Many stricken ships had met their doom on these submerged rocks. The coastline with its small, sandy beaches was littered with the naked bones of wrecks. It had many hidden coves and creeks and inaccessible caves, which together gave rise to tales of smuggling and wrecking.

When Laura had first come to Roslyn there had been excitement and romance in some of these tales, but after she had borne witness to one ill-fated ship that had run aground on the rocks during a storm the reality had destroyed the romance. She had seen with her own eyes the ruthless desperation of the men and women who had come from the nearby hamlets and surged into the cove to salvage what they could when the spoils of the sea were dragged onto the beach, all half crazy and behaving like animals as they made sure there were no survivors from the stricken vessel.