Regency High Society Vol 3

But of course the wretched man wouldn’t have considered that, not when he’s no doubt swigging down wine or brandy in some comfortable inn! she thought angrily, following the progress of a boat leaving the small harbour, before her attention was captured by a troupe of acrobats performing wondrous feats as they progressed along the street. So enthralled did she become that she didn’t even notice a tall figure positioning himself on the wall beside her.

‘You’ve been well entertained during my absence, I see,’ that unmistakable voice remarked, thereby alerting Katherine to Daniel’s presence at last. ‘You’ll no doubt be pleased to hear I was successful in my search, and we’ll soon be leaving these shores.’

Katherine watched him glance about him. Ever vigilant, he was always on the lookout for any possible danger. ‘You sound relieved,’ she remarked, before taking a further bite out of her pie. ‘Do you suppose there are people here searching for us?’

‘Unlikely. But I shan’t be completely easy in my mind until we’ve set foot again on English soil. Ah! And here’s the very person who’ll be making that eventuality possible.’

Katherine raised her eyes to see a man of about Daniel’s age and build bearing down upon them. The breeze caught his long blond hair, whipping it back to reveal a face which was both bronzed and handsome. He nodded at Daniel before turning his striking blue eyes in her direction. Then he smiled faintly.

‘Your nephew, monsieur, is ready to leave? Let us hope that—er—he is a good sailor, hein?’ He raised his eyes and glanced out to sea. ‘The wind is getting up. I fear the crossing will not be a smooth one,’ he warned, before returning his gaze to Daniel, who was now looking decidedly thoughtful. ‘I ask no questions, monsieur. I have been paid well to take you. Come, my boat is moored a little further along the quay, and my men are ready to set sail.’

‘How on earth did you manage to pay him, Daniel?’ Katherine whispered, as they followed the man whom she imagined pirates of old would have strongly resembled. ‘Surely the money I gave you was not sufficient?’

‘It is Josephine we must thank for his services,’ Daniel didn’t hesitate to reveal. ‘He is a—er—close friend of hers. Even so, she was forced to dig deep into her purse before he would agree to her request.’ His worried frown grew more pronounced. ‘I do not doubt that he’ll keep to his part of the bargain. But what does concern me is that he has already guessed your sex. Stay close by me, Kate.’

She hardly required the warning. It was an effort, but she did just manage to resist the temptation to cling again to that reassuring hand, once Daniel had helped her negotiate the narrow gangplank, and her feet were safely planted on the wooden deck. All the same, she followed him like an adoring puppy to the stern of the boat, where she settled herself as near as she dared beside him on a thick coil of rope, well away from those members of the crew who resembled nothing so much as a band of cut-throats as they continued about their duties.

Katherine experienced a tiny thrill of excitement as the vessel began to move away from the quayside. Unfortunately the pleasure was short-lived, for no sooner had they left the calm waters of the small harbour behind them than she realised that the captain’s warning of a rough crossing had not been in jest. The wind grew very much stronger, and it wasn’t long before she began to feel a little queasy at the constant rolling of the boat.

At first she tried to ignore the feeling of nausea, reminding herself that she had travelled by water on numerous occasions when, as a child, she had made frequent visits to England, and had never suffered any ill effects. Furthermore, when she had travelled over to France on the packet just a few short weeks before she had felt perfectly comfortable. None the less, she was eventually forced to face the fact that she wasn’t going to be all right this time. Her head had started to throb, and she was beginning to feel hot and sticky, even with the chill wind full in her face.

‘What’s the matter?’ Daniel had not been slow to note that she had become increasingly withdrawn. ‘Do you feel unwell?’

She saw little point in trying to deny it. ‘Yes, terrible. In fact, I think—’

She got no further, and made a frantic dive for the side of the boat, hanging her head over, while at the same time striving to keep a hold on her hat. Daniel was beside her in an instant, his firm clasp on her shoulders steadying her, before promptly handing her his handkerchief.

‘Oh, you poor darling,’ she thought she heard him mutter, as he very gently guided her back to their makeshift seat. ‘Wait there. I’ll not be a moment.’

Through streaming eyes, Katherine watched him making his way with amazing agility along the rolling deck to where the captain stood issuing instructions to his crew. She saw those striking blue orbs turn in her direction, before she closed her own in an attempt to stem the flow of tears rolling down her face. She felt so ashamed for succumbing to a feminine weakness that she had always despised, but she just didn’t seem able to stop herself. She felt as helpless as a baby, and couldn’t even summon enough strength to shake off the hand which suddenly grasped her arm just above the elbow, urging her to rise, when all she wanted was to be left alone to curl up and die.

‘Come,’ Daniel coaxed, when she managed to put up a feeble show of resistance at being led across the deck. He would willingly have carried her had he not needed one free hand to steady himself and prevent them both from stumbling. The Channel seemed to be growing rougher with every passing minute, but he somehow managed to maintain his balance and succeeded in getting them both down the few wooden stairs which led to the captain’s private quarters, without either coming to grief.

Once safely inside the cabin, Daniel wasted no time in removing Katherine’s outer garments. Which was perhaps just as well, for no sooner had he helped her on to the narrow cot-bed than he found himself having to snatch up a bowl.

‘You’ll feel better soon,’ he tried to assure her, once she had made use of the receptacle, though he was far from certain himself. She looked deathly pale, even though her forehead felt clammy to the touch, but there was little more he could do for her except bathe her face with the fresh water he had discovered in a bottle, and then cover her with a blanket.

He very much feared that she wasn’t over the worst quite yet, and his prediction proved all too accurate. Unfortunately he wasn’t quick enough with the bowl the second time, and Katherine succeeded in badly soiling the front of her shirt.

It took him a few moments only to come to a decision. The captain, although undoubtedly a rogue of the highest order, had been generous enough to put his cabin and its contents at their disposal. Consequently Daniel didn’t hesitate to rifle through a large chest, and take out a clean shirt. Whether Katherine felt too weak to put up any resistance, or simply in the throes of sleep was unaware of what he was doing, Daniel wasn’t quite sure. However, she didn’t attempt to open her eyes or voice any protest when he peeled the shirt over her head, gently sponged her body and then hurriedly dressed her in the clean linen.

He then wasted not a moment in taking himself back up on deck in order to empty the two bowls over the side, and to take some deep steadying breaths, before seating himself on the coiled rope and marvelling at his powers of restraint. He was certainly no stranger to feminine charms, but he couldn’t recall setting eyes on a female form more perfect than that.

With a decidedly rueful grin on his lips, he gazed beyond the starboard side of the boat into the darkness. He could only hope that when she discovered what he had done, which assuredly she would, she would understand that his actions had been prompted by the purest motives, though he could not deny that it had been difficult to resist the temptation to look his fill.

‘Your young friend is feeling better, I trust?’

Daniel raised his eyes in time to catch a roguish grin on their captain’s lips. He had guessed at once, when Josephine had introduced them the previous evening, precisely in which profession her friend was engaged. A smuggler and out-and-out scoundrel the man might be, but he wasn’t lacking sympathy, and he was certainly no fool.

‘It didn’t take you very long to guess my companion’s a female,’ he remarked as the captain appeared inclined to linger.

He received a shout of laughter in response. ‘I am a Frenchman, monsieur. You no doubt had your reasons for attempting to conceal her sex. But she is far too enchanting to be a boy.’

Lovelier than you imagine, Daniel mused, as the tantalising image of that perfect, naked torso appeared before his mind’s eye to torment him.

‘I’ve been paid well by our mutual friend to take you across to England. I’ve always made a practice of minding my own business. It is safer that way.’ The captain raised his blond head to stare out across the sea. ‘The wind is dropping. We’ve made good time. You shall see your homeland again at dawn.’

Relieved by this assurance, Daniel settled himself more comfortably on the coil of rope. ‘You do not envisage having any difficulty in landing us at the location requested?’

‘I know your coastline as well as I know my own,’ the captain assured him. ‘And I’m a master at avoiding your patrolling vessels. No, I do not envisage any trouble. Why do you not go below and get some rest? You shall not be disturbed.’

A further rueful smile tugged at the corners of Daniel’s mouth. ‘I think it might be wise if I remain on deck, I thank you. I’m in need of a little air.’ He chose not to add that he knew his limitations. He was a man, after all, and he didn’t wish to be tempted into doing something of which afterwards he might well feel very ashamed.

* * *

Katherine opened her eyes to see the lamp suspended above her head swinging to and fro and, uttering a groan, quickly shut them again. She had hoped it might all have been some diabolical nightmare; that she could not possibly hear the creaking of timbers or be rocking to and fro as though she were in a cradle, but it was all too real. She was still on board that wretched vessel!

‘Ha! So you’re awake, are you? Good! It saves me the trouble of having to rouse you.’

Katherine forced just one eye open this time to see Daniel, appearing disgustingly hale and hearty, negotiating the last few narrow steps down to the cabin. ‘No, I’m not awake. Go away!’ she snapped pettishly, as a vague memory of his being here not very long ago and pouring something fiery down her throat filtered through her mind. ‘I’m not having any more of that wretched draught you gave me.’

‘It was brandy, young woman. And it wouldn’t hurt to take a drop more. You must get up,’ he announced with what she considered a callous lack of sympathy. ‘The rowboat is already over the side, and two members of the crew are waiting to row us ashore.’

His last disclosure possessed the magical effect of some powerful restorative, and Katherine sat up, swinging her feet to the floor. ‘Do you mean we’re back in England?’

‘Not quite, but we very soon shall be,’ he assured her, helping her to don both hat and jacket, before swirling the cloak about her shoulders. Then, taking a firm clasp of her wrist, he led the way up on deck, where the captain stood waiting to help her over the side.

Daniel offered to toss her over his shoulder and carry her down the rope-ladder; a suggestion which she instantly declined. Her legs might still feel slightly wobbly and she certainly wasn’t fully restored, but she had no intention of suffering the indignity of being handled in such a fashion with the captain and his crew looking on, though she was thankful when Daniel insisted on descending first.

Although they seemed a fair distance away from the shore, Katherine was amazed, once she had managed to scramble into the rowing-boat, just how quickly they reached the beach. The relief of stepping on to dry land almost restored her spirits completely.

‘Where in the name of heaven are we precisely?’ she asked, after watching the two sailors head back towards their vessel.

‘We’re on the Dorset coast.’

For a moment she thought she must have misheard. ‘What possessed you to have us set down here? How do you propose we reach London …? Walk?’

‘I’m not taking you to London. I’ve funds enough remaining to get us safely to my home, which is about twenty miles from here, where I’ll be able to keep an eye on you.’

Puzzled, Katherine joined him on the huge rock a little further up the beach, where he had settled himself. ‘I do not perfectly understand, Daniel. Sir Giles wished me to travel to the capital.’

‘I know what that old rogue wanted, Kate. But I have no intention of placing you in his hands. I’ll send him word that we’re back safely, once I’ve reached home. But until I know precisely what he intends to do, I’m not letting you out of my sight.’

Arrogantly dictatorial his decision might have been, but it engendered such a warm feeling of contentment deep inside as she turned her head to see the rugged lines of his profile now set in hard determination.

What a complex mass of amazing contradictions Major Daniel Ross had turned out to be! she mused. He still did, and possibly always would, annoy her intensely on occasions. Yet there had been times during these past days when she had felt very moved by his displays of attention and thoughtful concern for her well-being. Although she thankfully retained few memories of that wretched sea voyage, she did recall quite clearly how he had helped her down to the privacy of the cabin, and had covered her with a blanket. She recalled too with humiliating clarity the way he had held the basin for her when she had been so helpless in the throes of nausea.

Her smile was distinctly tender. ‘I have yet to thank you for taking such care of me last night, Daniel,’ she said softly. ‘It must have been no less a disagreeable time for you than it was for me.’

‘I have enjoyed vastly more pleasurable experiences, certainly,’ he conceded.

An understatement if ever there was one! Katherine mused, with a tiny shake of her head, still at a loss to understand why she should have succumbed to the malady. ‘It really is most odd. I’ve never suffered from seasickness before. I can only imagine it must have been that pasty I ate.’

‘Possibly,’ he returned vaguely, as he raised his eyes to scan the cliff face, which Katherine privately hoped he had no intention of asking her to attempt to negotiate. ‘If you feel sufficiently recovered now, I should like to begin the last stage of our journey. I have every intention of reaching Rosslair before nightfall.’

‘Rosslare?’ Katherine gaped up at him in astonishment as he rose to tower above her. ‘But that’s in Ireland, Daniel! Why in the name of heaven do you want to go there?’

Once again a wry smile clung to his attractive mouth as he helped her to her feet. ‘Yes, I suppose I should have known from the very first,’ he remarked somewhat enigmatically, just as a gust of wind sent several auburn curls whipping across her face. ‘Rosslair is the name of my home, Katherine,’ he enlightened her, as he reached out one hand to capture the errant strands and confine them beneath the hat once more. ‘The spelling is different. It is a coincidence, all the same, that I should be taking to my Rosslair a half-Irish girl.’

The fleeting touch of those fingers brushing against her cheek was no less disturbing than the look of tenderness Katherine couldn’t fail to perceive in his dark brown eyes. For several entranced moments she found it impossible to draw her gaze away. It was almost as if something tangible were binding them together, making each such an integral part of the other that they were becoming inseparable, becoming one. Then the spell was broken by a further gust of wind off the sea that caught at her cloak, sending it billowing about her. She grasped at the folds in an attempt to keep it about her shoulders, and her attention was captured by the long length of fine lawn almost reaching down to her knees.

Frowning slightly, she began to tuck the shirt front beneath the waistband of her trousers. The garment seemed much longer, and baggier than the one she had been wearing the day before. ‘Daniel, this isn’t the shirt you purchased for me, is it?’

He hurriedly turned away, but not before Katherine had detected the look of comical dismay which took possession of his features. Eyes narrowing suspiciously, she followed him towards the mass of large rocks which lined the base of the cliff. ‘Daniel, where did this shirt come from?’

‘You have our free-trading friend the captain to thank for your clean linen, Kate. You soiled your own shirt, and he was kind enough to give you one of his.’

‘Free-trader?’ Katherine swooped down on this interesting snippet. ‘Do you mean he’s a smuggler? I should have guessed,’ she went on when he nodded. ‘I thought it a strange fishing vessel. And I certainly didn’t detect the aroma of fish.’

‘No, but you’d have detected the aroma of brandy quickly enough if you’d been more yourself,’ he responded, thereby returning her thoughts to the borrowed raiment, and inducing a frown.

‘It’s odd, but I cannot recall being given the shirt.’

There was no response.

‘It’s odd that I cannot recall putting it on, either.’ Again there was no response. Furthermore he had suddenly quickened his pace, determined, it seemed, to remain just that short distance ahead—or determined to bring the conversation to an end. A horrendous possibility suddenly occurred to her. ‘Daniel! I demand to know at once how I come to be wearing this garment!’

He stopped and swung round so abruptly that Katherine almost cannoned into him. ‘All right, if you’re so set on knowing … I changed it for you, as you were incapable of doing it yourself,’ he admitted. ‘Now, does that satisfy you?’

She could feel the searing heat slowly rising from the base of her throat. ‘But-but … I’m not wearing anything beneath,’ she squealed, cheeks now aflame.

‘I’m well aware of that, strangely enough,’ he admitted, before neatly avoiding the small fist which swung in a wide arc towards his left ear.

It wasn’t so much the bold admission itself that had instantly replaced the searing humiliation with anger as the provocative gleam which had sprung into his brown eyes. ‘Ooh, you—you lecherous wretch!’ she screeched, frustration at missing her target only adding to her wrath. ‘I trusted you! How could you have taken advantage of me in such a despicable way?’

Half-amused, half-exasperated, Daniel followed as she swung away and began to stride up the beach, her slender frame held rigid with indignation. He could quite understand her mortification and anger, though he found it difficult to maintain his countenance when she swiped his hand away as he reached out to assist her over the rocks.

‘All I did was try to make you more comfortable, Kate,’ he ventured gently.

‘Kindly do not speak to me!’

‘My actions stemmed from the purest of motives,’ he assured her, sublimely ignoring the request.

The earnest admission won him a brief, considering glance. ‘Maybe so,’ she conceded in a tight little voice still throbbing with anger.

‘Come, be fair, Kate!’ he urged, determined to bring her out of her sulky mood, which was so unlike her. She might be a feisty little wench on occasions, hot-tempered and occasionally wilful, but sullenness was not in her nature. ‘After all, it was no more than you did to me when I received that slight wound the other day.’

‘That, Major Ross, was totally different, and you know it!’ she countered, clearly unwilling to be pacified. ‘You were fully aware of what I was doing the whole time. Furthermore, I don’t suppose for a moment that I’m the first female to have glimpsed you in a half-naked state. Whereas you are most certainly the first man ever to have seen me.’

He hardly needed this assurance, but the totally honest admission gave him a wonderful feeling of satisfaction all the same. ‘No, I don’t suppose I am the first, Kate. I expect your father was,’ he teased gently, and she swung round, tiny fists clenched.

‘Ooh, you really are asking to get your ears boxed!’

‘If it will help you recover from your fit of the sullens, then go ahead,’ he invited, screwing up his eyes in anticipation of the blow that never came. Consequently he risked opening just one again a moment later in time to catch the faintest of twitches at one corner of that delectable mouth.

‘This conversation is becoming ridiculous,’ Katherine announced, turning away in time to hide the smile that she seemed incapable of suppressing.

‘Wrong,’ he countered. ‘This conversation was ridiculous from the first. So I would suggest that, instead of wasting our breath in fruitless argument, we channel our energy into something far more worthwhile—namely, getting off this beach.’

She couldn’t help but agree with this. ‘And do you happen to know of some way off this rock-fall, without having to get our feet wet?’

‘There’s a path up the cliff a little further along. My cousin Simon and I occasionally played here when we were boys.’

Memory stirred. Katherine was almost sure that the cousin to whom he had just referred was none other than the man who had married his childhood sweetheart. Consequently she tactfully refrained from comment. She had no desire for him to discover that she had already learned something of his past from her aunt. If he wished to confide in her he would do so, she decided, asking instead if they were close to any towns or villages.

‘There’s a sizeable habitation about three miles away, where I’m certain we’ll have no trouble in acquiring a mount. We’ll be able to get something to eat there, if nothing else.’

She cast him an impatient glance. ‘If you possess any sensibility at all, Major Ross, you will kindly not mention food to me, especially after what I’ve suffered.’

His shout of laughter might have held a callous ring, but his voice did not lack sympathy. ‘I can understand your sentiments, my little love, but food is precisely what you do need, if only to maintain your strength. I’m determined to complete the last leg of our journey, for I have every intention of sleeping in my own bed tonight!’

Chapter Twelve

Rosslair was bathed in warm afternoon sunshine when Katherine caught her first glimpse of the greystone manor house, set in the gently rolling countryside she well remembered. It was a truly handsome building, not large by some standards, but undeniably the home of a gentleman of comfortable means.

As Daniel urged the weary mount into the courtyard at the back of the house, the sound of hooves on cobblestones brought a stocky individual of average height from one of the numerous outbuildings, which lined the yard on three of its sides. His craggy features were instantly softened by a broad smile of welcome, as his clear blue gaze rested upon the man about whose waist Katherine had clung for the past few hours, and a moment later her ears were assailed by an unmistakable accent.

‘To be sure now, I were only saying to Janet this very morn she were worrying herself to no purpose, and that you’d return safe and sound in your own good time. And that happy I am to be proved—’

He checked as his gaze fell upon the delicately featured face peering at him round one broad shoulder. ‘Now what have we here, Major, sir? Not another lad to help about the place, I’m thinking.’ He peered more closely as Daniel assisted the slender figure behind him to the ground before dismounting himself. “Tis not a lad at all, I’m thinking.’

‘There’s no fooling you, Sean McGann,’ Daniel announced, before making Katherine known to the man who had served him loyally throughout the hard-fought campaign in the Peninsula.

‘O’Malley?’ Positively beaming with delight, the exsergeant grasped the slender fingers held out to him. ‘Now, there’s a fine Irish name for you!’