Sea of Desire (42 page)

Merideth.

Jared took a shattered breath and shut his
eyes. Belle found him like that when she came to light the candles
in the room.

“I thought you lived with Captain
Blackstone.” It was dark; they’d ridden hard all day and into the
night to arrive at Charles Town. And though she’d only been there
once, and though she could barely see now, Merideth was certain
this wasn’t the same house on Tradd Street.

“I do,” Daniel answered. They were leading
their horses around back to the stables. “But I keep this place
too. For when I want to be off to myself.”

Merideth looked toward him but could discern
no more than a shadowy form.

“It’s better that no one knows you’re here,”
he explained. “ ‘Twill be easier to get you north that way. I’m
convinced that’s the best plan.”

She supposed it made sense, as much sense as
anything else that had happened to her since Jared Blackstone had
come into her life. Besides, she was too tired to think of it now.
Her legs felt limp and quivery. Merideth didn’t know how she could
still stand.

She was startled from her lethargy when
Daniel pounded on the stable door. He yelled a name, and some
minutes later a bedraggled old man with a gray, straggly beard and
torn, filthy clothing opened the door. He held a lantern high,
squinting through the light at Daniel and Merideth.

“What ye be wantin’?” he growled as his body
blocked their entrance to the stable.

Merideth’s horse, obviously as tired as she
and anxious for her feed, pawed the ground.

“Make way for your betters, you insufferable
swine. I’ll tolerate no disrespect from the likes of you.” Daniel
shoved at the man’s chest. The poor old fellow faltered and fell
back, catching himself before tumbling to the straw-littered
floor.

Merideth thought he would come after Daniel
then... the look in the old man’s eyes was fierce. But he evidently
thought better of it. With a scowl he hung the lantern from a hook
and grabbed the reins from Merideth’s hand. She let go instantly,
jumping out of the way when he led the horse past her. This seemed
to amuse the old man, for when he looked back a grotesque parody of
a smile creased his whiskered face. “So now you’re takin’ to
bringin’ girls here too, are ye?”

Before Merideth’s surprised eyes Daniel
lurched forward, clutching the ragged garment covering the old
man’s chest and slapping him hard across the face. Merideth gasped
as the sharp sound echoed through the stable.

“Shut your filthy mouth,” Daniel said before
pushing him to the ground. The horse’s hooves pounded the straw
nervously and Merideth feared the man would be trampled, but he
rolled away. The evil laugh that escaped him made Merideth’s flesh
crawl.

“Come on,” Daniel said as he grabbed the
lantern. He rushed from the stable, leaving it blanketed in
darkness, and Merideth scrambled after him.

“What in heaven’s name happened back there?”
Her voice was breathless as she rushed to catch up with him.
Merideth could see the gardens now, at least the parts where the
small puddle of light spilled. They were overgrown and choked with
weeds.

“He was insolent,” was all Daniel would
say.

The house appeared deserted. They approached
from the back up brick stairs. Merideth tried to suppress her
feelings of apprehension. It was just because it was night and
deathly dark, she thought. In the morning things would appear
brighter. But she couldn’t put the ugly scene in the stable from
her mind.

Once inside, Daniel lit a branch of candles
and led the way up a narrow back staircase. At the top he turned
left and opened a door. The room was large and ornately furnished,
from what Merideth could see as he swept the flickering flames in
an arch.

“You can stay in here.”

As she stepped through the threshold, Daniel
shut the door behind her, leaving her in darkness.

Panic swelled in Merideth’s breast. She
fumbled with the latch, swinging the door open only to find the
hallway deserted. The light gone. Stifling a sob, she shut the
door. Feeling her way along the chair rail, she inched around the
room, all the while fighting her fear.

Her elbow bumped into something hard and she
cried out. A chifforobe, she discovered, as her hands framed the
wooden wardrobe. She found her way to the bed at last, then across
it to the commode at its side. Her fingers fumbled with the objects
on top, trying not to knock them to the floor.

Her eyes were adjusting to the darkness
slowly, and now she could make out dark shadows. Merideth’s breath
quickened when she found the flint. Carefully she struck it, the
blooming flash of light allowing her to see the candle stuck in a
silver holder. The wick caught and Merideth sighed in relief,
collapsing onto the bed.

She lay huddled on her side, staring at the
flickering frame, wondering why she’d come. Deep in her being she
missed the captain. Instinctively her fingers reached for the
locket before remembering that even that small measure of comfort
was gone. But she was glad she’d left it for Jared... left him
something of herself.

What was he doing now? She couldn’t help
wondering what he had thought when he’d read her note. He’d be
angry. She knew that. But his rage would pass. Then he’d realize
what she’d done was for the best.

Now, if Merideth could only convince herself
of that...

Sleep, when it came, was fitful. She tossed
and turned, her dreams many and varied. One moment she was riding
the waves of ecstasy, her body and soul consumed by Jared
Blackstone. The next she was torn from his arms, thrown into a dark
pit where her screams echoed off into nothingness.

It was from the latter nightmare that she
woke with a start. She lay on the bed, her breast heaving, staring
at the circle of light reflected on the ceiling.

She hadn’t noticed before, but above the bed
were paintings. Angels, she thought at first, and smiled. Though
the room was chilled, her face and body were covered with a fine
sheen of perspiration, and she raised her arm to blot her forehead
with her sleeve. When she lowered it she looked up again at the
mural.

The figures weren’t exactly angels. She
squinted her eyes, wishing there was more light. That’s when she
noticed something strange about the elflike creatures. They were
all boys. Merideth blinked her eyes in shock, but couldn’t help
opening them again; she stared intently to make certain she’d seen
it correctly.

There was no doubt. The small, pretty-faced
people cavorting across the ceiling were nude from the waist down,
and painted in graphic detail.

Making a noise of shock and outrage, Merideth
rolled to her side and sat in one motion. Golden curls spilled over
her shoulders as her head hung limply forward. She gulped for
breath, fearing she would be sick.

That’s when she heard voices.

They were raised in laughter, and Merideth
thought they came from somewhere downstairs. Slipping off the bed,
she straightened her gown and picked up the candlestick. The taper
was burning low, sputtering in the melted wax, and Merideth quickly
searched for another, to no avail.

Hurriedly she left the room.

Protecting the flame with her cupped hand,
Merideth rushed along the hall. Passing by the servant’s steps, she
found the top of a wide spiraling staircase. The voices were louder
now. She recognized Daniel’s. There was another, no, two other men
she’d never heard before.

The treads were carpeted in an ornate rug
that softened her footsteps. When she reached the landing she
lifted the stub of a candle to the face of the tall case clock.

Twenty minutes past two.

An hour that should find her abed. But she
couldn’t return to that room. The voices and the bright light
spilling from the room to the right of the wide entrance hall drew
her.

Lifting the skirts of her blue silk gown, she
moved across the hall. In the doorway she paused, staring into the
parlor.

The room was aglow with a multitude of
candles. Overhead a crystal luster sparkled with reflected light.
And in every conceivable spot tapers burned, their twinkling flames
contributing to the brilliance.

Two young men she’d never seen before sat in
the room, sprawling across chairs, their jackets off, their shirts
loose. Daniel stood before them, his back to Merideth. He wore a
floral-patterned banyan of vivid red, and his head, free from the
wig, was covered with wispy brown curls. He held a goblet in one
hand, a decanter in the other, and he used them both to gesture as
he talked.

When one of the men spotted Merideth, he
motioned with his head, and Daniel turned around, his loose robe
swirling about him.

Merideth gasped and stepped back. She’d never
seen anyone look so grotesque. His lips were rouged scarlet and his
eyes lined with kohl. At the apex of each cheek rode a velvet
beauty patch. Merideth could only stare.

But Daniel seemed not to notice. He waved her
in, splashing red wine over his sleeve in the process. “Ah, Lady
Merideth, do come join us.”

“I heard voices,” Merideth began, and
faltered. A smoky haze hung in the air, giving the whole scene a
surreal quality. “I don’t want to disturb you.” Suddenly Merideth
had the strongest urge to bolt. From the room. From the house.

But Daniel’s hand on her elbow stopped any
such thoughts. “Nonsense, my dear Merideth. We wouldn’t dream of
you escaping us.” He was stronger than he looked, and Merideth
found herself being pulled to the center of the garishly decorated
parlor. The couch he led her to was blood red, with rolled bolsters
and gilded legs. The cushions enveloped her when she sat.

Merideth swallowed and tried to stand. The
force of his hold kept her from it.

Unease burgeoned into fear.

“I really should leave.”

This time his voice lost its coating of
civility. “Stay where you are.” His brows lifted. “The party is in
your honor, after all.”

“I don’t know what you want from me, but
I...” She what? Merideth couldn’t think what to say. What to do.
All the while she stared at Daniel, forcing her eyes not to waver.
She didn’t want him to see her fear. But she couldn’t help herself.
She was frightened.

He looked so different with his face painted
like a French courtesan. Yet something about him seemed familiar.
Almost as if she’d seen him like this before. But that was
impossible. Certainly she would remember if he’d ever dressed as a
woman before.

“Let me see.” Daniel brought his hand to his
chin, pointing a finger to his rouged cheek. “Now, what could I
want from you?” He chortled, and the other two men must have found
this amusing, for they both joined him, tittering away.

“I’m leaving.” Merideth pushed his hand aside
and scrambled to her feet. She was nearly to the door when her
shoulders were grabbed and she was whirled about. It was one of the
other men who caught her, held her, as Daniel bore down on her, his
face a mask of rage.

And in that instant Merideth knew where she’d
seen him before.

The coach.

She... he was driving the coach that nearly
ran her down in Paris. He’d worn a hat and veils at the time, but
when Merideth had looked up, the wind caught the netting, blowing
it aside and exposing the face. She’d thought at the time that the
woman was frightened, that the expression on her painted face was
fear. Now she saw it again and recognized it for what it truly was.
Hatred.

“What are you going to do with me?” Merideth
couldn’t keep her voice from trembling. “Why are you doing
this?”

“As to why, my dear Merideth, I think you
know. Was it not recognition I spotted on your angelic face?”

“You tried to run me down with a coach.”

“Ah, you did see me. I feared as much.”

“But why?” Merideth’s voice was insistent.
“What did I ever do to you?”

“Not what you did. What you might do.” Daniel
paused, motioning to the two men. “Go on upstairs with you. I’ll
join you soon.”

“Are you certain we should go?” one of them
asked, and Daniel nodded.

“
This
will insure Lady Merideth’s
cooperation.” He pulled a pistol from the silken folds of his
banyan.

Merideth stood, her back against the
scarlet-covered wall, the gun pointed at her, as the two men left
the room. Her mind worked furiously to come up with a plan to
escape this madman, for that was what she assumed he was. But
nothing came to her, not even when his attention was once again
focused on her.

“You still haven’t figured it out, have you?
Perhaps you aren’t as clever as I thought.”

“Figured what out? I... I don’t know what you
mean.”

“The identity of the traitor. Of Lady
Sinclair.”

“I don’t know who...” The truth came in an
epiphany. “You?”