Web of Love (38 page)

He grinned suddenly and quite unexpectedly. “Little spitfire!” he said. “You remind me of one of my sisters. Never a day passed without our having a good fight.”

“She has my profoundest sympathies,” Jennifer said.

“I will say one thing,” he said. “After I have had the pleasure of conversing with you, I invariably feel angry enough to throw things. And on the whole, I think that is better than the mild irritability I feel with most other people.”

“Madeline should be made into a saint,” she said, “for putting up with you. I would certainly never do so.”

“Ah,” he said, “but you have never been asked to.”

“That was such a glorious set-down,” she said, “that I will not even try to cap it, sir. I see that the Carringtons and Lord Agerton are on the way. I am going to enjoy myself. Good day to you.”

 

L
ORD
E
DEN RODE
at the head of the group with Anna. He had been somewhat amused to notice her maneuvering to have him as a partner. And yet not entirely amused. She was no longer a little girl to be indulged by an older cousin whom she had chosen to make her hero.

Besides, he was a betrothed man. Soon to be a married man and a father. It amazed him that he had been able to live through almost twenty-four hours without blurting his secret to Edmund or to Madeline. Or to someone. He felt distinctly like a child with a precious new toy.

It didn't matter that she did not love him, that she had agreed to marry him only because he had convinced her that their child would suffer if she did not. The fact was that she
had
agreed to marry him. She was his betrothed. He would bring her to love him by very slow degrees after they were married. In such a way that she would not feel threatened, that she would not feel disloyal to her memories of her first husband.

And in the meantime he would withhold the truth from her. She would never marry him if she suspected that his feelings for her were as powerful as they had been during that week when they had been lovers. A sense of honor would make her draw back.

But no matter. On such a day and in such surroundings, one could feel boundless optimism.

“And Papa keeps saying no, but all the time he winks at Mama,” Anna was saying, “so I know he means yes. Oh, it will be so splendid next year, Dominic. I will not be overawed as I was this year, and I will already know a few people. And you will be there, and everyone will see me with the most handsome gentleman in London. You will be there, won't you? You really must come.”

He smiled at her. “I plan to become lord of my own manor immediately after Christmas,” he said. “I may well be enjoying myself so much that I will decide to rusticate, Anna. I really can't promise anything.”

“Oh,” she said, “you could not possibly be so horrid. After you were away all last spring. You know I have had my heart set on it forever, Dominic. Tell me you are only teasing me.”

“I wonder,” he said, “if your riding skills have improved since I rode with you last. Do you think you can race me to the beach?”

“You are about to play your usual trick of galloping off while I am still replying, aren't you?” she cried, and she shrieked and dug her spurs into her horse's sides.

Lord Eden grinned and watched her go for a few seconds before going in pursuit of her.

“He will overtake her, poor girl,” the countess said to Ellen. “No one in living memory has ever raced Dominic on horseback. I was foolish enough to try the first time I rode down onto the beach. He was at the appointed rock and dismounted already before I came up to him. It was a dreadful humiliation.” She laughed.

Lord Eden stopped when grass gave way to sand. He reached up to lift his cousin down.

“Anna,” he said, “while we have some privacy, my dear, we need to have a little talk.”

“Oh, dear,” she said. “And you have that serious look. I can guess about what.”

“Can you?” he said. “You are my cousin, dear. I am very proud of your beauty and your vivacity. I have been delighted to hear of the success of your first Season, and not at all surprised. And I am very, very fond of you.”

She grimaced.

“And that is all, Anna.” He kept his voice firm, though his eyes looked gently enough down at her.

“I know that,” she said. “I have always known that, Dominic. But old dreams are sometimes hard to let go of.”

“Some young man is going to be very fortunate,” he said.

She pulled a face. “I had one offer in the spring,” she said.

He smiled. “Did you? You did not reject him on account of me, I hope.”

“Oh, no,” she said. “I found him stuffy.”

“Then he certainly would not do,” he said.

“Don't make fun of me, Dominic,” she said. “I am not a child. I know I frequently behave like one, but I don't feel like a child. And I can be hurt.”

He brushed one finger beneath her chin. “I was not making fun,” he said. “Whoever you choose, Anna, will have to be very special. I absolutely insist on it. Because you are very special. A ray of sunshine, no less. And I know that you are not a child and that you can be hurt. If you were still a child, I would probably allow this fantasy to continue. And if I did not know you could be hurt, I would not have challenged you to this race so that I might talk privately with you. I don't want you hurt, Anna. This must end now. Understood?”

She sighed and peeped up at him, rather shamefaced. “Yes,” she said. “Just assure me of one thing, Dominic. You are not going to marry Susan, are you?”

“Susan?” he said. “Good Lord, no. Whatever gave you that idea?”

“She did,” she said. “She is always telling Jennifer and Mrs. Simpson how you used to love her and how she broke your heart by marrying Lieutenant Jennings. And you were kissing her on the hill the other day, were you not?”

“Good Lord!” he said. “No, I was not. And no, I am not about to marry Susan, Anna. I can even make that a promise, if it will make you feel better.”

“It will,” she said.

“I promise, then,” he said. “Now, let's tether these horses so that the stablehands who come to fetch them afterward will not have to search over miles of country to find them. And here come the others.”

They all left their horses and walked across the beach for about a mile to a large black rock that was almost directly at the foot of the narrow pathway that snaked its way up the almost sheer face of the high cliffs.

They were fortunate that the tide had only just started to come in, Lord Amberley explained to Ellen, taking her arm through his. If it were right in, there would be no climbing, as the water came right up to the cliffs.

“Has anyone ever been cut off by the tide?” she asked.

“Perry and I once as lads,” he said. “We sat on top of the black rock and dared each other to be the first to leave. By the time each of us realized that the other was just not going to give in, the water was swirling about the base of the rock. Fortunately, it never does reach to the top. Those were long and cold hours while we were there.”

“Your parents must have been worried,” she said.

“They saw us from the top of the cliffs,” he said, his eyes twinkling. “Unfortunately we could see them too, and a knowledge of how much less comfortable we would feel when our fathers' hands got to us did nothing to make the hours pass more pleasantly.”

“I suppose you never did it again,” she said.

“I can remember having to lie facedown on my bed for at least an hour after my father had finished with me,” he said. “No, we did not do it again. We were very inventive, Perry and I. We always found new mischief to get ourselves into.”

They both chuckled.

“Will your memories make you a more indulgent parent?” she asked.

“Not at all,” he said. “I promised Alex before our marriage that I would never lay a violent hand on any children of ours. And I won't. But I am sure I will think of some other perfectly satisfactory punishments. And I will need them. I already recognize the occasional gleam in my son's eyes.”

“Oh,” Jennifer said when they reached the rock and she gazed up the cliff that towered over them. “We are going up there? Is it possible?”

“You have to cling to the rock by your teeth in places,” Walter said. “But it is possible. It is not for the fainthearted, though.”

“Well,” she said, “my teeth are as strong as the next person's, I suppose.”

“I'll scramble up this first cluster of rocks, then,” he said, “and haul you up after. Once you are up on the path, it is just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other and not freezing when you are halfway up.”

“You are a wonderful builder of confidence,” she said, setting her hands on her hips and watching him climb up the first few feet, which the tides had worn sheer and smooth.

“It is really not as bad as it looks,” the countess said reassuringly. “The path widens as you get higher, and is really quite firm underfoot.”

“You may wish to avoid looking down,” the earl said.

“Here you are, then,” Walter said, kneeling on the path and reaching down a hand for Jennifer's. “You must keep hold of my hand when you are up here.”

Madeline and Lord Agerton, Anna and Miles followed them up.

“You had better go up to see that they all behave themselves,” the countess said to her husband, drawing a grin from him in response. “Mrs. Simpson and I are going to walk on the beach.”

“Oh, I do wish I could go up too,” Ellen said. “This sea air is marvelous. And the view must be lovely from up there.”

“We will drive up there tomorrow,” the countess said.

Lord Eden smiled down into Ellen's wistful face. “Do you want to go now?” he asked. “We can take it very slowly. We do not have to keep up to the others.”

“Dominic!” Lady Amberley said.

“Oh, I would love to,” Ellen said. “Do you think I might?”

The countess looked appealingly to her husband. He merely raised his eyebrows to her.

“We'll stop every few feet for you to rest,” Lord Eden said. “And you needn't look so cross with us both, Alexandra. This is a lady who has tramped and ridden through mud and searing heat, and forded swollen rivers and crossed the Pyrenees Mountains into France. Ellen is no wilting flower.”

“But she has never been pregnant before,” his sister-in-law said.

“Alex.” The earl held out a hand for hers. “You are merely trying to avoid having to make the climb yourself, aren't you? There has been too much of London and soft living for you, my girl. Come here and I'll lift you up. We'll allow Dominic and Mrs. Simpson to come at their own speed behind us. We will take the gigs home when we get to the top, Dominic, and send one back for you.”

“I feel rather like a naughty child,” Ellen said to Lord Eden a few minutes later, when she had hold of his hand and was moving slowly upward, “doing the forbidden.”

“There is a broad ledge a little higher,” he said. “We will stop there for a while.”

It was quite magnificent, Ellen decided when they stood on the ledge. They already seemed high up, though they had not come very far. The breeze was a wind up there, and was whipping her cloak against her. The tide was coming in fast. There were several lines of breakers stretched across the miles of the beach, those closest to the sand white with foam. The sun was sparkling on the water.

“There is not a lovelier sight on earth, is there?” she said. “The sea always makes me want to cry.”

“It is a lovely sight and yet it makes you want to cry?” he said.

She turned her head to smile at him. “With the wonder of it,” she said. “Not from misery.”

“We are island people,” he said. “The sea is in our blood.”

“I suppose so.” She set her hands against her abdomen and stood very still.

“You are all right?” His voice was anxious.

“Oh, yes, quite all right,” she said. “He moved, Dominic. Oh, and again.” She looked at him and smiled in delight. “Feel for yourself.”

He stood behind her and put his arms about her, one hand stretched over her ribs beneath her breasts, the other lower. She took that hand in hers, set it flat against her, and waited, very still.

“There. Oh, there,” she said. “Did you feel it?” She held up a silencing hand and waited again. “Oh, did you feel it, Dominic? Do you think he is protesting the climb?”

“That bubble?” he said. “Was that it?”

She laid her head back against his shoulder and laughed softly. “Yes, that bubble,” she said. “A tiny foot or fist. He is really there, you see, making his presence felt.”

He wrapped his arms about her and held her against him. “Was it wise to come up here?” he asked. “Would you prefer to go back down?”

“No, indeed,” she said. “Your son and I, sir, are not so chickenhearted. I think he is merely signaling his protest because I have stopped.”

“Is he?” he said. “Sooner or later, I am going to have to teach him that he may not give orders to his mother.”

“He is wise, you see,” she said. “He is doing so while he still may. While you cannot get your hands on him.”

He laughed softly, stopped himself just in time from kissing her cheek, and gazed quietly out to sea with her for a few minutes more before releasing her, taking her hand in a firm clasp, and resuming the ascent.

Walter and Jennifer had scarcely paused in their climb, and emerged hot and panting on the clifftop long before anyone else. The two gigs that Lord Amberley had had sent from the house were waiting there, Lieutenant Penworth sitting in one of them.

Jennifer walked across to him, trying to catch her breath. “You came,” she said. “What a good idea. Can you see the view?”

“I have seen a lot of sheep,” he said. “Do they qualify as a view?”