A Captive Heart (2 page)

Chapter Three

Adam Carey wondered whether the next few minutes would be his last when he heard the sound of the slow, deliberate crunch underfoot that came from boots walking over the shell-strewn sand. He knew he lay defenceless, unable to protect himself from whoever sought him out. He was virtually their prisoner. Someone who was obviously familiar with the cave had entered it - someone he was sure would very soon find him. Was it just one person? Perhaps others would soon follow. He didn’t know how long he’d lain there exhausted since he first entered the cave. He couldn’t remember. He’d lost count of time since he’d finally managed to make his way slowly over to the ledge for safety that morning.

He had known that every cave or hiding place would be searched immediately for Roundheads on Tresco. It appeared almost inevitable that he too would soon be discovered. That could only mean for him certain capture, followed by his death from a firing squad.

He
heard someone calling out loud, clear and close. It sounded like a young woman’s voice asking anxiously, ‘Who are you? Why are you hiding in here? Show yourself!’

Then he knew no more till he recovered his senses at last to see someone holding up a lighted candle which dripped hot wax down on him where he lay.

‘So here you are, sir! I heard you. You cried out. What are you doing in here? Are you in pain?’

Adam
looked up to see that it was a young face that gazed down at him with a look of shock in the golden honey brown eyes, but when he tried to answer he found he was unable to.

Tamsin
bent over him and a gasp escaped her when she saw his wounded arm and head. ‘Oh! I fear that are badly injured, sir. You need help! How did you find this cave? You don’t belong here do you?’

Chapter Four

Tamsin knew now this was no strange magical Merman from the sea or a prince like in the fairy tales. This was a real man and possibly the enemy: a stranger who could wish to harm her. He wore a strange military uniform, that of an Ironside trooper, which forewarned her quickly that he was a Roundhead. But he seemed familiar to her.

What was he doing in here on his own unprotected in the cave? The answer came quickly to her. Of course, he’d escaped capture and death that very day from her father’s Royalist troopers. He had nowhere else to go.

So
how had he known about the existence of the Piper Hole? He must have spent quite some time on the island beforehand, studying it well. Days, perhaps, before fighting commenced on Tresco that morning. He must be a Cromwellian spy!

Should
I leave him alone in this cave now? Leave him to his almost certain fate - death from discovery by my father’s men or death from his wounds and starvation?
Her conscience fought with her fear as she saw the signs of suffering in his face.
No - no, I cannot do it
.

Tamsin
, battening down her fears bravely, held the flickering candle stub high above her head, which revealed to her immediately that the man’s torn blood-stained linen jacket was not that of a trooper but the fine cloth and cut of a gentleman. So what had been his real business here?

A
s she came in closer towards the stranger she gazed long and hard down at him and could see that he was young with a strong, handsome face, and thick dark curling hair. He seemed so familiar to her. Her heart beat all the faster when she saw that there was an ominous dark stain on his torn cream linen shirtsleeve running from his shoulder to his wrist which betrayed that he was indeed badly wounded. His face was deathly pale, drawn in pain, his eyes still closed tight as a groan escaped him again.

How
long had he been lying there? Hours? All day? Perhaps since the early morning battle? Tamsin leant closer over his dark head and the flickering candle threw a golden aura around her copper ringlets falling loose about her shoulders.

He
had heard and felt her movement beside him. His eyes flickered, once, twice, then opened wide when he saw her brown eyes looking down at him.

‘Who
in God’s name are you? What has brought you in here lad?’ he exclaimed loudly.

He
struggled to raise himself up but he groaned and fell back heavily against the cave wall, leaving a fresh a trail of blood from his injured shoulder.

‘What
do you want with me, boy?’

Her heart fluttered wildly as the candlelight shining on his face revealed that his eyes were as vivid a sea green colour as a Merman’s eyes were reputed to be. His hair was thick and dark, curling long into the nape of his neck.

‘Are
you in much pain, sir?’ she asked him.

His
dark brows frowned back at her and he asked her again hoarsely, ‘And who the devil might you be? Are you a bold fisher lad come to save me or are you perhaps an angel sent down from Heaven?’

His
harsh laughter startled her and the candle shook in her trembling hand, casting long dancing shadows across the cave walls around them.

She
drew herself up bravely and spoke out boldly. ‘I’m no fisher lad. I am a girl, sir. I-I am Tamsin Trevenian, Richard Trevenian’s daughter, sir. And you are?’

Shock
chased the look of alarm quickly across his face when he heard this. He struggled once again to raise himself up onto one elbow to study her more closely with those keen green eyes. ‘I am... a man of peace, an artist and a man of letters. And you say you are Tamsin Trevenian! Tamisin Trevanian, by all that’s wonderful! And what chance brings you here, my lady in this cave?’

She
hastened to reassure him quickly. ‘I can see that you are badly wounded, sir. I would like to help you if you will only allow me to do so?’

He
attempted once again to pull himself up, his pale face registering sharp pain as he did so, then said quietly, ‘You are Colonel Trevenian’s daughter? I ask you again what brings you here? It is not safe. You must leave this place immediately.’

‘I can perhaps offer you some help.’

His eyes were on her still, registering the determined look in her brown eyes. He frowned back at her. His voice had the cadence of an educated man and the firm authority of an officer when he spoke out again, ‘No! You must leave here at once. It can only do you harm if you are found here alone with me by your father’s men. Conversing with the enemy is forbidden for both sides. As you must well know.’

She
knew then that her worst fears could be confirmed. ‘You are here to spy on us. And you think you will be shot if you are found here, sir!’ she replied sharply with a determined tilt of her small chin. ‘Did you then choose to hide in here away from the battle?’

He
was watching her closely now. He nodded slowly but said with a grave smile. ‘I did. But it was only done to give me time to recover better from my wounds. I am no coward! I have to get back to the Cornish mainland at once. It is most important that I do so, my lady!’

She
stared back at his handsome, equally determined face, flushed with anger now. So he chose not to hide his true purpose from her. The candle trembled unsteadily in her shaking hand as she stared him out with anger plain to see in her eyes.

‘I’m
sure it is for Cromwell! You wish to give away our position here. Betray us all. You are a Cromwellian spy I’m sure of it, sir.’

He
laughed. ‘What if I am, my lady? Oh - I shall not seek to deny it. As a soldier’s daughter you must well know that your own side has its agents. They have worked well here for you also. Your men were ready and waiting for the Parliamentarians here today. And they gave us little mercy. I was shot as I left the inn in the harbour. But I tell the truth when I tell you that it is my intention to sketch and record the flowers, herbs and flora of the British countryside before it is lost to us for ever in the battles raging on it. I have my work and sketches there in the pouch that my head lies on. Examine it if you will and you will discover that I am not lying.’

She
fell silent for a moment. He perhaps spoke the truth. She saw also that in attempting to sit up to address her, the movement had served to aggravate his wound - it was now bleeding afresh and it could be dangerous indeed for him to waste more time in anger and argument.

She reached her hand out to him quickly ‘Your arm, sir, how badly are you wounded? May I not see it?’

‘It
need not trouble you further, my lady.’ His voice was ice cool and enigmatic; he was not prepared to give much away of his true state.

She attempted a different tack now. ‘Are you hungry? When did you last eat, sir?’

He groaned and made a brave attempt to chuckle, ‘How can I tell? I cannot remember, it seems so long since a morsel of food made its last acquaintance with my lips. I will be glad if you can find my horse; he is somewhere on the cliff above. I took him from the Inn stables. He must need care and attention.’

She
shook her head. She was not going to be fazed by his scornful, arrogant manner, however young and simple he might believe her to be. She must not show her fear to him. She would ease his pain as best she could, if he would only allow it. But she knew that she should tell her father and soon. He would not allow a wounded man to die. He was their enemy but badly needed their help.

‘
You have not told me your name; you can at least tell me this.’

He laughed softly his green eyes studying her face closely. ‘My lady, on such a very short acquaintance if you should choose to do so you may call me Adam,’ he said then added quickly. ‘There is a lead musket ball that has dwelt far too long for comfort in my left shoulder, I think. And I stupidly fell from my horse afterwards.’

He studied her face again and even more carefully this time. There was a look of sympathy now in her lustrous honey brown eyes that replaced the look of alarm he had first seen mirrored in them. Would she remember him soon too? He thought it possible now she knew his first name.

‘
Then we must do something about it immediately, Adam,’ she said with a sweetly, curving smile that warmed the bitter cold chills out of his body, and speedily uplifted his heart and set it beating.

‘You
can do little else than report me, Tamsin Trevenian,’ he said with a grave smile.

‘I
should do so, but for the moment until I can do something about your injury you must trust me. I will find someone to get the shot from your shoulder. I cannot promise more than that, sir.’

Trust her! I can do little else. For the moment.
Adam thought to himself. This brave young girl who believed he was the enemy and the devil incarnate no less. He saw her leave the cave swiftly now, her mind made up. He couldn’t go with her. So what had she decided to do about him?

What
else could he do now but to leave his fate entirely in her tender hands. He had no other choice. His position for the moment was desperate; he knew she may well reveal his presence to her father. It could lead to his instant capture and trial in the Star Chamber held at St Mary’s Castle and almost certainly execution as a spy. If death didn’t come before then.

He
knew only too well that the searing pain in his shoulder meant that the musket shot was doing its worst and without its swift removal it could soon lead to his death. Without food and assistance from her he could and would most certainly die alone in the cave.

He
could do nothing else but accept her help, if she was willing to give it. Though he had no wish to force Tamsin Trevenian to do something she abhorred or it could put her life into grave danger for not obeying the rules of war.

He’d
recognised her immediately - hers was a face that he’d known from their happy childhood days when they had played together as small children at Treganna. He had teased her often because she’d wished only to be a boy like him, like her dear cousin Jago and his younger brother Benedict. How he wished now that those good days could come back for them all.

Perhaps
in another happier time they would have spent their days out together riding and he would tell her how much he adored her for every precious moment he spent in her company.

Adam
knew he had fallen in love with her since the moment he first saw her bending over him with the lighted candle wax in her trembling hand, moved by the great concern he saw in her beautiful golden brown eyes. She hadn’t recognised him as quickly as he would have liked, even though her father had been and was still his father’s best childhood friend.

He
had used his knowledge of the Piper Hole to save himself but it could also now prove to be his undoing and hers too. She would have little choice if they were discovered there together but to surrender him to her father. The unexpected arrival of so young a girl in the cave was like a gift from heaven itself for him at first. But was she as naive and innocent as she first appeared to be? She could unwittingly give him away.

Perhaps
she wouldn’t come back. She might think better of her offer to help him once she arrived back at home.

He
had never thought that his hiding place would be discovered by Tamsin who sought her own retreat from the ugly scenes of the battle that had taken their toll on the island earlier. He remembered then that she had lost her cousin Jago Trevenian at Oxford not that long ago.

Perhaps
he was dreaming, hallucinating even. In the candlelight Tamsin was beautiful enough to be an angel in disguise, or a water sprite. He chuckled weakly. When his eyes first lighted on her, she had seemed to him unreal but she was most certainly not a Mermaid, dressed as she was in the boy’s brown fustian jacket and brown breeches which did little to disguise the curvaceousness of her young body.