A Captive Heart (6 page)

Chapter Seventeen

Early the following morning Tamsin went down to the stables before the sentries changed guard duty and before Martha and Reuben were up. She took out her mare from the stables and rode to the cave.

It
was early still when she clambered down over the cliff side, disturbing shards of loose rocks and soil in her quick progress down: haste making her careless.

She
found Adam awake and standing on guard behind a boulder at the entrance to the cave. The considerable noise she had made, the stones sent rattling down from the cliff side onto the rocks outside, had served to arouse him. He was on his feet with raised arms to welcome her and she ran into them without another thought.

‘Tamsin!
Why so early? What is it?’He was clasping a dagger in his hand, a weapon he had kept close concealed till then. She gasped out loud when she saw it’s gleam as he quickly slipped it back into his boot. ‘Forgive me, my lady. I could not know that it was you. Something has gone badly wrong? Tell me - what it is?’

‘Father
has made arrangements for me to leave Tresco, Adam. I must sort out a plan so that you can leave too with us. At least I can do that much for you.’ He listened quietly while she told him what her father had decided. ‘We have to make our plans to leave. Together, Adam. Therefore I must tell Martha about you. We cannot do it without her help, and Reuben’s.’

She
drew back and gazed at him long and hard. He wore a frown now but said nothing in answer and looked thoughtful.

She
took his hand. ‘You must trust me. I would not lead you into a trap, Adam. I could not do that to you.’ She had to explain the urgency, which stemmed from her own leave taking of the island. ‘My father is worried about me staying here any longer. He insists that I leave Tresco by the end of the week, Adam. He will brook no further disagreement for my part. He is adamant. I must go back to Treganna.’

Adam nodded
. Hadn’t he been worried about her too for days now? A young girl who’s own life dependant so much on her father holding the castle and Tresco for her own safety. He was far wiser than her as to the movements of the Cromwellians and guessed that her father would expect more attacks from them, and soon. He would not want to have Tamsin’s life to be his first concern after attempting to keep the Scilly Isles free and in the Royalist hands.

He
shook his head and slowly and his voice was doubtful. ‘I cannot see how you can arrange passage for me on that ship without attracting attention or danger to yourself.’

She
cried out desperately, ‘I have little choice and practically no time at all to manage it.’

‘Give
me a moment please if you will. You must allow me to think this out for myself.’ He smiled and added. ‘I am well used to doing that, you know, my lady.’

He
paced and strode the length of the cave thinking hard, the sand crunching beneath his boots served to enforce the seriousness of the moment, the lines of his face were now looking grim, and she watched him nervously, afraid to press him too hard. She had no right to demand that he allowed her to decide for him. He had managed well enough until he had been wounded, and now he wanted to show her that he alone would be responsible for what happened to him next in the future. Had she made him feel less than the man he was because she had saved him?

‘I-I
am sorry, if you think I am forcing you to agree. I want you to leave here safely and I know that I cannot force you to do something that might risk your life. You must believe that I do not want you to be captured by my father. Even if I am being disloyal to all he stands for - and our late King.’

He
swung round, shook his head. ‘No, it is I who should apologise, dear heart,’ he said firmly. He saw the colour flush her cheeks and loved her even more than before. He wished he could take her into his arms there and then and show her his true feelings. ‘You have endangered yourself for me, trusted me, and now you offer me, your enemy, the chance to leave in safety, and I have been so ungrateful. I am entirely in your hands. So - tell me your plan.’

He
smiled back at her and his smile did most incredible things to her heart and a feeling of warmth flooded inside her. But could she honestly believe him?

‘Well
, you know that Martha must be told about you. She will do what I ask when I explain my reasons. I am sure of it.’

There
was concern and doubt still present in his eyes and his wry chuckle that quickly followed this showed it too. ‘We will have to hope that she agrees with that. She could still tell your father.’

‘If
she listens carefully to what I have to say then she will not betray us. I am sure that she would not wish to upset my father. I will tell him myself later, Adam. Once we have arrived in Cornwall safely. He is your father’s friend; he would not wish to be forced to take you prisoner. He said as much to me when he told me that he thought he’d seen you. It troubled him immensely and would be forever on his conscience if something happened to you.’

He
nodded and paced the sandy floor again now. ‘It will be forever on mine too. How much I have forced you to risk because of me. I would not like to make him uneasy about you. I hope one day soon perhaps to be able to show you how much this has meant to me.’ He reached out and took hold of her hand and held it in his. ‘I think you had better leave now in case it makes you suspect, leaving the castle at such an early hour… It is not usual or safe for someone so young to take a morning ride. It could tempt someone to follow you.’

‘I
shall come back later as usual. It will give you time to think it over,’ she said quietly. ‘I have much to think over too. You are not the only one making momentous decisions.’

‘I shall never forget what you have done for me. Never... Always remember that, whatever happens between us in the future.’

She
searched his face for confirmation of this and saw her answer in his eyes as they smiled back at her.

‘Even
though I could hand you over right now, Adam Carey?’

‘I
would not wish to put you into danger even if it means giving up my own life. You are worth much more to me than that. The Prince is a fugitive and his father, our King, executed. It is a lost cause that your father is fighting for.’

Her answer came quick and sharp. ‘Do not say that! Because I am warning you now, Adam Carey, I shall do my best to help the Royalists and our cause once I land on the Cornish shore. From then onwards we shall be on opposing sides.’

He
laughed lightly but she knew that she spoke the truth. She would do her best to help the Royalist cause, as she thought he would do as much for the Roundheads.

Chapter Eighteen

Tamsin tried hard to delay her day of leaving but Richard Trevenian was not to be persuaded otherwise and repeated what he had already said: ‘Daughter, I will brook no further disagreement on this matter. You will leave for the mainland in three days’ time, because that is when your passage is booked on the Marie Louise. Captain Jacque is discreet and will not spread any talk about your going home.’

She
heard this with much trepidation. There was only one person she could ask for help: Martha. It was going to be difficult; she did not know how to approach her diplomatically. It seemed like the opportune moment when she walked in on her making a syllabub in the kitchen.

‘Martha
, I really need your help.’

‘If
it is to persuade me to speak to your father for you, the answer is no.’ Her nurse shook her linen capped head. ‘You heard what your father has to say. You must do as you are told. He wants only the best for you and you need to learn the rudiments of how to become a young woman and a wife.’

‘
It is not that. Please listen to what I have to say.’ She took hold of Martha’s arm and tugged it for her full attention. ‘You must hear me out. It’s important. The other day after the battles and fighting were over I-I found a man - a wounded man hiding in the Piper Hole.’

‘A
man! What are you saying?’ Martha clutched hold of her arm. ‘What man?’

‘He-he
was badly wounded and needed my help. And I gave it to him. And I have fed and cared for him in the cave. ’

There
it was said and out at last. She had confessed it all with the tears running down her face.

Martha’s
face paled, she was visibly shaken by this. ‘What else, child? What other wicked things have you done to destroy your father? Who is this man? Where is he now?’

‘He’s
still there in the cave. Please, please hear me out, Martha. He is Adam Carey, Sir Philip Carey’s son, Father’s best and closest friend... I could not leave him wounded in there to starve and die all alone. Could I, Martha?’

It spilled out of her then with confusion and anxiety, the tears that she attempted to wipe away spilled upon the hem of her gown, while her nurse and confident viewed her with alarm and anger sparking in her eyes. She shook Tamsin and declared, ‘You wicked, wicked girl! How could you put yourself in such danger? And Reuben! You say he helped you? The stupid boy!

‘
You have betrayed everyone here, and your father most of all! We shall have our enemies attacking us again ere long and Adam Carey will be the one able to help them. I am so ashamed of you! You shall tell your father now! You must do so!’

Tamsin
wept, ‘I cannot, Martha. He was wounded and I-I had to save him, give him a chance to live.’ She hesitated wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. ‘He says he will not betray us. And I believe him.’

‘Pshaw!
He says! And you help him?’ the look in her grey eyes pierced Tamsin’s heart like a knife. Martha let go of Tamsin at last and folded her arms across her bony chest. ‘So this is the story he spins you. And you believe him?’

Tamsin nodded. ‘I do. He will not betray us or my father.’

‘I
see, and there is more? It is plain as a pikestaff that you care for him, so it is not just because of his family connection with your father’s friend that you wish to save him. You have never met any other young Royalist Cavaliers,’ she snorted. ‘But you cannot call him that. He is a Roundhead by choice and by nature. He will have their puritanical unforgiving nature. You cannot believe him.’

‘I
do not care for him like that!’ Tamsin declared defiantly with a toss of her copper ringlets. ‘I do this only to save my father further heartache.’

‘Then
you must forget him, Tamsin. Forget him because if he is for Cromwell then he is not for you. If he were an older man and not a family friend, would you want to save him then? He has ensnared you, foolish child, curdled your wits with his charms. He may choose to be a Roundhead but he was brought up as a gentleman amongst Royalists and can play act the Cavalier well enough if it suits his purpose.’

‘He
is Adam Carey and why should it matter what side he is on? He is a human being who was wounded and needed my help. He is young, he should not die, Martha,’ Tamsin entreated.

‘And
why not pray? Those were just lads some of them that were killed here in battle. Your cousin Jago was one of them in Oxford only last month.’

Martha
was making it hard for her still. Deliberately it seemed to Tamsin. She had to persuade her not to tell her father what she had done for Adam. Had she made a fatal mistake in trying to get Martha’s help? Had she put Adam’s life in worse danger now through telling Martha about him?

But
Tamsin was not about to give up. ‘We cannot let him stay here to be executed! And Father would have little choice but to order it. You would not let poor Father be put into such a terrible position, would you Martha?’ She was trying hard to coax her nurse to change her mind. ‘He is fond of Sir Philip, his dearest friend, how could he have his son put to death?’

Her
impassioned plea touched her nurse’s heart it seemed at last and after a pause Martha declared firmly, ‘If he should swear on his father’s life that he will do no harm afterwards to your father and the men serving with him here on Tresco then - and only then - shall I help him.’ She shook her forefinger at Tamsin. ‘But, if he betrays you and your family then I shall see to it that he is punished even if it takes me my lifetime to do so.’

Tamsin
threw her arms around her nurse and cried, ‘Thank you, thank you, Martha! I am sure he would not. He is as honourable as his father.’

Uncertainty
showed still in Martha’s grey eyes as she studied Tamsin’s face carefully. ‘Let us hope so, child. Once we land on the Cornish shore across the water Master Carey will have to make his own way. I can only make sure of his safety while he is on board the ship. The Captain will be loyal to us and hopefully we can get away with it. Afterwards,’ she said, shaking her head and shrugging her shoulders, ‘well, he is in God’s hands from now on. As we all shall be.’

Chapter Nineteen

Now Tamsin had only to break the news to Adam. As she rode once more across the island, she thought out what she planned to do for him and wondered how he was going to take it. Martha had also made her own suggestions. She had to hope that he would agree with them too.

As
she expected he was pleased to hear that there was a way off the island for him. But afterwards, when he had time to dwell on it more fully, there was a look of caution in those bold green eyes that challenged her as he walked over the sandy floor towards her.

‘What
is wrong? Can you not trust me? I promise that you will have a safe trip back to Cornwall, Adam.’

‘But
what will happen to me as soon as I step ashore in the harbour? Tell me what happens then? I trust that your family will be meeting you?’

‘I
shall protect you myself; offer you safety till you can leave to go to wherever you decide to go.’

She
wanted him to believe her because she did not want to lose his trust. She turned away from him quickly so that he could not see her face or the tears that were threatening once again.

‘Hush
now. You say that Reuben’s mother, your nurse Martha, is arranging that this will be so? I do not think that she will wish to upset you.’ He gestured with his arms, then groaned, caught hold of his injured arm in a linen bound sling which hurt him still. ‘But how can I know that she will not inform on me afterwards?’

‘Because
she made her promise to me. She has never lied to me, Adam. Never! It is up to me to see that you have transport, a horse perhaps and a change of clothing.’ He cocked a quizzical dark brow at this. ‘Two in fact before you leave our company. You see, Adam, you will have to be in disguise and share a cabin with Martha and myself, as my serving maid, Nancy.’

‘What!
Have I heard right? A serving maid!’

There
was an incredulous look in his eyes that told her he could so easily refuse to do as she wished.

‘Please, please listen to me, Adam, it is the your only way to escape discovery. Martha is going to vouch for you as her daughter. You will be accepted as Reuben’s sister once on board ship.’

‘What!
This is mere madness!’ Then he threw back his head and laughed, his laughter filling the cave with its ringing echoes. He said firmly, ‘I think that I have as much chance of passing as a young wench as I do surviving in St Marys Castle before a firing squad. But if this is what I must do to leave this island prison I have made for myself then I must take the chance. I only wish that you need not be involved further in this mad charade you will be taking on just to save me.’

‘But
I am. And I promise you that you will land in safety on Cornish soil.’

Adam
could hardly believe what he had heard.
So I must put my trust in two women and a boy to save us all from a worse fate than I face now as an agent; I could lose not only my life but this young woman’s life and love for ever. I hope and pray she will discover that my love for her now far outweighs her distrust: I am not and never could be her enemy.