Cinders and Ashes (18 page)

“
I have been thinking,” Amelia murmured reluctantly. She knew
her announcement would open up a whole new can of worms, but she
had to confide in them. To withhold her suspicions might mean a
delay in discovering who had tried to kill Sebastian, and what the
Penny Dreadful had to do with it. If anything.

She
would never forgive herself if anything happened to Sebastian
because she had kept something to herself. Squaring her shoulders,
she took a deep breath.

“
I think I know who the man in the Penny Dreadful is.” She was
very much aware she had everyone’s rapt attention and continued
quickly, her words exploding from her in a rush. “I think he is
Lord Jeremiah Hawksworth. He was an old business acquaintance of
Lord Eastleigh. I can remember seeing him with Eastleigh on several
occasions. From a distance of course. But I am fairly certain this
is the man.”

Amelia
glanced quickly at the dark scowl on Sebastian’s face, and knew he
was about to ask questions she didn’t want to answer. Hurriedly,
she continued. “I don’t know how his face came to be on the Penny
Dreadful, but if anyone knows of the Hawksworth family and is able
to meet with them, it might help to identify the man on the Penny
Dreadful.” Amelia knew she had caused considerable consternation by
her declaration, and waited for the axe to fall.

“
From memory, I think there was some scandal surrounding
Hawksworth,” Isobel murmured, frowning as she searched her memory
for the exact details.

“
Didn’t he go to the Americas?” Dominic asked, taking a seat
beside his wife as he opened the Penny Dreadful to stare at the
roughly drawn picture of the convict.

“
Yes. He sold his family home right out from under his
family’s nose. His mother had to go to live with a cousin of
theirs, or something,” Isobel added, practically fidgeting in her
seat as details returned.

“
I remember now.” Dominic looked at Sebastian. “His estates
were sold suddenly a few days before he sent a missive to his
relations that he was moving to the Americas, and wouldn’t be back.
Nobody heard anything from him after that.”

“
I only met Hawksworth once or twice. I don’t know much about
him, but I know that some of the effects were removed from the
house by the family. Most were left in the house because they
simply didn’t have time to remove them before the new owner took
possession.” Edward turned the Penny Dreadful to study it closely.
“You know, I do believe you are right, Amelia.”

“
Do we know who the new owner was?” Dominic added.

“
Ballantyne,” Sebastian muttered with an oath, ignoring the
gasps and silence that filled the room. Although the information
Amelia had imparted had to be confirmed, Sebastian knew there was
likely to be much more Amelia wasn’t telling them.

“
Tell me something, Amelia,” Sebastian asked softly, unable to
hide the hard edge to his voice as it dropped to a menacing growl.
The tone made everyone pause. “Do you know Ballantyne?”

His
heart pounded and he fought the urge to shake the truth out of
her.

Amelia’s
gaze was steady as it met his almost defiantly. “I have never met
the man before in my life. I never had a come out or anything of
the type, Sebastian, so the names are merely that.
Names.”

“
So how come you can identify Hawksworth?” He watched the
guilty flush steal through her cheeks with a small tinge of
frustrated satisfaction.

Just how much did Amelia know? Was she in league with
Ballantyne?

Amelia
felt her stomach tighten nervously, and she fought the urge to
fidget under the assessing scrutiny of everyone within the
room.

“
I have seen him at the Earl of Eastleigh’s estate. Only at a
distance, but I understand it was Hawksworth.” Amelia’s voice was
weak as she tried hard to keep herself from lying entirely. She
wasn’t being dishonest. She really wasn’t. It had been on the Earl
of Eastleigh’s estate.

Desperately, she tried to get the focus of attention from
herself and back onto the Penny Dreadful. She could feel the anger
and distrust practically bristling from Sebastian, who was standing
near the fireplace, and knew he would push her further unless
distracted. She began to feel cornered and didn’t like
it.

“
If I were you, I would go and check Hawksworth’s family for
any portraits they may have kept.” Amelia kept her eyes on the
Penny Dreadful, waiting until someone accepted her mute appeal for
a change of subject.

“
I think you had better tell us the truth, Amelia.”
Sebastian’s voice was gravelly with suspicion.

“
I have told you the truth,” she protested, knowing very well
what he was asking but was unwilling to confide in him. Not yet.
Not until she had her future a bit more secure.

As soon
as he found out, he would high-handedly take decisions about her
future into his own hands, and she couldn’t bear that.

“
I have seen this man, or someone very similar, and his name
was Hawksworth.” She tapped her finger on the Penny Dreadful for
emphasis, her own voice biting as her temper and fears
grew.

“
I think Amelia is right. It does look like Hawksworth.
Although this is a poor sketch, the more I study it, the more
familiar the man looks,” Peter added, aware of the shimmering
tension between Sebastian and Amelia.

“
We need to clarify if it is him. Then we need to discover why
he allowed himself to be hung for murdering a servant. Does anyone
know this Martha Bainbridge?” Dominic lifted the Penny Dreadful to
read out the name. Everyone shook their heads.

“
Then we need to find out more about her as well.” He raised
his eyes to stare intently at Amelia, who shivered at the cold
menace in his gaze. “Unless Amelia knows Martha Bainbridge also?”
His voice was hard.

Amelia
could have wept for the distrust she saw clearly written there.
From her first arrival at Tingdale only a handful of days ago, the
family had welcomed her with open arms. It hurt to find herself
suddenly cast under suspicion.

“
I don’t know her,” Amelia murmured softly, feeling a pang of
loneliness well up. Her gaze turned in mute appeal towards Isobel,
only for Isobel to smile softly at her but make no move to change
the subject.

An
uncomfortable silence settled around the room, as everyone studied
either her or the Penny Dreadful. Suspicion and anger shimmered in
the air between them. It broke her heart.

“
I have a headache,” Amelia mumbled, pushing to her feet when
she could no longer stand the awkwardness. Suddenly she needed to
get out of the room and be by herself for a while. Their distrust
hurt. A lot.

She
wasn’t keeping secrets to herself to be spiteful or out of any
personal gain. She just didn’t want to open up the Pandora’s Box of
painful memories, or let Sebastian take over her life. Or her
father for that matter.

After
quietly bidding everyone a good night, she quietly left the
room.

As she
trudged to her room, Amelia consoled herself with the fact that
Sebastian was now as safe as anyone could be. He had the security
and physical protection of his brothers and Peter surrounding him,
and was on familiar ground. She had told them what they needed to
know to give them a start in the search for information. Without
doubt, the family would move heaven and earth to help Sebastian
search for the truth behind his kidnap, and attempted murder. She
would help them in any way she could. She just couldn’t tell them
everything.

Carefully closing the door behind her, Amelia moved across
the dusty room, shivering as the cooler air swept over her.
Snatching up the blanket from the bed, she wrapped it around
herself and lay upon the bed, a picture of desolate misery. The
very last thing she wanted to do was cause the family to despise
her. While she could fully understand, and indeed admire Isobel for
her family loyalty, the memory of that small smile hurt deeply. She
briefly contemplated telling them everything. All of it. But knew
instinctively that as things stood between her and Sebastian, it
was a bad move. He asked her to trust him. Time and again, he had
asked her to place her trust and faith in him. What he had never
done was trusted her to think for herself. To make decisions based
on what she wanted and needed. Look at how high-handedly he had
casually removed her from Glendowie, despite her
protestations.

Well, on that occasion, maybe he was right,
Amelia acknowledged reluctantly. The prospect of
staying there alone had weighed heavily upon her. But she also knew
that as soon as Sebastian realised he had bedded a lady, albeit an
outcast, he would push, prod and shove her into marriage. She
wanted him to love her as much as she loved him. More importantly,
she wanted him to marry her because he wanted to, not out of some
misplaced sense of honour and duty. Sleep came slowly, and when she
did succumb, her dreams were filled with Sebastian.

Later
that night, Sebastian found himself standing at the foot of the bed
watching her. It had been several hours since she had pleaded a
headache and taken refuge in her room, yet he could still see the
rivulets of tears down her pale cheeks.

Even
through the gloom he knew she was crying in her sleep. His heart
ached to reach out and hold her. To give her the comfort he sensed
she needed. But his mind urged him to be cautious. He had learned
from her revelations earlier that she had some connection with
Eastleigh. Only nobody knew what. Until she trusted him enough to
tell him, he couldn’t discount the possibility she knew Ballantyne
far more than she was letting on.

Until he
had evidence otherwise, he couldn’t even discount the horrendous
possibility she was even related to Ballantyne. After all, why had
he been going through Glendowie when he jumped from the carriage?
Why take him to Scotland? Until he knew Amelia’s links to
Ballantyne for certain, he couldn’t allow himself to be drawn by
his deepening affection for her.

He had
already developed deeper feelings for her than he had ever felt for
any woman before. That alone disturbed him greatly. He wasn’t
certain how he would deal with the possibility that she was in
cohorts with Ballantyne.

With a
soft curse, he turned and quickly left the room, returning to his
nightly watch of the house.

He had
just returned to the downstairs parlour for the third time, when
the sound of shattering glass ricocheted through the still night
air.

With a
curse, Sebastian spun on his heel and took to the stairs, two at a
time.

“
What is it?” Sebastian shouted towards Dominic, who appeared
at the far end of the upper hallway, still tugging on his
breeches.

“
I don’t know, but it was up here somewhere,” Dominic replied,
turning to order Isobel out of bed. Within moments they were joined
by Peter and Edward.

“
Fire!” Peter shouted, tugging at Sebastian’s elbow as they
raced towards Amelia’s bedroom.

“
Amelia!” Sebastian shouted, pushing the door to her room
open. The grey wall of smoke within immediately encased them all in
its suffocating blanket. Blinking the stinging out of his eyes,
Sebastian tried desperately to peer through the thick gloom towards
the bed.

He could
see very little through the thick fog, other than the fierce orange
flames that encased the lower end of the four poster
bed.

“
Amelia!” he shouted, fighting the hands that held him back.
“Answer me!” His voice pleaded with her, as he fought the
unfamiliar panic that suffused him.

“
Wait!” Peter tried to tug him back, eyeing the rapidly
encroaching flames on the bed. “Use this.”

Sebastian was encased in a wet blanket and he immediately
shuffled through the darkness towards the orange flames. The last
time he had seen her, Amelia she had been rolled up in a thick
woollen blanket. If the flames had caught her feet, she would be
burned alive. The flames on the four-poster bed had already begun
to hungrily consume the canopy and wooden posts.

“
Amelia, darling, answer me,” Sebastian’s voice ordered as he
coughed against the acrid burning in his throat. It seemed to take
forever to reach her. Eventually, reassured by the feel of Peter’s
hand at the back of his shirt waiting to guide him back towards the
door, he reached her.

“
Get her off the bed!” Peter growled as the four poster made a
sudden cracking sound. “NOW!”

Within
seconds of lifting her into his arms, Sebastian found himself
practically yanked off his feet as he was dragged towards the door.
The spot he had been standing on seconds before was now covered in
the burning canopy.

He was
vaguely aware of Dominic and Edward racing past him with buckets,
before the soft hiss of flames being extinguished was deadened by
the thickening of the smoke around them.

“
Downstairs,” Isobel cried, as soon as she saw Sebastian
stagger into the hallway, an unconscious Amelia in his arms. “We
need to get her into cleaner air.”

Without
hesitation, Sebastian ran down the stairs, pausing only when they
reached the drawing room. Reluctantly, he set his precious burden
down on the plush chaise.