Cinders and Ashes (27 page)

“
Neither should you. You need to understand something, my
dear.” Eastleigh looked directly into her gaze, his eyes serious.
“You are independently wealthy in your own right. When your mother
passed, the money she had inherited herself, but not spent, was
passed on to you. While we were married, I provided for her so she
had cause to use very little of it.”

He named
a sum of money that made Amelia gasp. “So you see, if you do choose
not to marry Sebastian, then you can decide where you want to live.
You are always welcome to reside at Eastleigh Hall, which will
always be your home, but having had your independence now, I will
fully understand if you choose to purchase your own
home.”

Amelia
blinked back tears, as she contemplated the last. “I am not sure I
can go back to Eastleigh. It doesn’t hold good
memories.”

“
I can understand,” Eastleigh replied. “But you could at least
return for a visit. You need to lay the old ghosts to rest, before
you can settle into whatever future is in store for you.” He picked
up his tea cup again, and sat back in his chair to study his
daughter closely. “I do feel I should warn you, though, that
Sebastian doesn’t strike me as a man who will give up very easily.
I don’t think you will find it as easy to leave here as you
think.”

Moments
later the door opened, and Sebastian sauntered in. His hair was
windswept, and his cheeks ruddy from the biting wind. Striding
across the room in his riding clothes, he was the epitome of the
country gentleman.

“
Good afternoon, both,” Sebastian murmured, placing a gentle
hand on Amelia’s shoulder briefly as he passed, before nodding to
Eastleigh.

“
Good morning. Did you resolve your problem at the farm?”
Amelia gestured towards the tea, and poured when Sebastian
nodded.

“
Eventually, yes, but it took longer than I had anticipated,”
Sebastian replied, as he took a sip of hot tea before his attention
turned towards the window. “It seems I am back in good time as
well. Unless I am much mistake, Edward and Peter have
returned.”

Amelia
shared a brief look with her father, as they rose to peer out of
the window at the four riders accompanying the cart full of boxes
down the main driveway.

Their
conversation was put to one side for now, but it gave Amelia a lot
to think about.

Later
that night, Amelia sat beside Edward, Peter, Sebastian and her
father, rifling through copious amounts of papers in search for
anything that might be of interest to Ballantyne.

“
I am sorry, everyone, but I cannot see straight. I have to go
to bed.” Eastleigh put his stack of papers to one side regretfully,
and pushed wearily to his feet with a yawn.

They had
been searching through the papers practically since the moment they
had arrived through the door. Everyone’s initial enthusiasm had
been dampened by hour after hour of fruitless searching. As the
evening had worn on, tiredness had begun to take hold of all of
them.

“
I think we had all better call it a night. It is getting
late, and Dominic and Isobel will be back tomorrow with their news.
We can search these in the morning.” Sebastian brushed dust off his
hands as he stood.

Peter
and Edward quickly followed Eastleigh, leaving Amelia alone with
Sebastian.

“
Well, I’ll say goodnight too,” Amelia yawned, pushing to her
feet wearily.

“
Wait.” Sebastian blew several candles out around the room,
leaving the golden glow of the fire in the hearth the only light.
“I need to ask you something.”

Amelia’s
stomach dropped to her knees, and she immediately thought of the
conversation she had earlier that day with her father. She wasn’t
sure if she wanted to say yes, but wasn’t ready for the
confrontation if she said no.

“
Does it have to be now, Sebastian? I’m tired.” She yawned,
moving towards the door.

“
I need to know if you have decided what you are going to do,”
Sebastian replied, carefully putting the screen in front of the
fire and following Amelia to the door.

Amelia
took a deep breath and turned to face him, digging deep for the
strength to get through the next few minutes.

“
I think that I need to return to Eastleigh with my father. He
is right in that I have ghosts I need to lay to rest before I can
decide on what I want for the future.” Weariness clouded her voice
at the dreadful thought of leaving swept through her.

“
Is that what you want?” Sebastian felt the void open up
between them. He was frustrated that he didn’t know how to stop it,
or bridge the growing divide. Right now he would offer her anything
to keep her with him.

“
Right now, we have to deal with Ballantyne. But I have to
return to Eastleigh, if only to meet my future step-mother,” Amelia
replied softly.

“
Your father has already told me of your wealth, Amelia. I
know that financially you are beholden to nobody now, but I had
hoped that you could consider becoming my wife.”

He sensed her hesitation, but couldn’t identify the cause of
it. “You are Lady Eastleigh, and are
Ton
, whether you want to acknowledge
it or not. As such, you have been thoroughly compromised by being
alone with me both in Glendowie and here. You cannot bring such
scandal upon your father and his new bride, by refusing to marry
me.”

Amelia
frowned. “I won’t marry because I have to, Sebastian, whatever
gossip is being spread about me. If there is any scandal, I will
make sure it isn’t visited upon you or your family.” She sounded
stiff and formal. “My father has made it clear that he will support
any decision I make.”

“
Amelia-.” Sebastian briefly considered seducing her into
accepting his proposal. He wanted her to marry him because she
wanted to, damn it, not because he had pushed her into it, but it
didn’t seem like there was any other choice.

Amelia
moved away quickly, when Sebastian tried to place his hands on her
shoulders.

“
Good night, Sebastian.” Without looking back she quickly left
the room.

He
didn’t visit her that night. Instead he remained in his own room,
waiting for sleep that just wouldn’t come. It astonished him just
how quickly she had become a necessity in his bed. Not just for the
sexual pleasure, but for the simple physical presence of her lying
next to him.

If only
he could fathom why she was so reluctant to agree to marry him. He
wasn’t after her money. One only had to look at the size of
Tingdale house to know he was a considerably wealthy man. She was
attracted to him. Enough to tie him down to the bed, and use him
for sensual experimentation. Her enthusiasm and willingness in bed
humbled him, and he knew she enjoyed every second. She was a lady.
He was a lord. What could be holding her back? Did she not love
him?

Sebastian knew that even if she didn’t love him to begin
with, after a few months of marriage, she could grow to hold deep
affection for him. He wasn’t a cruel man. The decisions he had made
for her, had been taken with her best interests at heart. So
what
could be wrong? He
simply refused to countenance the possibility that she didn’t hold
any affection for him at all.

With a
sigh, he tossed and turned as the quandary burned through
him.

He was
still staring at the canopy above his bed, when dawn began to break
over the horizon.

The
tension within the house was palpable throughout the
day.

Sebastian climbed out of bed, tired and grumpy, having had no
sleep at all. The dark scowl on his face was fierce, and so unlike
him that everyone stepped back as he neared.

Desperately trying to ignore his dark scowls, Amelia sat with
Peter and Edward later that morning, idly sifting through papers
again.

Edward
suddenly tipped a piece of paper upwards to read it closely. “I
think we have something.” He coughed and read out a missive from
Hawksworth to his cousin Edwina, Bertram’s wife.

“
They were cousins?” Amelia’s brows rose in astonishment. “Did
you know?”

Sebastian shook his head, peering over his brother’s shoulder
to read the letter.

“
I had no idea.” He read the note aloud to the assembled
occupants. Despite his bitter pain at her refusal to marry him, he
simply couldn’t remain mad at her and had lapsed into a quiet
contemplation.

Hawksworth had written to Edwina, pleading for her assistance
in proving his innocence. He had been set up by Ballantyne,
although didn’t say which of the two brothers were involved in the
murder of the maid. He couldn’t approach his mother and sister,
because he didn’t want to bring any more shame upon them, but he
desperately needed help as he was about to be hung and nobody would
believe his real name, or innocence. They thought he was called
Jack Cunnington, and he was about to be hung for a murder he didn’t
commit.”

“
She didn’t help?” Amelia gasped, horrified at the thought of
anyone ignoring such a plea.

“
She may have tried, but she clearly didn’t succeed. The
gaoler did say he could remember someone visiting the day before
the hanging, but couldn’t remember the name. Bertram never
mentioned it, so I am not sure what happened.”

“
The letter is enough to prove Hawksworth’s innocence, and
Ballantyne’s guilt. If only we knew which one of the Ballantyne
brothers was the murderer.” Peter tossed the last sheaf of paper
down in disgust.

“
Or how they set Hawksworth up,” Amelia replied.

“
What do you mean?” Sebastian stared at her.

“
I mean, what happened to leave Hawksworth thinking he had
murdered the woman at the beginning? Why had he been taken to gaol
under the name of Jack Cunnington, if he knew he didn’t do it? He
didn’t just turn up at the gaol and confess. How did he get to gaol
under an assumed name?”

Sebastian frowned as he considered. Once again, her logic was
faultless.

“
One of them, or probably both of them, set him up and made it
look so realistic that even Hawksworth thought he had done it. The
shock of finding himself in a compromising position would explain
why he allowed himself to be taken to gaol. The scandal would be
enough to persuade him to accept an assumed name.”

“
Only once he got to gaol, and sobered up, he realised he
would be going to the condemned cell. The reality of his likely
fate would become evident, even to him.”

Sebastian shuddered at the horror. “This evidence would be
enough to take Ballantyne to the gallows.”

“
Ballantyne must have learnt of the letter somehow. It proved
the Ballantynes were culpable in the maid’s death. It would take
one, if not both to the gallows. It’s enough to kill again for.”
Amelia shuddered with revulsion at the sheer inhumanity of the
Ballantynes.

“
To gain access to Edenvale Manor would give Ballantyne time
to search thoroughly for the letter, and anything else that could
implicate him or his brother in the murder. When the possibility of
obtaining the house was eradicated.....” Peter’s voice
faded.

“
They decided to kill Sebastian to get him out of the way.
While the estate was changing hands again, they could access the
property and search it, knowing nobody would be moving in for a
while. There would be no staff to interrupt them.” Amelia shook her
head in disgust and stared in horror at Sebastian.

“
Unfortunately, it makes Ballantyne a very dangerous man,”
Eastleigh added from his chair. He briefly wondered if he should
suggest taking Amelia away from the threat of Ballantyne
altogether, but knew that Sebastian was too protective to allow her
to be removed without a fight.

“
I thought the elder Ballantyne died in a carriage accident a
few months back? Didn’t his wife die with him?” Edward frowned at
Sebastian, who shook his head and wondered how he managed to miss
all of the gossip so frequently.

Eastleigh nodded. “Yes, I can remember something about that.
I think the younger brother took over the estates, and lost a lot
of business because of his dubious connections and dissolute
lifestyle.”

Mindful of Amelia’s presence, he chose his words carefully.
“The reputation of the younger Ballantyne for regularly attending
orgies and gambling dens was rife amongst the
Ton
. He was on the verge of being
cast out by the family for his wastrel ways, when the older brother
died suddenly on his way home from one of the said
orgies.”

“
So in order to prevent his ghosts from the past coming back
to haunt him, Ballantyne needs to erase anything that could
implicate him in the murder.” Amelia stared thoughtfully into the
fire.

“
I think we have a murderer who is more than happy to strike
again to maintain his current lifestyle,” Sebastian added, wiping
his hands wearily down his face.

They
were interrupted by the arrival of a dishevelled Dominic and
Isobel. At first they were almost unrecognisable, until Izzy took
off her cap and shook her long hair free with a sigh of
relief.