Jo Goodman (41 page)

"And he would have looked at me blankly."

She smiled softly at that. "Not so different from his usual expression, I know, but you would have been suspicious."

"He would never have betrayed you."

"I know, but it wouldn't have sat well on my shoulders." She picked up the end of her braid and idly stroked the tip. "You thought I was covering for him in front of the sheriff."

Colin didn't deny it. "It's the sort of thing I've come to expect from you. Defending those who can't defend themselves. I figured you thought I could take care of myself against the charges."

"I wanted to explain," she said quietly. "You didn't want to listen."

"I was angry."

"You didn't trust me."

"I thought I trusted you too much."

It helped her understand how it had been for him, the full measure of betrayal that he must have felt. Yet she remembered that when she would have offered herself as his alibi to Mr. Patterson, Colin would not let her speak. Instead he had chastised the sheriff for suggesting that she could account for his whereabouts at night. She suspected he would have done something similar this afternoon if he had known she was going to announce that she was his mistress.

"Tell me about Ashbrook and Deakins," Colin said.

"I learned who they were when Mr. Gordon told us about the earl's changes in his will. I asked for you and your solicitor and Mr. Patterson to be brought in to hear it as soon as I understood the significance."

"You didn't have to tell them you were my mistress."

"I think I did. It cleared your name, didn't it?"

"And muddied your own."

She shrugged.

"Why did you do it, Mercedes?"

She didn't answer the question but asked one of her own. "What you said earlier. Did you mean it?"

He had said a lot of things, all of them earlier. Still, Colin had no difficulty discerning her point of reference.

Mercedes prompted, "You didn't say it because you thought it was what I wanted to hear, did you?"

"Is it what you wanted to hear?"

" I..." Her voice died away.

Colin took pity on her. "I said I love you because it's the truth." She nodded slowly and considered this in silence. "What are you thinking?"

Mercedes couldn't quite meet his eye. "That there might be a better way to pass the time than talking."

Chapter 12

They were rescued shortly after dawn. Mr. Hennepin saw them as he was approaching the stables. "Like lovebirds, they were," he told his wife later. "The two of them just sitting out on the roof, arm in arm. Her head gentle on his shoulder. And I thought they weren't even speaking."

Mrs. Hennepin had smiled indulgently at her husband. "What did they say they were doing out there?"

"Star gazing."

Ninety minutes later Mrs. Hennepin was still humming softly to herself as she set out dishes on the sideboard.

Colin and Mercedes were the first to arrive in the breakfast room. They were both aware of the housekeeper's frequent glances in their direction and the happy, knowing grin she couldn't quite tamp down. When Mrs. Hennepin left they looked at each other from opposite ends of the table, their complacent smiles mirrors of one another.

The twins elbowed their way through the doors until they saw the room was already occupied. They made a show of good manners as they stopped jostling for position and walked to the table with matching solemn strides and grave faces.

Britton scooted into his chair, his eyes darting between Colin and Mercedes. "I say, could you share the secret? It's rather bad of you to leave us out."

"No," Colin said. "We will not share."

Brendan noticed that for some reason this made Mercedes's smile deepen. He caught his brother's eye, made a quick nod in Mercedes's direction, and communicated his thoughts on the matter without saying a word. The fact that this silent exchange was completely overlooked by Mercedes, who was usually quick to notice such things, merely confirmed the boys' suspicions that something was afoot.

Sylvia and Chloe were still yawning as they walked in for breakfast, Chloe with only a bit more delicacy than her younger sister. That the twins didn't make some comment about their open mouths being fit for fly catching, alerted them to the altered atmosphere. It didn't take them but a moment to see that the real change was between the head and foot of the table. Ducking their heads to hide their satisfied smiles, the girls still communicated with each other by a series of under the table nudges which were only slightly more sophisticated than the kicks usually passed between Britton and Brendan.

Mercedes smoothed her napkin in her lap. "There seems to be quite a bit of restlessness," she said to no one in particular. "Did everyone sleep well?"

This comment caused some consternation among the gathering. Colin alone was at ease. He watched them closely as they ceased moving while managing to cast furtive, questioning glances at one another.

Colin leaned comfortably back in his chair, his head tilted slightly to one side as he regarded Mercedes. She was looking back at him with something of the same question in her eyes.

"Perhaps they're all guilty," she said.

"It occurred to me also."

This raised a general murmur of alarm from the others. "Guilty of what?" Sylvia wanted to know. "I'm sure I didn't do anything," Chloe defended herself. "If I did, I'm sorry," Britton offered hurriedly. Brendan pulled a face and whispered miserably, "They already said what I wanted to say. All the good excuses are taken."

Mercedes had not expected to hear so many protests of innocence. She was inclined to believe they were all in it together. "What do you think, Captain Thorne?"

"They're a sorry lot, but loyal. We may have to use torture."

Chloe sat up straight. "Torture! What does he mean, torture?"

Sylvia was eyeing the twins sternly. "What have you two done now?"

"It mightn't be us," Britton said.

"That's right," Brendan chimed in. "It might be you."

Colin tapped the bowl of his spoon on his juice glass to silence the gallery. "Last night Mercedes and I were locked in the north tower room," he told them. "This is my second experience with that trick. You'll understand why I might be skeptical of all these protests."

Four pairs of bewildered eyes turned in Colin's direction.

"They're innocent," Colin announced.

Mercedes's glance was amused. "What happened to torturing them?"

"I find I haven't the stomach for it."

Mercedes felt the pressure of all those stares turned on her. "Oh, very well," she said.

There was a collective sigh of relief.

"But I remain unconvinced," she added, regarding each one of them pointedly. "My experience with the four of you goes back much further than the captain's." Mercedes was somewhat dismayed to realize that not one of them seemed overly concerned.

It was much later that day before Mercedes had an opportunity to speak to Colin alone. She had spent the morning with Chloe as they reconsidered plans for her wedding. The observance of mourning had to be weighed against all they truly felt in their hearts. Mercedes had her luncheon with Sylvia who she was aware had been keeping to herself for some weeks. It did not require a great deal of perception to see into the young woman's heart and recognize she was pining for Aubrey Jones. Mercedes didn't remind Sylvia that Aubrey was virtually a stranger and that he had no roots in England. She merely listened, offering no judgment, and Sylvia was much heartened by the time spent together. The twins were tutored on matters of math and geography in the afternoon. Still later there were accounts to oversee and tenants to talk to. It was on her way back to the manor from the cottages that she saw Colin walking toward the woods with a fishing pole resting on his shoulder. She veered from her course and followed him instead.

He was wading into the stream when she came upon him, and he didn't hear her approach. Mercedes stood on the bank and watched Colin cast his line. It arced over him like a whip of sunlight, a single undulating curve until it was snapped taut by the water and Colin's pull on the rod. He was barefoot, standing amid the rippling, bubbling water with his trousers rolled up to his knees. The cuffs were already damp from the spray. His jacket lay on the bank with his shoes and stockings, but Colin still wore his vest. The silver threads running through the blue-gray fabric looked as liquid as the water flowing past his ankles.

His hair was a bright helmet, reflecting sunshine as he tilted his head and watched for movement along his line. He squinted against the brilliant, diamond-like surface of the water. For no reason that Mercedes could see, there was a slender smile lifting the comers of his mouth.

She called to him and he turned. His smile deepened. "I was thinking about you," he said.

That warmed her. She sat down on the bank and took off her shoes and stockings and dangled her feet where they could be cooled by the rushing water spray. "Are you going to share those thoughts?" she asked after a moment.

"No," he said, glancing over his shoulder. He cast his line again. "I don't think so."

She didn't mind that he had his secrets. Mercedes leaned back on her elbows. "Would you care to share your thoughts about my cousins?"

"I really don't think they locked us in, Mercedes."

"I don't know what I think anymore. I've spent all day with them. They're not like you, Colin. They've never been able to keep a secret."

"So you didn't ferret the truth out of them."

"That really wasn't the point of being with them, but it did occur to me that one of them would let something slip." She shook her head, still wondering at their silence. "Nothing. Not a word. I'm afraid I'll have to agree with you."

"That
is
something to fear," he said dryly.

"You know what I mean."

Colin reeled in his line and waded to the bank. Tossing the rod on the grass, he sat beside Mercedes. She looked deliciously relaxed, like a slender reed turned gently by the wind and the sun with no care but to enjoy both. He bent his head and kissed her.

Her lips were damp, her mouth warm. She responded sweetly, without haste or pressure. It was a slow, languorous exploration, an appreciation of the tastes and textures that made them the same and different. Her tongue swept along the edge of his upper lip. She kissed the corner of his mouth.

He laid his hand on her breast. Beneath the fabric of her gown he could feel her flesh swell. She arched ever so slightly, filling the cup of his palm. His mouth touched her just below her ear. She lifted her chin and exposed the long line of her throat. He kissed her jaw, then the pulse in her neck.

The fragrance of the thick damp grass mingled with the fragrance of her hair. Her elbows no longer supported her as she stretched languidly beneath him. Her arms circled his neck and the shadow cast by his head cooled her face.

"This is what I thought you had in mind last night," he whispered against her mouth.

Her smile was serene. "I know." Silent laughter brightened her eyes. "But you enjoyed star gazing, you know you did."

"The moon was too full."

"We had a spectacular view."

"We were on a rooftop."

"It was like a crow's nest."

"Crow's nests don't incline forty-five degrees except in Atlantic storms."

"It was lovely."

Mercedes felt heat rush to her face. She welcomed the mouth he laid across hers. They kissed for a long time, unhurried but not without hunger. It was Colin who eventually pulled back and sat up. Mercedes stayed where she was, trying to regain her measured breathing. She stroked his back.

"Will you come to my room tonight?" he asked.

She nodded. "Of course."

"Because you know I want you, or because you want to be there?"

Mercedes's hand stilled on his back. She cocked her head as she heard someone moving in the brush. Colin heard it, too. He pulled her up and helped her straighten her gown and remove bits of grass from her hair. Moving a few feet away from her, he cast his line back in the stream. When Brendan bounded into the clearing they looked perfectly at ease.