To Beguile a Beast (9 page)

But no. She’d known these last years that it was only a matter of time before she offended him in some way and she would wake up to find the children gone. If nothing else, that had been the primary driving reason to leave the duke: she could not live without Abigail and Jamie.

She opened her eyes and got up, drifting to the dark windows. The view was less than comforting, though. The ivy on the outside walls so overgrew the windows that the moon was but a glittering speck. There was a small table under the window that she’d made into a desk to transcribe Lady Vale’s fairy-tale book. She touched the papers there. She really ought to work on it some more, but she was too restless tonight.

She glanced back at the children. Jamie was in exhausted slumber, and Abigail hadn’t moved. Just in case she was still awake, Helen rounded the bed and bent over her daughter.

She touched her shoulder lightly—not enough to wake her if she slept—and whispered, “I’m going for a walk, darling. I’ll return before too long.”

Abigail’s closed eyelids didn’t move, but nonetheless Helen suspected she wasn’t asleep. She sighed and kissed her daughter’s cheek before leaving the room and shutting the door carefully behind her.

The corridor was dim, of course, and she really had no notion of where she could go. The castle didn’t lend itself to a meditative stroll. Still, she was restless and had to move somehow. Helen wandered down the hall, her single candle casting flickering light against the walls. The castle had five main floors. The bedroom she shared with the children was on the third, along with several rooms that once must’ve been quite nice bedrooms and sitting rooms. Helen trailed her fingers idly along the carved paneling of the hall. She’d have to have the maids dust and polish the old wood eventually, but this floor was low on her list of things to be put to rights.

She stopped suddenly and shuddered. She was making plans—
future
plans—for the castle when she might not even be here tomorrow. She had no doubt that Lister had men searching for her and the children at this very moment. The knowledge made her skin prickle in fear, made her want to flee at once. But she’d attended shooting parties in the country and knew what happened to the bird that flew when the beaters came close. They were shot from the sky. No. Better to keep her nerve and stay here at this hiding place she’d found.

She shivered and started down a staircase at the end of the hall. The treads were even and strong, but they were bare. Did Sir Alistair have the funds for a proper carpet? Perhaps she could hang a painting or two on the landing. She’d found quite a cache of paintings just today. They were all leaning on their sides and covered with a cloth in one of the closed rooms on the second floor.

The stair led to the back of the castle, quite near the kitchens. She hesitated when she made the ground floor. Light was coming from the kitchen. It couldn’t be any of the new servants. The maids and footmen made the journey to and from the village daily. Mrs. McCleod would eventually live in, but she’d taken one look at the cook’s quarters and stated that they’d need to be cleaned before she could move in. The light in the kitchen meant that either Sir Alistair was having a late snack or Mr. Wiggins was lurking there. Helen shivered. She hadn’t the fortitude to take on the nasty little man at the moment.

That decided, she turned to the front of the castle. The dining room was dark as she passed it, and for a moment she wondered what Sir Alistair had done with the big dog’s body. She’d left the castle’s master there in the dining room when she’d gone to take care of Jamie and Abigail. When she’d last glimpsed him, he’d been crouching silently over the dog. His eyes had been dry, but every bone in his body had projected grief.

Helen looked away from the dining room. She didn’t want to feel sympathy for Sir Alistair. He was a disagreeable man who’d gone out of his way to make it plain he didn’t want her here. She’d like to think that he didn’t care for anyone or anything. But that’d been clearly disproved, hadn’t it? He might wear the mask of an unfeeling ogre, but underneath he was a man. A man who could be hurt.

She was at the front of the castle now, by those great doors where first they’d entered. She had to set down the candle to pull back the heavy bolt and wrench the door open. Sir Alistair had performed these jobs without any sign of strain. Obviously he had some muscles under that old hunting coat he habitually wore. An image of the master of the castle without any clothing at all suddenly sprang up in her too-fertile mind, and Helen halted, startled and oddly warmed. Good Lord! Had she truly become a wanton? Because imagining Sir Alistair nude only aroused her curiosity: Did the man have hair on his chest? Was his belly as flat as it looked? And while she was standing here in the darkness, she might as well think it—was his manhood long or short? Thick or narrow?

A wanton, indeed.

Helen inhaled, shaking the crude thoughts away, and set her candle on the stone step of the castle. The moon was high enough to see a little in the dark as her eyes adjusted. The group of trees by the drive rustled softly in the wind, their tops waving against the night sky. Helen shivered. She should’ve brought a wrap.

There was a kind of path that led around the side of the castle, and Helen began picking her way. She rounded the back of the castle, and the moon shone, full and fat, on the hills in the distance. Its light was as nearly bright as day, and as she tore her eyes from it, Helen belatedly saw that she wasn’t alone. A tall male figure was silhouetted against the sky, like an ancient monolith, grim and still and lonely. He might’ve stood thus for centuries.

“Mrs. Halifax,” Sir Alistair rasped as she started to turn away. “Have you come to torment me even in the night?”

“I’m sorry,” Helen murmured. She could feel a flush start on her cheeks, and she was grateful for the dark, not only to hide her blush, but also to keep him from seeing the expression on her face. Her wayward imagination conjured up that same hazy picture of him nude.
Oh, dear!
“I didn’t mean to intrude.”

She turned to go back around the castle, but his voice halted her.

“Stop.”

She peered at him. He still faced the hills, but he’d turned his head toward her.

He cleared his throat. “Stay and talk with me, Mrs. Halifax.”

It was an order, spoken in commanding tones, but Helen thought perhaps there was a hint of a plea underneath the gravel in his voice, and that decided her.

She wandered closer to where he stood. “What would you like to talk about?”

He shrugged, his face averted again. “Don’t women always have something to babble about?”

“You mean fashion and gossip and other terribly unimportant things?” she asked sweetly.

He hesitated, perhaps thrown off balance by the iron underlying her tone. “I’m sorry.”

She blinked, sure she had misheard him. “What?”

He shrugged. “I’m not used to the company of civilized people, Mrs. Halifax. Please forgive me.”

It was her turn to feel uncomfortable. The man was obviously grieving the death of his loyal companion; it was unkind of her to snap at him. In fact, considering she’d made her living for the last fourteen years by catering to the needs of a man, it was rather out of character for her.

Helen pushed that strange thought aside and wandered a little closer to Sir Alistair, trying to think of a neutral topic of conversation. “I thought the meat pie at dinner was quite good.”

“Yes.” He cleared his throat. “I noticed that the boy ate two slices.”

“Jamie.”

“Hmm?”

“His name is Jamie,” she said, but without any censor.

“Quite. Jamie, then.” He shifted a little. “How is Jamie?”

She looked blindly at her feet. “He cried himself to sleep.”

“Ah.”

Helen stared out at the moonlit landscape. “What a wilderness this is.”

“It wasn’t always.” His voice was low, the gravel making it rumble in a sort of comforting way. “There used to be gardens that led to the stream.”

“What happened to them?”

“The gardener died and another was never hired.”

She frowned. The ruined terrace gardens were silvered in the moonlight, but she could see that it was terribly overgrown. “When did the gardener die?”

He tilted his head back, gazing at the stars. “Seventeen… no, eighteen years ago?”

She stared. “And you’ve never hired a gardener since then?”

“There seemed no need.”

They stood in silence then. A cloud drifted across the moon. She wondered suddenly how many nights he had stood thus, alone and lonely, looking out over the ruin of his garden.

“Do you…”

He tilted his head. “Yes?”

“Forgive me.” She was glad the darkness masked her expression. “You’ve never married?”

“No.” He hesitated, and then said gruffly, “I was engaged, but she died.”

“I’m sorry.”

He made a movement, perhaps a halfhearted shrug. He hardly needed her sympathy.

But she couldn’t leave it alone. “No family, either?”

“I have an older sister who lives in Edinburgh.”

“But that’s not too far away. You must see her often.”

She thought wistfully of her own family. She hadn’t seen any of them—her sisters, brother, mother, or Papa—since she’d gone to Lister. What a price she’d paid for her romantic dreams.

“I haven’t seen Sophia in years,” he replied, interrupting her thoughts.

She looked at his dark profile, trying to make out his expression. “You’re estranged?”

“Nothing so formal.” His voice had grown cold. “I simply don’t choose to travel much, Mrs. Halifax, and my sister sees no reason to visit me.”

“Oh.”

He pivoted slowly, facing her. His back was to the moon, and she couldn’t see his expression at all. He seemed suddenly bigger, looming over her more closely—and more ominously—than she’d realized.

“You’re very curious about me tonight, Mrs. Halifax,” he growled. “But I think I’d rather discuss you.”

Her voice was even, almost masculine in its directness, and the contrast to her extremely feminine form was surprising. Fascinating, actually.

He cocked his head, considering her. “You’ve said that you’re widowed.”

Her chin lifted. “Yes, of course.”

“For how long?”

She looked away, hesitating for a fraction of a second. “Three years this fall.”

He nodded. She was very good, but she was lying. Did the husband still live? Or did she run from another man? “And what did Mr. Halifax do?”

“He was a doctor.”

“But not a successful one, I take it.”

“Why do you say that?”

“If he’d been successful,” he pointed out, “you wouldn’t have to work now.”

She lifted a hand to her forehead. “Forgive me, but the topic distresses me.”

No doubt he was supposed to feel pity for her at this point and give up the chase, but he had her cornered, and his curiosity urged him on. Her distress only made him more eager. He stepped closer, so close that his chest nearly touched her shoulder. His nose caught the scent of lemons from her hair. “You were fond of your husband?”

Her hand fell and she glared up at him, her tone tart. “I loved him desperately.”

His mouth curved in a smile that wasn’t very nice. “A tragedy, then, his death.”

“Yes, it was.”

“You were married young?”

“Only eighteen.” Her eyes dropped.

“And the marriage was happy.”

“Extremely happy.” Her voice was defiant, the lie transparent.

“What did he look like?”

“I…” She wrapped her arms about herself. “Please, might we change the subject?”

“Certainly,” he drawled. “Where did you live in London?”

“I’ve told you.” Her voice was steadier now. “I was in Lady Vale’s household.”

“Of course,” he murmured. “My mistake. I keep forgetting your vast experience in running a household.”

“It’s not vast,” she whispered. “You know that.”

For a moment, they were silent and only the wind whistling around the corner of the castle gave voice.

Then she said very quietly, with her face still turned away, “It’s just that I… I need a place to stay right now.”

And something inside him surged in triumph. He had her. She couldn’t leave. It made no sense, this feeling of triumph. He’d been urging her to go ever since she’d arrived, but somehow the knowledge that she had to stay, and that as an honorable gentleman he had to
let
her stay, filled him with contentment.

Not that he let it show. “I confess, Mrs. Halifax, that I am surprised by one thing.”

“What is that?”

He bent closer, his mouth nearly brushing her lemon-scented hair. “I would’ve thought a lady of your beauty would be besieged by suitors.”

She turned her head, and their faces were suddenly only inches apart. He felt her breath brush across his lips as she spoke. “You find me beautiful.”

Her voice was curiously flat.

He cocked his head, eyeing the smooth brow, the lush mouth, and the fine wide eyes. “Devastatingly so.”

“And you probably think beauty sufficient reason to marry a woman.” Her tone was bitter now.

What had the mysterious Mr. Halifax done to his wife? “No doubt most men do.”

“They never think of a woman’s disposition,” she muttered. “Her likes and dislikes, her fears and hopes, her very soul.”

“Don’t they?”

“No.” Her beautiful eyes had grown dark and tragic. The wind blew a curling lock of hair across her face.

“Poor Mrs. Halifax,” he mocked softly. He gave in to impulse and raised his left hand—his unmaimed hand—and stroked the lock of hair back away from her face. Her skin was as fine as silk. “How terrible to be so lovely.”

A frown creased her unblemished brow. “You said
most men.
”

“Did I?” He let his hand drop.

She looked up at him, her eyes were quite perceptive now. “Don’t you consider beauty to be the most important criteria in a wife?”

“Ah, but you’ve forgotten my aspect, I’m afraid. It’s in the natural order of things that a lovely wife will either stray or come to hate an ugly husband. A man as revolting as I would be an idiot to attach himself to a beautiful woman.” He smiled into her mesmerizingly lovely eyes. “And I am many things, Mrs. Halifax, but an idiot is not one of them.”

He bowed and turned to stride back into the castle, leaving Mrs. Halifax, a lonely, desperately tempting siren, behind him.