Where Seagulls Soar (12 page)

‘My niece,’ he said.

‘There’s a remarkable resemblance between you. Is Kate your brother’s child, perhaps?’

Seth’s eyes hooded and he put the cup to his lips and murmured something indistinct.

Kate came to gaze down at Toby and her fingers gently stroked his dark silky curls. ‘He’s nice. Are you his mother?’

‘Yes, I am.’

‘I wish I had a mother. Mine is in heaven. Her name was Sarah and she was uncle Seth’s sister.’

Seth’s next breath flattened into a hiss of annoyance.

Amused by the girl’s innocent candour, Joanna’s glance slid over Kate’s head to meet the level gaze of her visitor. An ironic twist of his lips met her spare smile. ‘You
were lucky to have a kind uncle to look after you.’

Kate tugged at her skirt for attention. ‘I haven’t got a father, either. Has Toby got one?’

‘His father is in heaven, too,’ she said, feeling a rush of guilt for entertaining another man in her house. Not that Alex had ever been here in this snug cottage she’d grown
up in. If he had been, he would surely have scorned it.

‘It’s not polite to ask Mrs Morcant so many questions,’ Seth reminded his niece.

Joanna grinned at that. ‘Nor for me to ask Kate questions, I take it. You may ask your own if you wish. It doesn’t seem fair to use an innocent child for our own ends.’

Placing the cup down he laughed, as if her observation had caught him unawares. ‘Are you always so straightforward?’

‘No, but it does tend to dispense with the social preamble and cut through to the point. Why are you here, Mr Adams? I can’t believe it’s to collect ten shillings.’

‘It’s not. I was utterly captivated by your blue eyes and wanted to see you again.’

Joanna was overcome by a vague sense of disappointment as she gazed at him. ‘I’d formed an opinion that you were an exceptionally intelligent man. Must I revise that?’

His shrug contained an embarrassed awkwardness. ‘The truth is, I liked you when we first met and wanted to learn a little more about you. Is that so hard for you to accept?’

Now it was her turn to feel awkward. ‘Then I’ll tell you about me. I was brought up in this cottage, the only child of Anna and Joseph Rushmore. The cottage was built by my pa, a
stonecutter by trade. He died in the quarry when I was about Kate’s age. Ma and I tended the fields, and worked as housemaids to earn our living. My ma was a good, hardworking woman and I
never went without food . . . or love.’

‘So you’ve always lived here?’

‘Not always. I left the island when I married. Now I’m widowed and have come back with my son. As you can see, we’re living in relative poverty. My immediate concern is to grow
enough vegetables so we can survive the coming winter, and to scrape together some money to buy the fuel to keep us warm.’ She spread her hands. ‘This is what I am, and always have
been.’

Joanna stood. Crossing to the shelf, she took out the velvet pouch that contained her mother’s jewellery and tipped the glittering contents on to the table. ‘Perhaps you’d like
to buy something for your niece while you’re here. Take your pick. It will save me going to the Lugger’s Inn and trying to sell it to the Barnes brothers, who will cheat me.’

Seth stared at the array of jewels with some shock, but he had a slightly speculative look in his eyes.

She realized she’d made a mistake and couldn’t meet his eyes as she whispered, ‘It’s not stolen. This belonged to my mother. See, I have no pride left. I’ll sell
everything I own to keep myself and my son alive this winter, for there’s a turnip in every precious stone, at least.’

‘Everything you own?’

She gave a slightly bitter laugh and looked him straight in the eye. ‘Only a man would speculate on that. Who knows, I might even consider that, too, if it buys me a couple of
sheep.’

‘I didn’t imagine you to be the type of woman who would indulge in amateur dramatics,’ he drawled, words which hit her like a douse of cold water in the face, so she gave a
spluttering gasp.

Her dismay brought a taut smile to his lips. ‘However, if the latter profession takes your fancy I’d be quite willing to pay a good price to be your first client.’

She coloured as she spat at him, ‘I’d see you in hell first.’

‘I’m quite sure you wouldn’t.’ His smile faltered as he leaned forward and swept the jewels to one side. ‘I’m sorry, that was unforgivable of me.’

‘You’re obviously expecting me to succumb to such a suggestion. Don’t you think that’s a little arrogant of you?’

‘Damn you, woman, can’t we behave like civilized people? I didn’t come here to negotiate a rate for the use of your body.’

She tossed her head. ‘Damn you, too, Seth Adams. I didn’t ask you to come here at all.’

Kate picked up a pendant with a diamond in it and held it up, watching it glitter in the light. Toby woke with a start, his face flushed with sleep. When he set eyes on Kate with the pendant he
began to chuckle. Joanna lifted him to the floor and the two children went off behind the couch to play with the stone.

The adults stared at each other like a pair of bristling dogs, then Seth took out his wallet and threw a wad of notes on to the table.

‘What’s that for?’ she asked him suspiciously.

‘The rose brooch. Kate has a birthday soon.’

She shook her head. ‘Anything but that. I’ve had the brooch since I was a baby. It was a gift from my ma.’

‘A kiss then.’

‘For Kate?’

He chuckled. ‘I’ll pass it on in a modified form.’

Joanna only just managed to hang on to her sudden urge to laugh. ‘You follow your instincts too easily.’

His eyes filled with amusement. ‘A kiss in exchange for a couple of sheep. Surely that’s a bargain.’

‘For whom, Mr Adams?’

‘That remains to be discovered. I can’t bear to think of you and your child going hungry this winter. Is a kiss such a high price to pay?’

The chance to say no was lost to her when he moved to where she sat and took her face gently between his palms. Up close, his eyes displayed a dark edge around the wintery grey, so they
resembled those of a hawk. His mouth was a strong curve, but his lips were delicately soft as they touched against hers.

Joanna had never considered a kiss to be a work of art, but Seth Adams kissed with such finesse that the subtleties of his caress reached into the very depths of her soul. She closed her eyes,
responding to this stranger’s intimacy, trying to ignore the warning clamour of her body.

When he drew away, her eyes remained closed for a few seconds. His smile was tender when she opened them. ‘Definitely a bargain for me, I’d say, Mrs Morcant.’

She didn’t want to flirt with this man. There was something ruthless about him. ‘Not for me. I feel . . .
soiled
.’

‘Nothing about that kiss soiled you, my dear Joanna. What you’re feeling is guilt, since your response told us both how much you enjoyed being kissed. Despite being a grieving widow,
your nature is sensuous.’

She stiffened. ‘You’re no gentleman.’

He chuckled. ‘I’ve never pretended to be.’

She drew in a deep breath, trying to keep a check on her temper, rising from the settee so she could put some distance between them. Fetching the brown jug, she emptied the coins it contained on
top of the notes. ‘Here is your ten shillings. Take it with you when you leave. The kiss was free of charge.’

Picking up Toby, who gave a cry of displeasure at being parted from his new playmate, Joanna stomped off upstairs, leaving her guests to their own devices.

After a short while footsteps pattered up the stairs and Kate’s voice whispered against the door panel, ‘Are you cross with us, Joanna?’

She shouldn’t vent her temper on the child. ‘Not with you, Kate.’ Opening the door, she gave the girl a hug. ‘Goodbye, my dear. It was lovely to meet you.’

Seth appeared at the bottom of the stairs, hat and cane in hand. He looked contrite. ‘Thank you for the tea.’

She offered him the hand of friendship with, ‘I was too churlish.’

‘I goaded you.’

‘Yes, you did.’ Against her better judgement Joanna took two steps down the stairs towards him. ‘Deliberately, I think.’

His smile was slightly enigmatic. ‘You could be right, at that. Can we still be friends?’

Seth had helped save her son’s life. Descending a few more stairs she allowed her expression to soften. ‘I don’t want us to part thinking badly of one another. Thank you for
the hard labour. I appreciate the help.’

‘I enjoyed it.’ He held out a hand to her. ‘Will you see me out, then?’

There was a moment of hesitation before she took his hand to close the gap between them, for she was reluctant to let him go now. His palm was firm against hers, as he turned it up to inspect
the calluses. ‘These were hard earned.’

‘I’ll get used to manual work again.’

‘You shouldn’t have to,’ he said almost angrily.

‘But I will, for I have my son to raise.’

‘May I call on you again the next time I visit the island?’

She nodded, even though Portland was not a place one passed through to reach anywhere else.

They parted on the doorstep and she watched him walk off, not down the hill as she’d expected, but up towards Reforne. She supposed he was staying the night at one of the inns, for
travelling with a child wasn’t easy, and Kate would tire quickly. Both of them turned to wave before she closed the door.

Thinking the money was gone, Joanna’s heart sank a little at having nothing set aside to fall back on. She noticed that the brown jug was back on the shelf as she scooped the jewellery
back into its bag. Later that evening, she discovered the money was tucked inside the jug. There was a note, written in pencil, the letters scrawling across both sides of two small pieces of
notepaper.

As Joanna finished reading the note for a second time, she murmured, ‘So, he does intend us to meet again.’ Her smile held an element of relief. On that basis, she decided it would
be stupid not to keep the money.

Touching her mouth with her finger she grinned as she admitted to herself that Seth had been right. That kiss certainly had been a bargain.

From Joanna Morcant’s cottage, Seth went straight to the church, where an old man with dimming eyes and a white beard was sleeping in the sun, his back against a
gravestone.

When Seth stirred him with a foot the old man came awake. ‘Hiram is my name. How can I help you, sir?’

‘Is the Reverend Lind around?’

‘The reverend who inherited the scholar’s house over yonder? Richard Lind the scholar’s name was, and it was said he had devils plaguing him so he fell to the ground and jerked
about to fight them off. For all that, a kinder man you could never wish to meet, indeed you couldn’t. ’Tis the nephew who’s the reverend.’

‘That’s the one.’

Hiram lifted his cap and scratched his head. ‘The reverend, he be gone to market with his missus just now, her who used to be Tilda Rushmore whose father was George. If it’s praying
you’re after, the back door of the church allus be open for sinners who need to have their souls cleansed.’

Seth smiled. He doubted if praying would wash his sins away. ‘Thank you.’ He hesitated before asking, ‘Have you worked here a long time?’

‘Since I was a boy. Never been off the island,’ the old man said proudly, ‘and I’ve outlasted two wives and four of my children.’

‘You must have a strong constitution, Hiram.’

‘Nothing wrong with my memory, either. I saw you come from Joanna Rushmore’s house. A sprightly girl with a mind of her own, though fallen on hard times now. I didn’t expect to
see her come back here after she married that London fellow.’

‘Tobias Darsham,’ Seth prompted.

‘That’s the one, him who drowned not two weeks later.’ He jerked his thumb. ‘Darsham’s first wife be over yonder. She and their daughter lost their lives in the
storms of thirty-eight. Off the
Cormorant
, they were. A bad year for wrecks, indeed it was. Her master, Captain Lucian Morcant, is buried nearby. One of his sons used to come and visit his
pa, but not recently. I heard he’d married Joanna Rose.’

‘He’s dead.’

‘Do that be so? That accounts for her coming back then, and her with a son of her own, I hear. The girl has a shape to her a man could enjoy, and nice titties, like a pair of plump white
doves nestling in her bodice. I do like a lass with a nice pair. Not that I’d be much good to a woman now, no good at all. Fact is, ’tis a wonder I can still draw air.’ The old
man grinned toothlessly at him, then fell silent.

‘Tell me about Joanna’s parents,’ Seth prompted.

‘There were none better than Joseph and Anna, though the Lord didn’t bless them with any children until late in life, when Joanna Rose came along.’ Glancing around him, Hiram
lowered his voice. ‘There’s some who say Joanna Rose is an outsider who was brought in from a wreck by the storm. Her cradle sailed safely to shore, guided by the soul of Captain Lucian
Morcant hisself, who entered the body of a seagull. ’Tis said, and no secret hereabouts, that Joseph Rushmore found her on the beach and took her home to his Anna. And I knows for certain
there’s a boy child buried with Honor Darsham, since I saw him before the box was closed.’

Hiram’s chin settled gently back on his chest and his eyelids closed as he mumbled into his beard, ‘’Tis probably true, since Fanny Rushmore herself told me, her who’s in
the infirmary at Poole and dying from the scourge of the gin. Though I wouldn’t tell another living soul, indeed not, and the dead allus keep their counsel.’

Not always, Seth thought, and, smiling a little, he dropped a couple of shillings into the old man’s pocket. He called out to Kate, who was inspecting the statue of an angel.