Winsor, Kathleen (48 page)

"What
a charming little witch you are," he said softly.

"Oh,
Bruce,
am
I?
Do you think so? Did you ever think about me—way over there?" She was
intensely serious.

"I
thought about you a great many times—more than I expected. And
I worried about
you too. I was afraid that someone might get that money away from you—"

"Oh,
no!" protested Amber immediately. She would have died rather than let him
know what had happened to her. "Don't I look well enough?" A wave of
her hand indicated her expensive clothes, the coach they rode in, her own
triumph over the great world. "I can shift for myself, I'll warrant
you."

He
grinned, and if he saw through her bluff he gave no indication of it. "So
it seems. But I should have known you would. You've got the world's most
marketable commodity— enough for ten women."

"What's
that?" she asked him, putting on a demure face.

"You
damned well know what it is, and I'm not going to flatter you any more. Tell
me, Amber: What does he look like? How big is he?"

"Who?"
She looked at him in sudden surprise, thinking that he meant Rex Morgan, and
then they both burst into laughter. "Oh, the Baby! Oh, Bruce, wait till
you see him! He's grown so big I can hardly lift him. And he's so handsome! He
looks
just like you—his eyes are the same colour and his hair is getting darker all
the time. You'll adore him! But you should have seen 'im at first. Lord, he was
a fright! I was almost glad you weren't there—"

Both
their faces sobered at that. "I'm sorry, darling. I'm sorry you had to be
alone. You must have hated me for leaving you."

She
put her hand over his and her voice was low and tender. "I didn't hate
you, Bruce. I love you and I'll always love you. And I was glad
I had him—he was
a part of you that you'd left with me, and while I carried him I wasn't as
lonely as I'd have been otherwise. But I don't want any more babies—it takes
too long. Maybe someday when I get old and don't care how I look I'll have some
more then.

He
smiled. "And when will that be?"

"Oh,
when I'm about thirty." She said it as though she would never be about
thirty. "But tell me what you've been doing. What's in America? Where did
you live? I want to know everything."

"I
lived in Jamaica. It's an island, but I went to the mainland too. It's a
wonderful country, Amber—wild and empty and untouched, the way England hasn't
been for a thousand years. And it's over there waiting—for whoever will come to
take it." He sat staring ahead now, talking softly and almost as though to
himself. "It's bigger than anyone knows. In Virginia the plantations are
spreading back from the coast, hundreds of thousands of acres, and still
there's more land. There are wild horses and herds of wild cattle, and they
belong to whoever can catch them. The forests are full of deer and every year
the wild pigeons come over in clouds that blot out the sky. There's more than
enough food in Virginia alone to feed everyone in England better than he's ever
been fed before. The soil is so rich that whatever you plant grows like weeds.
It's something to catch your imagination—something you never dreamed of—"
He looked at her suddenly, his eyes glittering with passionate enthusiasm.

"But
it isn't England!"

He
laughed, relaxed again, the tension gone. "No," he agreed. "It
isn't England."

As
far as Amber was concerned that settled the matter, and they began to talk,
instead, of his adventures at sea. He told her that the life was unpleasant,
that nothing could make a man uglier than being shut up for weeks at a time on
a ship with other men, but that it was not very dangerous and was a sure road
to riches. That was why so many seamen preferred sailing with the privateers to
joining the British navy or the merchant fleets. At that moment the Thames was
crowded with prizes just brought into port and more were arriving every day.

"I
suppose you're a mighty rich man, now."

"My
fortunes are considerably improved," he admitted.

It
took an hour and a half to reach Kingsland, for the road was unpaved most of
the way and the recent heavy rains had turned it into a slough. Tempest and
Jeremiah had to pry the wheels free a dozen times.

But
at last they arrived and went around to the kitchen-door of Mrs. Chiverton's
pretty little thatched cottage, where they found her just cleaning the remains
of the noon-day meal. Amber had given her frequent and generous gifts of money,
for she wanted her son to live in a comfortable home, and the cottage now had
an air of pleasant warmth and friendliness that it had not had at first.

The
baby lay in his cradle, which he had now almost outgrown, flat on his back and
sleeping soundly. Amber put up a cautioning finger as they came in and, walking
softly, went over to look at him. His cheeks were flushed and there was a sheen
of moisture on his eyelids, his breathing came quietly and regularly. For a
long moment Bruce and Amber stood staring down at him, and then their eyes
turned and met in a look of mutual pride and congratulation. Lord Carlton's
slender, hard aristocratic hands reached down and closed under his son's
armpits and he lifted him to his chest.

He
woke up then, yawning, looked in some surprise at the man who held him, and
then catching sight of Amber broke into a sudden smile and reached out for her.

"Mother!"

After
a while, when they had eaten a bowl of hot pottage which Mrs. Chiverton
insisted they have, they began to unwrap the baby's presents. There were
numerous toys, including drums and soldiers and a Jack-in-the-Pulpit—a Puritan
preacher which popped out of a box and swayed comically from one side to the
other. And there was a doll with real blonde hair and an extensive wardrobe
which Amber had bought for Mrs. Chiverton's four-year-old daughter. They stayed
until mid-afternoon, but when finally they got ready to leave, the baby cried
and wanted to go with them. While Amber tried to quiet him Bruce gave Mrs.
Chiverton fifty pounds, telling her that he was grateful for the good care his
son had received.

It
was raining again as they started back, Amber chattering with the greatest enthusiasm
and excitement about the baby. For she had been pleased and a little surprised
to find that Bruce—who she had half expected would be an indifferent
father—seemed to love the child as much as she did. But even while she talked
she was conscious again of the rising surge of passion in both of them,
temporarily calmed and forced back while they had been at the cottage. Now it
was once more wild and violent, immediately demanding, determined to sweep away
two years and a half in a few moments of savage union.

Stopping
in the midst of a sentence she turned and looked up at him. Bruce gave a swift
glance out the window, and as one arm went about her he leant forward to rap on
the side of
the coach. "We're coming to Hoxton," he said quickly to Amber.
"I know a good inn there. Hey!" he raised his voice to a shout.
"Stop up here at the Star and Garter!"

When
Amber got home, after nine o'clock that night, she found Nan sitting beside the
fireplace mending one of Rex's shirts while he stood next to her, his hands
jammed into his pockets and a scowl on his face. Amber paused, looking at him
with a sense of surprise, for he seemed almost unreal to her—and then he had
crossed the room and had her hands in his.

"My
God, darling! What happened! I was just going out to try to find you!"

She
forced a smile. "Nothing happened, Rex. The baby didn't want me to go and
I kept staying on—and then the coach got stuck and once it almost turned
over." She reached up to caress his cheek, a little sorry to have cheated
him as she had, for he looked at her with such adoration and not the faintest
hint of doubt or suspicion. "You mustn't worry about me all the time,
Rex."

"I
can't help it, darling. I love you, you know."

Amber
turned away to escape the expression in his eyes and as she did so she saw
Nan's look of disapproval and resentment.

Early
the next morning, when they were alone, Amber asked her if she had told Rex
about the visit of Almsbury and Lord Carlton. Nan was making the bed, smoothing
out the sheets with a bed-staff, and she answered without looking at Amber,

"No,
mam, I did not," she said crisply. "Lord, I'm sure I don't know why
you should think I'd meddle in your business. I never have before. What's more.
I wouldn't tell Captain Morgan you were playing him false for a thousand pound.
It would break his heart!" She turned around all at once and the two women
stood staring at each other; there was a gleam of moisture in Nan's eyes.

"You
weren't so finical when it was the King I was playing him false with!"

"That
was different, mam. That was serving the Crown. But this—this is wicked.
Captain Morgan loves you beyond his own life— It's—it's not kind!"

Amber
gave a sigh. "No, Nan, it's not kind. But I can't help it. I'm in love
with Lord Carlton, mad in love with him. Nan! He's Bruce's father! Not my
husband—I married Luke after Lord Carlton had gone to America. Oh, you've got
to help me, Nan; help me to keep Rex from finding out. While he's here I've got
to see him—and I will see him!—but he'll be gone soon, in a month or two, and
when he's gone Rex will be none the wiser. I'll marry him then—to make it up to
him.
Will
you help me, Nan? Will you promise?"

As
Amber talked Nan's flexible face changed, her expressions shifting like the
play of sunlight over water, and at the
end she ran to throw her arms about
Amber. "Oh, I'm sorry, mam! I didn't know—I didn't guess—I thought he was
just some gentleman you'd taken a fancy to." Suddenly she smiled broadly,
holding onto Amber's arms. "And so he's little Bruce's father! Oh, of
course! Why, they look alike!" She gave a gasp and put one hand to her
mouth. "Lord, but it's mighty lucky the Captain would never go out with
you to see 'im! If he ever saw his Lordship—"

Carlton
was staying at Almsbury House and two days later Amber sent a note inviting
him, with Almsbury and his countess, to see the play—she wheedled Killigrew
into reserving four seats in the front row of the King's Box—and she asked them
to have supper with her in her apartments afterward. Lord and Lady Almsbury were
intended as decoys in the event that Captain Morgan should arrive unexpectedly.

They
accepted, and for the next forty-eight hours Amber was in a flurry of excited
preparation. She had Nan call in a woman to help her clean so that every speck
of dust was brushed from the drapes and the walnut furniture oiled and polished
until it gleamed. She went herself to the New Exchange to buy a great supply of
artificial silk flowers, since the fresh ones were not yet in bloom, and she
badgered Madame Drelincourt into finishing a new gown for her several days
before it had been promised. She consulted the head-cook at Chatelin's about
the supper and the wine, trying to remember everything that Bruce liked best,
and just before she left for the theatre she repeated once more to Nan the
multifarious instructions which covered each smallest detail.

Halfway
down the stairs she stopped suddenly, turned about, and ran back again.
"Don't forget to. put a decanter of water on the tray with the brandy,
Nan! Lord Carlton likes it that way!"

She
got there very early and, once dressed and painted, went down into the pit to
circulate about among the young men. She made a great show of all her charm and
gaiety, hoping that Lord Carlton would see her and be impressed and perhaps a
little jealous to find how popular she was with all the fops. But it was almost
three-thirty and she was once more back behind the curtains when she saw him
come in.

Lord
and Lady Almsbury walked ahead, going to the seats which Amber had sent some
boys to keep for them; but as one of the ladies leaned back and put out a hand
to take hold of Bruce's wrists he stopped, smiling, and bowed. Amber watched
with anxious alarm while he bent over to hear what she was saying and saw her
languid-eyed stare, the lazy intimate grasp which her hand kept on his, as
though they had been long and well acquainted.

"Hey!"
She heard Beck's voice suddenly just beside her. "Who's the handsome
fellow my Lady Southesk is giving an assignation to?" Carnegie's husband
had recently succeeded to the earldom of Southesk.