"
You
may rest assured, Mistress Courtney, that the house and its contents will
suffer as
little
harm as is consonant with
occupation
,
"
he said stiffly. "I intend to make this place my headquarters during my
sojourn on the island and would be glad if you would show me what
accommodations the house has to offer."
Virginia
curtsied and inclined her head. "I am at your service, Colonel.
There are but twelve bedrooms, counting mine own. Of course,
there
are the servants' quarters, but I hardly think you
may house all your men there."
Alex heard the note of mockery again and fought to keep a
tight rein on his temper. His moment of supremacy had not lasted long. "My
men will bivouac in the gardens and the orchard."
"I do hope that they will show respect for the shrubs
and the fruit trees," she murmured sweetly, turning toward the drawing
room.
Alex Marshall regarded the slender straight back, the firm
set of her shoulders, the arrogant tilt of her head where glossy chestnut
braids formed a neat crown. Mingling with his infuriation came reluctant
admiration and the most intense curiosity. What kind of woman was this, who
faced adversity with a grim humor and a conquering army with a defiance laced
with irony? He had the liveliest desire to find
o
ut.
Blissfully unaware that such a desire played perfectly into
the hands of Virginia Courtney, he strode to the open front door and in ringing
accents gave orders for the dispersal of the troops before he accompanied her
on the tour of this gracious house.
Leather carpets covered the floors of the dining and drawing
rooms; the stools held gold nails, and green velvet covered the few chairs
reserved for the elderly and honored guests. It was a house
that
bespoke both the wealth and taste of a
seventeenth-century English gentleman. The usual trestle table had given place
to solid black oak with ornamental legs; beds and cupboards were of the same
magnificently carved wood. Framed pictures hung on the oak-paneled walls, and
the colonel recognized several Rubens and Van Dycks. In the deep embrasures of
the windows, marble sculptures stood carefully placed to catch the eye. But the
miasma of neglect hung in the still evening air, exemplified in the tarnished
bronze and gold furnishings, the dust nestling in the knots of the intricate
carvings, running in white lines down the folds of the velvet draperies.
"It is a little difficult for one person to maintain
such a house in true order," Ginny said in inadvertent defense, dusting a
small table with her apron.
"Quite so, mistress,
"
he concurred, averting his gaze from the slight flush of discomfiture mantling
the sun-browned cheeks and the sheen that obscured the clarity of her gaze.
Alex had hidden the tragedy and pathos of this war behind his
vision of a land no longer ruled by the despotism of the Stuart monarchy—
a
land where Parliament, elected by the people, held
the only definitive voice of the law
m
aker.
But on
this
summer afternoon, on this small
island outpost of the greater island that was England, in the dust of a
neglected manor house and the militant sparkle of a pair of gray eyes, the
greater purpose became diminished, split into the atoms of its suffering human
parts. This girl had lost her father in the great Battle of Naseby, three years
ago, when Cromwell's New Model Army had won a decisive victory against Charles
I and the royal army under the command of his nephew, Prince Rupert. The
following year, she had lost her husband when the king's headquarters at Oxford had surrendered and King Charles had given himself into the hands of the Scots, no
more friends of Parliament than he was. In the wake of their victory, the
parliamentary armies had besieged the estates of the Cavaliers who still held
out for the king; Parliament had imposed crippling fines on the Malignants
— fines that had forced them to sell off vast acres of
field and woodland. In extreme cases, the lands had been sequestered and the
owners disinherited. This island backwater, however, had escaped for two years
until the king had chosen to illuminate it with
his presence. Having been handed over to Parliament by the Scots, who
hoped thus to make peace, he had been seized by the army and imprisoned in Hampton Court. Charles I had listened to explosive rumblings within the army as the Radicals
overcame the Moderates, and his very life had become threatened as talk of
bringing him to summary justice grew stronger. In November 1647, he had escaped
Hampton Court and taken sanctuary in Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight, ostensibly the guest of the governor, Colonel Hammond, who found his
Royalist sympathies clashing mercilessly with an office he held by the
authority of Parliament.
Alex Marshall's brigade was part of the reinforcements sent
to the Isle of
Wight—
their
task to deal harshly with the many local Royalists rallying
around the king, as Royalist uprisings swept through England and Wales,
bringing this, the second civil war in six years, to a land already riven and
denuded by strife.
When he had come to the Redfern estate this evening, to exact
Parliament's penalty, he had not expected to find only John Redfern's orphaned,
widowed daughter standing between the enemy at the gate and her inheritance. It
seemed to make nonsense of the presence of an entire brigade, and this young,
unprotected woman was making him feel like a posturing idiot.
"
You
will grant me sufficient time to remove my possessions from here? Or are they
also sequestered, Colonel?" Ginny's heart pounded as she broached the
ill-important matter. Had she read him rightly in those first moments? Read
correctly the paradox inherent in the ingrained authority of the commander, who
could not tolerate a challenge, and the chivalry of the noble born, who would
not cast out a defenseless woman. If she was right, both those facets of his
personality would dictate that he ke
e
p
her under his eye, at least for a short while.
She opened a heavy door onto a west-facing corner room. It
was a girl-child's room with its dimity hangin
g
s to the bed and the windows. A spinning wheel stood in o
ne
corner, the hemp of flax partly spun and carded. A
wooden doll, prettily dressed, sat on the window seat. A set: of tortoise-shell
combs lay on the dresser, and the armoir
e
stood open t
o
reveal her scant wardrobe.
For the moment ignoring the sarcastic q
ue
stion, Alex went to the casement standing open to the
sea. The house stood on the cliff above Alum Bay at the westerly end of the
I
sle of Wight
. The small cove was famous for its variegated sands
—e
very color of the rainbow—
a
nd for its commanding position at the point where the
ocean gave way to the re
l
atively peaceful waters of the Solent. In the
e
vening light the Needle Rocks
presented a mellow nonthreatening image to those who did not know these waters.
The English mainland was still just visible across the five-
m
i
l
e stretch of water, and the coast of France, should King Charles finally decide to make his escape complete, a day
'
s sail across the c
h
annel.
"There is no need for you to remove your possessions,
mistress, since you will continue to occupy this chamber." The colonel
turned from the casement, his decision made.
Ginny frowned even as her heart leaped. She
ha
d
read him
ri
ght,
but she could not allow her relief to show. Her mouth
lo
ok a recalcitrant turn.
"
You will pardon my stupidity, sir, but I do not appear to
understand you."
Alex Marshall sighed. Unless he was very much mistaken,
Virginia Courtney was going to prove a most troublesome acquisition. "Then
let me make myself plain, once and for all. Since you have no visible guarthan
and are a widowed minor, you are now a ward of Parliament."
"
A
prisoner?" Her eyebrows lifted.
"
No,
Colonel. You have not the right to take noncombatants prisoner, and I have not
resisted you in any fashion, so can hardly be designated a combatant."
“
Very
well," he said.
"
If that is the attitude you wish to
adopt, then I am quite willing to play my own hand." Crossing the chamber,
he again tilted her chin, ignoring her indignant gasp. "Mistress Courtney,
with the authority invested in me by Parliament, therewith place you under
house arrest. You are the only surviving heir of the Malignant John Redfern,
whose estates have been sequestered, and I deem it impolitic to allow your
freedom. Your movements are restricted to the house and the immediate
boundaries of the estate until such time as Parliament decrees otherwise."
Until such time as Alex Marshall decrees otherwise, Ginny
amended grimly. It was exactly what she wanted, of course, but for some reason
that did
little
to reduce her annoyance, did nothing
to reduce another strange feeling
that
she could not identify. A feeling that seemed to have something to do with the
armored body standing almost knee to knee with her, the warm strength of his
fingers holding her chin, and the curious glow in the greeny-brown eyes. Her
eyelashes fluttered in an attempt to conceal any revealing sparks from the
intent scrutiny bent upon her upturned face.
"
It appears, Colonel, that I have no choice but to accept my
position. It is to be hoped that your soldiers will also accept that
position."
"You need have no fear, mistress." Alex, once again
at a disadvantage, spoke brutally.
"
So
long as you behave with
circumspection, my men
are not going to rape a woman under my protection."
"
Then
I must be grateful for that protection," she responded gently.
"Do not tempt me, Virginia!
"
Releasing her chin abruptly, he
stepped away from her as his anger flared.
"I do not recall according you the right to use my
name."
"
You
are not in a position to accord me any rights whatsoever. I suggest you accept
that fact with all due speed before my far-from-inexhaustib
l
e patience runs out!"
It appeared to be a suitable moment to yield graceful
ly
. The colonel was quite convinced of her reluctance to
rem
a
in in the house under his protection.
She had only to offer the semblance of defiance now and again to ensure that he
remained so convinced. "And how is my imprisonment to be conducted,
colonel? Am I considered sufficiently dangerous to be kept under guard?"
It was her last challenge for the time being.
A telltale muscle twitched in the colonel's cheek.
"
You will restrict your movements
according to my decree. Should you break parole, you will be confined within
doors. It is understood?"
"
Perfectly,
Colonel." Ginny sketched a curtsy. There would be no need to break her
parole to complete her work.
He
r main fear
had been that she would have been turned off the estate by the occupying
forces. But the closer confined she was to home, the easier it would be. Until
Edmund's wound was sufficiently healed for him to make his escape. Then would
she make hers, also.
"Am I to be permitted to go about my business now?"
she asked demurely. "Dusk is falling, and I should shut up the chickens
before the fox begins to prowl. The horses also require my attention, the cow
needs milking, and I m
us
t water the vegetable garden."
"How much livestock do you have?" He frowned,
forgetting his exasperation with her for the moment. The tasks she had just
described were those better suited to a domestic servant
than
to the daughter of a lord. She would m
os
t certainly have been educated to sew and spin, to
distill medicines from herbs for the use of the household, and to make the
fruit syrups and wines from currant, cowslip, and elderberries. In addition she
would have been taught fine coo
king
and the
methods of curing meat for the long winter
m
onths,
and of preserving herbs and fruit. But the heavy outdoor farm work was not
considered a suitable occupation for a lady of the great house.
"I have kept just enough for my own purposes." She
shrugged, well aware of the thoughts that had prompted his question.
"
Two horses, a dozen chickens, one
cow, oh . . . and a pig, which I had intended to have slaughtered to supply me
with meat during the winter months. A local farmer, in exchange for the use of
a pasture, supplies me with grain for bread and feed for the cattle. I have
been able to maintain the vegetable garden, and the orchard has borne well this
year. I am in no danger of starving, Colonel, so long as my husbandry is
efficient."