Authors: Helen Dickson
Something in the faint, despairing note in her voice hurt Zack with a savage pain that was as entirely physical as the touch of a hot coal. ‘So you ran away.’
‘Not exactly. It was necessary for me to leave. Whatever you think, I did not conspire with Carmelita to entrap you. Nothing was further from my mind. When I foolishly propositioned you that night on the terrace and you refused, I accepted that. As far as I was concerned that was the end of it. What happened after that was purely coincidental. It was not until you left me and I read your note that I was able to comprehend the full magnitude of what you and Antony had done to me. I couldn’t be blamed if I took it into my mind to hate you for what you’ve done.’
He stared at her. On the instant, he saw the blackness of Shona’s loneliness that had driven her to leave Santamaria. Suddenly she looked vulnerable, somehow helpless. In a moment of weakness his heart went out to her. He wanted to hold her to him as he would a child. It was a totally new feeling for him. ‘I don’t intend to give you the opportunity,’ he replied in an implacable voice that brooked no argument.
A faint smile touched Shona’s lips. ‘That’s a start at least. You have cost me five hundred guineas.’
‘You didn’t have to go that far. I can spare you some of my time without you having to pay for it.’
‘I was told it was for a worthy cause.’ Her eyes softened. ‘I won’t let you forget that you owe me. Perhaps you would like to call at the house. I will introduce you to Aunt Augusta. I think you will like her. She is here tonight—somewhere—she has such a wide circle of friends it’s difficult keeping track of her. You might also like to become reacquainted with my cousin, Thomas Franklyn.’
His look was sharp, suspicious. ‘Franklyn? Cousin? You mean...?’
She nodded, watching him closely. ‘The same Thomas Franklyn who conducted our marriage ceremony.’
His eyes narrowed on her, something unpleasant shifting in their depths. ‘I get the distinct feeling that this does not bode well for me.’
‘That depends how you look at it. You see, Thomas is also an ordained minister of the church.’
Zack stared at her, trying to comprehend the full meaning of what she was saying. As he absorbed this he began to see the truth at last. ‘I see,’ he said in a terrible voice. ‘So
you
are my wife!’
The crucified look on Zack’s face as he uttered these words in a voice thick with contempt roused Shona to a primitive and savage rage by an act of wanton cruelty and injustice.
‘The situation is as abhorrent to me as it is to you,’ she snapped. ‘You have only yourself to blame.’
‘And you knew about this?’ he demanded.
‘No. I swear that I had no idea what Antony had planned. It was a clever ruse—but it was risky. It could have gone quite badly, but it didn’t. You really had no idea, did you?’
‘Unfortunately your brother didn’t take me into his confidence. He turned the tables on me. When he told me there was no curate on the island, I assumed I had the advantage. But your brother was alert. I see it all now. It would appear he made his own enquiries about Reverend Clay and set an ingeniously baited trap when your cousin turned up, making me look careless so that I entered into things with insufficient preparation. I should have conducted my own enquiries into Thomas Franklyn and not taken him at face value.’
‘So now Antony will be looked on as your arch-enemy. It is fortunate you are on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean.’
‘Shona,’ he said in a cutting voice, ‘your brother made a fool of me and caused me to make a fool of myself. Not many people manage to do that. Although he may have an equal in his wife.’
‘Carmelita is a match for anyone. When I realised what you and Antony had done, the situation was devastating for me. You left Santamaria not realising we were properly married. The ceremony was not, as you planned, a sham. I asked myself what I should do. One thing became clear to me. I would not remain married to a man who didn’t want me.’
‘I see. And what did you decide?’ he asked with infuriating calmness.
Shona drew a deep breath and slowly expelled it, knowing she was about to tread on dangerous ground. ‘I want an annulment—a divorce—anything that can be done to end this farce of a marriage.’
The harsh words rebounded through the room, reverberating in the deafening silence, but not a flicker of emotion registered on Zack’s impassive features. ‘An annulment,’ he finally repeated. Zack couldn’t help the way his lips curled. ‘Forgive me if I appear surprised. It’s not often a man is told he has a wife he didn’t know about and the next instant is being informed the lady wants a divorce,’ he said carefully, trying to control his scorn.
His mind was still registering disbelief, even while something inside him slowly cracked and began to crumble. After all those months of treasuring the memory of the way Shona had surrendered in his arms on his last night on Santamaria, it had been a lie. He could still see her innocent smiling eyes warmly welcoming when he had entered her bedchamber—leading him to believe she was happy to see him. That tender scene had been an act. She had played it to the hilt in her desperation to get off the island and away from the suffocating authority of her brother and his wife. In that moment he was convinced that Shona McKenzie was the most consummate liar on earth.
Giving no hint of the cold, black rage that swept over him, he said, ‘I think I’m beginning to get the picture. Even though I left you, as my wife your brother no longer had any authority over you and you were free to leave the island and follow me to England. I remember that night on the terrace at Melrose Hill when you spoke with such impassioned determination about your father and your longing to return to England—that you felt like a bird in a cage unable to fly free. I was the key to your cage and now I have served my purpose you want to be free of the marriage.’ Mocking silver-grey eyes held hers. ‘You have an instinct for survival, I’ll give you that. And how do you intend to go about seeking an end to our sham of a marriage?’
Shona’s ire at his condescending superiority was almost more than she could contain. ‘I shall take advice from my aunt’s solicitor.’
Zack nodded slowly, his eyes hardening. ‘Our marriage has not been consummated, so it should not be a problem to have it declared invalid.’
His bold reminder of the night she had lain naked and willing in his arms was almost more than Shona’s nerves could withstand, but she was determined to stand her ground. ‘That is exactly what I thought,’ she snapped.
‘Although obtaining a divorce is a complicated and difficult process—and expensive. Just how do you intend to pay for it?’
‘Before I left Santamaria, Antony settled a large sum of money on me—and you are a wealthy man, Zack. You must be as keen to put an end to this marriage as I am.’ Hearing loud laughter from outside the door and fully expecting they were about to be interrupted, she crossed towards it. ‘I will leave you to give the matter some thought. I must go.’
‘I’ll arrange for your carriage,’ Zack said, impatient for her to leave so he could give the idea that she was his wife some thought. He needed time to come to terms with the situation and needed to determine what he was going to do about his daughter. She was his absolute responsibility, he couldn’t change that, but when he looked at Shona his conscience was torn one way, his feelings the other. It left him with limited alternatives—and unlimited frustration.
Shona was surprised by the expression in his eyes. It had a yearning quality, nostalgic almost, as if he was crushed by some scarcely discernible problem, but she was too preoccupied with what Zack would decide to do about the situation to be moved by it.
‘Is your aunt to accompany you home?’
‘No. She’s with friends. I’m perfectly capable of travelling alone. You must return to your companion—Lady Donnington. She must be feeling distressed by my sudden appearance.’
‘Caroline will understand,’ he replied coldly, thankful that Shona wasn’t playing the betrayed wife.
‘Will she have any reason to be upset about our marriage?’
‘Upset? I doubt it. Surprised, yes.’
‘Is she your mistress?’
It was said in a low, calm voice that made the directness of her conjecture all the more startling. Zack ran a finger along the edge of his cravat, for the cloth suddenly felt too tight. His relationship with Caroline had never been as permanent as that. How did he excuse his brief but consequential relationship with a woman who at the time had been a married woman? How did he tell Shona about his daughter?
‘The sea has always been my mistress,’ he uttered, providing what he thought was a diplomatic answer.
‘She seems very nice,’ Shona said, not allowing him to escape the issue so easily.
‘Yes, she is,’ he agreed testily, wishing he could have avoided exposing either Shona or Caroline to such an embarrassment. ‘I’ve known Caroline for a long time—’
‘Yes, I’m sure. Whatever the nature of your relationship, it is a matter of supreme indifference to me.’
At Shona’s dry-voiced interruption, Zack shot her a hard look, suddenly angry at having to defend himself, even if he had just been hoping for the opportunity to do just that.
‘But if you are in a relationship with her, Zack, then all the more reason for you to have our marriage annulled.’
This time his dark brows snapped together. ‘I am no saint, Shona. I’ve always enjoyed the pleasures of life and the company of women happens to be one of the pleasures.’
Shona raised her chin as she returned his glare. ‘Do you have to be so crude?’
‘
I
crude? Lady, you do not know the meaning of the word.’
In tight-lipped silence, taking her arm, Zack escorted Shona through the hall and out to the carriage and assisted her inside. Closing the door, he placed his hand on the open window, holding her gaze.
‘You, my dear wife, are beautiful, conniving and deceitful—a consummate actress. On two occasions you almost gave yourself to me. You pressed your body to mine and kissed me as if your whole heart were in it, because you saw me as a means to escape the island. I wanted to believe it was me you wanted. When I left you, feeling wretched and ashamed of what I had done to you, I even tried to convince myself of that. But now I know better.’ His eyes were merciless as he spoke in the implacable, authoritative tone of one issuing an edict. ‘This is all rather sudden. You will understand that your arrival and revelation has taken me wholly by surprise. I need to consider the matter carefully before I decide how it is to be dealt with. I will give the matter careful thought and call on you when I have decided what to do about it. In the meantime I want one thing understood.’
Shona looked down at him, succeeding in hiding the hurt his words caused her. ‘And that is?’
‘Until I decide on the course of our future,’ Zack continued dispassionately, immune to the wrathful expression on her beautiful face, ‘you will make no public appearances with any man but me. Is that clear?’
Indignation exploded in Shona’s brain, but considering it sensible not to cause either of them further embarrassment by flaunting herself any more than she already had tonight, until the matter was settled she decided not to make an issue of it. Looking straight ahead, she swallowed down her ire and disappointment.
‘Very well. But do not be long. I am impatient to have done with this unpleasant situation.’
* * *
Zack stood and watched Shona’s carriage disappear down the street before making his way back inside. Her arrival in London and the knowledge that she was his legal wife gave him much to think about. He was surprised to discover he wasn’t displeased by her appearance, but the thought that she might have used her body to secure her position was actually distasteful to him.
However, her protestations were having an impact on him and his instincts told him he was wrong. Whatever he had accused her of lying about in the creek that day, her reaction to his kisses had been real. He knew when a woman was feigning passion and when she was not. And Shona had definitely not. Her contemptuous scorn when he had accused her of conspiring with her family to trap him into marriage—that look had been real. No one could have fabricated that look of stunned horror or shocked outrage. Another kind of woman might have been so calculating, but while Shona might be hostile towards him, he didn’t think she was cold-blooded. Yet he could not dismiss the thought entirely.
He became thoughtful as he tried to remind himself of his daughter, of how much depended on a successful annulment, but things weren’t going well with Caroline and Shona had looked so damned lovely he knew he was in danger of losing the battle.
Caroline was waiting for him on a quiet part of the terrace. She would have to be told about this new development. She observed him calmly as he strode towards her, an expression of curiosity and bewilderment on her face. Zack also saw a hint of accusation or blame. To his intense disgust, he realised that he could not bring himself to make the romantic overtures to Caroline he knew she would welcome, even though she would spurn them in favour of her lover.
* * *
Seated in the carriage, Shona was too numb and angry to feel the full pain of her confrontation with Zack, but, as the shock of the angry words they had flung at each other melted away, then her real suffering began in all its agonising sharpness and cruelty. How cold and unemotional he had been, how hard and implacable his eyes as he had calmly told her what he expected of her. Her blood boiled afresh.
Oh, damn him,
she thought fiercely. Did he think he could dictate terms on how she was to behave while he enjoyed the pleasures of his mistress?
Without more ado, she ordered the driver to turn the coach around and go back.
* * *
Shona immediately sought out her aunt, took her aside and told her about her encounter with Zack.
‘I heard about the bidding—I was in the card room at the time, but it’s all everyone talks about. And Lord Harcourt?’ Augusta probed, her eyes sparkling with excited expectancy. ‘How did he react when he saw you? What did he say?’