Silver Sea (8 page)

"I did. Lady Thomasina is going to assign a pair of footmen to the physical labor of carrying books. You will help her oversee the project, but in the main, your duties will revert to those you were originally engaged to perform: providing companionship, reading, playing the piano, and so on."

Euphoric gratitude made her feel buoyant. "Oh, Nathan, thank you!" Beaming, she nearly hugged him. How attractive he looked in the firelight!

"Not at all. As you are so fond of pointing out, your father hired me to take care of you. Perhaps now you will believe in me a bit more."

Instantly Adrienne was suspicious. "Was that the only reason you took my part with Lady Thomasina? To lull me into allowing you to take control of my life?"

Nathan nearly laughed. She had a rare, effervescent beauty, her tousled hair agleam with chestnut lights, her thick-lashed green eyes snapping.

"Why can't you like me?"

"Because. Because I simply cannot. And I can't explain." The prospect of surrendering to him, to his aura of competence and desirability, was alarming to her. Too many strong men had tried to control her. "I am ravenous. I'm going down to see what the cook has made for supper."

"Tomorrow evening you shall dine with Lady Thomasina."

"Perhaps
that
fare will be edible." Adrienne turned away and started toward the doorway, only to realize that Nathan was following her. "Can you not give me a moment's peace?"

"I thought you had been lonely without me."

"You flatter yourself."

"Perhaps." He gave her a smile that prickled the back of her neck, for it said that he knew her secrets. When she strode away again, Nathan caught her arm. "You are too headstrong for your own good, my dear. I understand more and more why your father felt need of me."

"Again I must ask you to loose me!"

"I'm afraid you cannot be rid of me." His chiseled face loomed above her, shadowed by the play of a nearby candle. "I have told you as reasonably as I can that you must endure me, and I continue to suggest that you trust me." He tightened his grip on her arm. "In fact, you will have to trust me and
obey
me, Adrienne. You see, Walter Frakes-Hogg has been seen near Winchester, and I do not intend to allow you to put your life in jeopardy."

She gasped. "You—you're lying!"

"You abuse my character." Nathan caught her other arm and held her fast.

"Because you are nothing more than a—hired thug! You have no right to give me orders!"

His eyes went hot and dark, but he spoke softly. "I may be a working man, but I will not be lorded over by anyone, especially a spoiled, harum-scarum baggage like you." Not for the first time, Raveneau wished Nicholai had never invented this new identity for him. It didn't fit him any better than the frayed costume he was forced to wear. "I will not fight you at every turn." He pulled her closer until their bodies touched full length. "Furthermore, I suggest that you not underestimate me."

Adrienne nearly spat in his face. "I hate you!"

He gambled. "Do you want me to leave you here? Would you prefer to protect yourself from Walter Frakes-Hogg?"

Her catlike eyes shot daggers at him, but Adrienne's intellect prevailed in the end. "All right. You can stay. If there is one person I despise more in all the world than you, Nathan Essex, it is the odious Walter Frakes-Hogg!"

Chapter 4

"Something by Haydn, perhaps?" Lady Thomasina inquired sweetly.

After untold hours of playing the piano, Adrienne's fingers were stiff and sore. Across the drawing room, the old woman was tucked into her favorite chair, munching contentedly on sweetmeats while Angus dozed in a pool of sunlight.

"Perhaps I should step into the library for a moment and see how Tavis and Sam are coming with the Systems. They do grow confused from time to time."

"Well..." Lady Thomasina's painted mouth turned down in a pout. "If you must, run along then. But be quick about it! If I'm left alone very long, I shall grow bored and ill-tempered!"

Fleeing, Adrienne nearly collided with Hortie, who was carrying a tarnished silver tray with a letter on it. "This just arrived by post, my lady," she intoned, pretending that her rival was not in the room at all. "I believe it is a letter from his young lordship."

"From my Hunty?" Lady Thomasina leaned forward anxiously. "Oh, dear, will someone read it to me? I've forgotten my spectacles."

Adrienne knew that she ought to volunteer, but the opportunity to slip away was too promising. From the doorway she called, "No doubt Hortie will be glad to oblige, your ladyship. And you must be missing her companionship since I've joined the household." She gave the skeletal abigail a hospital smile.

"I am forever at your disposal, ma'am."

"I'm used to Miss Beau's reading voice, or that of Mr. Essex, but I suppose you'll do, Hortie...."

It did Adrienne's heart good to see the other girl drawing a stool up beside Lady Thomasina. She was more than glad to share her own position, the burdens of which had shifted from physical labor to emotional suffocation. Like a child, Lady Thomasina demanded relentless entertainment and attention, and Adrienne was growing increasingly resentful.

Out in the cavernous corridor, it came to her that there really wasn't any escape. There could be no change of scenery except other parts of dreary Harms Castle. She wasn't allowed to go to town, for even if Lady Thomasina would loosen her grip, Nathan Essex had forbidden her to wander away alone.

Through an arched leaded-glass window on the landing, Adrienne gazed out over the garden. It was in need of grooming, but daffodils were blooming in clusters, and a boxwood maze caught her eye. How wonderful it would be to breathe fresh air after the assortment of stale smells inside Harms Castle!

Lifting her gray skirts, Adrienne looked right and left, then hurried down the stairs to the heavy doors leading out the rear of the house to a mossy terrace rimmed by shallow stone steps. Nearby, a man who apparently was the estate gardener was poking at a plot of earth with a hoe. He tipped his hat to her as she passed, then shuffled away as if he'd forgotten why he'd been hoeing in the first place.

For a quarter of an hour, Adrienne wandered in the maze. She listened to the songs of birds that were gathering material for nests, ventured to the edge of the meadow to pick cowslips and budding red clover, and watched the activity of some beetles. It felt rather exciting to do something forbidden like going outside without permission, but what fun was it if no one knew?

Just then a stormy-faced Nathan Essex came around the hedge toward her and took hold of her by both arms. "Are you mad? I have given you clear orders not to go anywhere without telling me!"

As her heart began to pump, Adrienne realized that she wasn't bored any more. "Take your hands off me, sir! Must you manhandle me at every turn?"

"Only when you insist on behaving like an incorrigible child who deserves a shaking!" His eyes blazed into hers. "Would you rather be in the hands of Walter Frakes-Hogg?"

"Aren't you a bit of an alarmist? Really, it's broad daylight, and I am within sight of the house. Have you no sympathy for my plight? You come and go as you please, but I am trapped with that woman for hours on end, forced to perform as if I were some sort of trained pet!"

Nathan stubbornly shook his head. "I think it's more than that. I think that you enjoy breaking the rules and misbehaving."

"To what end?"

"That is a question only you can answer, chit."

She found herself being tugged back up the stone steps by his unyielding hand. "Don't call me that," she complained. No sooner were the words out than Adrienne regretted them, for a wicked gleam shone momentarily in his eyes that told her he would probably make "chit" a pet name for her in the future.

Inside the garden doors, Nathan pressed her into a corner and said in low tones, "If you must have a walk, ask me and I will take you. Understood?"

Hating him, she nodded. When he released her and she raced away, up the stairs to the drawing room, Adrienne was already plotting ways to rebel against her jailer.

* * *

"My dear Hunty will be joining us to celebrate my birthday!" Lady Thomasina rhapsodized. Her good cheer was such that she had scarcely scolded Adrienne for her lengthy absence. "Wait until you meet him, Miss Beau. My son is everything that a man might aspire to become."

They were just finishing a small supper, served in front of the fire in Lady Thomasina's sitting room. Nathan, apparently having taken pity on Adrienne, had agreed to join the women, and he toyed with his strong boiled mutton as they talked.

"Perhaps young Lord Harms can provide male companionship for Mr. Essex," Adrienne ventured.

"I don't believe that Hunty fraternizes with commoners, as a rule," the old woman said with puckered brow. "Perhaps he will make an exception in Nathan's case. However, I don't know whether they would get on well together. Hunty is a different breed of male."

Adrienne saw Nathan's brow arch at that, and indeed she wondered herself exactly which breed Huntsford Harms might be. Aloud, however, she murmured, "No doubt his lordship is refined in his manners and tastes; a
gentleman
in behavior and appearance."

"Exactly so, Miss Beau. Those are the qualities that distinguish nobility, don't you think? There is a certain refinement in the blood."

One of the kitchen maids appeared then with the dessert tray. Nathan took one look at the goblets of trifle and folded his napkin.

"I find that I am tired this evening. Will you excuse me?"

When he had gone, Lady Thomasina turned to her young companion. "You see? He is very attractive in a... potent way, but completely unrepentant in his manners. No true gentleman would leave the table before I had." Frowning, she shook her head so that powder from her wig showered the dishes. "I have a feeling, though, that he knows better and does as he pleases. A reckless type, don't you think? One might even describe Mr. Essex as a rogue."

"Without a doubt. And I think that his disregard for good manners goes far beyond the dinner table, my lady."

* * *

The rest of the evening was taken up with a reading of one more chapter of
Ivanhoe
and Adrienne's efforts to play Mozart's Sonata in C well enough to please Lady Thomasina.

As the hours passed, she felt increasingly trapped. It made no sense to blame her father, who was far away and had meant well. Instead, Adrienne's resentment built toward Nathan Essex. He knew full well the extent of her ordeal, and yet he not only left her to it, he refused even to help her—escaping instead, always, at the earliest opportunity!

Lady Thomasina began to nod off around midnight. Hortie came in with her toddy and took her off to bed, and Adrienne was alone at last, wide awake and fuming. She went into her bedchamber and threw open the window casement to admit the cool evening air. Below, the garden stretched haphazardly, starlight flickering over the pathways. Adrienne inhaled the spicy scent of boxwood.

What harm could there be in a little midnight stroll? If she didn't release some of her pent-up energy, after all, her temper would only be worse on the morrow.

Smiling to herself and feeling fiendishly naughty, Adrienne pulled the pins from her hair, letting it spill down her back. She dabbed lilac cologne on her throat and breasts, decided to leave her shawl behind, and carried her slippers to ensure a silent escape. Then she padded into the darkened corridor in search of moonlight and at least the spirit of adventure.

* * *

Nathan also had been looking out a window over the garden. For hours he'd been walking from one end to the other of the long gallery, which afforded views of the garden or the drive leading to Harms Castle's main entrance. His task was numbingly dull, requiring him to remain in darkness so that he could not be seen from outside.

He hoped that his feeling about Walter Frakes-Hogg was right. If he could catch him trespassing on private property tonight, the authorities would step in, Adrienne's safety would be assured, and perhaps the spoiled girl's father would release Nathan from this prison and—most important—give him his reward in Barbados.

Through hooded eyes, he gazed out over the ill-tended gardens and tried not to think about Adrienne Beauvisage. She stirred up a hornet's nest of conflicting feelings inside him, all the more vexing because of the masquerade he had to enact. He wasn't sure how he'd handle her differently as Nathan Raveneau, but he did know that she was dangerous—and so was he when they were together. Nathan opened another button on his plain shirt. The thread broke and it fell off in his hand. Damn, but he missed his own clothing, each piece of which had been created to fit him to perfection. The sooner this charade was ended and he got away, the safer—and happier!—he'd be.

A faint rustling in the garden reached his ears, and he straightened. Was it an animal? The badgers had been venturing out of their tunneled setts lately. Nathan listened until he was able to distinguish the sound of human footsteps crunching softly on a pebbled pathway. Adrenaline coursed through his veins. He had warned even the servants to stay indoors tonight, not that any of them were energetic enough to venture forth. Only one person could be sneaking around the garden at midnight: Walter Frakes-Hogg! The long hours spent sitting in darkness, watching, had paid off.