Love's Patient Fury (The Deverell Series Book 3) (7 page)

At last in the friendly shelter of her siblings, Merry was finally free to try to lose herself in a lazy afternoon with Philip and Kate.  The hours were for renewing bonds, and trying to feel like a family again. She had been gone a year and that left a gulf between them. They were exactly how she had left them. It was as though time had not touched Bramble Hill. Smiling, she leaned into her cousin’s worn wicker basket to retrieve a blackberry tart.
Blackberry tarts. Touch of Kate. It is all the same.

It came to her memory that afternoon a year past when they had gathered in this very spot, Rensdale with them, the day she had recklessly gone to
Grave’s End
and ended up crossing paths with Morgan. The irony of it was unbelievable. Rensdale was Varian’s cousin and enemy. Rensdale had been her nemesis, and the cause of her colliding with Morgan.  Varian she had gossiped about in girlish romanticism on that long ago afternoon, later to be kidnapped by him, taken as his lover and was now his noble wife. If one had the impulse to laugh, there was certainly plenty to laugh at here. Merry couldn’t rally even the mildest of good humor.

Staring at them both with wide eyes sealed to her thoughts, Merry wondered what their reaction would be if they knew of the adventure she had been on and that her husband was the infamous Captain Morgan.

Thrusting her finger beneath the soft underside of a kitten, Merry watched as the kitten turned, chased its tail and then settled in a ball on her leg. She could never tell anyone the truth about Varian. No matter what he had done to her, no matter the humiliating state her life, he was her husband and father of her child. Though undeserved, he would have her loyalty and silence.  The truth had the whim to hurt them both.

It was only then she remembered that Varian knew Uncle Andrew was the agent of the foreign office assigned to the capture of Morgan. Why had Varian been as reckless as to come with her to Cornwall when he knew this? It seemed a dangerous act in the extreme and was certainly a needless gesture.  It was one thing to give her the protection of his name. It was quite another to step into the bosom of one’s enemies and set to stay for a while.

She had never before seen such a force like her father’s dislike for Varian or his fury as it was over her marriage. Uncle Andrew was only a shade more generous in his opinions. Varian marrying her was an act of recklessness at best. Confronting her family with the deed was lunacy. In those frantic hours from London to Cornwall, somehow all this had never occurred to her.

“But I don’t understand, Merry. How did you get from
Grave’s End
and later find yourself on His Grace’s ship?”

Merry looked up from the kitten to find Kate shaking her golden head, her pale brows puckered in confusion,  and her eyes fixed on her hands still weaving flowers. Both Philip and Kate had been questioning her for hours.

Lifting her delicate brows, Merry replied dryly, “I don’t understand why you weren’t at Saint’s Cove when I went to meet you there, Kate. I was only in
Grave’s End
but a moment. Long enough to see that Philip and Rensdale had quit for other amusements. I escaped through the storeroom and immediately went to the beach. Why weren’t you waiting for me? How could you have left me there?”

Kate’s sweet face jerked up to meet Merry’s and her green eyes flashed. “You told me to ride off if anyone approached the horses. You had just stepped into the tavern and the beach was overrun with men and this terrifying boy appeared from nowhere. He had a long black braid, black eyes and a scarred face. The man he was with was no less frightening. A jagged scar here on his brow. By the looks of them they had mayhem on their mind. The boy’s companion almost caught me, but I hit him with your crop and rode off because more men were coming and I wanted to get help. I went to Saint’s Cove as you ordered me to, but then I realized I just left you, my dear cousin, alone in a smugglers den. I left to raise your rescue. However, you were nowhere to be found to be rescued.”

As much as she hated this discussion, it settled one of Merry’s concerns. Kate hadn’t seen Varian at
Grave’s End
. She smothered her unease and returned mockingly, “A boy with a long braid and a man with a jagged scar. You did have an adventure, didn’t you, cousin?”

Kate puffed up like a hen. “It was your adventure, your scheming, Merry, not mine. I hate it when you make me sound foolish.”

“You are both a couple of feather-brained females,” Philip put in sagely, his gaze following the blade of grass that he twirled in his fingers. “And you are both lucky that a little fear is all that you met instead of your death for attempting such idiocy.” His eyes shifted to Merry. “And of course, nestling, you were punished with a husband in this. Does Windmere know what a rare handful you are?”

Glaring at Philip, Merry said indignantly, “How unchivalrous for you to be worried about His Grace in all this instead of your sister. And His Grace isn’t going to be burdened with my vexing presence in his life for much longer. We may be married, but he doesn’t intend to have me live my life in his pocket. We do not suit. I don’t expect His Grace to stay past a fortnight. I have no intention of living wherever the man settles himself. There, a modern marriage. I
can
be fashionable. How thrilled the ton will be. Merry Merrick being fashionable.”

“Merry Deverell,” Philip reminded.  “A neatly planned future, nestling. There’s just one wrinkle as far as I can tell. What if His Grace has other plans? What will you do with your husband then?”

Her cheeks were undisciplined enough to color at that. However, the past year had not left her without weapons of her own. “What I do with His Grace won’t be half as interesting as all the things I won’t to do with him. The man will go to London compelled by boredom if nothing else. You would know better than I, Philip, what drives a man to seek town amusements.”

Her bold rejoinder took Philip by surprise. Merry stared at him, popped a corner of her tart in her mouth, and prayed he’d leave off on this. She did not expect Philip’s cunning response. “You are being overly confident in your knowledge of what drives a man for a girl who doesn’t share a bedchamber with her husband.”

It was Kate who saved her, nervous with their escalating tempers and embarrassed by the course of their conversation. She broke in frantically and said, “We digress. I would rather hear how Merry met His Grace. That is the part of the tale that confuses me. Your explanation makes no sense. How did you get to Falmouth? Why did you stow away on His Grace’s ship? Whatever possessed you to do such a thing?”

Staying carefully to the tale Varian had forced her to repeat over and over during their journey to Cornwall, Merry said on a voice of straining tolerance, “What is there to give you such difficulty in this, Kate? I have explained.  I went to Falmouth by foot to find Philip and Rensdale. I was approached by a group of men, ruttery on their minds, and in running from them I found myself on His Grace’s ship.  In waiting for the danger to pass I fell asleep in the galley.  When I woke we were out to sea. By the time His Grace discovered me, he had no choice but to allow me to sail with him.”

Kate was anxiously chewing her lower lip. “But, Merry, why didn’t you tell him who you are? Why didn’t you demand to be returned to Falmouth?”

“I was trying to avoid marriage, not see myself trapped in it.  I thought there was a chance I could fix having been alone with His Grace. I was hoping to spare us both this marriage.”

“You are lucky His Grace is a man of good character and was still willing to marry you after having a year’s insight into your sweet and docile nature,” Philip teased.

Merry’s scowl lowered. They were picking on her mercilessly today.  “I can see it was too much to expect sympathy from my family. It would have served me better if he were a man of bad character because then I would not have to suffer both this marriage and your amusements over it.”

Kate’s face fell at that and she gave Merry a tender pat on her hand. “I would have preferred you suffer neither as well, my dear. I am sorry and the marriage, as regrettable as it is, is necessary. Here we’ve been making light of it all, but how terrifying it must have been for you to find yourself unprotected and dependent upon His Grace. He is very frightening. However did you manage with him? I would have expired from fear the first day.”

It was a hard battle for Merry to keep her face from burning hotter. Laughing quickly, Merry countered, “Kate, you are so absurd. His Grace does not frighten me.  He is a kind and gentle man. The way you turn to jitters over him, you would think he was Lucifer himself. Every time he’s in a room you look on the verge of vapors. Should I plan to carry smelling salts with me while he’s here?  Or is it something other than fear, cousin? Have you formed a secret crush for my husband? Should I stay on guard least you try to steal him from me?”

Merry was unprepared for her cousin’s uncharacteristic boldness as she pushed her face within an inch of Merry’s and retorted, “You think I am foolish, do you? I am not the only foolish one. It has been missed by none of us that you are as unnerved by the man as I am. Your efforts at keeping up a brave front are useless, Merry. His Grace disturbs you very strongly. What I would like to know is why? Are you in some sort of danger? We’ve heard many things about the man, not all of them comforting. What is it you have not told us, Merry?”

Merry sat round eyed and stunned. All that from Kate. Somehow Kate in a year had developed a voice and a willingness to fight. If she were that transparent to Kate, her father and Uncle would make mincemeat of her and have Varian’s head on traitor’s gate by day’s end.

Merry met Kate’s fierce stare. “You do run on, Kate, and you rarely make any sense.  His Grace does not disturb me. Not at all. And what do you mean that you’ve heard many things about the man? What manner of vicious tale have you heard whispered about my husband?”  Kate drop her gaze. “No, Kate, you started this. I won’t let you end this. What exactly have you heard?”

Kate faltered. “If you must ask, you must not know.” She turned fretfully to Philip. “I have made a muddle of this, haven’t I? Help me out. There is no delicate way to repeat such gruesome history.”

“History?” Merry’s eyes flew wide. “Oh, I understand and I won’t have it repeated to me. No wonder you’re afraid of my husband. How can either of you have met him and believe old, vicious speculation. His Grace is incapable of the things that were whispered of him ten years ago. I will say this only once, out of consideration for worry for me, but never, ever speak of this to me again. He did not murder Ann Deverell. He would never harm me. You can dismiss those concerns. And you will never repeat them. At least not in my hearing, Kate, or I will never forgive you.”

Kate concentrated on her nervously knit fingers. “I am sorry, Merry. It was inexcusable of me to carry gossip. I only wanted to make sure you were safe and aware.”

The sound of gathering tears in Kate’s thin voice vanished Merry’s anger. “I am aware it is all untrue. Let’s speak of it no more. I want us have a pleasant afternoon. I want no cross words.”

Philip was reclined on the green leaves, cheek in palm, studying his sister with alert eyes. He reached out, lifted a kitten and presently remarked, “You are not afraid of the Duke of Windmere, Merry. It is quite amazing. The man is notorious. Covered in ghastly scandal and mystery.  What manner of man is he?”

Merry laughed. “Kate is terrified enough of him for all of us.” She looked at her cousin then who was red like a turnip. “You don’t need to be afraid of His Grace, Kate. He is a very kind man. I am aware of every detail of his past, Philip. It is untrue, all those ugly speculations that sent him from England. Untrue and vile. He is a good man. Gentleness and kindness are the true cords of the man.”

“How confidently you defend him, Merry,” Philip said. “Why do you claim to hate him if he is a kind and gentle man? And if you do hate him, why marry him?”

She had forgotten Philip’s shrewd mind. Carefully, she said, “I defend him because I am aware the speculations are untrue. And I married him because it was necessary.”

“There are no necessary circumstance father can’t undo if you wish him to,” Philip told her in a voice full of meaning.

So, that was the point of this conversation. Her father was using Philip wisely. “I don’t need father rescuing me from my disgrace, Philip.  His Grace will only prove a temporary annoyance. He will leave when the Earl leaves, back to London, and I will stay here with you all as is my wish.”

Kate studied Merry’s determined face and then asked cautiously, “But how can you be so certain in your dealings with His Grace? How can you know that he doesn’t intend to hold you to your vows as wife? He might very well take you off to heaven knows where. How can you be confident of your safety? He is your husband. Your legal guardian. He can do with you what he wishes.  Have you considered that?”

“I have been heaven knows where and I have no intention of leaving, husband or not,” Merry stated flippantly. She lay back on the blanket, took a kitten to her cheek and rubbed the soft fur against her flesh to hide her expression. “I am to stay here with you all. That is my future. Stop worrying.”

Kate shook her head, clearly confused and clearly dismayed. “It makes no sense. Why would you stay at Bramble Hill? You are married, my dear. You have a husband in yonder house. What will you do if His Grace becomes smitten with you, decides he wants to settle in marriage, ready for a wife and ready for an heir. No doubt, he needs to hurry up the matter. He is handsome, but old. How old is he, anyway?”

A low voice.
“I am positively ancient, Kate Merrick. I am thirty-nine.”

Merry shot up into a sitting position to find Varian standing above her, black eyes glowing. The sudden motion made the kitten scramble from her hand. Adding to the embarrassment of being caught gossiping about him was the ridiculous picture she surely made.

Varian’s gaze fixed on Merry. “I am already hopelessly smitten with your cousin. What do you propose I do with her, Kate?”