Arian (12 page)

‘Come in and close the door, Miss Smale,’ Simples said when a few minutes later she stood on the landing outside his room. When she hesitated, he took her arm and drew her inside.

‘What is it?’ Arian stood against the closed door as though ready to flee and Simples smiled thinly.

‘It’s all right, Miss Smale, I’m not going to attack you,’ he said. ‘I am far too subtle a man for that sort of approach.’

‘What do you want?’ Arian repeated her question and Simples sank into a chair.

‘I’ll come straight to the point, Miss Smale,’ he said, placing his fingertips together and looking at her intently. ‘I have come to a decision. I intend for us to be married.’

Arian stared at him as though he had taken leave of his senses. ‘You must be out of your mind.’ She bit her lip. She had blurted out her thoughts, put them into speech and she saw Gerald Simples’s face darken with anger.

‘Not out of my mind, Miss Smale,’ he said with a dangerous quietness, ‘I simply mean every word I say. I will marry you. Make up your mind to it. You and I are meant for each other. In time you will come to appreciate the truth of my words.’

‘I’m leaving here,’ she said desperately, ‘taking up another position. I’ll be far away from you, out of your reach. Just forget all your ideas about me. I’m not going to marry anyone, ever.’

He smiled thinly. ‘Oh, yes, I think you will, Miss Smale.’ He stepped a little closer and she flinched. He rested his hand on her cheek so briefly that she wondered if she’d imagined his touch.

‘I will know your charms, believe me, I will possess your sweetness.’ He touched a curl of her hair. ‘I will tangle my fingers in your glorious locks and will taste my fill of your lips.’

He looked, she thought, like a predatory animal, his eyes were alight, his mouth close to hers and in that moment, she feared that somehow he could make his desires come true.

‘Then you will have to take me by force,’ she said harshly. ‘I’ll never come to you willingly, you can count on it.’

‘Don’t
you
count on it, Miss Smale,’ his voice was soft, menacing. ‘You will come to me when and as I want. You will give yourself to me – I do not rape and plunder, I wait and get what I want in my own way.’

His mouth was inches from hers. She thought of screaming but somehow knew she would be made to look foolish. ‘Keep away from me, Gerald Simples,’ she warned, ‘just keep away.’

He moved at once and stood looking down into her face. ‘My silly, pretty child,’ he said, ‘don’t try to fight me, for I’ll have you, you’ll see.’

She opened the door and left the room hurriedly, her breathing harsh, her hands trembling. In her own room, she sank onto the bed, her hands over her face. She must run, now while she had the chance, for Gerald Simples’s words suddenly seemed prophetic.

Eline looked around the small room with a feeling of regret. Now that she was leaving the old house, it suddenly felt safe and sheltering. Small and inconvenient though it was, it had been her first home with Will and here they had been happy.

‘Come on, Eline,’ Will said softly, his arms creeping round her waist from behind. ‘You’re going to love our new place.’

She leaned back against him. ‘I know, it’s beautiful – a big kitchen, a workshop and a separate bedroom for the baby when he’s older, it’s just what we want. Still …’ her voice trailed away wistfully.

‘Still, nothing,’ Will said firmly. ‘We’re moving on to better things. Thanks to your talent.’ He turned her round to face him and kissed the tip of her nose.

‘Don’t look so worried. Soon you’ll be free and then we’ll be married. You’ll be Mrs William Davies, how does that sound?’

‘Wonderful,’ Eline sighed softly, ‘like a dream come true, but you know how people will react when the divorce is made public. I’ll be the centre of attention again, tongues will wag and people will point a finger and stare at me, the scarlet woman.’ She bit her lip. ‘Life is not fair at all. Calvin is seeing another woman, it might well be that he wants to marry again.’ She spoke softly. ‘It seems he’s been to the Assembly Rooms and the theatre with her, so the gossips in the grocers were saying, but no-one condemns him for it.’

Will rested his hand on her shoulder. ‘Does it matter what people say? Forget Calvin Temple, put him right out of your thoughts. It’s you and I and our child.’ We are important now, not the past.’

‘I know I behaved much worse than Calvin,’ Eline said, ‘but
he
is forgiven for taking a woman, no, not forgiven, he’s
expected
to have a lover just because he’s a man and very rich, while I …’ She paused and took a deep breath. ‘Yesterday, a woman in the street actually moved her skirts aside when she was passing me. You’d think I was a paid harlot the way she looked at me. It seems there’s one law for Calvin and another one for me.’

‘That’s just ignorance for you,’ Will said and there was an edge of impatience in his voice. ‘As for Temple, I’m glad he’s resigned to the fact that he’s lost you for ever.’ His tone softened, ‘Look, love, folks will soon forget the matter and find something else to talk about.’

‘Will they?’ Eline said doubtfully. ‘We are shunned by some people as it is. There are those who wouldn’t come to us if you were the only cobbler in Swansea.’

‘We can do without them then.’ Will kissed her lips lightly. ‘There are many potential customers outside Swansea’s boundaries – we’ll go further afield if need be but we
will
make a success of our business.’ He led her to the door. ‘Already, your shoes are beginning to sell to the rich customers who expect only the best. They want to know that they are wearing something exclusive, that they won’t see the same shoes on anyone else. Be happy with the way our future seems to be working out, Eline. Please don’t keep worrying about things that are not important.’

Eline squared her shoulders as Will picked up their son and walked out into the street. She paused, unable to resist one last glance back into the small room. She saw the fireplace, dead and black now without flames or coal to warm it. She saw the thin curtains and the worn mats on the floor. It was a bare room, almost an ugly room, but she had made it home. Here she had come to live with the two people she loved most in all the world – William and their son. Tears misted her eyes as she saw even the damp stains on the walls with a feeling of loss.

‘Goodbye,’ she whispered, and then she left the safety of the small room with the feeling that she was embarking on uncharted, dangerous seas.

Simples cornered Arian on the landing outside her bedroom. She had been avoiding him ever since his fatuous declaration that he was going to marry her. She looked up at him in the soft glow from the lamp and he smiled down at her with a smugness that at once set her hackles rising.

‘We must talk, Arian,’ he said softly. ‘If you value Lord Temple’s good name, you’ll come to my room after supper this evening.’

‘And what if I don’t?’ Arian responded. ‘There’s every chance I might go to Calvin Temple and tell him all about your demands and threats.’

Simples shrugged. ‘Well then I would likely be dismissed. If that were to happen it would make my story all the more credible. I would be a martyr to the altar of his lordship’s shameful dalliance with you. Such gossip about the rich is meat and drink to the lower orders.’

He leaned closer to her and there was the scent about him of power, as though he had her just where he wanted her. His next words sent a chill down her spine.

‘I would be free to blacken both your names as much as I wished.’

‘I’m sure a man like Calvin Temple would be more than capable of refuting your accusations,’ Arian said hotly. ‘He has the courage to defy any blackmail attempt and take the matter to law.’ Arian lifted her chin defiantly.

‘In any case, what could you say except that you saw me helping him into bed?’

‘I saw you in your nightwear lying
with
him on the bed, the sheets tossed aside, his arm around you, you were kissing him.’ He paused as if to calm himself. ‘It was the dead of night. Who would believe it was an innocent meeting if I were to repeat what after all is the bald truth?’

Simples paused for his words to sink in, and then continued. ‘Remember, his lordship is a man about to sue his wife for divorce on the grounds of her immorality. It wouldn’t look good if he was found to be bedding one of his servants, would it?’

Arian was silent. What could she say? Of course it would be assumed that she and Calvin were lovers. No-one hearing Simples’s accusations could believe anything else.

‘And then there’s his lady friend,’ Simples persisted. ‘His relationship with her could be construed as intimate. He might be forgiven for taking one lady to his bed but his servant as well? That’s too much for even the most tolerant person to excuse. Public opinion is a dangerous weapon; questions would be asked about his wife. Did she deserve to be dismissed from the marital home or was some fault in Lord Temple the cause of the trouble?’

Arian felt that all this was unreal. She couldn’t be standing here listening to Simples’s blackmailing threats. But what could she do? He was right. Gossip such as he was suggesting wouldn’t do Calvin any good at all.

‘I’ll think about what you’ve said,’ she spoke in a low voice, anger thudding through her brain. ‘That’s all I’m going to promise, that I’ll think about it.’

‘Think hard, I’ll be expecting you in my room later.’ Simples moved away, descending each stair with a precision of movement that jarred on Arian. He did everything precisely, with deliberation, as if nothing was on impulse but every move a calculated decision.

Arian ate very little supper, her mind was in chaos. Should she go to Calvin? Tell him what Simples was about, have the man discredited? It was one way out of her predicament. But on the other hand, to tell the truth openly would be to hand Simples the excuse to declare war on Calvin’s reputation. People in Swansea, like everywhere else, loved a good scandal.

Arian shuddered. She didn’t want to go to Simples’s room. She didn’t even wish to be near him. Why did he want to see her in private anyway? He’d told her he was not a man to force himself on a woman, so what was he planning?

She was still debating with herself when, after supper, she climbed the stairs and paused on the landing. What if she decided not to see Simples? Would he carry out his threats to spread gossip about Calvin? She suddenly doubted it. Simples stood to lose a great deal – a good job and a secure future. He would be a fool to make an enemy of Calvin.

She hesitated and then biting her lip, moved on towards her own room. She wanted nothing to do with him. His threats were idle. She would defy Simples, let him do his damnedest.

She sat in her room trying to evaluate the situation. What did Simples have on her anyway, was it just the matter of the discrepancy in the books? Would that be enough to turn Calvin against her? She doubted it. He was far too sensible for that. She washed and undressed, her mind still racing. Doubt crept over her. Could Simples really blacken her name? Did he have something up his sleeve, a card he’d yet to reveal?

Lying in bed, she stared up at the ceiling through the flickering candlelight. The cracks appeared to spread outwards in the shape of a map. There was Wales and England, there just near the window Scotland and a little way over, towards the door, was etched a shape that roughly resembled Ireland.

How foolish she was. That was her last thought as she fell asleep and then she was plagued by dreams, dreams of herself locked in an embrace with Gerald Simples, an embrace from which it was impossible to free herself.

She woke in the morning heavy eyed, the remnants of her nightmares still with her. And yet she felt triumphant – she’d defied Gerald Simples, called his bluff.

When she was dressed, she hesitated a little before opening the door of her room, taking a deep breath, willing herself to be calm. What could he do to her? Here in the home of Calvin Temple she was safe, even from a man as ruthless as Simples.

He saw her later in the back hallway, his face hardened as he stared down at her.

‘So you defied me,’ he said in a low voice. ‘This is not the end of the matter, Miss Smale.’ The words came out coldly, like stones falling into the silence. ‘I mean to have you for my wife, and I
will
have you, I promise you that.’

She felt panic sweep over her. ‘I didn’t come to your room because I saw no point in it. You must realize it wouldn’t be any good, I could never love you,’ Arian paused to wonder why she was even trying to explain things to him, be just wasn’t hearing her, ‘so what is the use of you wanting me?’ she finished lamely.

‘I don’t care if you don’t love me now. Love can grow and if it doesn’t,’ he shrugged, ‘I can live with that, so long as I have you in my bed.’

Arian shivered and squared her shoulders. ‘There’s no chance of that, believe me.’ He took a step towards her and she held up her hand.

‘Stay away from me, Mr Simples, just stay away from me.’

He smiled then, slowly, unpleasantly. ‘I’ve told you once before, Miss Smale, I will never force you, not physically. You will come to me of your own free will. My plans are made and I will make it happen.’

Arian hurried away, what if he could somehow make his words come true? Nothing could be worse than being tied to a man like that. He wasn’t quite sane, she was convinced of it.

She told herself to be calm and moving towards the chair near the fire, she sank into it, clenching her hands together to stop them from trembling. She was being silly, melodramatic. Of course Simples couldn’t force her into anything, certainly not into coming to his bed of her own free will. It was nonsense, the dreaming of an unbalanced mind. Or was it?

Calvin put his hands behind his head, his knuckles sinking into the softness of the pillows. He smiled as he watched Daphne at her ablutions. She was the epitome of charm and grace, she was the mistress of seduction and yet she had a sweet air of innocence about her as she stood naked before him.

Daphne lacked the usual reticence of her own kind; women very rarely revealed their nakedness even to their husbands. He thought, with a sharp pain, about his wife. Eline had been modest in the extreme, always keeping her beautiful body covered. He had only known it by touch but God, he had loved her.