Serena (15 page)

She agreed. Suddenly she felt the cold breeze touch her hot skin, so she rushed to get her clothes back on. As she pulled on her shirt she felt oddly shy and rushed about, avoiding his eye though she knew he was looking at her.

He waited for her to pull on her boots before he pulled her into his arms. “Serena … I, I …” He sighed and said softly, “must get you safely home.”

She couldn’t meet his eye and felt absurd. Where was the self-assured woman she was proud she had become? She felt like a school girl hoping to win favor.

She had done just what she wanted. He had not seduced her, for she had wanted him as much as he had wanted her. The difference was, she was in love, and he, well she wasn’t sure what he was—probably in lust, only in lust.

“Up with you, beauty,” he said after leading her to her horse.

Had that been affection in his tone or the sound a man made after he had lusted with a woman? She couldn’t tell, for she had no experience in the matter, but she could hope.

She knew what she felt was unconditional love, thorough and quite devastating, for she knew that life without him, should he leave, would be a horror.

She wasn’t sure that he loved her, or that she could make him love her, and the notion that if he didn’t he would leave her behind was more worrisome than she had anticipated.

She had thought that her life experiences, her age of three and twenty, had prepared her for this moment, but had it?

She allowed him to give her a leg up and waited for him to mount his horse, wondering what was next. What did one do when one had thrown away one’s maidenhood to a man who had not declared himself?
Not his fault
. He had not seduced a young girl. She was a woman and had known the consequences, she told herself. She had gone willingly into his arms.

He said, “I will see you home.”

She smiled. “That isn’t necessary.”

“Oh, but it is,” he said and reached over to stroke her cheek.

They rode at a trot, beside one another, and as she was deep in thought, she did not feel awkward about the silence between them.

As they rode side by side he said softly, “Serena, I …”

“Yes?”

“About Freddy, I think—”

“What about Freddy?” She interrupted him, shocked that of all the things he chose at that moment to speak about, he had chosen to bring up his nephew.

“I should think you would understand that it is time for you to send him off. I only hope you will let him down easy.”

He sounded so cold, collected and formal. He sounded as though he had done a job, and now that job was done, it was time for payment—that payment was to free Freddy. How could he? Did he not know who she was? Had he not realized that she had refused Freddy long ago? Had he not realized she had told Freddy firmly to go back to school? How could he think that after she had lain with him? How could he think she would in any manner have encouraged Freddy to court her? And why hadn’t Freddy told him she had refused him over and over again?

Hurt crept into her heart, and for a moment her mind was filled with fog and mist, as were her eyes.

There had been no affection in his tone, no concern for her and how she might feel at this moment. He knew she had been a virgin, and he was experienced enough to know that she must be, at the very least, taken with him—and here he was, talking of Freddy?

Waves of doubt and pin pricks of hurt flooded through her as she realized that perhaps, just perhaps, he had made love to her to pry her away from his nephew.

“At the moment, I have done nothing to give Freddy hope in my direction and, thus, have nothing to let him down about.”

“Have you not? And yet he hangs on your every word and follows you around like a puppy. Do you mean to tell me he does so without encouragement?” he said in a clipped voice.

She frowned. There it was. The truth staring her in the face. He was suddenly cold, and his tone held condemnation.

“Do you question me?” Her chin was up.

“I am only pointing out the obvious,” he answered sharply.

He had seduced her to pry her away from Freddy.

It was all so clear. Did it matter? Even though she had gone willingly and with her eyes wide open into his arms,
it did matter
. It mattered a great deal. It was one thing to make love to a woman without making promises; it was quite another to make love to her for an ulterior motive.

She sat her saddle stiffly. “I have only encouraged one man … and
already regret it.”
She turned her horse away from him and, without looking back, took the line fence and rode straight to the stables. He did not follow, and she felt as though her heart had been torn in two. She jumped off her horse, and before her groom was able to reach her and take the reins, she ran for the house, her heart already breaking and the tears racing down her face.

He did not love her
.

She had known at the outset that he might not love her, but she had believed he wanted her and that perhaps, just perhaps, that might grow into love.

She had never suspected that he was merely seducing her away from Freddy. How could he think she would accept his nephew’s suit?

How could he think she would pry the boy away from school and a future that was still ahead of him?

He could not know her. And Freddy? Why had he not told his uncle that she had refused his offer of marriage and told him to return to school?

She opened the door and ran past Davis, up the stairs, and to her bed, where she threw herself down with some abandon.

Her sobs were muffled by her pillow, but even so, the squire, who had just been walking down the hall to his own chamber, heard very well.

He frowned, his eyes narrowing, and decided that he needed to do some investigating. Something or someone had hurt his niece.

~ Twelve ~

SERENA TOOK UP the reins of her small curricle and clicked to the single horse pulling it to go forward. She was determined to get his lordship out of her mind. Daniel Pendleton, she told herself
wasn’t real
. It had all been a dream. She had experienced lovemaking for the first and probably last time in her life, and that was what she had wanted, wasn’t it? Yes, it was.

She turned off Moorely drive onto the main pike, and suddenly there he was, Lord Daniel Pendleton. He immediately maneuvered his horse so that he rode his horse alongside her curricle.

“Stop a moment, and let me tether my horse to the boot,” he said without preamble.

She sat rigidly. “I don’t think so.”

“Why?”

She couldn’t come up with a reason that she wanted to give him and shrugged, feeling once again, like a schoolgirl. What the deuce was wrong with her? She was a woman now, in every sense of the word. She could hold her own. Why did he reduce her to a bundle of nerves?

He hurried his horse into position in front of her driving horse, and the animal slowed to a halt. She made an impatient sound and told him, “It seems, my lord, you have a habit of hindering my progress.”

He jumped off his steed and took his horse to the boot, where he tethered it, but before he could walk around, she clicked and started off, a smile covering her face.

He caught up in no time, and nimbly, athletically managed to jump into the curricle and slide across the seat very close to her.

She could see him eyeing her quizzically and decided not to talk to him. Her jaw set, but his did not as he grinned and said, “You will find you cannot get away from me so easily.”

“You do realize, however, that I want to?” she answered.

“Yes, I do, but again,
why?”

“You should know.”

“Serena … whatever I said to make you feel uncomfortable about … yesterday, I do beg your pardon. That was not my intention. You must realize that I would never knowingly hurt you?”

“Must I realize that?” she asked as she turned down a narrow dirt path. Up ahead was a small farmer’s cottage.

He frowned and asked, “What are you doing?”

“We have a sick tenant. I am going to visit with them and bring them a basket,” she said, still not looking at him, still holding herself erect, as she brought her curricle to a stop and put on the brake.

His lordship jumped down before her and reached out his hand for her hand. Instead, she put a basket into his and managed to get down on her own.

“Thank you, my lord,” she said, took the basket from him, and went towards the front door of the cottage, noting that he hurriedly followed her.

A middle-aged woman in a mobcap and a full blue apron opened the door and exclaimed, “Oh Miss Serena, you don’t want to come in here and take a chance of getting ill. No, I don’t—”

“Nonsense,” Serena said, cutting the woman’s objections short. “And good morning, Mrs. Tuttle. You look well.”

“And you, Miss Serena, like a ray of sunshine you be.”

Serena laughed and handed the woman the large, fully packed basked. “Mrs. Tuttle, Cook baked the bread and tarts fresh this morning. The apples are from our orchard, and there is some very fine cheese in there as well.”

“Thankee, Miss Serena. You are always more than kind, and do send our regards to Cook, and tell her I’ll be stopping by with some pickled tomatoes as soon as m’boy gets well.”

Serena frowned. “May I visit with Billy? I did not know he had fallen ill until Davis mentioned it to me last evening.” Of all her uncles’ tenants, the Tuttles were her favorite, and young Billy held a sure place in her warm affection.

“I don’t want ye catching his quinsy.” Mrs. Tuttle frowned.

“Nonsense, so if you think it won’t tire him?” Serena answered.

“Tire him?” Mrs. Tuttle laughed. “Why he would be that pleased to see ye, he would. Thinks the world of ye, he does. Tells everyone that ye be his Lady Sunshine. Ever since ye took the trouble to teach him how to fish and let him fish the Moorely pond … why, he tells anyone who will listen that you are a ‘right ’un’.”

Serena laughed and turned to his lordship. “You may go now.”

“May I indeed?” His eyebrow arched, and Serena had to remind herself to stay firmly hard-hearted. She must not think him dashing. She must not be drawn by his blue eyes. She simply must not.

He inclined his head as she turned slightly away from him and told her, “Thank you, but I would like to meet young Billy. He sounds to me to be a brilliant flirt.” The tease was in his voice. “Lady Sunshine, is it? The boy will do well when he attains his majority.”

Serena couldn’t help it—a laugh escaped her lips. Without waiting to see if he followed she went inside and made her way to Billy’s open door, where she knocked.

Billy was ten years old with wads of red hair around a freckled face and bright hazel eyes that were always laughing. He looked like the elfish, scampish youth he was as he sat up and called with vigor, “My lady Sunshine! Oi  … I was wondering when you would be looking in on me.”

Serena tweaked his nose. “Brat! What makes you think I don’t have better things to do than to look in on a sickly slug-a-bed?”

“Coo …” breathed the boy, grinning widely. “Ye were worrit, weren’t ye?”

Serena laughed and proceeded to take the boy into a bear hug. “As I said, a brat of a lad,” she repeated and sighed with some relief. “You look so much better than Davis led me to believe. I was told you were flat on your back.”

“And so I was, but, ye know, it would take more than a dunk in the brine to do me in,” Billy boasted merrily. He looked towards his lordship and then toward Serena meaningfully.

She laughed and made the introductions. He eyed her thoughtfully after his lordship shook his hand, and he said in a lowered voice, “Well then,
this one will do
.”

She gasped, and her hands flew to her hips. “You, my fine boy, are begging to have your ears boxed.”

“Aye, so I am told by me mum,” he answered, both undaunted and beaming.

“Bold and audacious,” his lordship remarked with a wide smile. “Needs to be brought down a peg.” He looked at Serena. “By your leave, my lady Sunshine?”

“Oh do, bring the lad down two pegs if you please.” Serena laughed.

“Hold! Hold,” Billy cried, putting up a guarding hand. “Oi be sickly, remember?” Serena hid a smile at how his attempt to speak “proper-like”, as he had been working on when with her, slipped when he was flustered.

“Indeed, which puts me in mind of my next question. Just what were you doing in the brine at this time of year, young Billy?”

Billy frowned and looked past Serena as though looking to see where his mother was. He rebuked her softly, “Hush then, and I’ll be telling ye if ye promise to keep it between us.”

Serena was surprised but gravely replied though her dark eyes were dancing, “So be it.”

Billy looked at his lordship. “Ye look to be a right ‘un, and ye be with Miss Serena, but I have a reason or two for not wanting me business known. Do ye swear to keep mum?”

“Indeed, on my word of honor,” his lordship replied promptly.

“Right then. Me and the boys, Al, Davey, and Jeremy, well we borrowed it—Mr. Doogin’s little skiff—just for a lark, you know, and not meaning any harm. Well, I thought we might hang a line and catch a night’s dinner, so we went to our spot, not too far from this great big schooner just outside the harbor. That’s when it happened. There was these coveys … seamen all, but not the
gentlemen
. No these weren’t smugglers, even though Jeremy said they must be. I didn’t think it was free trading they was after, no, I didn’t. They had this trunk, and they couldn’t lift it. Took five men to lift it. A man in uniform caught them, and
they shot him.
Thought Al and I was going to have to knock Jeremy and Davey out to keep them quiet.” He shook his head. “We didn’t stay for more. We rowed back to the dock when we see more bobbery afoot.
Zounds
, Miss Serena, I’m supposing these were land-runners or leastways couldn’t figure what else they might be. Suddenly they was pointing in our direction, so I tells Jeremy, row, and we rowed faster than we ever had towards the beach—
ye know the spot
, where I found ye that prime shell last summer?”

“Yes, Billy, go on,” Serena said, with concern.

“Took the skiff to the beach, and we were ready to jump off and bring her in … Davey hollers like he visioned a ghost. He starts to fall, and whot must he do but grab me. Over we both went, and when we come up, the bloke was nearly out of sight.”

“Who was he? Did you get a look at him?” his lordship asked.

“Not really, though there was something familiar about the cut of his shoulders and his gait.” He shook his head. “I just don’t know. Only saw a bit of light on him at the top of the down. ‘’Twas too dark, but he was dressed like gentry. Jeremy says we best say nuthin to nobody, but Mr. Doogin knew it was us who took the skiff, and he went to Jeremy’s father, who gave Jeremy a beating. Al didn’t get a beating, but his father made him haul wood and water for Mr. Doogin for a week. Me and Davey got sick, but Pa told me I’ll get my beating when I get better.” Billy grinned. “So I’m in no rush to leave this bed.” He wiggled his eyebrows, and both Serena and his lordship laughed out loud.

Ten minutes later, they had taken their leave and his lordship was helping Serena into her curricle and climbing in after her.

“What are you doing?” she asked, frowning at him.

“Escorting you home.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to,” he said simply, ignoring the coolness she had maintained between them.

She sighed and said, “Very well. What did you think of Billy’s tale?”

“I am not certain I have any answers, but you and I both know it has something to do with the robbery. Those boys actually witnessed it in progress.” He shook his head. “I have Freddy under lock and key at the inn with a guard at the front and back, but I have not one doubt that he will take to horse very soon.”

“Yes,” she said and bit her bottom lip. “I agree. He is young, and you can’t expect him to stay put. He won’t.”

Ignoring this he said thoughtfully, “I had hoped that Billy might have been able to give us a description of one of the men at least, but as it happens, he can’t, so his story doesn’t take us any further.”

“Who do you think was the man on the beach?” Serena asked, momentarily forgetting to keep aloof from him.

“I don’t have any idea, but I do believe he has something to do with it all … perhaps he is in charge. It would have to be a gentleman who had access to the information, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, you are quite right.”

He eyed her for a moment, and against her will she looked into his deep blues and was caught up in the fantasy that she saw something there … something that spoke of ‘feelings’.

He said, “I like young Billy … and the way he addresses you.
Lady Sunshine
. He is quite right, you know. You do have a sunny disposition.”

She laughed. “Ah, but there are reasons beyond my disposition.”

“Out with it, girl. I am more than a little curious,” he asked, smiling warmly.

“It was three years ago and he was an imp of a seven-year-old, but he saved my life.”

His lordship cocked a look at her. “How did the little man do that?”

“A friend of my uncle’s came visiting with a lovely mare … chestnut with a perfect white star. Well, my uncle wanted to buy her for me, you see.
Faith,
the way she held her head high … and snorting fire …” Serena smiled and sighed. “Highly spirited but, as some mares are, temperamental.”

“I quite agree. Females …” He then clicked his tongue, and she glared at him.

“She was too beautiful, and I was fool enough to think that my experience might overrule her waywardness. Off we went for a run. We hadn’t gotten very far when she reared with me over some nonsensical thing, perhaps a rabbit. I don’t mind managing a horse with a buck or two in him, and I don’t mind managing a horse with spirit, but I do not like a horse that rears. She went from the rear flying and bolted out of control. Taught me a thing or two and brought me down in my own esteem. I zigzagged the reins. I brought them in sharply and released. I climbed onto her blasted head and took the bit into my grip, and she still would not stop. So I held on for dear life and decided to ride it out as best I could.” She sighed and continued, “We came to a fallen tree that was angled and stood a good three feet off the ground. What must she do but fly over it like a mad creature without any sense. When she landed, she lost her footing and went down, pinning me for a moment beneath part of her weight.”

“
Certes
, Serena!” his lordship exclaimed. “You could have been killed!”

Was that real concern in his eyes and on his face, she wondered. She gave him a half smile and said, “Yes. Well, I remember jumping to my feet and thinking that I was still alive, when I promptly passed out. The next thing I knew this angelic face was peering over me. “Sunshine … come on then, Sunshine, open your eyes. That’s the ticket,” Billy said as he patted my face. He told me later that even lying there I was smiling, so he called me Sunshine, and it stuck. He was then, even at seven, so very adult about it that I could not help but laugh right out loud. He grinned at me and said he had the ‘devil-mare’ tied up nearby, but that he had sent his friend to the squire to fetch help.” She shook her head over the memory.