Beware of Virtuous Women (40 page)

All the gulls, that is, save one that remained where it was, jerkily cocking its head from side to side as it observed the approaching humans.

"Hello, Ignatius," Eleanor said, careful to approach the large white gull slowly. "Have you missed me?"

"Ignatius, is it?" Jack said, taking his cue from Eleanor, and speaking quietly, moving slowly. "How do you know that's—my God, it's only got one leg."

"One of the village dogs, I'm afraid," Eleanor said, opening a twist of greased paper she'd pulled from her pocket, exposing several strips of fresh fish she'd taken from the kitchens. "Callie rescued him and Odette healed him, but he'd only feed if I fed him. We have a special bond. Isn't that right, Ignatius?"

Jack shook his head in amazement as the gull hopped sure-footedly on its single leg, approaching Eleanor as she held out a strip of raw fish. "He actually feeds from your hand?"

Eleanor let go of the strip of fish and Ignatius deftly snared it in his beak. "I told you. We're friends. Ignatius has been at Becket Hall for five years now. We take in all strays." She turned to smile at Jack. "Even you."

"Yes, thank you. And if Jacko would stop grumbling under his breath every time he sees me, I might feed out of his hand, too."

Eleanor laughed, her heart free, her happiness so thorough that each day seemed a new adventure, a whole new opportunity to enjoy life to its fullest. "Poor Jack," she said, then quickly finished feeding Ignatius, as some of the other gulls had begun to gather, wanting their share of the delicacy.

Jack took the empty greased paper from her hand and squeezed it into a ball, tucking it in a pocket of his greatcoat before taking Eleanor's hand. "Look, sweetheart. Over there."

She looked where he pointed, to an outcropping of wet, dark boulders that were more exposed now that the tide was low. At the very end of the natural pier, spray from the breaking waves lapping at his booted feet, stood Ainsley Becket, his dark head bare, his black greatcoat flapping around his knees in a fairly stiff sea breeze.

He was looking out to sea. Not moving. This tall, spare man, this strong, tortured soul. Oblivious to his surroundings. Clearly suffering.

Eleanor blinked back sudden tears as she leaned against Jack and he slid an arm around her protectively. "It's been a month since Chance told him about Edmund Beales. I can't even imagine what he must be thinking, what he must be feeling," she said quietly.

"Because there's nothing he can do, is there?" Jack said, understanding the deep frustration Ainsley must be harboring, as he had suffered the same feeling of impotence when he'd realized that Chelfham had taken Eleanor from him. "Chance says it could be years before Beales surfaces again."

"If he ever does. And he could be anywhere. France. Russia. Even America. We may have crippled him somewhat by losing him the revenue from the Red Men Gang, and denied him the place in English society he seemed to covet, but that doesn't mean he's beaten. Courtland told me that Papa believes we need to follow the winners, for that's where Beales will be."

"I know, sweetheart. He said much the same thing to me. But Court also said
years.
Ainsley may have to wait years for his revenge."

"Justice," Eleanor corrected quietly, looking at Ainsley Becket as he stood, his face into the wind, his entire being seemingly etched in suppressed agony. "Papa deserves justice. We all do."

Jack leaned down and kissed Eleanor's windswept curls. "I know, sweetheart, and we'll have it. Do you know what Ainsley said to me the other night after you'd gone up to bed? He said that we live in an often ugly world."

"Oh, Jack, that's so sad."

"It is, I'll grant you that. But that's not all he said. He told me that what makes life bearable—-even lifts life into the realm of the extraordinary—is love. He said that when you find love, you must guard it with everything that's in you, because that love is the only worthwhile thing in this world. And that, my love, is exactly what I intend to do."

"We will guard our love, Jack, both of us." Eleanor wiped at the tears that had spilled onto her cheeks, then looked toward Ainsley Becket one last time before Jack slid his arm more firmly around her and led her away from the beach....

ISBN: 978-1-4268-1994-0 BEWARE OF VIRTUOUS WOMEN Copyright © 2006 by Kathryn Seidick

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