My True Companion (12 page)

Millie smiled at him, silently blessing him for his
kindness.

“I need to face that cliff,” said Hortense, as they put on
their coats. “I still have nightmares about it, and I’m hoping that going there
will stop them.”

“It’s early days,” said Simon. “You mustn’t force yourself.”

“Simon is right, Hortense,” said Millie. “We don’t have to
go there.”

“I do.” Hortense reached out her hand and took Millie’s. “That
hill belongs to me, not the person who pushed me off. I intend to go up there
and reclaim it.”

“She’s wonderful, isn’t she?” said Simon.

“Yes, she is,” said Millie, understanding why no one had
noticed it before. The shadow of Arthur Parker-Trent had lifted, leaving his
young wife standing in the sunlight.

Rather than walk, because Hortense still suffered the
after-effects of her plummet over the cliffs, they took the cable car.

Hortense looked apprehensive, but remained calm when they
reached the Heights and looked out over the view. On such a glorious spring
morning it was hard to believe that anything bad could happen to anyone.
Hortense was young, beautiful, with the world at her feet and a man who was
clearly beginning to adore her. There were few other people around, meaning
that the three friends practically had the Heights to themselves.

“I wonder if they’ll ever find Markham,” said Hortense.
Millie shivered, and it was as if a cloud past over the sun.

“I don’t think so,” Simon said. “He’ll have found a way to
get out of the country.”

“He’s a wicked man. Wicked,” Hortense said. It seemed to
help her to talk about it. She had been so resilient that it had not even
occurred to Millie that she might have been affected psychologically. Hortense
was the sort of person who got on with things, but such people usually hid
their fears deep down.

“They make them like that in Derbyshire,” said Simon, when
Millie said as much to him. “Though she’s not the only survivor around here.”

“I don’t know that I’m as ready to face my demons,” said
Millie, and once again she shivered. There was something in the air, something
close. She wished Jim were with them. Not that she could not trust Simon to
protect them. But it was not the same.

When Hortense and Simon suggested walking back down to the
café, Millie excused herself, saying that she wanted to stay a while longer.
She smiled at them as they walked down the hill together, taking their first
tentative steps towards what Millie hoped would be a lasting love affair. It
was early days for Hortense, but there was no reason why she should not find
happiness with Simon.

“Be careful, dearest,” Hortense called back.

Millie waved back then turned and looked out over
Derbyshire. She could see why Hortense loved it so.

So much had happened and here she was, right back where it
all started only a few days earlier. It seemed like centuries ago. She
remembered that first morning, going down the hill with Haxby, and her secret
thrill at being his walking partner. She remembered the way he defended her
father in the café. How handsome he looked at the Ritz, and the kiss that came
afterwards. At his mother’s house, he had treated her with immense tenderness,
even though she had made him angry. She even managed to laugh when she remembered
him saying, ‘I forbid it’ after she asked about being an agent. Would their
time together be a constant battle of wills? Perhaps, but it most certainly
would not be dull.

. No man had ever seemed so alive to her, or made her feel
so alive. She hoped she was enough for him. His kisses of the night before
seemed to say that she was.  He had once said that he was not a nice man.
She believed that was a lie he told himself, in order to accomplish the
difficult work he had to do. He was more than just a nice man. He was a good
man. One who was not afraid to fight for what he believed was right. She smiled
at the notion that the redoubtable Helen Haxby would allow her son to be
anything other.

Whatever else happened, whether they stayed together or not,
Millie would never regret the moments she spent in Haxby’s arms.

Behind her, footprints cracked on ground roots. Millie spun
around, half hoping it would be Jim. It was not. At first she barely recognised
the man who approached her. His clothes were grimy and covered in twigs, as if
he had been sleeping in a box all night, his face dirty and unshaven.

“Surprised to see me, Millie?” he asked.

“Uncle Alex!” The familiar term came unbidden, for he had
ceased to be the fond godfather of her childhood.

“I’ve waited for this moment,” he said. “There was no chance
of getting to you at Fazeby Hall, with your champion in attendance. He soon
left didn’t he? You should learn, child, that a man won’t buy the cow if he can
have the milk for free.”

Millie wanted to argue but it seemed irrelevant under the
circumstances. A man like Markham would never understand such a thing as trust
anyway. He lived a life of lies and betrayal and assumed everyone else behaved
in the same way. The simple values of the real world were beyond his ken. She
almost pitied him for it, but steeled herself against him by remembering what
he had done to her father. And she did trust Jim, despite the foolish doubts
that she knew only came from loving him so deeply and only just starting to
believe he felt the same. She remembered his kisses to fortify herself. “You’ve
been watching me.”

“Oh yes.” He reached forward, his hands outstretched like
claws. “Like I said, I’ve waited for this moment. As if I, Alexander Markham
could be fooled by a stupid little girl.”

“Except I’m not stupid,” said Millie.

“You got lucky,” he said. “If you hadn’t found the
inscription of her note you’d never have known. It’s a pity Millie. You could
have been my wife.”

“Another for your harem?” Millie laughed humourlessly. Once
the initial shock of seeing Alex Markham had abated, Millie began to realise
the seriousness of her position. She had her back to the cliff, and he was
slowly moving towards her. Only a few feet separated them. She looked around
quickly, to see if there were any other walkers, but the only ones nearby were
on the hill, too far away to be of any help to her. She thought of screaming,
just to get someone’s attention, but she feared that might make things worse.

“You’d have been the only one, Millie.”

“Perhaps,” said Millie, thinking on her feet, “I still could
be. No one has seen you. We could go away from here.”

“And the minute you got amongst people, you’d scream at the
top of your lungs. You fooled me once, Millie. That won’t happen again. Do you
know how much planning it took to achieve the things I did?”

“I think I have an idea how many others paid for your
plans.”

“I’m sorry about your father. Truly I am. Richard was my
best friend, but they were closing in on me, and I had to think quickly. He was
the only other person who had been in the same places as me.”

“What about Barbara Conrad? She might be executed too. Are
you sorry about her?”

“She was a damn fool, taking to you the way she did. I
should have known better than to trust a woman.”

“She loved you and now she’s going to die for that love.”

“I know, I made sure of that. If I’d had more time with
you…”

A faint breeze stirred some nearby bushes, catching Alex’s
attention. Millie took the opportunity to run in the opposite direction, along
the cliff edge, before trying to make her way down. She was not quick enough.
Alex, despite his age and condition, managed to head her off, catching her arms
in a vice-like grip.

“Not so quick,” he said, pulling her back up the hill after
him, and back towards the cliff edge. “You will pay for what you’ve done to
me.”

“I’ve done nothing to you,” said Millie, pulling frantically
in the opposite direction. “You’re the one who’s ruined your life, by betraying
your friends and loved ones.”

“I’d have succeeded if not for you.” He twisted her wrist,
making her cry out in pain. Despite wanting to remain calm, Millie felt tears
sting her eyes. She had her body turned away from Markham, still trying to get
back down the hill. If she let him, he would push her over the cliff, and she
did not want to take the chance that there would be a handy ledge to break her
fall. For his part, Markham had his full attention on Millie. It was a battle
of wills that cut out everything else around them, like they were the only two
people in the world.

“No, you’d have failed eventually, with or without my help.
Men like you do, because they betray so many people, they find themselves with
no friends, no one to turn to.”

“Who have you got now, Millie, eh? Your father is dead, Your
stupid friend is too busy with her new love, and Haxby has no doubt gone off to
find someone more interesting than some pale-faced little idiot who sits up and
begs the moment he asks her to.”

“Far from it,” a familiar voice said. Millie looked up
through her tears, and saw Jim standing to the left of Markham, a gun pointed
at the older man’s temple. He was also dishevelled, but in a rather more
attractive way, his hair tousled on his head. He wore a pair of jodhpurs and a
white shirt, open at the neck. “I must say tracking you down hasn’t been that
interesting. Only necessary. I knew you’d come after Millie eventually.”

Markham spun around, almost managing to knock the gun out of
Jim’s hand. There was a struggle, as each man tried to gain superiority over
the other. As they fought, they moved nearer to the cliff edge.

“Jim, darling, no!” screamed Millie, as Markham almost
succeeded in pushing him over. But Jim regained his footing, and the upper
hand. Instead of trying to push Markham over the cliff, Jim clearly sought to
contain him, but Markham was determined not to be taken.

How long they fought was hard to say. To Millie it all
seemed to happen slowly, only speeding up when the fight reached its most
dangerous, near to the edge of the cliff. She wanted to help, to stop Jim being
hurt, so a few times she rushed forward, to try and drag Markham off. He, in
turn, swatted her as if she were a fly, throwing her to the ground, and almost
sending her over the cliff. Jim grabbed for her skirt, then her arms, bringing
her back from the precipice, and in doing so lost the gun over the edge. When
Millie saw Markham about to rush Jim, whilst his attention was taken in helping
her, she was able to stick her foot out. Markham lurched forward, and hurtled
over the edge of the cliff.

There were no ledges to save Markham. They saw him plummet
right down to the bottom, and heard his piercing cry. Millie hid her head in
Jim’s shoulder, the horrific sound sending a shudder throughout her body.

“It’s all right, darling, you’re safe now,” Jim, pulling her
into his arms and kissing her passionately.

Chapter Twelve

Despite her protests to the contrary, Millie was made to go
to bed early. “I’m perfectly all right,” she told Helen Haxby, who had arrived
hotfoot from Kent whilst they were out.

“My dear girl,” said Helen, after they told her everything
that had happened, “You’ve had two very stressful days. These things have a
habit of catching up with you. Now go and get some rest, and if you’re very
good, I might let Jim come up and see you.”

Jim’s kiss still burned her lips. He had held her all the
way back to Fazeby Hall, and almost had to be peeled off her by his mother,
whilst the others excitedly asked what had happened.

So she lay in her darkened room, frustrated beyond belief.
She wanted to know why Jim had not told her he was going after Markham.

It was getting late when she heard a knock at the door, and
Jim entered, carrying a tray. “I’m allowed to bring you a hot drink, but I have
to leave straight away.”

“I wish you wouldn’t,” said Millie.

“In that case,” he said, smiling, “I’ll stay a while and
risk the wrath your two mothers, Helen and Cynthia, waiting downstairs. Not to
mention Henry, who has all but challenged me to a duel if I dare to bring your
good name into disrepute. Have you any idea just how many people love you?” He
sat on the edge of the bed, but annoyingly put the tray carrying the drink
between them. “How are you feeling, my love?”

“I’m feeling perfectly fine,” said Millie. “Despite what
people think, I’m not some helpless woman who needs to lie down for three days
after every dramatic incident.”

“No one thinks that about you darling. But I did have to
save your life today.”

“I rather thought it was I who saved yours.” Millie’s eyes
twinkled up at him.

“Yes you did, which means I am now beholden to you for the
rest of my life.”

“I don’t know that I want you to be beholden to me, James
Haxby.”

“Oh, but I am, my love. You’ve saved me from a life of utter
selfishness. I never wanted to get married, but with you it’s all I can think
about.” He pulled her into his arms, sweeping away the tray. Millie’s heart
flipped. Despite her silent affirmations, what Markham had said had played on
her own doubts. She laid her head against Jim’s chest, hearing his heart beat
in time with hers.  “When I saw Markham grab you near the edge of the
cliff. Dear God … I thought I was too late.” He kissed her for a long time.

“I love you,” said Millie, when he set her lips free again.
The tears in her eyes were tears of joy.

“I heard what Markham said to you, and he was wrong.” Jim
brushed a stray lock of Millie’s hair from her face. “And another thing, whilst
you’re determined to think I’m some kind of cad, I didn’t take you to London to
seduce you either. I had to get you away from that awful Mrs Oakengate somehow.
She was determined to keep us apart, and I had no intentions of letting that
happen.”

“I think she’s a terribly lonely woman,” said Millie, whose
joy was making her feel charitable towards even Mrs Oakengate. “Why didn’t you
tell me you were tracking Markham today?”