Silver Sea (21 page)

"Perhaps they'll help you sleep. It's getting late, you know, and you need lots of sleep to help you contend with Mummy."

Over Huntsford's shoulder, she saw movement in Nathan's room. Was he listening? Was he jealous? Adrienne looked into Huntsford's eyes and wondered if she would not be better off caring for someone like him. Huntsford clearly adored her, and underneath all his pretensions, he seemed to be a good person. "You're very thoughtful, and I appreciate that."

Speechless for once, he wondered if her kind, steady gaze was meant to be an invitation. With trembling fingers, he touched her cheek, then dared to touch his mouth to hers. Adrienne did not avoid his kiss. In fact, her lips were soft—perhaps even responsive. If it wasn't midnight, and so imperative that Adrienne be sleeping by one o'clock, he might dare to go further....

Just then there was a sound behind them and a hand tapped on Huntsford's shoulder.

"I beg your pardon, sir, but Miss Beauvisage is not permitted to have male visitors in her bedchamber."

Huntsford looked around to find Nathan Essex looming over him, his expression dark and threatening. "Kindly go away, old chap. I am Miss Beauvisage's host, as it were, and as this is my house, I won't have you instructing me as to where I can go!"

Enjoying the male rivalry, Adrienne exclaimed, "Mr. Essex, I shall entertain whomever I choose, whenever I choose—"

"The devil you will." His jaw was clenched.

"This is neither the time nor the place for this conversation," Adrienne retorted. "I am tired, and no doubt Lord Harms is, too." She turned to Huntsford. "I apologize for Mr. Essex's poor manners. Let us all say good night, shall we?"

"Whatever pleases you, dear Adrienne." Smiling into her eyes, Harms bowed, glared at Nathan, and sauntered off down the corridor.

Adrienne motioned for Nathan to leave her doorway. It was hard for her to look at him for fear he'd read all the emotions in her eyes. "Good night."

His own heart was in turmoil as he pivoted and returned to his room, pausing only to add, "Do not imagine that I was jealous. I was only trying to save you from your own rash self and do the job your father has employed me to do."

More confused than ever, Adrienne closed her door and got ready for bed. The scent of Huntsford's roses seemed to envelop her pillow as she tossed and turned in the warm night air. By the time she drifted off, she'd pushed the sheet down past her hips and one slender foot peeked out into the moonlight. Her dreams these days took her back to France. She would float, magically, above the Loire River, which wound like a silken thread through the golden valley of her childhood. Vineyards staggered up the hillsides, and at the top stood the Renaissance castle known as Chateau du Soleil. It was achingly beautiful, so much more beautiful now that she had chosen not to go home.

Tonight Adrienne dreamed that Nathan Essex was standing in the courtyard with her father and her brother, James. James was always a young boy in her dreams, although in reality he had passed his nineteenth birthday and was as tall as their father.

As the dream continued, Adrienne left the sky and descended the curving marble staircase inside the chateau. She could see the men in the courtyard through the gallery windows.

"What is Nathan doing here?" she cried.

Her mother appeared behind her. "Don't be silly, Adrienne. You brought him home. He is the perfect man for you, although his breeding and background aren't the best...."

Outside, the men and young James laughed together, throwing their heads back, patting one another on the back. James seemed to lose years each time she looked at him. As the luminous sunlight shone down on the trio, Nathan hoisted the little boy onto his shoulders and turned back toward the chateau. Adrienne was confused. Was it James he held or their own child?

It was so warm. The scent of orange blossoms drifted up from the chateau's terraced gardens. Adrienne looked back to speak to her mother, smiling, and a hand came out of thin air to close over her mouth. Something cool and soft covered her eyes as well, but then it tightened painfully, tangling in her hair.

Gone were the sunlit chateau and all the people she loved. They had only been a dream. Struggling back to consciousness, Adrienne sensed very real danger and tried to scream, but her sounds were muffled by the scented hand over her mouth. It was hard even to breathe. She made little sobbing sounds as stark terror broke over her in waves.

What was happening to her? Who had invaded her room in the middle of the night? The first thought she had had was Nathan, but when he didn't speak, and the efforts to keep her quiet turned rough, another thought occurred to her. It was almost too horrendous to consider that her attacker might be... Walter Frakes-Hogg.

The person was tying her hands together, then her feet, grunting in response to her efforts to strike out blindly. At last he seemed to lose patience, gasping, and warned in an unrecognizable, guttural voice, "Be still or die, you strumpet!" Cold steel, terrifyingly sharp, touched the jumping pulse in her throat. Adrienne thought her head would burst from the pressure of the rushing blood. Still, she fought off tears and tried to think. Even though she was helpless, it was possible to remain alert, to assume that she would survive, and to try to remember that any detail might be the one she'd need to notice.

Now that she was awake, Adrienne heard the gentle groan of her door opening, followed by what seemed to be careful footsteps. Had someone else come in? She thought she could make out the distant sound of whispering, but the blindfold was tied over her ears, so it was difficult to be certain. Raw fear swept over her body, this time bringing a sickening sensation in its wake. Adrienne's stomach heaved.

She tried to turn on her side, to curl up protectively, but the hands returned, forcing her onto her back. When he touched her brow, her nose twitched. Was it the same man as before? The answer brought a harsh sense of doom.

"Ah, wench, how long I have dreamed of this night!" The hoarse voice was hideously familiar, as was its stench of brandy. "Don't worry, you needn't speak. I understand. You're overcome by my little surprise, hmm?"

Was Frakes-Hogg going to have the last word after all? How could she have imagined, even for a minute, that someone so wicked would give up and go away? His need for revenge would overpower all saner thoughts—even at the risk of his own life. If she could have spoken through her gag, Adrienne might have wondered if he were Satan incarnate, for Walter Frakes-Hogg seemed more evil than any mere mortal.

But Adrienne couldn't speak, or see, or escape. She raised her bound hands and struck out, which apparently pleased him. Moments later he was sitting on top of her, straddling her hips, holding her hands to his mouth. Bile rose in her throat.

"Sweet, what are you thinking? Regrets?" He leaned over, his wretched breath fanning her face, and kissed her throat. "So soft. I've dreamed of touching you again. Remember, many months ago, when we were still friends and you told me over tea that you believed life was made for dreams? You said that you intended to make all your dreams come true. I took your words to heart, sweet, and devised a few dreams of my own." Frakes-Hogg chuckled softly. Holding her wrists with one hand, he used the other to fondle her, tearing at the bodice of her nightgown until her breasts were partially exposed. "Oh, my. So lovely. What's that you say? Well, I don't mind if I do. Thank you for offering, Miss Beauvisage."

Shudders of pure revulsion swept over Adrienne as he squeezed one of her breasts. She bit her own cheek as her pain mounted, and tears wet her blindfold.

Inside the armoire, Huntsford Harms held his breath and waited. It would heighten Adrienne's gratitude if her fear was at its peak when she was rescued, so he had to wait as long as possible. Harms felt quite mad, however, at the thought of Frakes-Hogg putting his hands on her, or spoiling her in any way.

Suddenly Adrienne managed to make a rather high-pitched sound that carried clearly through her gag. It was a sound of such fear and loathing that the hairs rose on Huntsford's neck. The time had come to act.

Dagger poised, he pushed open the armoire door, jumped out, and threw himself at the moonlit figure crouching on Adrienne's bed. Luckily, the element of surprise and his own youth and superior athleticism all worked in his favor. Frakes-Hogg fell over like a stone, his arms flailing. Choking him with one bent arm, Harms drew up the dagger with his other hand and plunged it into Frakes-Hogg's bony chest. Moments later the villain emitted strangled gurgling noises, and blood poured from his mouth.

Harms let go, standing, and watched the other man go still on the floor. The awful sounds of his breathing had stopped.

His clothing torn and hair mussed, Harms hurried to free Adrienne of the bonds that he himself had secured just moments before Frakes-Hogg's arrival in her bedchamber. She had given way to sobs of shock and horror, and as soon as he pulled the gag from her mouth, she cried, "Oh, Nathan, thank God you heard—thank God you came!"

A fierce sense of triumph coursed through Huntsford's body. He untied her hands so that she could embrace him, then slipped the blindfold off. "Darling, are you all right?"

Her breasts were heaving; she had buried her face in his shoulder and clung tightly to him with both arms. Her state of shock was so great that a full minute passed before she realized that her rescuer was not Nathan at all, but Huntsford Harms. "Oh—I didn't know—" She looked up in confusion but could not bring herself to disengage. Nor could she bear to glance toward the floor, where Walter Frakes-Hogg lay contorted in death, his eyes staring eerily in the moonlight.

"I would do anything for you," Huntsford murmured reassuringly. "In fact, I couldn't be more pleased to have found a way to earn your favor."

Just then the door to Adrienne's bedchamber swung open. Nathan Essex crossed the threshold, clad only in a pair of breeches. He held a flickering candle in one hand and a pistol in the other.

"Adrienne—are you all right? I heard a terrible noise. What the deuce is going on here?" Every inch of him was taut and guarded as he moved closer, taking in the sight of the dead man on the floor and the unlikely couple who clung together on the bed. "For God's sake! Will someone explain to me what's happened?"

"I've just killed Walter Frakes-Hogg," Harms announced calmly.

"The devil you have!"

"Yes," Adrienne confirmed, covering herself. She began to weep. "Huntsford has saved my life! How can I ever repay him?"

Stabbed by cynical disbelief, Nathan muttered under his breath, "Oh, I'm sure he'll think of something...."

Chapter 12

Before long the entire household had been roused. Nathan lit lamps in Adrienne's room and called for footmen to remove the body. Hearing the commotion, Lady Thomasina sat up in bed and rang her bell. No one came, and so she put on a robe and turban, then trundled into Adrienne's bedchamber.

"I should like to know why my ringing goes unanswered—" Her querulous voice stopped the very instant she caught sight of Walter Frakes-Hogg's blood-soaked corpse. Nathan tried to turn her back, but it was too late, and she fainted dead away in his arms. Just then a quartet of footmen appeared with sheets and began to cover and wrap the body.

"Harms, take Adrienne out of here—" Nathan said to Huntsford, who continued to cradle Adrienne on the edge of the bed. "Then come back and help me with your mother. I can't hold her up for long!"

Finally, an hour later, Frakes-Hogg had been removed to an unused part of the stable and Huntsford's houseguests had been sent back to their beds. The parish constable would be summoned at dawn, after which the body would be returned to London for burial. Scullery maids scrubbed the bloodstained floor in Adrienne's room. Nathan finally dressed and sat down in Lady Thomasina's sitting room with her ladyship, Huntsford Harms, and Adrienne. Generous glasses of claret were poured and all four of them sipped in silence for a few minutes.

"I seem to be the only person who is completely ignorant of tonight's events," Lady Thomasina complained. "The moment there is any drama, I am forgotten."

"Hardly, my lady." Nathan took out one of the rare cheroots he had smoked since arriving at Harms Castle. He lit it with a candle and drew deeply on the strong smoke. "I know almost as little as you do. Adrienne, why don't you tell us what happened tonight in your room, before I came in?"

She sat close by Huntsford on a velvet chaise, dressed now but still trembling. Nathan's rather harsh demeanor only increased Adrienne's anxiety. Courage and strength had always come easily to her, but tonight she felt like a stranger in her own body. The only person she could depend upon, it seemed, was Huntsford, and she was enormously grateful for his devotion.

"You cannot expect her to talk right now! How can you be so insensitive?" Huntsford glared at his nemesis and slipped an arm around Adrienne. Then, when Nathan glanced away to tap the ash from his cheroot, Harms shot a look at his mother that she was meant to understand. Her ladyship appeared impatient at first, then, slowly, a kind of wonderment passed over her face. Her son continued speaking in a rush. "Perhaps I can tell what I know of tonight's events, to give Adrienne a chance to put the pieces back together." He gazed into her eyes and squeezed her hand. "Hmm? Will that suit you, my dear? Can you bear it?"