Cinders and Ashes (28 page)

Dominic
followed close behind her, looking somewhat frazzled and worse for
wear.

“
Are you alright?” Sebastian lurched to his feet with a frown,
as he caught sight of his brother’s distressed state.

“
Don’t ever ask us to do that again,” Dominic growled at
Sebastian, with a fierce glare at his wife.

“
Why? It was fun!” Izzy protested, pushing her husband’s arm
happily before heading for the tea tray.

Dominic
shook his head and rolled his eyes, pouring himself a liberal dose
of brandy and downing it in one gulp.

“
My wife should tread the boards,” he muttered, with a glare
across the room at the woman in question, who promptly stuck out
her tongue at him.

“
You are just jealous because you can’t blend in like I do,”
she mused, sipping her tea carelessly.

“
Blend in! Damn it, woman, I should have put you on a
leash.”

Sebastian winked at Amelia, who was looking at their outburst
with a mixture of mirth and concern.

“
Ha! You could try. You are just put out because I got more
information out of the sister than you, and nobody looked at me
twice. You,” she pointed across the room with an elegant, but dirty
finger, “You stuck out like a sore thumb.”

Amelia
fought the urge to smile as Dominic’s ears turned pink with temper.
She shared a rare smile with Sebastian, who was listening with
equal interest.

“
I take it you learnt something worthwhile?” Sebastian asked
his brother, who had begun to pace around the room like a caged
tiger. “Besides the fact your wife can adopt a disguise better than
you?” He grinned when Dominic growled at him.

“
We learnt that my wife should not be allowed out in public
without having an armed guard with her at all times. Damned near
started a bar brawl we barely got out of alive! Then,” Dominic
raised a shaking finger at Sebastian, who was looking at his
sister-in-law with renewed admiration, “Then, having reduced the
entire inn, including the stable lads outside by the way, to a
cacophony of fist fighting and arguments, she calmly walks out, and
everyone parts for her like the parting of the red sea! Waiting
until she had left the room to start fighting again.” Dominic
refilled his glass and downed the contents quickly. “Unfortunately,
I was left on the other side of the room, and had to literally
fight my way out of the bloody building to get to her.”

Sebastian chuckled, and patted his brother on the shoulder
consolingly. “But you are back now safe and sound, and there isn’t
a scratch on her.” He eyed his sister-in-law’s smug expression
ruefully.

“
We got what we wanted,” Izzy announced, suddenly becoming
serious. “Ballantyne murdered the maid.”

“
Are you certain?” Sebastian asked, with a quick look at
Dominic who was still downing brandy as though it was his lifeline
to sanity.

“
Definitely.” Isobel glanced at Amelia. “It seemed that the
depths of depravity to which Ballantyne and his associates sank was
worse than anyone anticipated. Both brothers were hated by the
servants. Especially the maids. The prettier ones were singled out,
and used for sexual services with the threat of being cast out
hanging over them, if they didn’t comply.”

“
Oh, dear God,” Amelia gasped in horror.

“
Unfortunately, they singled out Martha. She revealed the
truth to her sister a few weeks before her death, when she made her
monthly visit home. She told her that the brothers were becoming
more and more menacing. One girl they had been using had simply
vanished.” Isobel accepted the brandy her husband offered her with
a small smile before continuing. “Martha was really scared. Her
sister wasn’t sure if she was expecting and tried to persuade her
to leave, but she refused. Her family never saw her alive again
after that.”

“
Do you think the sister will speak in court, if Ballantyne is
arrested for murder?” Sebastian asked looking at his
brother.

Dominic
removed a sheaf of papers from beneath his jacket and handed them
to Sebastian.

“
She recounted her story for Isobel to write down. Knowing we
were after Ballantyne, she signed it before we left. It will be
enough to implicate Ballantyne. Rumours are that he is still at it
with his current servants. God knows how many he has involved. The
servants aren’t the only ones who hate him. Most of the village
hate him.”

“
Quite understandable.” Sebastian took a deep breath. “I think
we have enough to arrange for his immediate arrest.”

“
I already called in on Lord Montague, who was sending men out
to arrest him. Apparently he was already aware of Ballantyne’s
activities, but could get few of the villagers to talk to him. With
little evidence, there was little he could do until he found
someone prepared to reveal the truth.”

“
So that’s it? Ballantyne is no longer a threat?” Amelia asked
in astonishment, feeling somewhat deflated. She was vastly relieved
for the maids that Ballantyne’s days of debauchery and murder were
over.

“
That’s it,” Peter replied, with a smile of satisfaction. “Now
we can all resume our normal lives, and hopefully they will be
peaceful ones for a while.”

“
Amen to that,” Edward muttered, pushing to his feet. “I don’t
know about you, Peter, but after all of this talk of murder and
death I feel like a game of billiards, and some of Sebastian’s
finest brandy. If I spend much more time in the saddle, I will
start to walk bow-legged. Care to join us, Eastleigh?” At
Eastleigh’s ready agreement the three men left, leaving silence in
their wake.

“
Well, I am going to take a long bath, and put my dress back
on. These long trousers chafe something terrible.” Isobel rose,
tugging at the knees of the dark brown material ruefully. As she
passed, she tugged on her husband’s jacket, dragging him with
her.

“
You have been cooped up in this house for days, Amelia. Would
you care to take a turn around the gardens with me?” Sebastian
stood and held out his arm to her.

Now
Ballantyne was safely behind bars, he wanted to settle their future
together.

“
That would be lovely,” Amelia smiled, taking his arm and
following him outside.

As they
strolled, she took a deep breath of the refreshing afternoon air.
There was a slight breeze that took the heat off the sunshine and
it felt wonderful against her face. It was blissful to be outside
and feel the sunshine once more. She hadn’t realised just how much
she had missed being able to walk wherever she chose, when she
chose.

“
It seems like a chapter is closing.” Amelia glanced at him as
they walked.

“
I know. It is time to make some decisions on what we are
going to do next,” Sebastian sighed, walking her slowly towards the
pavilion.

“
My father will want to return to Eastleigh Hall as soon as
possible.” Amelia felt her stomach tighten nervously.

“
He will wait for the wedding though, won’t he?” Sebastian
murmured softly, drawing her to a halt just inside the doorway of
the wooden structure at the end of the gardens.

“
Wedding?” Amelia felt her heart stop as she turned towards
him.

“
You have to marry me, Amelia, you know that.” Sebastian tried
to keep the frustration out of his voice. Did he really have to
spell it out to her again?

“
I don’t
have
to do anything. My father has informed me that I am
independently wealthy and can do as I please. He did tell me you
had already asked for my hand in marriage, but has also said that
he will support and assist me in whatever I decide.”

Amelia
wanted to move into his arms, but the story of her parents’ fate
and the effect it had on everyone, including her, held her
firm.

“
You could be carrying my child.” Sebastian eyed her small
waist. “I want no child of mine being born a bastard.” He
immediately regretted his choice of words when Amelia
flinched.

“
What is stopping you from saying yes? You know I am not after
your wealth. We enjoy a healthy relationship in bed, and out of
it,” he added, when she made to protest. “Although we still have a
lot to learn about each other, we get on very well indeed. Our
marriage will be a happy and fulfilling one.”

With
each word she heard, Amelia felt her heart break a little bit more.
He was completely right in everything he had said. He just hadn’t
mentioned loving her, and she could accept nothing less.

“
I don’t want to end up with a marriage like my parents’,”
Amelia confessed, staring at her feet with a frown.

“
But we won’t, Amelia. Not only are we different people, but
we have faced adversity and come out stronger. We work. There is
really no reason other than your foibles that is keeping us
apart.”

“
Foibles?” Amelia felt her temper rise as she stared at him.
“Foibles? You just don’t understand do you? What I want isn’t a
foible. I don’t want to be married to a man who realises he cannot
love me as I love him, and takes a mistress. That isn’t a marriage.
It is an alliance, and I know firsthand how such alliances can
destroy people.”

Sebastian tried to hold her hands, but she pulled away
swiftly, needing to put some distance between them. Whenever she
stood close to him, she was distracted by his blatant masculinity
and had to fight the urge to give in to whatever he demanded from
her.

“
You really have no choice. You are a lady, and there are
certain expectations on you to behave in such a way. Having a child
out of wedlock would bring scandal upon your father and his new
bride that neither would be able to live down.”

“
I don’t know if I am with child yet,” Amelia snapped, feeling
cornered. She made for the doorway, holding her hand up when he
moved to follow her. “I need time to think.”

She
paused, staring blankly out at the gardens below for several
moments before taking a deep breath.

“
Tell me something, Sebastian. Do you love me?” Her voice was
quiet and calm as she asked the most important question of her
life. She turned to look at him.

Her
heart sank at his look of stunned surprised. She knew the truth. He
had never even contemplated the possibility. His shocked silence
and the look of wariness on his face was all she needed to
know.

“
When my father leaves in a few days, I shall be leaving with
him.” She didn’t look back as she left the pavilion, and was
quietly relieved when he made no move to follow her as she crossed
the garden.

At the
far side of the house, she spied the hedged wall leading to the
rose garden and headed in that direction. She needed somewhere away
from prying eyes to just be by herself, and gather the pieces of
her torn and bleeding heart. In the morning, she would talk to her
father about leaving as soon as possible.

She
wasn’t certain how long she sat in the garden listening to the
buzzing of the bees, and the chirping of the birds in the trees.
Slowly, she became aware of being chilled and reluctantly eyed the
dark clouds roiling ahead. Drawing her shawl around her shoulders
with a shiver, she began to walk the outer path towards the
entrance of the garden.

She
didn’t see the menacing bulk lurking in the darkest shadows of the
hedgerow until she was suddenly caught from behind. She didn’t have
time to scream. A foul-smelling cloth was placed over her mouth,
and immediately the world went black.

Sebastian was steadily downing his finest brandy when Isobel
wandered into the study several house later.

“
Not now, Isobel, I am really not in the mood.” He scowled at
her when she entered anyway.

“
Do you know where Amelia is?” Isobel eyed him with concern.
“She isn’t in her room, and nobody has seen her.”

“
She is probably hiding somewhere so I don’t ask her to marry
me again.” He took another swig of the amber liquid, and felt his
stomach churn in revolt against the copious amount it was being
asked to deal with. He hoped oblivion came first. Anything to take
away the fierce ache in his chest that had blossomed when Amelia
had left the pavilion.

“
Why do women always have to make things so complicated?” he
grumbled, shoving to his feet, and tugging on the bell pull until
Hodgkiss arrived.

“
Search for Amelia please, Hodgkiss, for my lady here.” He
lifted his glass again and filled it, glaring at Isobel sternly
before resuming his seat. “If you don’t mind.”

As she
left, Sebastian ran his hand down his face wearily and waited. True
to form, Dominic, Peter and Edward arrived minutes
later.

“
What’s wrong?” Dominic snatched the goblet away from his
half-drunk brother, and tossed the expensive amber liquid casually
into the fire.

“
That’s my finest brandy,” Sebastian snarled, staring at the
smoke billowing out of his hearth in resignation.

“
Where’s Amelia?” Peter asked, eyeing the highly sullen
expression on Sebastian’s face with alarm. Usually Sebastian was
about as even tempered as anyone he had ever met. Something must be
seriously wrong for him to be so surly.