Dark Angel (18 page)

“Beast?” I listened, for what I do not know. “Beast?”

A noise—a pebble shifting over the ground, a twig cracking.

I walked toward the sound, thinking it might be him. A black shape materialized out of the fog to my right, leaping in front of me and knocking me down. I skidded, astonished to find myself sliding downhill through a tangle of brambles. My skirts rode up and the brambles scratched my legs through my stockings. I cried out in pain. Finally, my heels dug into the soft ground and stopped my descent.

The creature approached me cautiously, watching me with its intelligent gray eyes, sniffing me as though checking on my welfare.

Groaning and sore, I looked up at him. “What did you do that for?”

Feeling betrayed, having somehow convinced myself the creature would not harm me, I tugged my skirts down, brushing off some of the mud. My shoes, made of the softest kid leather, were ruined.

He gazed at me, then stared just beyond where I had landed. I followed his glance. The fog shifted, and I saw an outcropping of rock. My heart seemed to slow, the pulse pounding in my ears. I crawled the few feet between me and the outcrop to investigate while the creature shifted in agitation, trying to block my way.

“I am all right. Be at peace,” I murmured to him, and reaching the outcrop, carefully peered over the side.

My stomach lurched. If I had kept walking in that direction, I would have stepped off a cliff and fallen to the sharp rocks awaiting me in the bay several hundred feet below.

By flinging himself in front of me, Beast had saved my life.

I would not doubt him again.

I carefully backed away from the cliff’s edge.

My hand reached out tentatively, and he allowed my touch once more. “Thank you,” I whispered. The warmth of his sleek pelt penetrated my chill, and the deep rumble of his breathing calmed me, but I felt his restlessness in the shift of muscles beneath my hand. He seemed watchful, on edge, his eyes flicking over the landscape beyond us, his tail twitching back and forth.

I stood. “I must go back to Alexander Hall. I do not know the way. Can you show me?”

He sat on his haunches, his head at that regal angle he had displayed earlier in my room.

“No? I shall have to find my own way back, then. Perhaps you will accompany me, at least, so that I do not fall in a hole or step off another cliff. I cannot help thinking you might be my guardian angel.”

He did not move. I dusted myself off once more and set out in the opposite direction of the cliff, wondering if he would follow. My left ankle was sore, so I limped a little as I walked, picking my way carefully along, the territory gradually growing more familiar. After several minutes, I heard the sound of stealthy feet padding behind me.

I did not turn around.

We walked this way for a while, during which time I tried to resist the sensation of prey being stalked by a predator. I hoped Beast was keeping watch instead, even if it was only out of a sense of ownership.

He was
my
beast. He had come to
me
, and now he had saved my life.

In some ways, he reminded me of Gerard.

I stopped.

Gerard…and the creature.

Gray eyes like winter. Dark visages. And Gerard was never to be found in the daytime, while the creature…I did not know. Matthew indicated so few people had seen it that it was more legend than reality, but I wondered at what time of day those sightings had occurred.

I glanced back at Beast stalking warily behind me.

Foolishness
.

Shaking my head, I continued on. Of course, it was foolishness. A man could not become a beast, nor a beast a man. Such things only happened in fairy tales.

I stopped again.

Ynys Nos
was a fairy tale. All it needed was an evil sorcerer to make it complete. Perhaps Gerard had been enchanted in some way; perhaps the island was under a curse, and that is what caused the disaster in the first place. Perhaps…

Perhaps I was letting my imagination run away with me. Beast was unusual, of that I was certain, as was
Ynys Nos
. And Gerard. But that did not make him an enchanted changeling. He had told me he knew little of the beast, and the creature was not under his control. In fact, he seemed to fear it. Certainly, if they were one and the same, that would not be the case.

I had no way to answer my question, and eventually Alexander Hall came into view. The sun had finally burned off the fog, and my chills abated.

I turned to speak to Beast, only to discover he was no longer with me. I had not heard him go. I stood with my hands on my hips, piqued, wondering when he had abandoned my company. It was probably for the best—I did not know the sort of reception he might have from those at the Hall if he followed me in. For all I knew, they might meet him with torches and pitchforks like the angry villagers in a Gothic novel.

I decided to avoid the front entrance and the inevitable questions that would ensue at the ruined condition of my clothing, and so I limped my way around the side of the manor to the garden entrance to sneak inside. As I passed through the garden gate, I smelled again the sweet autumn clematis, and the scent memory brought back Gerard’s sensual kisses. I wondered in amazement at all that had transpired since then. Wrapped in my recollections, I did not see Roger Howard until he was nearly upon me.

“Oh!” I yelped the word when he loomed over me unexpectedly. Startled, I took a step back.

He reached out, gripping my forearm in an apparent attempt to steady me, but did not release me when it would have been appropriate to do so. The smell of liquor permeated the air between us. Though he was steady on his feet, it was obvious he had had more than a little to drink.

“Here, now. It’s only me. Not to worry.” His speculative gaze moved over me, his green eyes intent. “Where have you been, I wonder? You look all mussed and drowsy, as though you’ve been up to no good.” He gestured toward the gate and winked. “Got a randy buck out there? Maybe the vicar? I hear he’s got a hankering for you.”

I pulled my arm from his grasp. “What a singular notion. And how interesting that you feel you may speak to me with such familiarity. If you will excuse me.”

I tried to sidestep him, but he moved to block me. “Why did you refuse to see me today?”

I arched one eyebrow in disdain. “Because I have no interest in furthering our acquaintance, Mr. Howard. Now kindly step aside.”

“What’s the matter?” His words slurred a little. “Think you’re too good for me?”

I lifted my chin. I felt a chill of trepidation, but I would not let him see it. “Actually, yes.”

“
Ho ho.
A bit high in the instep, considering.” He glanced at the immaculate grounds and the imposing edifice of the palatial mansion behind me, then down at my hand, rather pointedly. “No ring on your finger, yet you’ve got yourself a nice situation here. Takes some skill to start at the top.” Flexing his shoulders, he gave me a knowing look. “Tell you what. When you get bored with your toffs, look me up. Might not be able to provide such fancy digs as this, but I’ll do right enough by you.”

“I
beg
your pardon,” I said, incensed at his vulgarity. “You are not a gentleman.”

He leered. “And you’re no lady. We’re of a piece, you and I. I’ll show you a better time than any
gentleman
would. And I can afford to feed your appetites.
All
of them.”

My fingers itched to slap the smug look off his face, but I would not reduce myself to his level. “I will assume you are too drunk to know better, so I will advise you to be careful how you speak to your betters. I do not think your master would like it at all.”

He grabbed my wrist in a hard grip and I gasped.

The smell of strong spirits wafted over me as he leaned in. “So, will you go running to the master, then? I’d think twice, unless you plan to tell him who you’ve been stepping out with when he’s not around. For I know a woman who’s been tumbled when I see one. Maybe the master would like to hear about that, too.”

“Let me loose, you stupid man.”

His smile turned ugly as he pulled me closer. “I have plans, and I know things,” he whispered harshly. “Everyone has secrets, and you’ve got the look about you. The look that says you’re hiding something. Mark my words, there’s money to be made in secrets, and I’m offering you a chance to get on my good side. Best you hook your wagon to a man that’s going somewhere—or risk getting run over.”

I shot him an incredulous look. “Are you trying to
blackmail
me?” I drew myself up and glowered at him; to continue struggling in an undignified manner would only fan his desire to subdue me. “You are a pig. I do not tolerate boars of any kind. Release me, or you may find you have more to fear from
me
than from your master.”

Color mottled his cheeks as his gaze swept over me again. Then, oddly, a slow smile spread across his face. “You’re a hot little bitch, aren’t you? That’ll make it all the more enjoyable when I tame you.”

Panic spiked in me as I looked into his eyes, which were hard with the knowledge of what he was capable of. I saw in their depths a man beyond society’s rules, making him a truly dangerous person.

My heart pounded as I sought desperately for a means of escaping him. Just then, Bill’s voice rang out from the door set in the garden wall. “Mrs. Briton, is that you out there?”

Relief flooded through me. “Yes, Bill! Would you please come here?” I doubted even Howard had the nerve to harm me with a witness present.

Like the coward he so obviously was, Howard released me and backed away. “Oh, we’re not through yet, love,” he said, his voice low. “Mark my words.” With a hard smile, he turned and sauntered off just as Bill found me.

The young footman frowned at Howard’s retreating back, then at my torn and filthy skirt.

“Here, now, what’s this? He didn’t hurt you, did he, Mrs. Briton?”

I shuddered. “No. I took a spill earlier. I’m fine; I just need to change. But I admit I am grateful to see you. That man is…unpleasant. I do not think he should be allowed back on the estate.”

Bill ushered me inside. “Don’t know what he was doing here in the first place. He wasn’t part of the search. I sent him on his way right after the fog cleared. And I feel it is my duty to ask you what that was all about, ma’am.”

“Actually, Bill, it is none of your concern.” I had no intention of being questioned by the footmen, even one as kind as Bill.

He reddened. “Begging your pardon, ma’am, but I’ll have to report your absence to the master. You understand.”

I crossed my arms, staring at him with a gimlet eye. “Am I a prisoner here? Am I not to be allowed to come and go as I please? Were those your master’s instructions?”

Bill cleared his throat and scuffed a toe along the carpet. “He has a keen interest in keeping you safe and gave us clear direction about that. Naturally, we were scared witless when you didn’t come back right away. The footman in the foyer said you just disappeared into the fog like
that
.” He snapped his fingers.

My resentment softened. “I had no wish to cause alarm. I was investigating something and could not stop to declare my intent. However, if there is a next time, I assure you I will do so.” I made for the servants’ staircase as I talked. It would take me to my rooms quicker than the main stairway. “Still, all this commotion for an hour’s walk is a bit much, wouldn’t you say?”

Bill gave me a quizzical look.

“Yes, ma’am, but it’s nearly four o’clock. You’ve been gone all day.”

I stopped dead in my tracks.

Four o’clock?

Surely no more than an hour had passed since I’d followed Beast out of Alexander Hall and onto the cliffs this morning. My heart started a slow heavy beat, the blood rushing in my ears.

“Are you certain? Of the time, that is?”

“Yes, ma’am. Are you hungry? Mrs. Jones can serve tea now, if you like.”

I exhaled slowly. I did not give a fig about the tea. Somehow, I had lost several hours between the time I’d left Alexander Hall and the time I returned, but it seemed for everyone else time had passed normally—as much as it ever did on
Ynys Nos
.

“No, I-I don’t have an appetite. Please prepare a carriage. I need to go out again.” I had to see Matthew.

“But—”

“It is important. You may pile on the footmen if it makes you feel better.”

He sighed. “Yes, ma’am, right away.”

He left me standing there. I gripped the staircase railing to steady myself, the walls spinning.

Somehow, when I had been with Beast, time had warped around us, slowing down at its center as though it obeyed a different set of natural laws than the rest of the island. As did
Ynys Nos
: everything here seemed to slow while the rest of the world sped by. The effect was apparently more intense within the creature’s immediate sphere.

Despite all the evidence, I had not truly accepted the fact that the island was suspended outside of time. Having experienced it myself, now I could no longer deny it. What was the cause? Did the presence of Beast have something to do with the shifting nature of time, since it behaved differently when I was with him? And more importantly, was returning to England to the same time I had left really, as Gerard had claimed, forever beyond my grasp?

I walked slowly up the stairs, filled with distress, the unanswered questions flying through my mind like dead leaves in a winter storm.

Chapter Sixteen

I took a closed carriage as the weather seemed to threaten rain. The driver pulled up outside the Pangburns’ cottage, and Matthew must have heard it because before I had a chance to knock, the door opened. However, it was not him after all, but his cousin, Mrs. Howard. She smiled tentatively at me, and my heart sank. Of course she would be home now. I had not even considered it in my urgency to question her cousin about Beast.

I was uncomfortable around her for reasons she could not have guessed. Her liaison with Gerard stuck in my heart like a burr, and now her estranged husband was pursuing me, no doubt because my reputation in the village had been shredded by my staying in Gerard’s home. Neither of these things should have mattered in regards to my feelings about Mrs. Howard, though; the woman had a right to be judged on her own merits, and she’d been nothing but kind when we had met before. I did wonder how she had become involved with Roger Howard in the first place. The two did not seem to suit at all.

I tried to push aside my trepidation at seeing her and smiled in return.

“Hello, Mrs. Howard. Nice to see you again,” I lied.

“And you, Mrs. Briton. I am so glad you are well.” She ushered me into their home, where Matthew sat dozing in front of the fire with an open Bible in his lap, his injured leg propped on a footstool, his head lolling to one side. “We prayed for you earlier. We heard that you had gone missing and were afraid something terrible had happened to you. It was all I could do to keep my cousin from hobbling out and joining the search. He has exhausted himself with worry.”

She went up to him, bending to speak softly in his ear.

Matthew awoke with a start, his eyes lighting up when he caught sight of me. He struggled to rise. “Good heavens, Catherine. Are you all right?”

I gestured him back into his chair. “I am perfectly fine. It was simply a misunderstanding. I apologize for causing everyone so much distress. I’d hoped to see how your knee was coming along,” I said, grasping at the first plausible excuse that came to mind.

“Oh, it’s fine, fine.” He waved away my concern. “Do sit down, dear lady.”

I sat nearby, but Mrs. Howard remained standing, obviously ill at ease. She clasped her hands together and asked, “Might I fetch something for you? Tea, perhaps?”

I said yes, and she hurried off, which suited me fine since I’d no wish to discuss the subject on my mind in her presence.

I waited for the kitchen door to bang shut behind her, then turned to Matthew and lowered my voice. “I have had the most
extraordinary
day, Matthew. I will tell you all about it another time,” my glance flicked to the kitchen, clearly indicating my reluctance to broach the subject now, “but first I must ask you a question in strictest confidence.”

He leaned toward me conspiratorially. “Ah, an intrigue. I have so little opportunity for it these days. Pray tell, how may I be of assistance?”

“You spoke of the deaths that occurred here since the disaster struck. Can you tell me anything more about them?”

He pulled back with a frown. “That is hardly an appropriate topic of conversation, Catherine.”

“Believe me, I would not ask if it was not absolutely necessary. What were the circumstances surrounding the deaths?”

He was silent for a long moment but finally gave in to my pleading expression. “As I said, the men were brutes. They were responsible for several attacks against women here on the island. You see, after the disaster, when we’d discovered the true extent of the tragedy and its effects on us, a few people took our isolation and apparent immortality as a license to behave with abandon. It was as though God’s laws against wickedness no longer applied. If there was to be no death, they decided, there was no Heaven and Hell, and therefore, nothing to fear in terms of divine retribution.” He paused, remembering.

A sense of urgency made me place my hand on his arm. “Go on.”

“Several women were attacked over a period of weeks. They were—well, they were ravished. The village was in an uproar, but try as we might, we could not discover who the villains were. Then a third woman was kidnapped and carried into the woods to be molested. Although they had bound and blindfolded her in preparation for their
activities
, they did not succeed.”

“Why? What prevented them?”

A thoughtful look came over him. “At the time, I confess we thought her too terrorized and confused to believe what she claimed to have seen, but in hindsight…”

“What? What is it?” My grip on his arm tightened.

He raised his eyebrows. “She said in the midst of the attack, she heard an animal roaring as though maddened, and the men began screaming horribly. She rubbed the blindfold off one eye with her shoulder enough to see a fierce creature resembling an enormous black leopard dragging one of the men into the mist by the throat. She fainted, too overcome to understand what she was seeing, convinced she would be next. When she awoke, however, both the men and the creature were gone. There was a great deal of blood and some confusing tracks, but nothing else.”

“And this happened when? I mean, at what time of day?”

He considered it. “It was early morning, I believe, just after sunrise.”

During the day. When Gerard was never to be seen. He was protective of his people, particularly the women. If one of them was threatened, and he’d come upon their attackers, what might he do? Could he have commanded the creature to destroy the men?

Or could
he
somehow have become the creature and killed the men himself?

“You located the bodies, I presume.” I kept my voice carefully neutral, unwilling to reveal my suspicions.

“We did, eventually. What was left of them, at least. The victim managed to make her way back to the village. She was hysterical, understandably so. We sent a search party of armed men out to look for her attackers. I went with them. When we found the brutes, it was obvious they had been savaged by an animal in a killing frenzy.” He grimaced. “Wolves, or feral dogs, we thought, as those are the only creatures on the island capable of doing such damage to a human body. It was the first time we realized we could be injured enough that we could not be put back together again, that we could, in effect, die.”

“Have there been any other attacks since then?”

“No.” He sat back in his chair, massaging his knee a bit as he did so. “And thank God for that.”

“I appreciate your honesty.” I looked at his leg. “Perhaps I should ask Gerard to assist you with your injury after all. It still appears to pain you.”

“No, it is fine. Besides, I need it. I’m using it as an opportunity to gain sympathy from a beautiful woman.” He grinned, restored to his natural humor. “That robin’s egg blue becomes you,” he offered, commenting on the high-waisted Holland Spencer jacket I’d donned over my white muslin gown. I blushed a little, flattered by his comment, and returned his smile. I only just realized I still wore my bonnet, and set about removing it now.

“Pishposh, Matthew,” said his cousin from the kitchen door, “You’ll give her the wrong idea about you.” She bustled in with the tea service, setting it down before us. She wore a simple day dress in pink and gray that did nothing to set off her lovely blue eyes or brown-gold hair.

I shifted to one side to give her more room, setting down my bonnet beside me.

Mrs. Howard smiled and poured my tea. “He really is the most sober of men. I don’t know what’s come over him since you arrived.”

Matthew flushed. “A widower can tease a pretty woman a bit, can’t he? No harm in that.”

“Not when that widower is the village vicar, dear cousin,” she said, not unkindly, “and the lady is as pretty as she. You know what everyone will say. Tongues do wag.”

“People should mind their own business,” Matthew said firmly.

I finally acknowledged to myself what I had been deliberately ignoring in the hopes that it might not be true. Matthew had a
tendré
for me. Mrs. Howard’s gentle admonishment to him, and the meaningful look she directed my way while she stirred honey in my tea, seemed to communicate a warning to us, and it was very likely due to the rumors of my relationship with Gerard.

I did not disagree with her. Becoming involved with Matthew or any other man here would only further complicate my already too-complicated life.

I rose. “Perhaps I should go.”

They both protested.

“Nonsense, you’ve only just arrived,” she said, handing me the teacup and saucer and motioning for me to remain seated. “Stay and visit awhile. Are you enjoying your time at Alexander Hall?”

I settled back and carefully sipped the sweet, hot tea before answering. “The house and grounds are lovely, and the servants seem to be happy.”

“And the master? He is well?” She asked this without looking up from pouring her own tea.

I imagined a woman like Mrs. Howard would not forget an encounter with Gerard too quickly. “Yes. He secludes himself during the day, as you know, but we see one another at most evening meals.” I paused, turning the teacup round and round on the saucer, then decided to forge ahead. “You seemed concerned about my staying with him last time we met. Matthew says you have a theory about Gerard’s absences during the day.” I boldly met her gaze.

Matthew interjected. “For heaven’s sake, Catherine, don’t encourage her.” His voice was filled with amusement, but there was something else there as well.

“My cousin laughs at my concerns, and I suppose rightly so.” She tapped her finger on the edge of her cup. “I must admit, I overheard a bit of what you were discussing earlier, about those terrible men who attacked the girls. Forgive me for eavesdropping, but voices do carry in such a small house, and—”

“Did you wish to discuss that with me as well?”

She bit her lip. “It is only…well, it is such a coincidence, don’t you think? That the master is never to be seen during the day, and that this creature has never been seen at night. And those men! What sort of animal could have done such a terrible thing to them? Why would it attack only the men, who were strong and armed with knives, according to the victim, but not bother with the woman bound and helpless between them? And Matthew tells me a similar creature stalked you in the woods but did not hurt you, although it took a dislike to him.”

“What are you suggesting, Mrs. Howard?” I set my teacup and saucer down.

“Only this. Those men deserved to be punished. I do not deny it. Still, to die in such a way—to be torn apart limb from limb and savaged into bits, but not eaten—it seemed personal, not the random act of a hunting beast. An act filled with rage. If—and I only speculate when I say this—if that creature had a motive in that someone it felt was under its protection had been harmed, it might react that way. The
master
might react that way, if he had come upon them himself.”

“Say it outright so that we may bring it into the light and examine it.”

She stared me down. “Very well. I believe the master has the ability to become this creature at will, but perhaps chooses to do so only in the daytime for reasons of his own. I believe he killed those men in an act of wrath.”

“Mariah, you go too far,” Matthew admonished. “You have hinted to me about such things before, but to openly accuse the master of this in front of others—”

I stopped him with a glance. “No, let her speak. I want to hear what she has to say.”

Encouraged, she eagerly explained. “The killing frenzy Matthew described makes me question whether the master has the ability to control himself when he is in the animal state, and that is why I am worried for you. Perhaps when he becomes this creature, he cannot temper his emotions, particularly the stronger ones. Perhaps he reacts on instinct alone.”

Gerard had stated that when he expended a great deal of magical energy, it was difficult for him to control his baser emotions. I had seen his dangerous mood swings myself. Still, accusing him of being a ravening beast without verifiable evidence was asking for trouble. And furthermore, the creature, although fearsome, seemed anything but a ruthless killer, and he’d never harmed a woman. “Do you have any proof to support your claims?”

She seemed to deflate. “None. Call it women’s intuition. There are too many things about him that remain unexplained. Too many coincidences.” She frowned. “And there is a sensuality about him, an
animalness
in his very nature, for want of a better term. He is elemental and magical. You must have sensed it.” She stared at me intently. “Any woman in his sphere of influence would need to take great care with her virtue.”

I looked away, unwilling to admit my emotions to her, and I wondered what she had surmised about Gerard and me.

She continued. “I do not know anything for certain, but I pray that you will be careful around him. Do not grow too close, and never be left alone with him. Your life may very well depend on it.”

Matthew stirred again. “Really, Mariah, you will frighten the poor woman to death with your doom and gloom. Enough of this. Let us talk of more pleasant things.”

He turned to me. “I mentioned that we have a yearly autumn festival on
Ynys Nos
. We hold the celebration in the market square, and I have the great honor of opening the ceremony and blessing the crops and cattle for the next year. It is a carryover from pagan times, of course, but the church has taken it over as a feast day.” He smiled. “There is a great deal of dancing and food and merriment. It is two days hence, begins at sunrise and lasts until sunset. I hope you will consider being our guest.”

I smiled. “I would like that. It will give me an opportunity to meet the townspeople.”
And for them to meet me.
Perhaps if they met me, they would be more inclined to believe the best of me and not the worst.

I stayed to chat for a while until I eventually noticed it was dark outside. I had arrived late, and the sun had set while we conversed. The footmen awaiting me would appreciate being home for their evening meal in the kitchen.