ROMANCE: His Reluctant Heart (Historical Western Victorian Romance) (Historical Mail Order Bride Romance Fantasy Short Stories) (154 page)

              “Oh Edgar. What am I to do with you?” she said to no one. As she looked up, she froze.

              Hargrove was staring at her. Their eyes locked, a small smile grew on his lips. Almost as quickly, he looked away and wiped his forehead. He hesitated, and then stepped off the platform.

              He was walking towards her.

              Her nerves on edge, she wasn’t sure what to do at first. Should she acknowledge him? She was unaccompanied. They’d never been properly introduced. For him to speak to her in public could seriously harm her reputation. Many people in the village knew she was engaged. Even if she weren’t, people would whisper. Terrible things would be said.

              As he advanced, she dropped her gaze, desperately trying not to look at him. To her amazement, she could still see from her peripheral vision that he was standing nearby. Not wanting to, she looked up and prepared to chastise him.

But he wasn’t talking to her. Instead, he was standing directly before her and talking to a young man.

              “Terribly sorry to trouble you-”

              “Trouble me? Trouble me, sir?” the fellow stammered. “It’s an honor just to shake your hand, sir!”

              “No need for all that, my good fellow.” Hargrove told him, a slight hint of impatience in his voice. “I was merely wondering if you could assist me with something.”

              The man sounded startled, yet pleased. “Of course! Whatever you may have in mind, I’m your man.”

              “Very good. There is a young woman of this town who I wish to be properly introduced to. I wouldn’t care for her to think I am unmannered. Her name is Sarah-”

              “Sarah! There you are.” Edgar stepped right in front of her, blocking her view of Captain Hargrove and cutting him off mid-sentence. “My dear, you look as though you’ve seen a ghost!”

              She was, in fact, deeply startled and took several faltering steps back when he appeared before her. “Oh! I don’t know what came over me. You’re here at last darling. I was- I was worried about you.”

              “One or two things to take care of at the mill, I’m afraid. It seems I missed the excitement. Or have I?” Edgar turned, and recognizing the uniform, extended a hand to Captain Hargrove. “You must be the hero of the hour. May I?”

              “And whom do I have the pleasure of meeting, sir?” Hargrove asked. He looked crestfallen when Edgar had literally stepped between him and Sarah. Now he was recovering nicely.

After introductions had been made- including that of Sarah to Commander Hargrove, despite their having met before- Edgar immediately started asking for details of the engagement. Before the Commander could reply, Edgar was already apologizing.

              “How ridiculous of me! I ask that you tell us about your adventures and surely you must have other duties to keep you occupied. Let me ask, would you do my fiancée and I the honor of attending dinner in my home tonight? Perhaps there you could regale us with your stories on the high seas.”

              She saw the man gaze at his shoes. There was a distinct look of discomfort about him. Whatever he may have been thinking, he smiled and nodded. “It would be my pleasure, Mr. Jackson. I look forward to attending. Will you excuse me? I must see to the crew.”

              “Of course.”

              When he left, Edgar took Sarah by the arm and led her away without asking. “Seems like a nice fellow. Should make for an interesting dinner, don’t you think?”

              “Dear, I must find Louisa first and take her home. What time should I arrive at your house?”

              He stopped abruptly. “You sound rather cross. Is everything alright?”

              “Certainly. There’s nothing wrong with me. I simply expected to see you some time earlier and you had promised to meet me here. Then you inform me of this dinner engagement. I haven’t a dress to wear and I had rather thought we’d have the evening for dinner by ourselves.” She actually did want to see Harrison Hargrove again. It was the fact Edgar had arrived at the moment he had that had put her off. And, as she reflected on it, she really didn’t care for Edgar's assumptions and controlling behavior.

              “We can put that right.” He led her to a dressmaker, still within sight of the docks. “Go ahead, my darling. Tell them to put it on my credit. I’ll find Louisa for you and we’ll see her safely home. Will that do?”

              She shrugged her shoulders. “As you will, Edgar.”

He flashed a quick smile and left her alone in the shop with her thoughts and her worries.

---

The carriage dropped Sarah off at Edgar’s two-story north of the village, not far from the mill where he was building his fortune. She’d purchased a typically high-waisted pink dress and lace for her hair. After an hour, with plenty of help from Louisa, she had her hair exactly as she wanted it.

              As she arrived, she felt herself feeling short of breath. She didn’t want to be here. She wasn’t even hungry. The carriage pulled away to return and, within a few hours, take her sister’s home without her. She’d eventually return to spend the night at Aunt Mary’s, a sleepless night, she assumed.

              Edgar greeted her at the door. “Welcome dear. Please, make yourself comfortable in the parlor. I expect our brave captain will arrive within a few minutes. These military chaps are quite prompt, you know.”

              “You won’t be joining me?”

              “I need to check on the cooking and see to it that the table is properly set. One pays servants to do work, but really, I find I do more just to see to it that they’re handling things as they ought. Won’t be a moment. Please, I know how much you love reading. Help yourself to any book.”

              He turned to leave and she felt a desperate need to hold him back. “Wait! I- I need to talk with you. There’s so much I want to say.”

              “And you’ll tell me soon, precious one. I really must go. Would you like some wine? No, you wouldn’t, of course. Shouldn’t overindulge. I’ll be back in a moment.” With that, he shut the door to the parlor and left her as abruptly as he’d done at the shop earlier. She felt the blood rising to her face with frustration.

              She couldn’t deny she would normally enjoy reading a book. Instead, she sat and silently fumed.

              “I’d have liked to have had a glass of wine. Damn it.” She cursed quietly, not wanting to be overheard. Instead, she waited and bided her time unhappily.

              Eventually, the door opened again and then Edgar’s butler introduced her to two people; Commander Hargrove and his friend Lieutenant Woods. Though the invitation had only been extended to the captain, it seemed he’d decided to boost his numbers slightly.

              Once they’d settled in, Edgar joined them. “How are you gentlemen finding Wyecombe so far?”

              “As hospitable as last time,” Woods noted over the cognac he’d just been served. “Well- more so, I should say. But we are most fortunate to be your guests.”

              Edgar nodded politely. “We have lamb and a nice soup prepared. Something different from what you’re used to on those long naval voyages, I’ve no doubt. Moldy hard tack and salty, stringy meat, or so I’ve been misled.”

The sailors looked uncomfortable at this frank disparagement of life at sea. “I shouldn’t like to bore our lovely hostess. Mistress Sarah, you must find such talk entirely dull.”

“Not at all.” She smiled in return. “We have suffered hard winters on our farm. One must make due with whatever is available, more so at sea I should think.”

              “That is very wise and quite so, ” Harrison Hargrove agreed.

              Edgar yawned. “I’m hungry. Shall we adjourn to the dining room?”

              When they’d settled and soup had been served, Edgar picked up his same line of thought. “I don’t mean to be unpleasant or unkind, but it strikes me that the hardships endured onboard ship are part of what makes your men so willing to do as you bid. If they were allowed to eat rations that were as befit those of a leader such as yourselves, well- perhaps they’d all be soft and useless. Am I right?”

              Once again he’d offended, and Sarah bit her lip. She didn’t like to see the reaction he was causing with the men. “Forgive me if I speak out of turn, Captain.” Woods wiped his mouth with his napkin. “But I feel obliged to correct this misunderstanding. You see, when the food is bad, we eat no better. Neither I nor the Captain enjoy better rations than any man on the ship.”

              “Oh, I see. I wonder why you should bother so.” Edgar shrugged. Sarah knew he must recognize the reasoning why; if the officers ate well while the men had bad rations, it would surely set a poor example. Such expectations of luxuries for the officers would surely lead to mutiny at the worst of moments at sea. She wondered why Edgar was goading them so. Yet he continued. “Never mind then. I am in the wrong. I heard the most extraordinary report regarding your heroism, and that is really why we’re all gathered here, is it not? You must tell us all about it. In particular, I am keen to know why you chose to allow one of those dastards to escape.”

              The passive aggressive questioning continued, always just falling short of the line at which either of the men might have stood, thrown down their cutlery, and stormed off. Edgar continually pretended to be more ignorant of the matters that he was asking about than Sarah expected he would be; after all, he dealt with shipments and sea captains all the time in his business, in particular given his role in accounting. Several times, Sarah tried to ask questions and the few that slipped through Captain Hargrove seemed grateful to answer. It was unaccountable that Edgar should be so rude.

              By the time the meal was at an end, she was relieved when Hargrove and Woods begged off of desert and smoking. “We really must return to
The Duke
, Mr. Jackson. It’s been a lovely evening, with equally lovely company. I’m very sorry to take your leave so early. There is yet a great deal to do.” He seemed stiff, overly formal.

              “Of course. Most understandable.”

              The pair of men exited stiffly. The moment the door had closed, Sarah whirled on Edgar. “Beastly. Utterly beastly.”

              Edgar laughed, turning his back on her. “Whatever you mean, I’m sure I don’t know my love.”

              “You deliberately provoked them at every opportunity. Why would you invite them here, into your home, simply to question their actions?”

              “I have offended you, my dear? It was never my intent. Now, you sound as though you could do with a rest. I’ll have Roderick bring my coach round to take you to your Aunt’s.”

              Sarah went to him and placed her hand on his arm. “Edgar, what aren’t you telling me? There must be some reason for your scene tonight.”

              He cast her a cruel, hard look beneath a sneer. “I believe I was simply trying to ascertain the truth of the outlandish stories told about the man, my dear. He is grown to overshadow Nelson in the view of some. Forgive me if I doubt the truth in it. Indeed, I even saw my own fiancée staring intently, worshipfully upon him at the docks. It was humiliating.” He grabbed her by the shoulders firmly. “You know him don’t you? Where have you met before? Don’t lie to me, girl. I’ll know it!”

              She tried to shake him loose and felt a rising horror grow in her. Who was this jealous man she’d thought to marry? Before they could go continue on, the door to Edgar’s home was flung open and Harrison Hargrove was standing in the doorway, breathless. He stared at them, confused by the scene he was witnessing as snowflakes and cold blasted in from the foyer.

              “Captain? What is it, man?” Edgar quickly released Sarah and behaved as though nothing had happened.

              “We had gone no further than the length of your drive, sir, before the town crier met us with horrifying news. Sarah, it’s your sisters. They were attacked by highwaymen outside of Wyecombe not an hour ago.” His eyes narrowing, he looked to Edgar. “We must find them, sir. They’ve taken Sarah’s sister, Beth.”

Chapter 7: The Deep Woods

Wyecombe Woods, England

December 1, 1816

Numbly, as though in a dream, Sarah observed the great lines of horses and men emanating out from little village in all directions. Word had spread from one end of town to the next and almost as rapidly, all the men of the village, including the bulk of those aboard
The Duke of Norcastle
, had formed search parties.

              Despite the impropriety of her joining them, Sarah had demanded to join Edgar, Harrison Hargrove, and Montgomery Woods’ search party. Though all of the men tried hard to dissuade her, she wouldn't’ be put off. When Edgar attempted to order her to stay behind, she put her foot down, quite literally stomping as she did so.

              “We are valuable wasting time and you, Edgar, are not by husband yet! This is my sister. I will go and find her and I will put up with no more of these demands from you. Now or… or ever. Am I understood?”