Sea of Desire (44 page)

“To kill him.”

“Oh, not just him, dear Jared. You.” He
laughed again. “You were to die also. Hanged, no less. Such a
fitting demise for the descendant of a pirate, don’t you
think?”

“I think you’ve lost your mind.” Jared
slipped the locket into his pocket.

“You’d like to think so, wouldn’t you?”
Daniel’s features contorted in anger. “You’d like to think me
crazy. Just like John. That’s right, John discovered I was Lady
Sinclair. Of course there was no love affair. I made all that up.
But he found out about my very profitable undertakings with the
British.”

“And so you killed him too.” The deadly calm
of Jared’s voice belied the surging emotions inside.

“Oh, yes, I did. You figured it out,” Daniel
smirked. “I always did think you as clever as the others, even if
they did have their noses in a book every moment of the day.”

“What did you do with Merideth?” A knot
formed in Jared’s throat, so large he could barely get the words
out. “Did you kill her too?”

“No. But don’t worry, I shall. What I can’t
decide is whether to kill her first and let you watch, or vice
versa.” Daniel bobbed his head as he spoke. “I think I shall let
you see her demise. After all, I really don’t have anything
personal against her.” His face contorted. “Though she did play the
role of your whore.”

Jared lunged forward, and the pistol fired.
Something solid, like a fist, rammed into his side, and Jared
faltered. But his anger was stronger than the pain. Jared caught a
quick glimpse of the shock and fear on Daniel’s face as he knocked
the spent gun from his cousin’s hand. The weapon went flying to the
floor. And under Jared’s weight Daniel fell back, sprawling against
the desk.

Panic filled Daniel’s eyes and his hands
flailed out. Feeling the solid strength of the candlestick, Daniel
tried to grip the ornate silver. But Jared grabbed hold of the silk
robe, pulling him up, then slamming his head back against the
smooth wood surface.

“Where is she? Where is she, damn you?”

Daniel’s hand knocked the candlestick. Hot
wax dripped from the top of the taper, down the side of the thick
brocade drapes. The flame followed the arc. It took the fire only a
moment to recognize the new supply of rich fuel. Then eagerly it
sent tentacles dancing up the silk, consuming all in its path.

“Fire! The room’s on fire!” Daniel’s voice
squeaked as Jared tightened his hold. “We have to get out!” The
wallpaper was next in the path of the voracious flames, and soon
the entire wall was aglow. Choking threads of smoke filled the air.
Jared’s eyes burned and his lungs cried for a breath of fresh air,
but he didn’t move. “Nowhere, you bastard. We’re going nowhere till
you tell me where she is.”

“We’ll die!” Daniel’s face was purple and his
eyes bulged. “We’ll die,” he choked out again. By now the rug was
smoldering, sending off the nauseating smell of charred wool.

“Tell me,” Jared rasped. “Or so help me God,
I’ll kill you with my bare hands and leave your body to burn. You
think I care about myself? You’ve taken all from me.” Overcome by a
bout of coughing, Jared stopped talking, but he tightened his grip.
Sweat poured from his forehead and rolled down his chest. But his
eyes were deadly serious.

“Smokehouse.”

The word was so wracked with coughing, so
choked, that at first Jared thought Daniel was complaining about
the smoke. It wasn’t till Daniel said it again that Jared realized
he was referring to an outbuilding.

“She’s in the smokehouse? Are you telling me
that’s where she is?” Jared realized he was shaking Daniel almost
uncontrollably and stopped.

“Yes... yes. Save me!” Daniel clutched at
Jared’s sleeve. His wig was gone, his curls plastered to his head
with sweat “Oh, please, save me.” His voice quivered piteously
between hacking coughs. “Jared, cousin, don’t let me die.”

The air was thick with smoke, disorienting
Jared’s best efforts to find the door. He stumbled forward, yanking
a nearly limp Daniel in his wake. The fire had a voice of its own,
loud and roaring, punctuated by the shattering crash of a rafter by
the window. Where Jared had stood moments earlier.

It was too late. He’d stayed in the burning
inferno too long and now the fire surrounded him. His side hurt and
he glanced down, but the smoke was so thick he couldn’t see if he
was bleeding. He just knew that Merideth could die if no one
released her from the smokehouse. This last thought galvanized him
to action. Eyes streaming, lungs raw and burning, he plunged
forward, through the thick black smoke.

Why he dragged Daniel along, Jared didn’t
know. Perhaps if he’d thought, about John... even about Merideth’s
father, the fingers clutching his arm would have slackened. But
when he surged forward into the hallway where the smoke only laced
the air with wispy streamers, Daniel was still with him, though he
was almost a dead weight.

Gasping for breath, Jared burst through the
front door into the sunshine. Several servants were in the yard.
One had grabbed a bucket, but the others simply stood, staring up
at the house. They all jumped back when one side of the roof
collapsed into the flaming caldron, sending sparks and burning
coals spraying across the yard.

Jared dropped Daniel’s body beside the
huddled group of servants. It fell in a lifeless heap. Then Jared
ran around the side of the house. His arms and legs felt as if they
were swimming through molasses, and his hip ached, but he pushed
on.

Built of brick, the circular smokehouse was
compact and windowless. And Jared couldn’t imagine how Merideth
must feel, locked inside. As he raced toward the door he remembered
her fear of dark places, of the way she threw open a window or door
rather than be enclosed.

“Oh God, please let her be all right.”

Jared grabbed the heavy iron padlock and gave
it a yank. It bounced back against the heavy wood door with a
clunk.

“Merideth!” Jared pounded the splintery wood.
“Merideth, honey, answer me!” His hands flattened on the bricks
framing the door, Jared leaned his forehead close... listening.

But there was no sound, except his own
shattered breathing and the heavy thudding of his heart.

Pushing away from the building, Jared loped
around the yard, frantically searching for something he could use
to pry open the lock. He finally spotted an ax left by the
woodpile. Snatching it up, he hurried back to the smokehouse.

Sparks shot out as metal rang against metal.
Jared lifted the ax high, then with all his might brought it down
across the lock. Again and again. Wood splintered and split. And
the metal hasp flew off.

Tossing the ax aside, Jared pushed open the
door. Now that the moment was at hand, he was afraid of what he’d
find. Daniel had said Merideth was in the smokehouse, and that he
hadn’t killed her yet. But what if he’d lied or done some other
unspeakable thing to her?

Jared took a deep breath and widened the
wedge of light spilling into the darkness. His eyes narrowed and he
stepped inside. He heard movement behind the door and turned just
as Merideth started toward him, a meat hook raised high above her
head.

Her hand stopped midway through its downward
arc. Blue eyes widened in surprise. “Jared? Oh my God, Jared!” The
meat hook thudded to the packed earth and she flew into his
outstretched arms.

“Merideth. Merideth.” Jared couldn’t get
enough of holding her, of saying her name. She was crying and
clutching at him, and together they sank to their knees. Jared
kissed the top of her head, ran his hands down her back. She
smelled of woodsmoke and ham and Merideth, and Jared thought
there’d never been a better scent.

With his hands he gently cradled her face.
His thumbs wiped the tears that streaked through the dirt on her
cheeks. “Are you all right, Merry? Did he hurt you?”

“No, I’m fine.” Merideth shook her head. It
was then she noticed Jared’s face, his singed hair. “What happened
to you?”

“There was a fire, but it’s all right now.”
Jared paused. He’d almost forgotten about Daniel trying to shoot
him. At first Jared thought his cousin had succeeded. But the pain
he’d experienced initially was now only a dull ache. Reaching down,
Jared found the hole in his jacket where the ball had torn the
fabric. But there was no blood and no wound.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Merideth watched
as Jared reached into his pocket. “My locket,” she said as he
slowly pulled the gold oval out by the ribbon. The light from the
open doorway shone on the polished surface. “It’s dented.”

Jared ran his thumb over the metal, then
looked up, his expression one of disbelief. “I think the locket
saved my life... at least saved me from taking the bullet Daniel
fired at me.”

Merideth stared down at the locket, then back
at Jared. “Daniel tried to shoot you?” Her eyes widened when Jared
nodded. “Oh, how could I forget, Jared? It was Daniel.” She grasped
his shoulders. “He killed my father... and your brother. He was
going to kill me. He locked me in here...” Merideth took a deep
breath. “I was so terrified.” Memories of the fears she’d faced
locked in the small, dark building momentarily flooded her. She
raised her chin. “But I didn’t give up. I crawled around till I
found the hook, and then I waited for him to come back.”

“My brave, brave girl.” Jared touched her
cheek, her hair. He couldn’t seem to keep his hands off her.

“I wasn’t going to let him just murder me,
like he did the others. I had to try.”

“Shhhh. You don’t have to worry about him any
more.” Jared pressed her close to his heart.

“Are you certain you’re all right?”

“Aye, thanks to your locket.” Jared took a
deep breath. “God, Merry, I was so worried about you. And it was
all my fault. I pushed you away with my doubts and suspicions—” His
voice cracked, and for the first time since he’d gotten word of his
brother’s death, tears threatened. “Oh God, Merideth, can you ever
forgive me? I love you so.”

She looked up, searching the clear green of
his eyes with her own. “You do? You love me?”

“With all my heart.”

Her own heart was near bursting as she stared
at him. “I never knew a thing about any spy.”

“I know that, Merry. I was wrong, so wrong to
think you did.” His fingers tangled in her golden hair. “Can... can
you ever love me?”

Merideth’s smile was beautiful... angelic.
“Oh, Jared,” she said, her voice full of emotion. “I do.”

His lips brushed hers lightly. Then he gently
tied the dented locket around her neck. Soon he would tell her of
the secret message she’d worn. But not now.

Jared took Merideth’s hand and together they
stood. And walked out into the light.

A storm was coming.

Merideth yanked the straw hat from her head
before the wind could claim it. She stood close to the house at the
head of the avenue of oaks. Filmy strands of moss whipped about the
trees, looking like gossamer veils in the twilight.

“Mama, you best come in before you get wet.”
The voice came from the second story of the house and Merideth
turned, tilting her face till she saw her daughter’s head poking
from a window.

“Miranda Elizabeth, what are you doing still
awake? You were put to bed an hour ago.”

“The shutter woke me, Mama. It was banging.
It scared me.”

Merideth smiled up at her oldest child, her
heart filled with love. “ ‘Tis only the wind, sweetheart. Nothing
to fear. Climb back in bed and I’ll come and tuck you beneath the
covers.”

The small nightcap-topped head disappeared,
and Merideth sighed. She could hear thunder to the north, towards
Charles Town. Where the British troops were.

Giving one last look around the grounds, she
walked across the crushed-shell drive and climbed the steps to
Royal Oak’s front portico.

Nothing to fear
.

She’d said those words to Miranda. But they
weren’t true. There was much to fear, and had been since the
British occupied Charles Town almost two and half years ago.

That’s when Merideth began her double
life.

That’s when she became a widow.

Merideth turned the large brass knob and
entered the wide central hall of her home. Perhaps it was the
weather, so reminiscent of the first time she’d seen him, but
Merideth couldn’t stop thinking of Jared... of the life they’d had
before the fall of Charles Town.

They’d married soon after the fire at Daniel
Wallis’s house. Jared’s cousin never recovered from the blaze, and
died within days of an infection of the lungs.

His death saved Jared from killing him.

Merideth shivered as she climbed the wide
spiral staircase. She didn’t like to think of Daniel and his
treachery. Better to dwell on the good times, the happy times she’d
had with Jared.