Sweet Bargain (23 page)

Nick took a position with the hedge at his back and a clear view of the whole yard. Perhaps he should have brought Farre. "Good morning, Shaw," he said.

They stood face-to-face, not three yards apart.

"Haverly," the captain began, "my father is a fair man, and I try to be a fair man, so I will tell you what I've heard and listen to what you have to say."

Nick nodded.

"My sister's letters call you arrogant. Her friends tell me you have insulted her and all the Shaws more than once, accused her and my brothers of crimes and threatened them with legal action. And you used some bargain to gain power over my sister. Your title and wealth may have weighed with my parents but never with Bel. Can you explain to me, then, why my sweet sister chose to separate herself from her family and friends by wedding a man she clearly disliked a month ago?"

"Your sister married me to preserve her honor and protect her family," said Nick, choosing his words carefully and watching the restless shifting of the captain's body. Darlington and Auggie had stepped up behind Tom Shaw on either side of him.

"To preserve her honor?" Tom asked.

"I compromised her," Nick admitted.

"You arrogant bastard," shouted Tom, lunging forward with his left foot and bringing his right fist around in an arching upward drive. Nick's own right fist shot out in a cross-stroke, blocking the intended blow with his forearm. He felt the shock of it from his teeth to his toes. Then he felt Darlington grab him from behind, pinning his arms. He quelled the impulse to struggle and looked squarely at Tom Shaw.

Even knowing that her husband had lied to her about his appointment with her brother, Bel was not prepared for the perfidy of his sneaking out of the house at dawn. The quiet closing of his door disturbed her sleep, but she did not quite comprehend the sound until a few minutes later when she heard the hooves of his horse on the gravel of the drive. It would be a dawn meeting, of course. She threw off the covers and hurried through hasty ablutions and a most careless donning of habit, half-boots, and shawl.

When she burst into the stable, she was surprised to discover Farre saddling a horse.

"Oh, Mr. Farre, how did you know I would wish to go after him?" she asked.

Farre stopped and fixed her with a look she could hardly consider approving.

"Didn't," he said. "I was fixing to go after him myself, you see, but I never had it in my mind for you to go. No, his
lordship
wouldn't like that."

"But, Mr. Farre, my brother thinks ill of him most unjustly and will do him serious harm, and it's all my fault."

"Now lass, I promise you, your brother is going to be thinking just as he ought to about the lad in no time and with no help from you."

"Mr. Farre, I cannot have my brother think ill of my husband. I must prevent this meeting."

"Cannot have your brother disliking your husband? And why is that, lass? Become fond of the lad, have you?"

Farre's gaze was penetrating, and there was no use denying her feelings to him. He had probably recognized her love for Nick before she had. He had seen her mooning about in Nick's absence.

"I have," she said.

"Well then, let me saddle another horse. I have a fair idea of where they're like to meet, and I'll bring you along. But one word, and I'll drag you off, mistress or no."

"Mr. Farre," she asked as he turned to his task, "why are you going after him?"

Farre grinned. "Lass, 'twas I who taught the lad to mill."

When they neared the deserted cottage which Farre suspected as the meeting place, he insisted they tether the horses in a copse and make their way on foot. He led them in a wide circle around the cottage and brought them up to a place where a break in the hedge permitted a view of the cottage yard. The sight that greeted them caused Bel to suck in her breath. Darlington held Nick fast, and it appeared that Tom meant to pound his fists into her helpless husband. Farre raised a finger to his lips, silencing her. She strained to catch the words of the men in the yard over the pounding of her heart.

"Let him go, Darlington," Tom offered. "This will be a fair fight." He turned and began to strip off his jacket.

Darlington lifted his right knee and shoved hard against Nick's back, releasing Nick's arms only at the last moment so that Nick went sprawling in the grass.

"Hey," yelled Auggie, drawing Bel's gaze to him. He stared at Darlington as if he'd never seen him before.

Darlington winked at the boy. "All's fair in love and war," he said.

Bel turned her gaze back to Nick, who pushed himself up, stood, and tore off his jacket. He opened the neck of his shirt, loosened the cuffs, pulled the garment up over his head, and tossed it aside on the grass.

As he did it, Bel felt the familiar quiver start in her. She had seen his strength in the things he did, had felt it when his arms were around her, but she had never guessed that it meant this swell and play of muscle or breadth of shoulder.

Tom advanced toward Nick, and the two of them began to circle warily, face-to-face, fists raised. It was her chance to act. She could shout and rush into the yard. She could proclaim her love for Nick, and whatever Nick felt for her, Tom would respect her choice. Farre shot Bel a warning glance, and she understood him. Tom would respect Nick for standing up to him. She could not take that away from her husband. She raised her own clenched fists to her mouth, biting down on the knuckle of her right forefinger to keep from making a sound.

"Draw his cork, Tom" Auggie shouted.

'Take him down, Shaw," Darlington added.

Nick feinted, and Tom made a wide swing that cut the air.

"I may have compromised your sister, but I did marry her. Her reputation is safe," Nick told his adversary.

"What kind of man compromises young women of gentle birth?" taunted Darlington.

"Not women," said Nick, never taking his eyes off Tom, "just Bel."

Tom made a move then that deceived Nick into protecting his face and taking a series of blows to his ribs and belly, before he countered with a strong right to Tom's shoulder.

"Ask him how he got her alone in my mother's garden," Darlington advised Tom.

"Well, Haverly?" Tom said.

"We had a ... bargain," Nick said. The word drew another heavy blow from Tom.

"You blackmailed her, Haverly," shouted Darlington.

"I did," Nick admitted.

"With what threat?" asked Tom. "My sister's the soul of principle and discretion. What could you hold against her? What could you gain from her?"

"That's between me and your sister," Nick answered.

"What kind of answer is that?" demanded Tom. He jabbed lightly at Nick's jaw with his right, drawing an answering punch from Nick, then slamming into Nick's ribs with his left. Nick spun away from the blow, striking out with an unorthodox back handed right that caught Tom squarely in the upper chest.

Both men stepped back, breathing hard, their bodies gleaming with the sweat of their exertions.

"Ask him what their bargain was," urged Darlington.

Tom shot a quizzical glance at his friend and then looked back at Nick.

"We had a bargain," Nick repeated doggedly. "It was just between us. And your sister is free of it now."

Tom Shaw stepped back a bit further. "What do you mean she's free now?" He paused for breath. "She's shackled for life to a man who doesn't love her."

"I didn't say ... I didn't love her, Shaw," Nick said.

Behind the hedge Bel caught her breath and drew a stern look from Farre.

Tom lowered his fists. "Wait a minute," he said. "Did you compromise my sister or not, Haverly?"

"He kissed her," said Auggie with a doubtful air. Tom spun to look at his brother with a glare that would have quelled the cockiest junior officer on his ship. Auggie refused to meet Tom's eye. "The whole county knew," he added.

"Kissed her?" said Tom in disgust. "Auggie, you and Darlington have been implying he raped her. How did the whole county know? Did he brag about the stolen kisses in the taproom?"

Auggie shook his head.

Tom turned to Darlington.

"Who are you going to believe, Tom," Darlington asked, "your friends or some high-in-the-instep stranger who comes to Ashecombe and lords it over the rest of us?"

"I'd like to believe the man who tells me the truth."

"And you think I'm lying to you, Tom? I'm the one that found them in my mother's garden."

"Are you the one that told the world what they were doing there?" Tom asked a bit sadly.

"You're going to blame me?" Darlington cried. "This fellow traps your sister into some bargain that she calls a 'pound of flesh'—that's what you told me, isn't it—and insults your brothers, and you attack me?"

Tom turned wearily to Nick. "This is not much of a mill, Haverly, but it still could be if I can figure out who I've really got to fight. And it all comes down to this: what was the damn bargain you made with my sister?"

Nick smiled. Bel saw in her husband that joyful transforming look she had first seen in him when he returned from Haverly. And she clenched her fists tighter to keep from crying out in answer to it.

"It was a
sweet
bargain, Shaw," Nick said, "and I promised—"

"But I know," interrupted Auggie, turning to Tom. "I know when you made it. The day we came in the pony cart, and I saw ... well, that's when she started to change. I know what it was—"

"Auggie!" Nick's voice rang out sharp and clear.

Auggie spun to face Nick.

"Don't tell," Nick said. "I promised your sister."

Auggie stared at Nick as if he had forgotten the other two men, and to Bel it seemed that in her younger brother's eyes was a new understanding. Auggie, too, had seen the look on Nick's face and read it. At last the boy nodded. "But I'm going to tell something else," he said. He tilted up the defiant Shaw chin. "Arthur and I put the bread on the pool. Darlington bought it for us in Hilcombe. And we did some ... other things, too."

"You set fire to the timbers?" Nick asked.

Auggie shook his head. He pointed at Darlington.

"Did you poison the fish?"

"With Darlington," Auggie confessed.

"Then I owe your sister an apology for blaming you and your brother for the worst of the damage."

"Does that mean I'll get my cap back?" Auggie asked. "I saw it through the window on your desk."

"Will you leave my—
the
river as you find it?"

Auggie nodded.

"Then you can have your cap back." Nick grinned.

With a sudden bound Auggie crossed the circle to stand by Nick and face the other two.

"Well, I like that backhanded turn, Auggie Shaw," said Darlington, his lip curling. "You're just like your sister. You're just like all the Shaws—proud as sin, until there's someone grander and richer than yourselves. Then we see how mercenary you all are. You sell yourself for a stream. She sells herself to the highest bidder."

"Darlington, enough," snapped Tom. "What's come over you, man?" He turned toward his friend.

Darlington stood with his feet planted, his fists clenched, his body leaning aggressively forward. "Your sister made a mockery of me. Everyone knew she was mine, but she was too proud for a squire's kisses. Then she falls into this fellow's arms like a lightskirt. You should have seen them, Shaw, you—"

Tom Shaw's fist shot out again, this time directed toward his friend's nose, but Nick leapt between the two men, batting aside Tom's arm and catching a blow in the back from Darlington.

"This is my fight," Nick said to the astonished Tom. "She's my wife. I have the right to defend her honor."

Tom raised his hands and backed away.

Nick turned to Darlington, facing him across a few feet of dry summer grass.

"She was supposed to be mine, not yours, Haverly," declared Darlington, pulling off his coat. His waistcoat and shirt soon followed, and the two men began the wary circling of each other that Bel had first seen Tom and Nick do. But where Tom and Nick were evenly matched in size, Darlington was taller than Nick by three or four inches and clearly outweighed him by a stone or more.

In spite of his opponent's greater size, Nick was grinning, and Bel sensed a relish in him for this fight that he had not shown in sparring with her brother.

"You can't fool me, Haverly," said Darlington. "You haven't had her yet." Darlington's right fist shot out, headed for Nick's face, but with a slight tipping of his head, Nick avoided the blow while his own left slammed into Darlington's midsection, lifting the bigger man briefly onto his toes.

"Darlington, for the last time, I will not allow you to talk about Bel as a piece of property to be possessed," Nick said through clenched teeth.

Bel kept her fist pressed tightly to her mouth. It was terrible and wonderful, her husband's willingness to trade these thudding blows for her. She flinched at the impact of fist and flesh, but in the driving blows her husband released an intensity he had held in check all summer. She stole a glance at Farre, who raised an eyebrow in answer to her look. She smiled. Her shepherd was hardly a porcelain figure.

Again and again Darlington's big fists drove at Nick, but most of the intended blows missed. With that easy movement Bel had seen in Nick when he climbed their tree, he leaned or ducked or spun, and when he wanted to land a blow himself, he let Darlington charge into it so that the man's own weight worked against him. Darlington was working much harder at the fight than his opponent, but Bel sensed her husband was waiting for something.

Then it came. Darlington lunged tiredly, putting his weight into a driving right that passed just over Nick's shoulder as Nick's own right fist came up and collided with Darlington's nose with a resounding crack.

"You've drawn his cork," Auggie shouted, leaping into the air.

Darlington fell back, swearing and clutching his wounded face. Tom stepped up and clapped Nick on the back.

Farre tugged at Bel's sleeve, gave her a smug look, and with a tip of his head urged her away from their vantage point. Reluctantly, Bel drew her eyes from the vision of her triumphant husband shaking her brother's hand. As much as she wanted Nick to confirm for her ears alone the love he had just confessed, she wanted him to enjoy her brothers' friendship.