Sweet Rosie (11 page)

‘Thank you, Conrad, but I did have a little help.’

‘Don’t listen to her!’ James said. ‘She is the finest cook a man could ever wish to meet and quite a game little filly into the bargain.’

The men laughed and Lily felt uncomfortable. She glared at James, angry with him for being so crude especially in earshot of such fine gentlemen. Her eyes were drawn to the gold ring set with a large diamond that sparkled on Clifford’s thin fingers. He was the smaller of the two men, his face a little gaunt to be called handsome but he had deep blue eyes that met Lily’s whenever she glanced at him.

Conrad on the other hand was well built, his breeches stretched over his round stomach. He had a red, rather jolly face and a ready smile. Of the two of them, she preferred Conrad. Not that she needed to like either of the men, they were being entertained to supper, given a bed for the night and then, presumably, they would be off on their travels in the morning.

The beef was served and it sizzled with heat on the platter. Whole onions surrounded the joint and small roast potatoes and a garnish of herbs offset the smallness of the joint, the smell making the mouth water.

The wine flowed freely and Lily wondered how much the men were paying. It would have to be a great deal to cover the expense of the meat and the drink.

The pudding was steamed to perfection, the honey running over the sides melting into a golden glow.

‘You have fallen on your feet with this little lady,’ Conrad said, wiping his mouth on the napkin. Lily groaned inwardly; there would be a great deal of boiling of table linen tomorrow but, then, Betty could see to all that.

When the debris of the meal lay spread about the table, James replenished the wine glasses yet again and nodded in Lily’s direction.

‘Go along, Lily, we gentlemen wish to smoke, remember your manners now.’ He slid an arm around her waist as, embarrassed at his tone, she rose abruptly. His hand tightened as she would have wriggled free.

He ran his other hand along her hip and let it rest for a moment on the curve of her buttocks. ‘Go along then.’ He released his grip. ‘Go upstairs, I’ll come to you when I need you.’

As Lily went into the bedroom, she wondered at James’s parting words. What did he mean about needing her? Was he letting her know in advance that he wanted to come to her bed again? She sighed inwardly; she had wanted to hold him at bay, to make him more eager for marriage. But if entertaining was James’s only idea of making money, they could never afford to get married; she felt they would make little or no profit out of his scheme. She had been well looked after by her late husband and had grown accustomed to depending on him for everything. James however seemed to have no head for business at all.

She was practically asleep when she heard the sound of ribald laughter from the hallway. Heavy feet stomped up the stairs and Lily held her breath, expecting James to come into her room at any moment. She was not mistaken.

‘Ah, Lily, let’s get some more light in here.’ He lit the candles he had carried upstairs and, behind him, Conrad and Clifford stared at her as if she were another delicious morsel to be picked up and eaten. Lily drew the covers up to her chin.

The men crowded into the small room and Lily stared at them, waiting for James to bid them goodnight. He did no such thing.

‘You see, gentlemen, she is as beautiful in bed as I promised you she would be.’ He turned to wave his hand expansively. ‘She is a lovely mistress, I can vouch for that. Now, which one of you gentlemen will go first?’

Lily stared at James in horror. She saw all too clearly now how he intended to make his money. He wanted to sell her to whatever man would pay for her. She felt an overwhelming sense of disappointment that was quickly followed by a rush of anger. How dare he treat her like a whore? But she must keep her temper; she realized she would have to think fast. She would never have the strength to fight the men off; she would have to use cunning if she was to get out of this situation with her pride intact.

‘I’m sorry, James, I can’t accommodate you tonight,’ she said gloomily. ‘My curses have come and I am in so much pain and discomfort that I dare not even move an inch. No-one would wish to share a bed with me now, you understand?’

‘Hell and damnation, James, this is a fine kettle of fish,’ Conrad said.

James hesitated and for a moment Lily thought he would tear aside the sheets. Bile rose to her throat but she forced herself to speak. ‘Oh good heavens here come the pains again and the flooding. I am going to be in a dreadful state by morning.’

‘We’ll go to the village,’ James said. ‘All is not lost, gentlemen, I know some very willing ladies who will not be indisposed.’ He glared at Lily before leaving the room and she lay quite still until the house fell silent.

Carefully she edged out of bed and dressed in her warmest clothes. Swiftly, in the light of the dying candles, she pushed her few possessions into a bag.

Her heart was in her mouth as she crept into the bedroom where the two guests had left their travelling bags. Silently, she took all the money she could find and pushed it into her bag.

Downstairs, Betty was sitting in the kitchen. ‘Oh God, miss, I thought they had killed you!’ she gasped. ‘I hid in the garden until they went away. I knew what they was after, see.’

‘Come on,’ Lily said, ‘we’d better get out of here as quickly as we can.’

Outside the cottage, Lily took stock of the situation. The two men had arrived in an open carriage but Lily doubted that she and Betty could harness the horses without any help.

‘We’ll ride,’ she whispered. ‘Get the saddles, Betty.’

Guiding the horses over the grasslands leading from the house, Lily held her breath as though afraid, even now, that James would catch her and drag her back to the cottage that had once been her home. She would never forgive him for what he had tried to do tonight.

She glanced back and saw the glow of flames rising from the roof of the cottage. ‘The place is on fire!’ she said.

‘I did it, miss,’ Betty said. ‘That place belonged to old Tom, not to that young upstart. Why should we leave it all for him to live in?’

‘Well done, Betty!’ Lily said jubilantly. ‘Now James will have nothing at all.’

Once away from the house, the two women began to ride swiftly. Betty brought her horse as close as she dared to the mount Lily was riding.

‘We’ll be branded thieves for this, you know that don’t you?’ she said breathlessly.

‘I don’t think so!’ Lily shouted over the beat of hooves. ‘Those fine gentlemen probably have wives. We could do them more harm than they could ever do us. Forget them, Betty, we’re free.’

Although her body felt on fire and her head ached as though a hammer beat inside it, Lily was exultant. She had money in her pocket and she was going home.

CHAPTER SIX

Binnie read the letter for the umpteenth time, a mixture of feelings warring within him. His first reaction when the letter from Watt had arrived was one of profound relief. Then he realized that Maura, his wife, the mother of his child, who was still a young woman, was dead and a dreadful feeling of guilt flooded over him.

He had loved Maura once, when they had both been young and eager for life. Maura with her red-gold hair and her lovely smile had roused such feelings in him, feelings that vanished once they were married.

He turned to the letter again. It was tactful in the extreme. Watt had chosen his words carefully, not giving away anything that would incriminate Binnie. And yet Watt’s own pain was plain for anyone to read.

‘What’s wrong, hon?’ Hortense asked, looking over the breakfast table at him. ‘You’ve been clutching that letter for ages, is it bad news?’

He swallowed hard. ‘Yes, it is, a friend, an old friend of mine has died.’ He looked down at his hands feeling like a Judas. He hated lying to his wife. But then Hortense was not his wife, not in the eyes of the church or the law at any rate. A thought struck him, that was something he could put right now, if only he could find a way.

‘Remember Watt who came out here with John? Well his,’ he hesitated, ‘his wife died of the whooping cough. It seems the sickness has been running through the town like wildfire. Thank God we are out of it, my love, safe in America.’

‘We get sicknesses here, too, honey,’ Hortense said softly. ‘No-one is ever sure what life can bring.’

‘I know but this is a warm country, the sun shines more than it ever does back home.’ He smiled. ‘Here we don’t have the dark, wet, miserable days I knew when I was a child.’

‘Instead we have wild storms, great winds and fires that can run for days.’ Hortense touched his cheek affectionately. ‘You see America with rose-coloured glasses, Binnie.’

‘Perhaps because everything I love is here,’ Binnie said softly. ‘I have you and the boys, you are all so precious to me. I’ve even come to think of Dan as the father I never had.’

He could not say the same about Mrs McCabe; she had never made him feel part of the family. The old lady loved the boys and respected Binnie for being a good worker but Binnie always felt she had reservations about him. It was almost as if she knew he had a secret past.

‘By the way,’ Hortense said, ‘John’s brought Jo into town.’ She smiled. ‘My sister is visiting with Mamma and Daddy, so Jo and me can have some real woman gossip. I’ll enjoy that after having a stuffy old man like you around me all hours of the day.’

She was teasing and they both knew it but Binnie’s heart sank. He liked it when John was safely up country supervising some of the other potteries Dan owned. Binnie rose from the table. ‘I’d better do some work, I’ve got to check one of the kilns, I think there’s a breach in the brickwork somewhere, the pots are not firing well.’

He kissed Hortense on the mouth; she tasted of honey and pancakes and he loved her so much he thought his heart would break whenever he looked into her eyes.

‘Don’t work too hard, Binnie.’ She smiled the seductive smile that sent his pulses racing. ‘You’ll need some of your energy when you come home.’

He left her with a smile on his face and a lightness in his step, he was one lucky man to have a woman like Hortense at his side. Now, with Watt’s letter tucked safely into his pocket, he could begin to feel more secure.

It was early evening when Binnie returned home. He bathed in the tub at the back of the house, cleaning the dust and clay from his hands. Above him, he could see the sky and he smiled. It was strange bathing in a shed with no roof.

Dressed in fresh clothes and with a glass of good whisky inside him, he sat down at the table to eat supper with his family. This was the life, the life he would do anything to preserve. The letter was burnt now but the words Watt had written continued to comfort him.

He was just finishing the delicious dish of roast meat and potatoes cooked specially the way he liked it when his happiness faded.

The maid bobbed into the room and behind her was John, dressed for an evening out and Binnie’s heart sank.

‘You haven’t forgotten you were coming out to do a bit of business with me, have you, Binnie?’ John was all smiles, he looked big and sunburned and very handsome. Hortense welcomed him coolly. She was nobody’s fool, Binnie thought with a pang of alarm.

‘We had hoped for a quiet night in tonight, John,’ she said. ‘Can’t this business wait until tomorrow?’

‘Sorry.’ John smiled charmingly but Hortense’s gaze remained fixed. Hastily, Binnie put down his napkin.

‘Sorry, love,’ he kissed Hortense. ‘I won’t be too long and that’s a promise.’ He hustled John out of the house and began to walk rapidly towards the centre of town. He was angry, very angry. John was pushing his luck.

‘What’s wrong?’ John asked. ‘Little wifey wanted to take you to bed, did she? Oh, I forgot, she’s not your wife, is she?’

Binnie turned on him, his shoulders tense. ‘This is not going to work,’ he said, the words forced through clenched teeth. ‘Make this the last time you use me to cover up your tracks, do you understand?’ He glared at John, ashamed that he had agreed to help the man in the first place.

‘Hey, don’t be so hasty, pal,’ John said. ‘I’m sorry, if I’d known you’d be so upset I wouldn’t have asked you.’ He shrugged. ‘What I’m doing isn’t so wrong, what married man doesn’t get into these little flings, tell me that?’ His words were barbed and Binnie knew it.

‘Well I think you’re playing with fire. In a small town like West Troy where everyone knows what undervest you’re wearing before you do, you are bound to be found out sooner or later.’

‘You haven’t been found out.’

‘Haven’t I?’

‘Well,’ John smiled, ‘only by me and I don’t count, really, do I? It’s man to man stuff that women just don’t understand.’

Binnie looked at him steadily. ‘Don’t you love Josephine too much to play around and with her sister at that?’

John looked uncomfortable but only for a moment. ‘Were you in love with the woman you married back home?’

‘No, as a matter of fact I wasn’t,’ Binnie said. He stopped walking, he knew he couldn’t put up with this any longer. He would not allow John to blackmail him and he would not help the man to deceive Josephine. Binnie had done enough wrong in his life without adding to it.

‘I’m going home,’ he said. John looked at him open-mouthed; he had walked on a few paces ahead and now he retraced his steps. ‘Are you sure about that?’

‘I’m sure,’ Binnie said. He moved closer to John, his eyes hard and filled with such anger that John stepped back abruptly. Binnie realized he had been a fool; quite suddenly, it became clear to him that John was open to blackmail too. Look what he would lose if Binnie exposed him: his wife, his secure life in America, his easy living, all of it would vanish in a puff of smoke.

‘If you speak of this to anyone, anyone at all, I’ll kill you and that’s a promise.’

‘Well,’ John said at last, ‘you keep your mouth shut and I’ll keep mine shut.’ He walked away and left Binnie standing in the roadway, his mind seething with confused thoughts. If he returned home now Hortense would know there was something wrong. The last thing he wanted was to upset her. He dared not call in on Dan in case the old man asked questions. He began to retrace his steps towards home, there was nothing else for him to do.