Wendy Soliman (7 page)

She could barely drag her eyes from him but, aware that they definitely shouldn’t linger on his thighs, lifted them once more to his chest. His shoulders appeared so much broader from this angle, just as his lean torso seemed remarkably well toned and his waist narrower than she would have imagined. He wiped the perspiration from his brow and flashed a knowing smile, leaving her with the impression that he was thoroughly enjoying discomposing her. She gulped and dropped her eyes.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Eden.”

He swept an elegant bow. It should have looked ridiculous. If any other gentleman of her acquaintance had attempted to bow whilst half-dressed, it doubtless would have done so, but with him…well, Saskia didn’t attempt to analyse what was happening to her senses at that precise moment. She was too occupied trying to avoid looking at him, whilst seemingly being unable to drag her eyes away. He was a beautiful roué, sent here to deliberately overset her.

Well, she’d long since become immune to roués, even when they were urbane and charming gentlemen with compelling brown eyes, salacious smiles, and disconcertingly broad chests. She simply wouldn’t allow this one to have any effect upon her, and would continue to treat him with polite disdain.

Fortified by this resolve, and with her emotions once again under close guard, she addressed him. “What do you think you are about, Mr. Beaumont? Guests aren’t permitted in the kitchen garden.”

She pulled herself up to her full height and spoke as severely as she knew how, but it did nothing whatsoever to diminish the impudent light in his eye. The twins were dancing about all the while, full of themselves and clearly enjoying every moment that they spent with this irritatingly compelling man. In the face of their delight and the absurdity of the situation, Saskia found it difficult to maintain her scandalised pose. She only narrowly avoided smiling.

“My pardon, madam, but the twins mentioned in passing that your garden boy hadn’t reported for work today. I had nothing in particular to occupy me this afternoon, and felt the need for exercise.” He shrugged. “This seemed like a neat solution to both our problems.”

“So I see.” She collected herself with difficulty, searching frantically for the dignity that had chosen a most inconvenient time to dessert her. “I’m obliged to you, sir, but your intervention was quite unnecessary.”

He didn’t contradict her, but simply stood beside his neatly chopped wood and smiled that wretchedly enticing smile of his. His attitude flustered her, causing her to attempt a justification she knew was unnecessary.

“I was aware, sir, that the garden boy wouldn’t be here today and have the situation under control.” The lie might just have convinced him, had she not blushed quite so deeply. “I am, however, in your debt.”

She dropped her eyes, only to find them focused squarely in the centre of that damned chest of his — an unfortunate circumstance which served to rouse her anger. She didn’t want to be beholden to this man…or to any man ever again. This particular one was dangerous; she could sense that much. He wanted something from her, too, of that she was equally certain. Was this crude exhibition of his masculine strength meant to impress her? How shallow did he imagine she was?

“Indeed you are, Mrs. Eden, and I fully intend to call in that debt.” His quiet voice intruded upon her introspective thoughts, causing her to draw in a sharp breath as his eyes raked her face with impudent familiarity.

“Pray, what is your meaning, sir?” she demanded. “I didn’t ask you for assistance.”

“Nevertheless, you just owned that you’re indebted to me.”

“You want payment?” Saskia placed her hands on her hips and glowered at him.

“Indeed not, m’dear. I had a far more pleasant reward in mind.” His eyes held an amused expression whilst his voice remained languid yet strangely compelling. “You see, I noticed whilst in Burton Bradstock this morning that there’s to be a public ball held there on Saturday. Would you favour me with your company?”

“Indeed not, sir. I regret that it’s quite out of the question.”

“That’s exactly the response I expected from you.”

“Then you can hardly claim disappointment.”

Saskia turned away from him, but not before he picked up the axe again and she was treated to a frontal view of his chest and those rippling muscles as he swung effortlessly at the log on the block and cleft it cleanly in two.

Damn! She turned her attention to her washing and attempted to retie the rope.

Struggling to do so, she collided with a solid obstruction — an obstruction with taut muscles, warm flesh, and a distinctly masculine aroma: a combination of soap, perspiration, and outdoor activity, unless she mistook the matter. Heat swept through her, pooling in the pit of her stomach. She felt the blood rush to her face, even as her heart leapt wildly within her breast. His close proximity deprived her of the ability to think rationally, and her mind was reduced to a chaotic jumble of conflicting emotions. She jumped like a scalded cat and moved away from him so fast that she almost lost her footing. He caught her arm to steady her, his solicitous smile broadening into a mocking challenge.

“Allow me.” He took the rope from her hand and tied it firmly in place, testing the result with the palm of his hand. “That will hold,” he said with a predatory smile.

“Thank you.”

She turned away from him and fled for the comparative safety of the kitchen, feeling his eyes boring into her retreating back until she closed the door on his infuriating smile.

Felix entered the drawing room slightly before six that evening and was pleased to discover Mrs. Rivers there alone.

“Ah, Mr. Beaumont, there you are.”

Felix bowed. “Your servant, madam.”

“I understand we’re indebted to you for the very fires that warm us this evening?”

Felix quirked a brow. “I’m surprised that your niece took the trouble to mention such a trifling matter to you.”

“Oh, Saskia didn’t tell me.”

“The twins then?”

“Quite so.” Mrs. Rivers smiled. “Never mention anything in front of the twins if you wish for it to remain confidential.”

“I’ll bear that in mind.”

“Anyway, Mr. Beaumont, I wished to thank you in person.”

“There’s no need. It was the work of a moment.”

“Ha, I’m sure it was a great deal more than that, and,” she added with a mischievous smile, “I’m not so old that I wouldn’t have enjoyed witnessing the event. No matter, you have my thanks, Mr. Beaumont, and if there’s anything I can do for you in return, you have but to name it.”

Felix suppressed a grin. She was playing straight into his hands.

“Indeed, madam, there is one trifling matter with which I would crave your interference.”

“Oh yes.” Mrs. Rivers appeared surprised. “And what would that be?”

“Well, I asked your niece if she would honour me with her company at a ball in Burton Bradstock on Saturday evening, but it seems she has a disinclination for dancing.”

Mrs. Rivers chuckled. “I’m prepared to wager that rejection isn’t something you’re accustomed to.”

Felix returned her smile. “Is there any particular reason why Mrs. Eden would prefer not to attend a ball?”

“Several that I can think of.”

She contemplated Felix for some time without speaking. He was content to allow the silence to stretch between them, making it work to his advantage.

“My niece’s father resides in Burton Bradstock. Indeed, if you’ve frequented the village you won’t have been able to avoid hearing his name mentioned, since he wields considerable influence in these parts. He’ll be aware of your presence in this house by now, because nothing that happens here escapes his notice. Saskia’s father is my brother, Mr. Beaumont.” She paused for emphasis. “My twin brother.”

Felix didn’t need to feign surprise. He hadn’t known that. “But you are estranged?”

“Sadly, yes. But when we were children we were as close as Josh and Amy are now.”

“Would it be improper if I enquired as to the cause of your estrangement?”

“I suppose it all started when Samuel was sent away to school and I was educated at home. We were still bound by that invisible tie peculiar to twins, but no longer constantly in one another’s company. We grew up, I married and moved here, and Samuel married a very beautiful lady of Russian extraction. My brother and I were both very fortunate in the choices that were made for us in that respect, and Sam and I remained on the most intimate of terms.”

Felix shifted into a more comfortable position on the upright chair he’d taken across from Mrs. Rivers. “Go on,” he said when she appeared to lose herself in the past.

“Well, my brother was being groomed to take over our father’s shipping business. But our father was a bully and a tyrant, just as Sam has become since his wife died and he lost her restraining influence. I couldn’t countenance his behaviour toward his children, and told him so in no uncertain terms.”

“That must have taken some courage.”

“Well, someone had to put him straight, and I was the only one who dared speak my mind in front of him.” She shook her head. “Such unnecessary cruelty. I couldn’t understand what had become of my mild-mannered brother, and tried to point out to him how bizarre his behaviour had become in his time of grief. However, he would brook no interference, not even from me, and so I made my feelings apparent by calling upon him far less frequently. But my nephews, and especially my niece, knew they could always come to me in times of need.”

Mrs. Rivers’s words tailed off. Felix sensed that she was considering whether to confide further in him. He moved to the sideboard and poured her a glass of Madeira, hoping it might loosen her tongue.

“My niece arrived at this house at seven o’clock one morning, with the three-month-old twins clasped in her arms. She’d walked five miles in the middle of a storm to get here. She was, as you will easily imagine, exhausted. Her feet were swollen and bleeding. She was chilled to the bone and fainted clean away as soon as I took the twins from her.”

“Dear God!”

“She had other injuries, Mr. Beaumont, the nature of which I’m not at liberty to disclose. She was seriously ill for three weeks, and at one stage we feared for her life.”

“Happily those fears were unfounded.”

“Indeed, our prayers were answered and she was restored to us. I know not why she left my brother’s house in such an abrupt and drastic manner, for I’ve never asked her and she hasn’t felt the need to explain her actions. But my brother holds me responsible for keeping her from him, hence our estrangement.”

“It must have taken great courage for her to leave such a strong-willed man,” Felix said, almost to herself. “I wonder what he did to cause her to flee.”

“Samuel has never relaxed his efforts to persuade his daughter to return. He adores her, you see. She was always his favourite, resembling her mother as closely as she does. Besides, Samuel isn’t used to disobedience; it reflects badly upon him to have a rebellious daughter. We both think that he’s unlikely ever to relax his efforts to get her back. He doesn’t hesitate to use every method at his disposal to wear us down, and, as I mentioned earlier, he has influence hereabouts, which he exploits if he thinks it will help him persuade Saskia to return.”

“Which makes life difficult for you here at Riverside House.”

“Yes, indeed. You’ve seen for yourself just how close he is to bringing us down. My niece works until she’s exhausted, but never complains.” She spread her hands. “Well, I suppose everything’s relative, and whatever caused her to flee frightened her so that she’d rather work her fingers to the bone than return to the comparative luxury she could claim beneath my brother’s roof at any time.”

Felix stood and paced the room, perplexed by all he’d heard, yet anxious to learn more. But it appeared that Mrs. Rivers had said all she intended to say on the subject, and Felix couldn’t, in all politeness, raise the many questions he would like answers to. Questions such as, where had all her money gone? Why take in guests? Why not simply sell Riverside House and move somewhere more manageable? Why was Mrs. Rivers herself accepting the downturn of her fortunes with such apparent equanimity? It was frustrating, but he’d only been at Riverside House for three days and had already learned far more than he would ever have thought possible in so short a space of time.

“Are you saying,” he asked, frowning, “that Mrs. Eden doesn’t wish to go to a ball in Burton Bradstock in case she encounters her father? Whatever could occasion such a deep sense of fear?”

“I have my suspicions, but that’s all they are, and I’m not ready to share them with you.”

Felix bowed in acknowledgement of her right to secrecy. “But do you not consider that it would do your niece the world of good to have an evening for herself? To dance and worry about nothing more taxing than her own enjoyment?”

“Indeed I do, Mr. Beaumont. She used to be inordinately fond of dancing.”

“Then may I solicit your assistance in persuading her? You may rest assured that no harm will befall her whilst she’s in my care, and if her father should be anywhere near the ball, he’ll not be given the opportunity to address her unless she wishes it.”