Trapped at the Altar Page 4

  Gabriel didn’t hesitate. Ari’s panicked urgency infused him now, and he raced in the direction of the little stream that gurgled merrily through a clearing on the far side of the spinney. The sounds of the dogs faded as he ran, panting for breath. He had heard that foxes often ran through water to throw the hounds off the scent, and presumably, that was what Ariadne intended he should do. He stepped off the low bank into the stream, feeling the cold water encase his lightly shod feet almost instantly. He plunged across the stream, then walked through the water alongside the far bank, heart pounding as he strained to hear the sound of pursuit, but the countryside was quiet and serene, the green-brown water of the stream rippling over stones and weeds. It seemed he had lost them . . . for now.

  But what of the future? Ariadne’s fear was genuine; finally she had convinced him of that. Or the dogs had convinced him. He gave an involuntary shiver at the memory of the excited yapping. There was something inherently savage about being hunted by animals.

  Fear prickled his skin, a deep, almost atavistic terror. Ariadne would not exaggerate the danger. If she felt he must go far from here, then she had good reason to fear for his safety. Nothing was to be gained for either of them by his staying. And maybe she was right to be hopeful for the future. If they could survive this dreadful time, anything could happen. There was always hope.

  But where could he go? He couldn’t tell his parents why he needed to leave the West Country; for all his bold talk, he knew that they would not willingly accept the Lady Ariadne Daunt as a daughter-in-law. She might as well be cursed by the devil as long as she belonged to that family. He had had vague hopes of presenting her as a refugee from the valley. His mother had a soft heart, and if Ariadne could persuade her of her own helplessness, her own lack of complicity in the Daunt family’s ill-doings, then there was hope that Lady Fawcett would soften towards her. But that was a plan without a future now. Now he had to leave Somerset.

  He splashed through the shallows, heading for a small gravel beach cut into the bank, where he could easily climb up to dry land. He seemed for the moment alone in the world, except for the cawing of rooks gathering to circle the trees, preparing to settle for the night.

  If Ariadne was going to London, then what was to stop him going, too? His father would support such a move, Gabriel was sure of it. He had taken to muttering a lot recently about his son’s idleness and head-in-the-clouds attitude. He would sanction a visit to court, where Gabriel could try to establish himself. Many young men pursued that course and found fame and fortune. King Charles’s court was known for the coterie of poets, painters, philosophers, actors, and playwrights whose efforts received royal support. Why not Gabriel Fawcett?

  He clambered up onto the bank and headed home, hope once more alive in his blood.

  Ariadne broke through the trees and saw the trio of horsemen and the dogs thundering across the meadow towards the spinney. She gathered up her skirts and walked forward, whistling to the dogs, patting her knees in invitation. They surrounded her quickly, jumping up at her, barking excitedly, tongues lolling, and she stroked them, calling each by name, calming them as the horsemen rode up.

  “They found you soon enough, then.” The man on the lead horse flourished a glove, which Ari recognized as one of her own.

  “They would,” she said coldly, not a hint of her racing pulse, the panic still surging in her brain. “They’re hunting dogs, and just why, pray, are you hunting me, Wilfred Daunt?”

  “Orders from my lord,” the young man said, looking somewhat abashed. “He sent us to fetch you back, and we thought we’d give the dogs some exercise at the same time. Didn’t we?” He glanced at his two companions for confirmation. They nodded sheepishly. Ariadne, when she wished, for all her youth, could be almost as intimidating as old Lord Daunt. She had an air of superiority about her even now, when her hair was disheveled, her skirt hitched above her ankles, and her shirt untucked and twisted at the neck.

  “Well, now you’ve found me, you may return,” she said with the same icy calm. “I’ll follow you down the cliff path. You may tell my uncle that I’ll be in my cottage in half an hour.”

  Wilfred looked uncomfortable. “I’m supposed to bring you myself, Ari. You can ride pillion.” He patted his mount’s crupper.

  She shook her head. “No, I left on my own, and I will return on my own. If that arouses my uncle’s wrath, he may direct it at me, not at you, Wilf.”

  He glanced around as if looking for help and found it in the sight of a horseman galloping towards them across the meadow. He gave a little sigh of relief. “Ah, someone else has come for you. Chalfont will escort you back.”

  Ariadne followed his eyes and felt the last dregs of panic finally subside. Gabriel should be well clear by now, and the dogs were nosing around the meadow following any interesting scents they could find. She could return to the valley with Ivor as if nothing untoward had happened.

  Ivor came up to the little group, his eyes on Ariadne. He took in her disheveled appearance, the residue of fear in her eyes, and fought down a wash of anger even as he felt relief that she had not been caught with her poet, however close an escape it had been.

  “I trust you enjoyed your walk, Ari,” he said pleasantly. “But the sun is low, and you’ve overstayed your absence.”

  It was a reproof, however mild a one, and she flushed with annoyance, but she swallowed a sarcastic response, saying only, “I didn’t realize the time. It seems unnecessary, however, to send the dogs after me.” She gestured to Wilfred and his party.

  “That was not my doing,” Ivor said. He nodded at Wilfred. “You had better return to the valley, Wilf. You will want to be in good time for the wake. I will escort Lady Ariadne.”

  Wilfred nodded and whistled up the dogs, and the trio set off towards the pass down to the valley.

  “You are disgracefully untidy, Ari,” Ivor said bluntly, swinging off his horse. He came up to her and swiftly adjusted the twisted collar of her shirt, doing up the top button. “If you had a mind to advertise the kind of sport you’ve clearly been indulging in this afternoon, you certainly succeeded.” He looked around. “So where is he? Safely out of reach, I assume?”

  She flushed and jerked angrily away from him. “My conduct is no business of yours, Ivor.”

  “Oh, but it is,” he reminded her, his own anger coming to the fore. “Have you forgotten that you are betrothed to me, that we are to be wed in seven days? You will be my wife, Ariadne, and subject to my will in every way. Your business is my business, now and for the rest of our lives.”

  It was the truth, however unpalatable. She kept her head turned from him, looking across the meadow, gathering her composure. She had to remember that until she was certain Gabriel was safe, she must offer no resistance. Ivor knew everything, he held Gabriel’s life in his hands, but she thought he would not betray them if she gave him no cause.

  She turned back to him with a tiny shrug. “As you say. Shall we go down?”

  The anger was still there, but she could read in his eyes his struggle to control it. He reached out a hand and lightly brushed her hair back behind her ears. “Put a good face on it, Ari. I am not such a bad prospect, you know. We understand each other. We have known each other since childhood. Surely we can make a life together, a life that will bring us both contentment. Can you not try to think kindly of me?”

  “Oh, Ivor, I do think kindly of you,” she said almost desperately. She couldn’t bear it when he was kind and understanding. It was so much easier to hold him aloof when there was anger between them. And how could she possibly deny the years of friendship they shared? In many ways, they had been conspirators in the valley, united against the forces that governed their lives. But she didn’t love him, and now that she knew what love meant, how could she happily settle for anything less?

  “I value our friendship, Ivor, but I don’t love you. I’m sorry . . . I can’t change that.” She tried to hold his gaze, to impart the strength of her feelings,
but his own eyes were suddenly blank, wiped clean of all emotion.

  When he spoke, his voice was cold and distant. “Well, love has never been an essential component of matrimony, my dear. You know that as well as I do. We must manage as countless others have managed before us.” He moved so swiftly she was taken by surprise when he caught her around the waist and lifted her onto his horse. For a moment, he stood at his stirrup, a hand resting on her thigh. “I would settle for your friendship and respect, Ariadne. Whether I can give you the latter will be up to you.”

  Before she could respond, he had swung onto the horse behind her, his arm circling her waist. He nudged the horse into a walk and turned him towards the gap in the cliff where the pass led down into the valley. Another nudge, and the animal broke into a canter across the meadow.

  Ariadne held herself upright, feeling his body at her back but keeping herself stiffly away from him. She had rarely met this cold and distant Ivor, who spoke with such bitterness. Oh, she had fought him, seen him angry, and met him angry word for angry word. She had even hit him once or twice when they were children, and he hadn’t scrupled then to return the blow, but that had been child’s play, and they had made up as quickly as they had fallen out. But this was very different, and she didn’t know how to respond to him. Ivor was deeply hurt and bitterly angry, and she had caused that hurt. But she could not think how to put things right between them.

  How could she forget Gabriel, dismiss him from her thoughts, pretend this overpowering love between them did not exist? But if she could not, then she and Ivor could not live together in anything approaching harmony.

  If only she hadn’t confided in Ivor in the first place. What had seemed such a natural confidence between trusted friends had exploded in her face like a cannonball. She thought she could have pretended with Ivor if he hadn’t known the truth. She could have put a good face on this forced marriage while keeping her secrets, waiting until it was safe to make her escape. But now she was trapped by the truth.

  FOUR

  Ivor drew rein outside Ariadne’s stone cottage. It was in the middle of the village, close to the wooden bridge that spanned the river. She had been born in the cottage and lived there with her mother until Martha had died of typhoid fever when her daughter was eleven. Her father had lived there only nominally, most of his time being spent with the other men of the family and more often than not with one or other of the ladies of pleasure who were brought into the valley to serve its menfolk. It was the way of Daunt valley, simple and efficient.

  Ari slipped to the ground before Ivor could offer a helping hand and without a word went into the house. She had nothing to say, and Ivor made no attempt to break the silence, turning his horse to the stables, his expression grim.

  “Oh, where ever have you been, miss? Everyone’s been a-lookin’ for you. It’s the wake feast tonight—”

  “I know that, Tilly.” Ari interrupted the girl before she could get started. In Tilly’s world, every little event was a cause for excitement and anticipation, unless it was fearful in some way. Once she wound herself up, there would be no unwinding her until she’d reached the end of the spool. “Is there any food?”

  She realized she was ravenous, hardly surprising since she hadn’t eaten since just after daybreak, and it was now dusk.

  “There’ll be the feast in an hour,” Tilly pointed out, carefully pressing her flat iron into the intricate ruffles of a pair of lace-edged sleeves.

  “Yes, I know, but I cannot wait an hour.” Ariadne began opening cupboard doors in the one room that served as kitchen and living room. “We had some cheddar, Tilly. I know we did.”

  Tilly set her flat iron back on the hearth. She was a round, plump-cheeked girl, with small, merry blue eyes, a year or two younger than Ariadne. With a flourish, she lifted the lid on a cheese dome on the plain pine table, declaring, “Right afore your eyes, miss.” Then she flushed and looked abashed. “Lady Ariadne, I should say.”

  “Why should you?” Ari looked askance as she cut a slice of cheese. Lady Ariadne was far too much of a ceremonial mouthful for daily use in the valley, and it was almost never used except on formal occasions in Council.

  “Lord Daunt said as how we should all give you your correct title, miss. Now that you’re to be wed, you being your grandfather’s heiress.”

  Ariadne frowned at the connection but then gave an internal shrug. It was the bald truth, after all. The marriage and the fact of her inheritance were inextricably entwined, so why deny it? “Well, I’d rather you didn’t when we’re private, Tilly,” she said through a mouthful of cheese. “Is there some of that pickle somewhere? The black one that goes so well with cheddar?”

  Patiently, Tilly reached into a cupboard and set a jar of pickled vegetables on the table. “Where it always is, Miss Ari.” She eased off the tight lid, and the aromatic spicy fragrance filled the air.

  “Forgive me, I’m not thinking straight today.” She cut another hunk of cheese and spread it with the thick, dark mixture.

  Tilly nodded sagely. “No wonder, miss, so soon as it is after his lordship’s death.”

  Ari agreed with a quick smile of thanks as she ate the cheese and pickle. Her makeshift meal cried out for a tankard of dark October ale, but the wine would flow too freely this evening, and she had no desire to put herself at a disadvantage she could avoid.

  “You’ll be getting dressed, then, miss?” Briskly, Tilly put away the cheese and sealed the jar of pickle, clearly indicating that Ari had dallied long enough. “I’ll fetch some hot water for you.” She looked at her mistress closely. “Looks like you could do with a wash.”

  Ariadne could have guessed how she looked even without Ivor’s blunt assessment earlier, but she wasn’t about to go into explanations with Tilly. She liked her, enjoyed her company, and appreciated her help, but she wouldn’t burden her with a confidence she would find hard to keep. “I was walking above and lost track of the time,” she said vaguely. “I had to run back.”

  Tilly seemed to find this perfectly acceptable and went to the range to fill a bowl with hot water from the steaming kettle on the hob. She set it on the table. “I’ll fetch soap and towel. Your gown is all ready for you.”

  “My thanks, Tilly.” Ariadne kicked off her slippers and sat on a stool to unroll her woolen stockings. They were torn at the heel, she noticed, and a moment came to her, vivid as if it were happening now, of digging her stockinged feet into the moss against a tree root as she moved her body in rhythm with Gabriel’s, a swift rhythm building to a glorious crescendo.

  She balled them up as Tilly set soap and towel on the table beside the bowl of water. “These need darning at the heel, Tilly. They must have worn thin.” She tossed them into the wicker mending basket beside the range, then stood up to shrug off her jacket and unbutton her now less-than-pristine white shirt. Her skirt followed suit and then her chemise and petticoat. Naked, she dipped a washcloth into the basin and sponged her body, aware of how sweaty and grimy she was. She needed a full dip in the copper tub rather than this spit and polish of a wash, but there was no time for such luxury this evening.

  She dried herself briskly on the rough towel before stepping into a crisply starched white cambric petticoat and then a low-necked cambric chemise edged with lace. “You’ll need another two petticoats, Miss Ari, for the gown to fall properly.” Tilly took the stiff garments from the large oak linen press in the far corner of the chamber.

  Ari pulled a face. She disliked wearing so many undergarments, but she could not appear dressed without ceremony at her grandfather’s wake. It would be considered outrageously disrespectful. She let Tilly drop the garments over her head and tie the ribbons at her waist. She peered down at herself as she adjusted the décolleté neckline of the chemise to show just the beginning swell of her breasts. Unfortunately, she was so ill favored in that area of her anatomy that there was very little to show for her efforts, she reflected disgustedly. Why couldn’t she have taken after her mother instea
d of some obscure, tiny-boned, vertically challenged ancestor? Her mother had been robust, with an ample bosom and wide hips. Her father had been a typical Daunt. Tall, powerful, muscular, strong enough to pull an oxcart if it were required of him.

  And between them, those two had produced this diminutive creature. Well, at least she could do without a corset, she reflected. It would do nothing for her at all. That was one small mercy. She stood still as Tilly draped the gold-embroidered cream silk underskirt over the petticoats and fastened it at her waist, then maneuvered a dark crimson silk gown over her head. The gown was looped at the sides to reveal the cream and gold underskirt, and the full sleeves ended at her elbows.

  “I’ll fetch the sleeve ruffs.” Tilly brought over the lacy ruffles that she had been ironing with such care. “Here they are, and beautifully pressed, if I says so myself,” she declared, buttoning them to the gown’s sleeves so that they fell in soft, creamy folds down to Ari’s wrists. “Beautiful you look, miss.”

  Ariadne fiddled with the lace-edged neckline of her gown. It was so wide it almost slipped off her shoulders, exposing what felt like a very chilly expanse of white skin. “If this is supposed to offer alluring hints of my bosom, it’s not very successful,” she remarked. “There’s nothing really to hint at.”

  “Well, maybe so, miss.” Tilly was ever realistic. “But the gown looks right pretty on you anyway, and you can always pretend there’s summat underneath.”

  Ariadne couldn’t help but laugh. It was all too absurd. The whole business was a farce. Why not imagine she had breasts like two bubbling puddings bursting from a low décolletage?

  Her lack of curves hadn’t troubled Gabriel, after all, and Ivor had never made any critical comments. Her laughter died on her lips. Just for a few moments, she had forgotten her present troubles.