Crystal Passion

by Jo Goodman

  "Your home is lovely," Ashley said feelingly.

  "I often wondered what you would think of it after growing up at Linfield."

  "There's no comparison. They are as unlike as night is to day. For all that I loved Linfield it always reminded me of a cold fortress. Your home is like an open hearth." I want to belong, she cried inwardly, longing in every line of her form.

  A smile touched Salem's eyes. "My mother will like to hear that. She helped design it."

  "She did?"

  "Yes. And if I'm not mistaken that's her tearing down the steps right now. Shannon's quicker with those sticks than I gave him credit. C'mon. The whole clan will follow her in no time, and I'll never get you inside and rested."

  Charity McClellan collided with her son in the middle of the wide lawn that filled the curved driveway to the house. Ashley pulled away from Salem's hold on her elbow so he could brace himself against his mother's enthusiastic welcome.

  She was a tall woman, easily reaching Salem's chin, but she was a featherweight, which Salem proved amidst her tears and laughter by twirling her around several times before setting her firmly on the ground in front of him.

  "When Shannon told me—God forgive me—I didn't believe him at first," she said shakily, wiping a trail of tears away from her eyes with the corner of her apron. "Oh, it's good to have you home, son." She gave him a watery smile and fine lines of experience creased her deep blue eyes. She smoothed back bits of rich coffee-colored hair that had escaped from beneath her starched cap.

  Salem kissed his mother on both her damp cheeks and hugged her fondly for good measure. "No one is happier about it than I."

  "You're wrong there, brother," a crisp voice cut in. "I wasn't pleased about the prospect of that voyage one bit."

  Before Salem confirmed it, Ashley knew this was Noah. Standing to one side, watching the fond clasps the brothers exchanged, the dark heads bent close together, Ashley knew a moment's envy to be part of something so loving. She also knew that she did not want her identity revealed when it would bring pain. The beautiful woman who could not bring herself to look away from her eldest son did not need to know of her husband's infidelity.

  Salem and Noah were forced to break their embrace by the two young women who pounced on them, each vying for a hold on one of Salem's arms. Ah, Ashley thought, Rae and Leah. The ones who can handle anything. Well, it's obvious they have no difficulty with their brother, she realized, yet she found herself smiling at their exuberance and wishing that she might learn to express her happiness so openly. Salem kissed each of them on the tops of their heads, one fair, one auburn, and managed to extricate himself long enough from their clinging arms to hold out a hand to Ashley.

  She stepped toward his outstretched hand, feeling very alien in her drab clothes and grave countenance, which she was unable to shed even amid the gaiety of the reunion.

  Salem pulled her close so that she stood a little in front of him while offering her the protection of his sheltering arms. "Is Father coming?" he asked his mother.

  "Shannon went to the stable to get him and someone's been sent for Gareth and Darlene in town."

  "Don't wait for Father," Noah insisted, his hazel eyes merrily meeting Ashley's nervous ones. "Introduce us to your lovely lady." He grinned boyishly, a smile so like Salem's own that Ashley found herself returning it. "Ah-hah! She does smile, and most charmingly, I might add."

  "Stop it," Charity told her son. "You're embarrassing the poor girl."

  Noah did not look put out in the least as Salem began the introductions. "You've probably guessed the one who cannot mind his manners is Noah."

  Ashley nodded. "The solicitor who gets ill at sea."

  Noah groaned while all the others laughed. "What have you been telling her about us, Jerusalem?"

  "You see, Ashley? I only have to make them the tiniest bit angry, and they retaliate by using my full name. Don't worry about it, Noah. My companion here is a kindred spirit. Sometime you will have to hear how she weathered the voyage."

  Ashley pursed her lips, clearly disapproving.

  "That's right, dear," Charity said. "Don't let any of them bully you."

  "Don't encourage her, Mother," Salem replied. "Now then, the fair pixie on Noah's right is Leah, the baby."

  "I'm fifteen," she said defiantly while bobbing a curtsy to Ashley.

  "And you won't be announcing your age so feelingly in another fifteen years," Salem retorted. "On the other side of Noah is Rahab, Rae for short. Do you want to announce your age also, Rae?"

  In reply she stuck out the tip of her pink tongue in her brother's direction. "Do you have any brothers?" Rae asked Ashley with innocent curiosity. Stricken by the question and unable to form a reply, Ashley simply shook her head. "Lucky you."

  Charity McClellan cast a glance at the heavens and favored Ashley with a generous smile. "You'll just have to accept my word that I raised them better than this." She stepped forward to offer Ashley both her hands, then impulsively hugged her. She didn't let go until Ashley returned the embrace. "There, that's better. If ever there was a person looking for a hug, it was you." She patted Ashley's pale cheek. "Now don't look so, it fair breaks my heart. I'm Jerusalem's mother, but you must call me Charity. And I don't need my son's introduction to know you're Ashley Caroline. My husband and I often talked about you, wondering how you were growing up. So many times I wished we could bring you to the landing, but Robert could not confront the duke personally." She shrugged, accepting something she could not have changed, then a warm smile creased her face as she grasped Ashley's hands again. "Now it seems that Salem's managed the thing, and Robert and I will want to hear the whole story. He'll be so pleased, Salem. We never dared hope that you would really bring Ashley to us."

  When Charity halted for a breath she became aware of the complete silence around her. Noah, Rahab, and Leah were obviously confused, but Salem looked terrified of what she would say next. Ashley's hands felt cold and clammy in her own warm ones. She spoke hurriedly to explain. "Don't everyone take on so. Your father will tell all. I admit it's something of a shock to see her, she looks so like him, but the important thing is to make her feel welcome."

  Ashley's limbs felt very heavy. It was strange, she thought, to feel at once so heavy and so lightheaded. It had come on suddenly, just as a cloud moved to block the sun. It was the only reasonable explanation for the sudden cold and darkness. Something was pulling her down, and she only had the strength to fight it for a moment. Then she gave in.

  Charity's hands went to her mouth as Ashley slipped to the ground. Salem bent over her immediately while the others gathered closer. He loosened the neckline of her dress then lifted her in his arms, swinging on his mother as he did so. His face was still pale and drawn. "Mother, I need to understand what you just said to Ashley."

  Charity was too upset herself to take exception to his tone. "But I don't know quite what I said to upset her so."

  Salem began striding toward the house. Everyone but Noah had a hard time keeping up. "I know what she heard that caused her to faint. What I don't understand is how you could present it to her in quite that manner."

  Charity was honestly bewildered. "I'm afraid you're not making sense to me. I was trying to tell her how happy I am that she is finally here. You don't know how thoughts of her plagued your father and me over the years."

  "Then, dammit, why didn't he go get his bastard daughter for himself?" he fairly shouted.

  Brought up short by his heated words, spoken in the fierce anger of frustration and disappointment, everyone let Salem stride on ahead. Just as he reached the base of the portico steps, his path was blocked by a horse and rider.

  "She isn't my daughter, Salem," Robert McClellan told his son. His deep green eyes bore a faint wounded look as he stared down at Salem. He could be an imposing man on the ground, but seated on the cinnamon bay he gained further stature. He sat so still, so straight, that if it hadn't been for the element of pain in his rough-cast features
he would have seemed invulnerable.

  Salem lifted his chin a notch. "But Mother told Ashley that you'd be pleased, that she looks just like—"

  "Oh, Robert," Charity said forlornly when she caught up. She reached for her husband's hand. "I seem to have made everything a muddle. But I don't know why either of them think you might be Ashley's father. I said she looked like him, but I didn't mean you, I meant Ashford, of course. Only she didn't seem to understand, and Salem certainly didn't and she fainted and then—"

  Robert had to shake his head to clear it. "I think I know what happened then, dear. Salem, don't you think you'd better get Ashley inside?" Salem nodded, stepped to one side, and mounted the stairs. "Oh, and son," Robert called behind him. "Welcome home."

  Chapter 7

  Salem's quick grin was enough to assure everyone that he was no longer angry. He strode into the house, his shoes clicking hard on the parquet floor until he mounted the carpeted staircase.

  "Mother says to put her in the blue room," Leah called from the base of the stairs. "She'll be up directly with some tea. Can I do anything to help, Salem?"

  "You could turn down the bed and fetch a nightgown of yours."

  Leah ran up the stairs after him, slipped around him in the narrow hallway and had the bed opened invitingly by the time he brought Ashley to the room. When she came back with the nightgown, Salem was sitting beside Ashley on the bed, smoothing wisps of hair away from her face. The tenderness on her brother's face brought a soft sigh to Leah's lips.

  "Are you in love with her?" she asked ingenuously.

  "I don't think it would be fair to tell you since I've never told her."

  Leah gave him the gown, realizing she was not going to get a better answer. Did it mean yes or no? "Never say you're going to undress her!" she cried out in shocked accents as he removed Ashley's shoes.

  "Getting rid of her shoes is hardly undressing her, Leah. As to that task, I shall leave it to Mother and one of the servants."

  Charity breezed into the room, closely followed by a flame-haired maid Salem did not recognize. The devilry in her eyes and the wayward curls that slipped from her mobcap warned him this was probably Shannon's Meg. Her mouth looked a little swollen, as if she had been kissed thoroughly recently. Shannon hadn't wasted any time cornering her while Charity was occupied elsewhere. His knowing grin in the maid's direction was rewarded with a telltale blush that effectively hid her freckles.

  Charity ordered Leah and Salem out of Ashley's chamber. Leah went willingly but Salem was not so easily moved.

  "Why hasn't she come out of the faint?" he asked at the doorway.

  Charity bent over Ashley's still form, touching her cheek lightly. "She'll come around in her own time. She's exhausted, Salem. Surely you can see that. Look at the poor girl's bruised eyes. She doesn't have any color in her cheeks, and she's too thin by half. Was she sick the entire voyage?"

  "Only the last few weeks, she says. I can't account for the beginning because I was ill myself. She took care of me then."

  "God love her. She doesn't look as if she would have been strong enough. Lord knows, you're not an easy patient."

  Because his mother seemed about to regale him with yet another story of his sick days, Salem took his cue and slipped out of the room. He met his father on the stairs.

  "I was just coming to get you," Robert said. "Gareth and his wife are here now, and I've gathered everyone in the library. We're all anxious to hear how you got yourself out of Newgate."

  "Not without considerable help, and my accomplice has yet to awake."

  Robert nodded slowly, searching his son's face. "I thought it might be. I suppose it's best that everyone hear about Miss Lynne at once."

  "And when does she hear? When she wakes she'll be confused and frightened again. Her guardian told her unforgivable things."

  "Some of which you apparently believed," Robert reminded him gently.

  Salem faced his father unflinchingly. "But I didn't—not until today when Mother went on and on. I never believed for once that you were her father or that Anne was your mistress."

  "I do appreciate your confidence, and I hope Ashley has the same in you. I thought I would talk to her later today, when she's feeling more the thing. I need to know what she's been told, and I want you to be there with her. She'll need someone she can trust. I don't know that she'll believe me or want to hear the things I have to tell her."

  Robert's troubled sigh preceded him and his son into the library, and the expectant faces that greeted him did nothing to ease his tension.

  * * *

  The drapes of her room had been drawn earlier against the sun's waning light, and now the sweet scent of bayberry tickled Ashley's nose as she woke. In the diffuse and flickering light of the candles, Ashley saw Salem sitting in a wing-backed chair, talking quietly to his parents seated opposite him on a gracefully curved loveseat. Seeing Robert and Charity together, hands affectionately clasped and exchanging amused glances from time to time, Ashley knew then how much she had hoped for the same thing for herself and Salem. She wasn't allowed the luxury of dreaming of it any longer. Some small movement on her part alerted the others to her wakeful condition.

  "How are you feeling, dear?" Charity asked, quickly moving to Ashley's bedside.

  "Rather silly, actually," she admitted. "I don't recall ever fainting before. It must have been the shock of discovering that you knew about me all this time. For some reason I hadn't expected that. I was afraid my presence here would be a painful reminder and—"

  "Stop right there," Salem told her, leaning over his mother's shoulder. "You're about to put your foot in it, and though you've got a dainty one, there still isn't enough room."

  Ashley blinked, startled. "Whatever are you talking about?" She tried to rise but Charity gently pushed her back.

  "Here, son. You sit here and keep her from getting out of bed. Robert, can you bring the seat over here? We'll be more comfortable if we don't have to shout across the room."

  Salem took his mother's place before Ashley could object. "She's very high-handed and none of us dare disobey." He took pity on her bewildered air and helped her sit up, plumping the pillows nicely behind her. His face was grave as he intently searched her face.

  "We're here because Mother insists you need a great deal of rest right now, and Father insists that he must talk to you. And I'm here because we shared a room for so long, I feel lonely elsewhere." Ashley's blush didn't disappoint him.

  "Salem!" she hissed, wanting to dive beneath the quilted coverlet.

  "Not to worry. They know the circumstances and that nothing happened."

  Ashley shifted uncomfortably, unable to meet Charity's speculative gaze.

  "Don't be such a tease, Salem," Charity said. Her thoughtful eyes rested on Ashley, though. "Robert, I think you'd better straighten this out before your son makes things worse and Ashley faints again."

  Quite without knowing how it happened, Ashley found her hand slipping into Salem's large and steady one. She looked closely at the man she thought was her father.

  She knew a moment's disappointment as she scanned his solemn face. Other than the brilliant emerald eyes she could see no resemblance. His hair was dark but rich brown rather than the ebony color she and Salem shared. None of his features had the same delicacy she associated with her own. He was several inches shorter than Salem and nearly as broad about the shoulders and slim about the waist. There was the merest hint of a dimple on the left side of his mouth, but she couldn't swear to it until she saw him smile.

  "I don't think I look at all like you, sir," she said seriously after her appraisal.

  Robert exhaled slowly, leaning slightly forward in his seat. "There is only one way to tell you this, Ashley, and that is straight. I am not your father. That fine man died aboard my ship shortly before you were born. His name was Ashford Roche, and your full name is Ashley Caroline Roche. Whatever the duke may have told you, your father and mother were married. You are no
one's bastard child."

  She couldn't quite take it in. She squeezed hard on Salem's hand. So many questions flitted through her mind she grasped at the first one to form fully. "My mother? Did Nigel tell me truly that Anne is my mother? Is she here?"

  Robert's voice was gentle, his eyes sad. "Anne is your mother. That's true. But she died the night you were born, as Nigel knew very well. It was unconscionable of him to allow you to hope she lived."

  Tears welled in her eyes and her throat ached. "The duke does whatever he must to secure his ends," she said. The words burned bitterly. "I can't understand why he bothered with me all these years."

  "As to that I have at least two reasons. The first is that you were a reminder of his dear Anne. Nigel loved her, Ashley, but with an obsessive sort of passion that threatened and hurt her. I knew them both when they couldn't have been more than five. I was still a young man when they used to come to Edenton to ride the earl's ponies. Even at that early age Nigel was intent on making Anne bend to his will. Perhaps it was because they were twins that Nigel thought Anne should fall in with his every scheme. I don't really understand what drove him, but when Anne defied him he went a little mad with rage."

  "Surely not all those years ago," Ashley said.

  Robert folded his hands on his knees. "I caught Nigel once trying to force Anne to cross the creek on their land on a rotting log. She resisted for some time, but then Nigel pulled out a mewling kitten from under his jacket and told her to do it or he would drown the thing. Anne wasn't proof against that so she ventured out on the log. By some miracle she crossed the creek. She stood on the opposite side, trembling with fear, and could do nothing when Nigel tossed the kitten in anyway. 'That's so you'll remember to play my way the first time,' he told her. He was trying to shove the log aside so she couldn't come back when I intervened. After I retrieved the kitten and brought Anne across I reddened Nigel's backside. Ashley, it's important you understand this. I was the head groom's son on a neighboring estate. Nigel was quality. If you could have seen the look in his eyes when I set him down, you would understand why I felt a moment of fear and why I believe he was responsible for the fire to my home that killed my parents."