“Indeed I have, my lords. Most welcome he is too, I’m sure.” He bowed stiffly and left the room.
Edward crossed to the sideboard and poured them each a glass of whisky while Jonathan tucked the baby into a bassinet Edward hadn’t noticed. “Did you bring that with you?”
“No, Mrs. Graham left it here. I’ve no idea where it came from.”
He sat in a chair by the roaring fire. Edward handed him his drink and sat in the chair opposite.
They sipped in silence for a few moments. “I did receive your last letter. My father has a solicitor in Newcastle and has sent him to make inquiries.”
“I am not quite sure what to do about the man. He has our local police in his pocket and probably some of the Newcastle police now as well. I cannot prove he stole my ship designs—the missing blueprint was my only copy, and I have no doubt he has already copied it in his own hand. I am more concerned about Anna and Zachary. Anna has been quite depressed since her pub was set ablaze.”
Jonathan nodded. “We saw her out on the cliff when we arrived, but she seems quite recovered now.” He winked, obviously recalling Edward’s public affectionate display in the kitchen.
“I suspect that’s Dora’s doing. Maybe she just needed a reminder that she is more resilient than she thought. Dora certainly came through her own, er, black phase successfully.”
“She did, thank God. She is a remarkably strong woman, your sister.” Jonathan glowed with love for Dora even when she wasn’t in the room. Edward wondered if he looked the same when he thought of Anna.
He sobered. “I worry for them. I know Weston set the fire or more likely, had someone set it for him. What I don’t know is what he was trying to accomplish. If he was trying to punish Anna, he succeeded. If he was trying to hurt her, or Zachary, I worry that he will try again.”
“I shall ask Father to hire someone to watch Weston, report on his movements. Will that set your mind at ease?”
“Some, yes, thank you. I need to convince Anna to come to the shipyard with me. We are so remote here, and I cannot protect them when I am in Wallsend.”
“Dora and I will be here for a few days. We will try to convince her and keep an eye on them at the same time.”
“I appreciate that.”
Graham returned to the room and announced dinner.
“Shall we?” Edward asked.
Jonathan confirmed the baby was still sleeping, and the men went into the kitchen to eat.
****
Anna and Edward retired not long after dinner. Edward had given the Tenwicks his chamber, as it was the largest, and he and Anna were sleeping in Anna’s. She hadn’t actually slept in this bed since arriving at the manor, but it was nevertheless her room.
Anna leaned over the dressing table and picked up her hairbrush. “It is lovely to see Dora again. She positively glows, don’t you think?”
“So do you.” Edward grabbed her from behind, snaking his arms around her waist, his lips on her neck. She froze, leaned into him, let out a small moan as his teeth gently nipped the skin below her ear. She stretched her neck, giving him easier access.
He spun her around and kissed her, one hand kneading her breast, the other at her waist. She kissed him back, the intensity she had felt during their recent lovemaking undiminished. This time, however, her senses were awakened, and every touch sent sparks up and down her spine. They undressed each other slowly, each piece of clothing removed accompanied by a caress until Anna stood, naked and quivering with need. Edward picked her up and carried her to the bed, gently placing her upon it as if she were something delicate and precious. For perhaps the first time in her life, Anna felt both. He joined her on the bed, and she ran her hands over his chest, down to his hips. His muscles tensed and relaxed as her hand passed over them, and she shivered as he mimicked her movements on her own body.
Her hand reached his erection, and she stroked it, reveling in the silky hardness of it. It jumped at her touch, and she no longer felt delicate. She was immensely powerful. She pushed him onto his back. Her hands holding his hips, she bent to take him into her mouth, alternately suckling, licking, and flicking her tongue over the tip, until she sensed he was nearly ready for release. She sat up, straddling him, taking him into her body, sheathing him. He kneaded her breasts as she moved slowly, then faster, until they both cried out and she sank, spent, upon his chest.
He stroked her hair as she lay atop him and listened to his heartbeat slow. Neither of them said anything. Words were not necessary to express all that she felt, and that she knew he felt as well. He pulled a blanket over them without moving her, and still entwined, they slept.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The two couples spent the next few days together, becoming a family again. They took long walks on the beach, Zachary scampering in front of them. Jonathan and Edward walked every inch of the construction site, while Dora and Anna sipped tea in the sitting room, discussing children and husbands.
Edward was delighted when Anna told him they could be married in two days’ time, before the Tenwicks returned to Durham. She had felt a stirring in her womb and knew she was to be a mother again. She told no one, allowing herself to savor this secret knowledge, which felt the same, yet so different, from the last pregnancy. This time she was not alone.
She and Dora traveled to Newcastle for a day to shop for suitable wedding clothes. Anna picked a dress of cream-colored silk, with tiny buttons all the way down her back. A delicious chill slithered up her spine as she imagined Edward getting her out of it. Dora chose a suitable dress for a matron, made of a violet silk that perfectly complemented her eyes.
Dora had always been like a sister, albeit an older, bossy sister, but now Anna felt on more equal footing. They discussed babies, men, fashion, all the things sisters talked about. They had high tea at the Turk’s Head Hotel on Grey Street. Anna couldn’t remember the last time she had done such girlish things. She wasn’t sure she ever had.
She felt so relaxed and happy that when they passed by the remains of the pub on the way home from the train station, she no longer felt grief but a pleasant nostalgia as she remembered some of the happier times. Then out of the corner of her eye, she saw a figure lurking among the rubble, and she stopped the gig.
“Whatever is the matter, Anna?” Concern was etched upon Dora’s brow, but Anna ignored her and scrambled out of the carriage.
Weston stood there, pushing his silver tipped cane through the debris in what had once been the bar.
“Looking for your expensive whisky?” Anna stood by the street, hands on her hips, staring daggers at the man who had tried to ruin her life.
“Miss Templeton! I was so relieved to hear you and your son had survived the blaze. Such a terrible shame, the fire.” He looked past her to Dora, who had joined Anna on the street and grabbed her arm. Anna wasn’t sure if it was intended to comfort or restrain, but was grateful nonetheless for the slight pressure of Dora’s hand. “Who is this?”
“I am surprised you do not recognize me, Mr. Weston,” Dora said, a chill in her tone. “I should have thought you researched your victims’ connections more thoroughly.”
“Ah, how foolish of me. Miss Mason. Excuse me, Lady Caxton.” He bowed slightly but did not step toward them, remaining instead in the pile of rubble.
Dora raised an elegant brow. “Well informed, I see.”
“Indeed. I make it my business to know what is happening in my small corner of the world.”
Anna smiled coldly. “Then you must know who set fire to my pub.”
Weston smiled obsequiously, bringing to Anna’s mind the character Uriah Heep. “Sadly, my humble network does not extend that far. I fear you will need to consult the police.”
Anna knew then he was playing a role, and always had. Perhaps the first, indeed only, time she had seen his true self was when he had kissed her, and she had stomped all over him. But he had done the same to her, and she felt no pity.
“You know very well the p
olice do not believe it was intentionally set. But you and I also know that you did it.”
Weston assumed an expression of shock, his eyes wide, his lambskin-gloved hand pressed against the heart that, if he had one, beat beneath his elegant wool coat. “I am wounded that you would say such a thing, my dear Miss Templeton. Quite apart from the affection I bore for you and your charming establishment, anyone could tell you I was in Newcastle at the time of this tragedy.”
Anna snorted. “I know you would never get your hands dirty, Weston. You…”
Dora tugged on her arm and urgently whispered, “Anna, stop. Stop.”
Knowing Dora was right, she turned on her heel and climbed back into the gig. Dora untied the horse from the post—Anna had not even realized she’d tied it—and sat beside her.
Seething, Anna let Dora take the reins from her before she drove them into a ditch. She tried to calm her racing heart, clenching her trembling hands in her lap.
“I’m sorry to pull you away, but I didn’t want you to give him any reason to have you arrested for slandering him.” Dora’s lips were set in a line; she was deadly serious.
“I’m sorry to put you into such a difficult position, Dora. He makes me so angry!”
Dora patted her hand. “I know. Jonathan and Edward will find a way to deal with him. Don’t worry.”
Anna chafed at the notion that a man was required to fight her battles, but Dora was right. Weston would need to be handled in a legal manner, or he’d turn the tables on them.
****
At dinner, just the four of them, Anna related the day’s events to Edward, who clenched his fists at the mention of Weston.
Jonathan smiled at his wife. “You were right to stop her from saying anything more. You can never win against crazy people; at least not with words.”
Edward shot a look at his brother-in-law. “What are you suggesting?”
Jonathan shrugged. “Nothing, really. But if we respond to him on his own terms, we will lose. We must engage him in some other way.”
“Anna. What exactly did he say today? Do you think he means to harm you?” Edward asked.
Anna rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes. After a moment she opened them, staring straight ahead. “I don’t know, Edward. He professed to care for me, and it would have been easy enough to set the fire when Zachary and I were upstairs, but he didn’t. Or whoever he hired didn’t.”
“Could it have been Margret?”
“I don’t see how. She had no love for Weston. She wasn’t even supposed to work that day. And now she’s without employment. What did she have to gain?”
“Perhaps Weston was blackmailing her?”
Anna laughed. “Edward, stop. You’re being ridiculous. What scandal could a kitchen maid possibly be hiding that she would do such a thing to keep it quiet? Especially given the fact that she worked for me? I am hardly the picture of proper decorum.”
Edward felt foolish. “Very well, you’re right. I just don’t know what to do.”
“I don’t think he’ll do anything to us today. Stop worrying.” She rose, took Edward’s hand. “Come. Play for me.”
Dora clapped her hands like a child. “Oh, yes, Edward! Do. It’s been much too long.”
Jonathan pushed back his chair and rose, then pulled back his wife’s chair. Edward acquiesced and allowed Anna to lead him into the sitting room, where Graham dangled a giggling baby on his knee, Mrs. Graham crocheted something that looked like a baby’s cap, and Zachary was reading.
“Zach. Play with me, for your aunt and uncle. They have yet to hear your violin.”
“Brilliant!” Zachary leapt up, the book forgotten, and opened his violin case, positioned the instrument, and waited for Edward to sit at the piano.
Edward began to play a sonata for violin and piano by Bach. He and Zachary had been working on it for weeks. Zachary made a few mistakes here and there, but all in all it was coming along very nicely, and Edward was immensely proud of the boy. Anna had often been in the room while they practiced, but when he looked over at her, it seemed she was hearing it for the first time.
Edward thought back to the first time he played this, on Johnson’s Island, with his friend Caleb on the violin. It took him a month to play it perfectly, but when he finally did, he lost himself completely in the music, allowing himself to forget where he was, who he was, and all that he missed.
Today, however, he didn’t want to lose himself. He didn’t want to forget. All of the people he loved were in this room, and he simply let the music settle around him, blanketing all of them in sound.
When they finished, everyone was silent for a moment. Anna and Dora both had tears streaming down their cheeks. He and Zachary took exaggerated bows, and the room erupted in applause.
He and Zachary bowed again. The boy was beaming from ear to ear, but then he noticed his mother’s tears and his face fell.
“Why are you crying, Mam? Didn’t you like it?”
Anna gestured for him to come to her, and he scrambled onto her lap. “It was the most beautiful thing I have heard in such a long time. You were wonderful, my little man. These are tears of pride, and of joy.”
“Oh. Good!” Zachary gave his mother a noisy kiss then jumped up to do the same to his Aunt Dora.
Edward took the seat between Anna and Dora. Dora kissed his cheek. “That was beautiful, Edward. Mother would be so pleased.”
“I hope so. Now, if you don’t mind, I believe I’ll take my fiancée to bed.” He picked her up, with much squealing from Anna and guffaws from Zachary, and carried her upstairs.
He kissed away her tears, soothed his worries, and made her forget, just for a while, about her pub, Weston, and any fears for the future.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Anna’s wedding day dawned with a brilliant blue sky and a slight nip in the air. She propped herself up on one elbow and watched Edward sleep. He looked so much younger when he slept, so free of care. Her heart swelled with love for this man, who had made her cry, giggle, blush, and shriek all in the same hour. As if sensing her watching him, he opened one eye and looked at her.
“Good morning, wife.”
“I’m not your wife yet.” She looked at the clock on the mantel. “Not for three hours.”
“Well, then, help me celebrate my last hours as a single man.” He reached for her, covering her with his body. He kissed her, soft and sweet, and she kissed him back. She rolled him over and climbed on top of him when there was a knock on the door. Edward groaned. “Oh, go away!”
Dora’s voice trilled through the door. “I’ve come to fetch your bride, Edward. We haven’t much time to get ready!”
Anna laughed, leaned down, and kissed him. “Sorry, darling. Duty calls. But remember where we were, would you?” She scrambled off him and pulled her nightdress over her head, then slid her arms through her dressing gown, tying it at the waist.
“Coming, Dora.” She opened the door and blew a kiss to Edward, then followed Dora down the corridor to the room she was sharing with Jonathan. “Where is your husband?”
“Oh, he is downstairs listening to exaggerated tales from Mrs. Graham about my unruly behavior as a child. I fear I shall never hear the end of it, especially after he relates them to his sister when we return home.”
Anna arched her brows. “I doubt they’re exaggerated. I seem to recall a time when…”
Dora laughed. “Not you too! Come, let’s get you ready for your wedding.”
Dora pulled Anna’s dress out of the armoire and handed it to Anna. Anna held it in front of her body, gazing in the mirror at her reflection.
“I have dreamed of this day almost since I met Edward, at the age of five. I had begun to believe it would never happen, that he was lost to me forever.”
Dora placed an arm around her and hugged her close. “I thank God he wasn’t, and that you will be wed today. You make him very happy, you know. He has adored you since he was six.”
Anna smirked. “I don’
t know about that. He tried to put a frog in my tea when he was six. That was why it was definitely not love at first sight.”
“It was only because he liked you. Boys are very odd that way.” Dora whirled Anna away from the mirror and clapped her hands. “Come, put that on, and I shall do your hair.”
****
Edward remained in bed after Anna left, arms folded and hands behind his head. He was happy. He had almost forgotten how it felt to be happy. In just a few short hours, he and Anna would finally be wed, seven years after they first pledged their troth on that cliffside in Scotland. He would have a wife, a child—maybe more than one. He would finish rebuilding his parents’ house, and they would live happily ever after.
But then a niggling doubt crept into his brain. What about Weston? The man had stolen from him, killed a man, burned down Anna’s pub. Edward suddenly recalled all of his accidents when he first returned home. Was Weston behind those as well? Did he kill Edward’s parents?
Edward pushed the thoughts back into the corner of his mind and got out of bed. “No. I’m not going to think of that today.”
He completed his morning ablutions, then pulled his clothes out of the armoire. He dressed quickly and headed downstairs to breakfast.
Jonathan was already there, tucking into a full English breakfast, complete with black pudding. Edward shuddered.
Jonathan noticed. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Black pudding. Can’t abide the stuff.”
Mrs. Graham clucked. “Such a strange child you were. Always turning up your nose at proper food.”
“I really don’t understand what is proper about eating congealed blood for breakfast.” He shuddered again and sat while Mrs. Graham poured him a cup of coffee. He inhaled the rich aroma and closed his eyes for a moment to savor it. Good coffee was something he had missed in America.
Jonathan laughed. “You sound like my sister. She hates it, too.”
“I knew Julia was a sensible girl.”
Mrs. Graham placed a plate in front of him, piled high with eggs, sausages, tomatoes, potatoes, and toast. Edward inhaled again. “See? A perfectly good breakfast. No blood.”
Secret Promise Page 17
