Windmera-Desperation

by Claudy Conn

  Heather did not know how she got the courage to stand tall and put up her chin. “Ah, and you play the innocent without heart while you are in fact a slut,” Heather enraged, snapped back.

  Sara’s eyes flashed and she raised a hand as she moved in. Heather stood her ground and said, “I wouldn’t if I were you. I’m not so missish that I wouldn’t think twice about defending myself.”

  Sara accepted the threat with narrowed eyes and controlled herself. Instead, she moved around the cottage and wore an expression of disgust.

  “So this is where you two play house,” Sara said.

  “What do you want?” Heather asked.

  “I want my husband to remain my husband, what do you think I want?” Sara snapped.

  “Why? You don’t love him,” Heather answered easily.

  “No, and still I want the protection of his name and title. Did you think I would sit idly by and allow him to divorce me?” Sara answered quietly.

  “I don’t have the power to give him to you. I have been trying to deter him from such a plan,” Heather answered softly, more sure than ever that she and Godwin were right to love one another. This woman was evil!

  “Really? Should I be touched? Well, I am not. You underestimate your power over him. You underestimate me!” Sara said coldly. She opened the leather pouch she held in her gloved hand.

  Heather watched, fascinated, to see Sara move to the desk and set quill and an inkwell in its place. What was she doing? What was Lady Ravensbury doing? If only Godwin would return from his business and appear.

  Sara stared at her and quietly said, “Are you stalling? He won’t arrive in time, you know. I have planned this very carefully.” She made a grand gesture and said, “There, Miss Martin, please be seated and I will tell you what you are to write.”

  “Write? What are you talking about?” Heather had a sinking feeling.

  “I am talking about you saving Godwin’s life. You will sit and write what I tell you, for his life depends on it,” Sara snapped.

  Heather closed her eyes. She knew this woman was capable of anything. When she opened her eyes, she stalled. “Who am I writing to?”

  “You dimwit. What can he see in you aside from your youthful beauty, and that will fade in time.” Sara shook her head. “You will sit and you will write to Godwin, of course.”

  “To Godwin?” Heather still did not sit as she had been bidden. Perhaps Godwin would arrive now—soon? He would see the smoke in the sky from the country road on his way home. He would know she was there and wonder at it. He would come. He had to come.

  She had to stall this madwoman. “What would you have me write to Godwin?”

  “Tell him you are leaving. Tell him you cannot bring shame to his household, that you never want to see him again…sit, write,” Sara insisted.

  Heather eyed her and chose her words slowly. “That is a lie. He would know that I would never tell him such a thing in a letter. He would not believe it. I will not write such a thing to him.”

  “Ah, very well. You are reluctant to do as I ask…so come here to the window,” Sara urged. “It is time you learned to what lengths I mean to go.”

  Heather refused to budge, still stalling for time, still hoping for Godwin to appear.

  Sara made an impatient sound and exclaimed, “For pity’s sake…come now to the window.”

  “Why?”

  “I want to show you what is at stake here,” Sara said grimly. When Heather still did not move, Sara clucked her tongue. “For Godwin’s sake…come look out the window!”

  Heather did as she was bid and looked out with great misgiving at the two men on horseback not far from her cottage door.

  “Those two men are here for a reason. Do you know what that reason is?” Sara said, and her eyes glinted with hatred, a hatred so deep Heather felt as though she had been slapped.

  Heather shook her head and her heart sank. Impossible to believe that a lady of quality would stoop to such threats. Sara was threatening not only her, but Godwin as well. What was the awful woman planning now?

  “Ah, you wonder to what lengths I have gone,” Sara said. “You wonder what it is I mean to do. Don’t you know?”

  “No, I can’t imagine why they are here,” Heather finally said as Sara stood watching her reaction.

  “I have brought these unscrupulous seamen here. They are smugglers by trade, but ever ready to make money any way they can. Desperate fellows, really. They carry pistols, you know, and are capable of great evil for very little money. I was prepared to pay them a great deal more than the two hundred pounds I gave them.”

  “And you want me to know this because?” Heather asked, though she knew the answer.

  “They have agreed to murder Godwin for me tonight. There is only one road from St. Ives and he will be on it and nearing soon, very soon.” She halted and smiled. “Indeed, ‘tis a lonely road, and the deed can be accomplished quickly.”

  “You are mad!” Heather cried, fully horrified. “You would not dare such a thing!”

  “No, it was not my first choice, however, I would rather be a widow than a discarded wife, you see,” Sara answered.

  Heather’s hand went to her heart and she gasped. “Wicked woman…no, I don’t believe you would dare such a thing. You would be blamed immediately. Everyone…as witnessed by Mrs. Abernathy’s visit to my uncle, already knows that Godwin is about to divorce you, and you would be suspected at once.”

  “Indeed, I do admit to a certain reluctance to take that course. However, as I said, I will not be a discarded wife, and suspecting one of a crime is very different than proving it.”

  “Oh my god!” Heather was beside herself as she searched her mind for a way to stop this awful woman. Unconsciously, her hand went to her stomach, as though to shield her infant from such ugliness.

  Sara eyed her and then said, “You still don’t comprehend your situation, do you? Very well, allow me to outline my thoughts. I will not sign the papers Godwin wishes me to sign. I will not be divorced. He has threatened me that if I do not sign, he will disavow Roderick and me. He said he would have our marriage annulled…tell the world I foisted a bastard child on him. He would ruin us all…for what?” Sara looked Heather up and down. “For you? A nothing, with nothing, not even the will to protect herself.” She paused and there was so much hate in her eyes.

  Heather shivered, unable to immediately respond to this, aware suddenly that Godwin was in danger this very evening.

  “You see now, don’t you? I have two roads before me. Either he dies before he can do this awful thing to me, or I get rid of you. Simple, isn’t it? I cannot murder you. Godwin would know, and I do believe he might even try to kill me with his bare hands. No, killing you is not an option…for now. I can’t have him turn to the courts and accuse me of murder. He has powerful friends. I know that. Therefore, I have found another way to dispose of you. You will leave him. If you do not accept to leave him, I shall have him killed this very night and chance the consequences.”

  “You…you would not succeed…people would know, they would talk. They are already talking!”

  “Oh? I shall succeed. But why allow me to do that when you can stop me by writing this letter? Godwin will believe it. He will discover that your uncle has already disowned you—sent you off, and…”

  “I will bear witness against you should you hurt Godwin!” Heather snapped, standing up to the woman.

  Sara eyed her. “Indeed, I do believe you would. Therefore, I shall put your bodies together. What an intriguing idea. It will look as though you were killed on the road by highwaymen while on one of your little trysts.” Sara shrugged. “After all, as you say, people are already talking. In fact, that seems the far more simple game to play.”

  “No…this is too ugly, even for you!” Heather said as much to herself as to Sara. Would those seamen really murder two people? Was Sara bluffing?

  “As I have said, I have no wish to be a widow. I have no wish to kill you either i
f I don’t have to. The truth is, my seamen may be loath to kill a woman, and then I might have to come up with more money, which would delay my plans. No. I shall stick with either getting you to write the letter, or killing Godwin,” Sara left this in the air.

  Heather collected herself. What to do? Sara would kill him. She had believed the woman would rather him be dead than finding herself divorced. She had to pretend to accept. She would do what Sara wanted for now…and then Godwin would find her, come for her. He would not believe she had left him. She would write the letter, and even if Sara’s men actually forced her to travel with them to her home, Godwin would come for her.

  “It would appear, my lady,” Heather said, “you have left me no choice.”

  Sara smiled. “That is quite correct. You are out of choices, have been since you decided to bed a married man. I am the one who has been wronged. Not you!”

  That was doing it too brown for Heather. “You have wronged Godwin from the start. He told me the entire sordid story. He knows you are the one who tore him from Lisa. He knows all the while he courted you, you bedded a gypsy. You have wronged him, and I have made him happy.”

  “Naïve girl. Happiness is a fleeting thing. You have had your months of happiness. It ends now, as it should, as mine did the moment I married Godwin.”

  “Why did you marry him then?”

  “For the title, for the wealth!” Sara screamed. “Certainly not because he was exciting.”

  “Not exciting?” Heather cried. “You are a fool.”

  Sara’s hand lifted, but she seemed to get control and dropped it to her side. “Sit down at the desk. Take up the ink and quill there…oh, you can write, can’t you?”

  Heather did not answer, but took a chair, pulled out writing paper from the desk drawer and undid the lid of the inkwell.

  Sara said, “Yes, now, write as I tell you. Let’s start with…

  “Darling,

  Too many are hurt by what we have done. I have shamed my family and friends and must go. It is over between us. Indeed, it never was. Do not try to find me.

  Heather”

  Sara picked up the letter, aired, folded, and concealed it within her dark cloak. She turned back to Heather and her voice was full with hatred. “Miss Martin, it is now time for you to go to your destiny…where you belong.”

  “I am far too weary to journey tonight, my lady,” Heather answered, eyeing her worriedly. It suddenly occurred to her that the seamen on horseback outside had not come with Sara to lay in wait on Godwin. Heather realized that Sara had carefully planned the outcome of this meeting. The seamen weren’t here to murder Godwin. Heather suddenly knew beyond a shadow of doubt that those seamen were here to take her away…somewhere Godwin would not easily find her.

  “If you don’t mind, my lady, I shall not leave Cornwall until the morning,” Heather said.

  “Fool! Do you think I would leave you to your own devices? Did you really think I could be so gulled? You will never see your lover again, mark me on that, but you will see others, and in a French bordello. You will have many others to keep you pleasured. You are going to a French bordello…just across the channel. Ah, I see you believe me, and when those men there are done with your body, even your precious Godwin will turn his back on you.”

  Heather jumped away from her and snarled, “Get out!”

  Sara laughed. “My men outside wait only for me to signal them. They are well paid and will be taking you now to the harbor.”

  “No one would do such a thing—it is unthinkable!” Heather said as genuine fear clutched at her insides. “Why, this is monstrous.”

  “Again, you know nothing about greed. Money equates all things. These men are going to sell you, my dear, to a choice brothel. They will get paid well, and you will be able to use your many talents,” Sara said on a sneer as she moved towards the door and opened it wide.

  Heather watched Sara motion to one of the men. Heather started for the hall that led to a back door, but before she could reach it, the seaman had her in hand. She kicked and screamed and begged him to let her go.

  “Please, sir, you cannot do this. You cannot mean to abduct me and…no, you don’t realize. I am an Englishwoman, niece to the local vicar—”

  “I am sorry for it, but you are coming with us. I always complete a job I am paid to do, and my job is to take you in hand and get you…well, across the channel,” the man said without sympathy.

  “Tell her, Colin…tell her where she will end up across the channel,” Sara said in a taunting voice.

  “She’ll find out soon enough, darlin’,” Colin answered.

  “But…I will get you a larger fee if you don’t do this,” Heather cried.

  “Will you? And how would you do that? I’d have to let you go and there is no telling what would happen after that. No, come along now, or do I need to knock you out to keep you quiet? I don’t hold with hitting a woman—goes against the grain, but if you need to be silenced, well then, I see you understand.”

  Heather kept quiet. If he knocked her out, she would have no chance at escape. “Just one thing, sir, you must have a heart…?”

  “Aye, I did once, but life got in the way,” he said, and pick pulled her along. “Don’t fight me, woman, or it will go badly for you.”

  She believed he would knock her out, so she kept quiet for the moment.

  Outside, he called, “Bunky, get over here and tie her wrists while I hold her in place.”

  A lad, Heather thought no more than eighteen or so, got off his horse and walked over. He looked unhappy and kept his eyes lowered.

  The other man shoved some rope at him and said, “Come on, lad, we have to hurry now.”

  Heather began screaming as she fought and managed to break free from his hold. She lifted her skirts and ran with every ounce of strength she had. She heard the two seamen closing in at her back. There was nowhere to escape them, but if only she could run far enough, run and stall until Godwin arrived.

  “Colin, no!” the lad he had called Bunky called as Colin’s lunge brought her face down onto the ground. She turned her head and looked up at him, and his fist was raised.

  Evidently Bunky’s shout stopped him, and he said, “I warned you, sweetheart. I will hurt you to keep you quiet.” He hauled her to her feet.

  She was winded as he dragged her back to the horses. She noted that no horse was provided for her. Were they going to drag her along? Would she then be able to escape? Would someone see them?

  But, no, he handed her off to the lad. “Bunky…she rides with you.”

  “I don’t hold with this, Colin. No…this is not the line of work I signed up for,” Bunky said on a grumble.

  “You signed up as a mate. I’m fond of you and you have served me well, but remember, lad, you take your orders from me. I make the decisions around here.” He put an affectionate hand around the boy’s skinny neck. “Now, gag and truss her up. Can’t have her screaming over the countryside.”

  Sara handed the second man a linen napkin, which Bunky gently used to gag Heather, saying softly to her, “There now, miss, don’t struggle so and it will go better for ye.”

  “Shut up, Bunky, don’t talk to the mort,” Colin snapped. “She isn’t an innocent in this, I told you that, so try and remember it.”

  Heather tried to calm herself. She looked at Bunky, who appeared extremely uncomfortable in his role as co-abductor. She couldn’t believe he was already a hardened criminal. Could she appeal to him to let her escape?

  She saw a blush steal onto Bunky’s cheeks, but as he took Heather’s arm, he whispered, “There now, ye be looking at me like I’m some kind of devil and I’m that sorry I am, but…I don’t have a choice.”

  “Bunky…take her up on your horse with you now and don’t dawdle,” Colin yelled. “Right then, we had better be making pace to our boat.”

  A few minutes later, Heather heard Sara laughing as she mounted the horse and sat straddling as best she could with her hands behind h
er back. Bunky mounted behind her and said, “I’ll try not to make ye too uncomfortable, miss…this is not to m’liking. Fiend seize it all…not to m’liking. Smuggling is one thing, but abducting a fine woman such as yerself, even if ye did steal that one’s husband…well, I just don’t hold with it.”

  Heather didn’t see the point in struggling just then. What would be the advantage? She had nowhere to run. They would be on her and Colin would make good on his promise to knock her out, and then she would surely be lost. No, she simply had to wait for a better opportunity.

  She was sick with fright, and had but one hope—Godwin. He would never believe that she had willingly left him. He would know better. He would find her. He had to find her. But dusk had set in and he would not see the horses’ tracks this evening. Tomorrow would be too late.

  She was with child—his child, and he would never give up looking for her. He would not believe the note Sara was going to give him, even though he would know it was in her hand. He would suspect something. He simply had to have faith that she would not leave him.

  She turned in the saddle and saw Sara watching, a smile wide across her face as they walked their horses off. She wouldn’t give up hope. She couldn’t, and yet she had an awful feeling in the pit of her being.

  ~ Eight ~

  HEATHER SAT UNABLE TO SPEAK, unable to think beyond her present predicament. The cloth in her mouth and her level of anxiety made it difficult for her to even breathe.

  She turned and stared at the lad called Bunky, pleading with her eyes.

  “Lookee, ma’am…ye have pretty violet eyes, ye do, and I know ye want me to help ye. I can’t. I told ye I don’t hold wit this, and there isn’t anything I can do. If Colin sends me off, I have nowhere…nowhere to go. So what I like doesn’t make a ha’porth o’difference in m’world. I’m naught. That woman, the one who arranged this…she struck up a bargain with Colin, she did, and Colin never goes back on a bargain. I jest be doing whot Colin told me.”

  Heather wanted to rail against this philosophy and beg him to free her, but the gag in her mouth kept her silent.