“When you undressed for me in the hedge maze,” he replied with cool arrogance. “Are you going to be troublesome about it?”
“I did not undress for you—I undressed and you were there. Troublesome? Nay, I shall not be troublesome. I am at your service, husband. Why the delay? Fetch your weapon out of you pants and have a go at me again. Come on. I promise I won’t cry out this time.”
“On the contrary, your cries of pleasure gave me every indication you were enjoying yourself. A rare reaction for a virgin, I will allow, but I have seen a few women enjoy the sex act—prostitutes mostly; women who must earn their way in life.”
“You sound rather an expert on the subject of women and their sexuality, sir,” she said contemptuously. “The stupidity of your conclusion rests on your sources. A prostitute costs a man nothing and takes nothing. A prostitute is not a woman—not to a man she is not. She is only a mirror—an extension of himself. Pit yourself against a woman whose love you did not have to buy or steal. I dare you. I dare you to try to win my love after what you have done.”
A shadow crossed his face. “You talk as if you know anything about it.”
“I talk as if I know a thing about men. My gift sets me apart from other women of my class. It makes me of aware of evils of which I would prefer to remain in ignorance.”
“Your gift?”
“I sense events that occasionally come to pass.”
“Yet you could not foresee what I would do.”
She would not meet his eye. “No, I could not. My gift does not occur consistently in your case, only a vibration here and there, such as when I realized you were not going to kill me.”
“Is it wise to place so much dependence on what amounts to a hunch? If you had been less naive you would have taken greater care, given the sort of man I am.”
“And what sort of man is that? Enlighten me.”
“Not the heroic kind,” he said shortly.
Laura laughed bitterly. “Honest and to the point. You are a man of few words, Mr. Caine. And here I thought we were getting better acquainted. I am at a disadvantage, I know nothing about you and you know everything about me.”
“Does it matter to know me so well? You know me well enough.” Tanner shifted uncomfortably. “I should not have taken you. I have no excuse. I was overcome—I can’t explain it. I am frequently at a loss for words but I feel it more keenly with you.”
She reacted with surprised mistrust. “Why with me? I am not so very terrifying.”
“To some, you would be. I was never an agreeable conversationalist with women and I never cared to be. I shouldn’t be speaking at all under the circumstances.”
“True. You might discover that I am a human being.” Laura sank to the floor. “I don’t see that it matters now what sort of man you are. I am cold. May we have a fire?”
He moved to the hearth, glad to have something to do. The wood box was well supplied. Tanner kindled a blazing fire and carried over a chair for her. “Sit. Please. Would you like a wet cloth to ... ah ... clean yourself?”
She curled her body into a ball on the chair, pulling her knees to her chest. “I would like a bath and a hot meal even more.”
“I’ll see to it. The bath might take some time to heat the water.”
Tanner handed her the shawl which Laura accepted with weary resignation. She was too baffled and dismayed by what had happened between them to fight his overtures of reconciliation. He left her alone with her thoughts in front of the fire.
In the morning, after she’d eaten and slept, she would instruct him to order a coach to take her to London. Louise or her father would pay the cost. She was not a prisoner.
As to the rest....
Tanner distressed her in a way that went beyond the obvious. What he had done was a violation—she might have consented (she wasn’t entirely sure she hadn’t) if he’d wooed her, flattered her and made her laugh as Louise’s gallant Lieutenant Stirling had done during their courtship.
No. Laura had to admit the truth if only to herself. Gallantry would never do for her. She was not as pure in heart as her sweet friend, Louise. The young chivalrous boys of her youth had held no appeal.
Tanner had not been gentle. She could tell as much from the bruises on her buttocks. It had been a relief not to have to think what to do or say. The power (and pleasure) of the sex act had taken her mind off where she had been for the past eighteen months, shut up with shrieking madwomen and her own terrifying thoughts.
He’d said it was hard to explain the impulse that had overtaken him. She was having equal difficulty explaining her feelings now. What he ought to have done, Tanner did not do. But conversely, she did not behave with him as a lady ought. When she undressed in the hedge maze, she hoped he would look.
Even now, disordered though she was in her feelings, she was drawn to him. A terrible sort of craving had overtaken her to have him near again.
What did he want with her? He declared he was not heroic as though it were a point of pride. The shadow the man stood in was too dense to penetrate. Mr. Caine’s mind was difficult to read. Dr. Rutledge had been a pane of glass by comparison. She had known exactly what to say to the doctor to make him believe what she wanted him to believe about her.
Tanner Caine on the other hand...
Perhaps that was the attraction. She had married the one person she could not approach as anything except herself.
Even when his flesh was moving inside hers in that profoundly intimate union, her deliverer remained an enigma. As hidden in the shadows as he ever was.
§
HE DID not promise her and that was the only decent thing he could reflect on about his conduct today. Tanner remembered other men in history who had been driven to desperation by beautiful women.
At least he’d had the courage to look her in the eyes during the act. She’d watched him with a dark serious gaze, solemn and perhaps a little dismayed.
That was not the man he’d set out to be with her but it was too late now. He could not turn back now. In a way, taking her that way had settled the rest of it for him too.
Tanner sat in the dim kitchen, waiting for the kettle to heat for her bath. Bread, cheese and a slab of salt pork would do for their meal. He missed the sea and fresh fish.
A single candle burned in its holder in the centre of the table. He picked up the pistol and began taking it apart, cleaning the barrel and flint. He idly pushed a measure of gunpowder into the chamber.
His hair hung lank and black in his eyes. She had said it absorbed the light like indigo ink. His mind turned again to their wedding. She was … she was … heartbreakingly beautiful.
And she was his. In the eyes of the law, the girl was his responsibility now.
Women were not beings he was comfortable dealing with.
He was not weak like his brother—or lucky. Tanner Caine made his own luck. The notice paid him by Queen Victoria was the only measure of luck he’d received in twenty-nine years and he did not mean to squander it.
Tanner lifted the candle and moved to the cracked mirror over the washstand. His marred visage glared back at him. Half demon, half dandy. Tanner grinned at the notion. A dandy he never was and never would be. He had learned a long time ago that those attracted to the right side of his face rarely stayed long after seeing the left. For this reason, he treasured the left over the right.
Half of his image was almost as perfect as Miss Mayhew’s.
When he was a boy and lived by the sea, he spent a good deal of time alone watching the ocean. He came to know every shade of green from the weeds in the seabed to the sky just before a storm. Her eyes were like looking into that green again. They reflected every shade he knew as a boy.
Tanner wished he could tell her that. His sentiments were unlikely to be novel. She’d likely heard her looks praised many times before. Ladies-in-waiting had their pick of the crop. Young men, old men, footmen, soldiers—Laura Mayhew would have had her share of admirers.
&
nbsp; He should tell her anyway. It was better than saying nothing at all.
After dinner, he would put her in his room for the night. It was the only one that had fresh bedding and a fire lit. There were five bed chambers at Hawthorne Hall. Only one had ever been used.
Tanner lifted the pistol. His father had cursed him with a curse.
He’d never had to kill anything so beautiful before.
§
To be continued...
Book Two: Whispers in the Fog
About the Author
Catherine Lloyd loves reading, watching great episodic television, and writing romance. Love stories that are hot and soul-satisfying are her drug of choice. She was inspired to write Victorian Villains from the gothic romance novels she devoured as a kid. Phyllis A. Whitney, Victoria Holt and Daphne du Maurier combined suspense and romance without the use of vampires.
She decided to release her Victorian stories in installments in the tradition of serialized fiction of the Victorian Age. Magazines nicknamed “the penny dreadful” published genre literature at a low cost in bi-weekly installments. The Victorian Age was an exotic time of science, exploration, high drama and passionate romance on stage and in books. The villains were psychologically fascinating. And hot!
The author has two grown children, two stepdaughters, a cat named Harry (who thinks he’s a dog) and four grandsons. She lives with her long-suffering spouse in the country where she enjoys having no hobbies and writes full time.
Follow Catherine on Amazon to be notified of new releases in this series.
Contact Catherine Lloyd at [email protected]
Or visit: Writewood Creations
Or visit her Author Page on Amazon
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DEAR READER: In the age of ebooks, readers are the curators of literature. The New York Times doesn’t have as much influence! Thank you for taking a moment to leave a review of this novel and helping other readers in making a decision. ~ Catherine Lloyd ~
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The Windemere Hall Trilogy
Book One: Betrothed
Book Two: Betrayed
Book Three: Beguiled
Mandrake Falls Four Seasons Romance
Four brides. Four seasons. One rocky road to romance.
THE JILTING ~ Summer
Best friends forever. Until one of them falls in love. The groom is AWOL. It’s Scout Rutherford’s wedding day and in the next 24 hours, she is shot at, lied to, forced to reveal a secret, abducted at gunpoint and thrown down a ravine. But a night spent in hiding with her best friend Ryder Dean puts her in the worst danger of all.
LIE FOR ME ~ Autumn
Sworn enemies, until they pretend to be lovers. Is the lie really the truth? Shelby Porter doesn’t like Sheriff Sawyer McIntyre and everyone in town knows it except Dolly Porter, Shelby and Sawyer’s much-loved, daffy aunt. Dolly’s health hasn’t been good of late. She worries too much over Shelby’s single status. To ease her mind, Shelby tells a little white lie that morphs into a whopper, until she is standing in Sheriff McIntyre’s bedroom at three o’clock in the morning with a teeny request: “Lie for me.” And that’s when things really get scary.
THE WAY HOME ~ Winter
The one thing they agree on is to never fall in love. Mandrake Falls is cocooned in a thick blanket of snow when Michael Shannon, the star of Tomorrow Never Comes is dropped like a bomb into Hudson Grace’s bachelor life. For the next seventy-two hours, due to a bureaucratic mix-up, the forester is stuck with the daytime diva. A fire on the hearth. A raging blizzard. And a three-year-old holy terror. Who will crack first?
LOVE RISING ~ Spring
Nobody expected them to fall in love. Nerdy stage manager, Jeremy Marks sees right through Jocelyn Tate’s stunning beauty to the vulnerable girl she is underneath. It’s no secret he’s in love with her. Jocelyn thinks Jeremy is sweet but poor and she’s determined to marry a rich man--preferably a billionaire. Jeremy doesn’t have a hope until a mysterious notice appears in the Gazette announcing their engagement. Thrown together, the young couple form a bond to find out who has it in for them.
MANDRAKE FALLS FOUR SEASONS ROMANCE ~ Boxed Set Edition
Contemporary Romantic Comedy. Get all four titles for one low price!
Dark Redeemer Medieval Adventure Romance
Love. In a dangerous time.
WANTON
Callie of Wideopens is the beautiful 18-year-old ward of Jane and Ethan. Ethan has had impure thoughts about his ward. Jane is dying and the crone who supplies her herbs has had a vision of a terrible act. In a misguided attempt to alter the fate of her husband, Jane makes a desperate request of Callie. In doing so, she unwittingly sets in motion the crone’s prophecy.
WASTREL
Lord Sebastian Redford’s drinking, card-playing and womanizing is legendary at court and his brazen affair with the wife of the most powerful man in England has put his life in danger. To ward off disaster, Lord Redford’s man hastily arranges a marriage of convenience to Beatrice Fall. Sebastian’s bride proves to be anything but convenient when he consummates their marriage and their marriage of convenience becomes a dangerous wedding of illicit love.
TRAITOR
The Earl of Dorset has betrothed his only child, pampered 18-year-old Lady Elspeth to the French lord, Tyndale to secure his favour with the new French king. The trip to Canterbury is a great adventure accompanied by her father’s Captain of the Guard, Griffith of Nottingham. The captain is a skilled bowman, loyal to the Earl and admired by Lady Elspeth—he is also a double agent working to restore King John to the throne.
Purchase the Boxed Edition for $4.99!
Swords, horses and medieval adventure! Get all three for one low price.
SOLDIER ~ A Medieval Christmas Novella
Two amoral men are transformed by love. In Mercenary, Broderick has been made a new father but his infant son is failing to thrive. Then Tess is brought before him, the daughter of the lord whose lands Broderick has usurped. The new master of Castlemuir confines the young woman to his inner sanctum to nurse his son, but his desire for the silent girl drives him to take dangerous risks. In Jester, Dumas is a hideously deformed clown who travels the countryside in a caravan with his young assistant, Fallon, a young woman disguised as a boy. In return for keeping her identity a secret, Fallon must perform for the misshapen man each night. But Dumas has a secret of his own as Fallon soon learns after a performance at Castlemuir Hall.
Mark of Caine Trilogy: Book One: Hidden in the Shadows (Victorian Villains) Page 7
