Sea of Desire

by Christine Dorsey

  Jared recognized Lord Alfred on the left, though the Englishman appeared much younger and in better health. But it was the miniature on the right that held his interest. There, looking very much like Merideth, was a young woman with light hair. Beside her sat a beautiful child. A child with the face of an angel.

  Merideth.

  Jared took a shattered breath and shut his eyes. Belle found him like that when she came to light the candles in the room.

  “I thought you lived with Captain Blackstone.” It was dark; they’d ridden hard all day and into the night to arrive at Charles Town. And though she’d only been there once, and though she could barely see now, Merideth was certain this wasn’t the same house on Tradd Street.

  “I do,” Daniel answered. They were leading their horses around back to the stables. “But I keep this place too. For when I want to be off to myself.”

  Merideth looked toward him but could discern no more than a shadowy form.

  “It’s better that no one knows you’re here,” he explained. “ ‘Twill be easier to get you north that way. I’m convinced that’s the best plan.”

  She supposed it made sense, as much sense as anything else that had happened to her since Jared Blackstone had come into her life. Besides, she was too tired to think of it now. Her legs felt limp and quivery. Merideth didn’t know how she could still stand.

  She was startled from her lethargy when Daniel pounded on the stable door. He yelled a name, and some minutes later a bedraggled old man with a gray, straggly beard and torn, filthy clothing opened the door. He held a lantern high, squinting through the light at Daniel and Merideth.

  “What ye be wantin’?” he growled as his body blocked their entrance to the stable.

  Merideth’s horse, obviously as tired as she and anxious for her feed, pawed the ground.

  “Make way for your betters, you insufferable swine. I’ll tolerate no disrespect from the likes of you.” Daniel shoved at the man’s chest. The poor old fellow faltered and fell back, catching himself before tumbling to the straw-littered floor.

  Merideth thought he would come after Daniel then... the look in the old man’s eyes was fierce. But he evidently thought better of it. With a scowl he hung the lantern from a hook and grabbed the reins from Merideth’s hand. She let go instantly, jumping out of the way when he led the horse past her. This seemed to amuse the old man, for when he looked back a grotesque parody of a smile creased his whiskered face. “So now you’re takin’ to bringin’ girls here too, are ye?”

  Before Merideth’s surprised eyes Daniel lurched forward, clutching the ragged garment covering the old man’s chest and slapping him hard across the face. Merideth gasped as the sharp sound echoed through the stable.

  “Shut your filthy mouth,” Daniel said before pushing him to the ground. The horse’s hooves pounded the straw nervously and Merideth feared the man would be trampled, but he rolled away. The evil laugh that escaped him made Merideth’s flesh crawl.

  “Come on,” Daniel said as he grabbed the lantern. He rushed from the stable, leaving it blanketed in darkness, and Merideth scrambled after him.

  “What in heaven’s name happened back there?” Her voice was breathless as she rushed to catch up with him. Merideth could see the gardens now, at least the parts where the small puddle of light spilled. They were overgrown and choked with weeds.

  “He was insolent,” was all Daniel would say.

  The house appeared deserted. They approached from the back up brick stairs. Merideth tried to suppress her feelings of apprehension. It was just because it was night and deathly dark, she thought. In the morning things would appear brighter. But she couldn’t put the ugly scene in the stable from her mind.

  Once inside, Daniel lit a branch of candles and led the way up a narrow back staircase. At the top he turned left and opened a door. The room was large and ornately furnished, from what Merideth could see as he swept the flickering flames in an arch.

  “You can stay in here.”

  As she stepped through the threshold, Daniel shut the door behind her, leaving her in darkness.

  Panic swelled in Merideth’s breast. She fumbled with the latch, swinging the door open only to find the hallway deserted. The light gone. Stifling a sob, she shut the door. Feeling her way along the chair rail, she inched around the room, all the while fighting her fear.

  Her elbow bumped into something hard and she cried out. A chifforobe, she discovered, as her hands framed the wooden wardrobe. She found her way to the bed at last, then across it to the commode at its side. Her fingers fumbled with the objects on top, trying not to knock them to the floor.

  Her eyes were adjusting to the darkness slowly, and now she could make out dark shadows. Merideth’s breath quickened when she found the flint. Carefully she struck it, the blooming flash of light allowing her to see the candle stuck in a silver holder. The wick caught and Merideth sighed in relief, collapsing onto the bed.

  She lay huddled on her side, staring at the flickering frame, wondering why she’d come. Deep in her being she missed the captain. Instinctively her fingers reached for the locket before remembering that even that small measure of comfort was gone. But she was glad she’d left it for Jared... left him something of herself.

  What was he doing now? She couldn’t help wondering what he had thought when he’d read her note. He’d be angry. She knew that. But his rage would pass. Then he’d realize what she’d done was for the best.

  Now, if Merideth could only convince herself of that...

  Sleep, when it came, was fitful. She tossed and turned, her dreams many and varied. One moment she was riding the waves of ecstasy, her body and soul consumed by Jared Blackstone. The next she was torn from his arms, thrown into a dark pit where her screams echoed off into nothingness.

  It was from the latter nightmare that she woke with a start. She lay on the bed, her breast heaving, staring at the circle of light reflected on the ceiling.

  She hadn’t noticed before, but above the bed were paintings. Angels, she thought at first, and smiled. Though the room was chilled, her face and body were covered with a fine sheen of perspiration, and she raised her arm to blot her forehead with her sleeve. When she lowered it she looked up again at the mural.

  The figures weren’t exactly angels. She squinted her eyes, wishing there was more light. That’s when she noticed something strange about the elflike creatures. They were all boys. Merideth blinked her eyes in shock, but couldn’t help opening them again; she stared intently to make certain she’d seen it correctly.

  There was no doubt. The small, pretty-faced people cavorting across the ceiling were nude from the waist down, and painted in graphic detail.

  Making a noise of shock and outrage, Merideth rolled to her side and sat in one motion. Golden curls spilled over her shoulders as her head hung limply forward. She gulped for breath, fearing she would be sick.

  That’s when she heard voices.

  They were raised in laughter, and Merideth thought they came from somewhere downstairs. Slipping off the bed, she straightened her gown and picked up the candlestick. The taper was burning low, sputtering in the melted wax, and Merideth quickly searched for another, to no avail.

  Hurriedly she left the room.

  Protecting the flame with her cupped hand, Merideth rushed along the hall. Passing by the servant’s steps, she found the top of a wide spiraling staircase. The voices were louder now. She recognized Daniel’s. There was another, no, two other men she’d never heard before.

  The treads were carpeted in an ornate rug that softened her footsteps. When she reached the landing she lifted the stub of a candle to the face of the tall case clock.

  Twenty minutes past two.

  An hour that should find her abed. But she couldn’t return to that room. The voices and the bright light spilling from the room to the right of the wide entrance hall drew her.

  Lifting the skirts of her blue silk gown, she moved across the hall. In the doorway she pa
used, staring into the parlor.

  The room was aglow with a multitude of candles. Overhead a crystal luster sparkled with reflected light. And in every conceivable spot tapers burned, their twinkling flames contributing to the brilliance.

  Two young men she’d never seen before sat in the room, sprawling across chairs, their jackets off, their shirts loose. Daniel stood before them, his back to Merideth. He wore a floral-patterned banyan of vivid red, and his head, free from the wig, was covered with wispy brown curls. He held a goblet in one hand, a decanter in the other, and he used them both to gesture as he talked.

  When one of the men spotted Merideth, he motioned with his head, and Daniel turned around, his loose robe swirling about him.

  Merideth gasped and stepped back. She’d never seen anyone look so grotesque. His lips were rouged scarlet and his eyes lined with kohl. At the apex of each cheek rode a velvet beauty patch. Merideth could only stare.

  But Daniel seemed not to notice. He waved her in, splashing red wine over his sleeve in the process. “Ah, Lady Merideth, do come join us.”

  “I heard voices,” Merideth began, and faltered. A smoky haze hung in the air, giving the whole scene a surreal quality. “I don’t want to disturb you.” Suddenly Merideth had the strongest urge to bolt. From the room. From the house.

  But Daniel’s hand on her elbow stopped any such thoughts. “Nonsense, my dear Merideth. We wouldn’t dream of you escaping us.” He was stronger than he looked, and Merideth found herself being pulled to the center of the garishly decorated parlor. The couch he led her to was blood red, with rolled bolsters and gilded legs. The cushions enveloped her when she sat.

  Merideth swallowed and tried to stand. The force of his hold kept her from it.

  Unease burgeoned into fear.

  “I really should leave.”

  This time his voice lost its coating of civility. “Stay where you are.” His brows lifted. “The party is in your honor, after all.”

  “I don’t know what you want from me, but I...” She what? Merideth couldn’t think what to say. What to do. All the while she stared at Daniel, forcing her eyes not to waver. She didn’t want him to see her fear. But she couldn’t help herself. She was frightened.

  He looked so different with his face painted like a French courtesan. Yet something about him seemed familiar. Almost as if she’d seen him like this before. But that was impossible. Certainly she would remember if he’d ever dressed as a woman before.

  “Let me see.” Daniel brought his hand to his chin, pointing a finger to his rouged cheek. “Now, what could I want from you?” He chortled, and the other two men must have found this amusing, for they both joined him, tittering away.

  “I’m leaving.” Merideth pushed his hand aside and scrambled to her feet. She was nearly to the door when her shoulders were grabbed and she was whirled about. It was one of the other men who caught her, held her, as Daniel bore down on her, his face a mask of rage.

  And in that instant Merideth knew where she’d seen him before.

  The coach.

  She... he was driving the coach that nearly ran her down in Paris. He’d worn a hat and veils at the time, but when Merideth had looked up, the wind caught the netting, blowing it aside and exposing the face. She’d thought at the time that the woman was frightened, that the expression on her painted face was fear. Now she saw it again and recognized it for what it truly was. Hatred.

  “What are you going to do with me?” Merideth couldn’t keep her voice from trembling. “Why are you doing this?”

  “As to why, my dear Merideth, I think you know. Was it not recognition I spotted on your angelic face?”

  “You tried to run me down with a coach.”

  “Ah, you did see me. I feared as much.”

  “But why?” Merideth’s voice was insistent. “What did I ever do to you?”

  “Not what you did. What you might do.” Daniel paused, motioning to the two men. “Go on upstairs with you. I’ll join you soon.”

  “Are you certain we should go?” one of them asked, and Daniel nodded.

  “This will insure Lady Merideth’s cooperation.” He pulled a pistol from the silken folds of his banyan.

  Merideth stood, her back against the scarlet-covered wall, the gun pointed at her, as the two men left the room. Her mind worked furiously to come up with a plan to escape this madman, for that was what she assumed he was. But nothing came to her, not even when his attention was once again focused on her.

  “You still haven’t figured it out, have you? Perhaps you aren’t as clever as I thought.”

  “Figured what out? I... I don’t know what you mean.”

  “The identity of the traitor. Of Lady Sinclair.”

  “I don’t know who...” The truth came in an epiphany. “You?”

  His smile was evil, his shrug delicate. “Perhaps you didn’t know.”

  “No, I didn’t. How could I?”

  “Your father did. He knew it all. Which, of course, was why I had to eliminate him.”

  “You killed my father!” Merideth jerked forward, but the barrel of the pistol halted her advance.

  “What would you expect me to do?” Daniel questioned logically. “I thought it was all handled very nicely. With your father dead and Jared to hang for the murder. But then my dear cousin shows up in Morlaix with you. Somehow he’s escaped the house and he’s accompanied by another who knows my little secret.”

  “You tried to kill me then.”

  “Oh yes. Several times. In the inn, in Paris. I even hired a highwayman... such a waste of time and coin.” He shook his head. “But my damn cousin kept spoiling things.”

  “But surely you realized after we met on the Carolina that I didn’t know who you were.”

  “At first I thought you were just being clever and coy. That you planned to blackmail me, or were using me to rid yourself of Jared. Then it occurred to me that he was wrong. That you really didn’t know. But you’d seen me in Paris. Sooner or later you might remember that. It’s better if we simply eliminate you all together. Don’t you agree?”

  Merideth felt helpless against his cold logic. “Jared won’t let you get away with this.”

  “My dear cousin won’t know. Perhaps John could figure it out, but not Jared.”

  “What does John have to do with this? If you’re Lady Sinclair, then he couldn’t have been in love with her. You made that up to make Jared think it was me, didn’t you? Didn’t—”

  “Enough. I tire of this game of a thousand questions. Questions it matters naught if you know the answers to. By tomorrow, nothing on this earthly plane will be of consequence to you.”

  So now she knew. Merideth fought him when he grabbed her, but before she could do more than scratch his cheek, he twisted her around. Her arm was jerked high. The gun jabbed into her back.

  He pushed her out the door then, and it was all Merideth could do to keep her footing as he shoved her along the hallway, through the back door, and into the night. She cried out when he twisted her arm higher, but he only laughed.

  “There’s no one about who will help you, Lady Merideth. No one at all.”

  And apparently he was right, for no one came to her rescue.

  Merideth could barely see, couldn’t imagine where they were headed, but suddenly pain exploded in her shoulder as she was rammed into a brick wall. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and her forehead fell forward against the gritty surface. He let go of her arm them, but Merideth was so disoriented she couldn’t take advantage of her freedom. Besides, he still held the cocked gun to her ribs.

  She could hear him fumbling with something. A lock? And then came the creaking of rusty door hinges. A dank, musty smell assaulted her nostrils even before he grabbed her again, shoving her into a black hole.

  The door slammed shut behind her, blocking even the weakest rays of light.

  “No! No!” Merideth’s screams reverberated off the walls, echoing back to her own ears, increasing her panic. Her hea
rt raced, and try as she might, she couldn’t seem to get enough air into her starving lungs.

  “No, no,” she sobbed. “Let me out. Oh, please, let me out.”

  But only silence answered her pleas. Her fists pounded the door, scraping and clawing at the thick panels of wood.

  Then slowly, as her strength deserted her, Merideth slid to the packed-earth floor. Clutching her knees, she folded her head between her arms and tried to tame the panic, the feeling that the walls were closing in on her. The demons of the past.

  Chapter Twenty

  “Where in the hell is she?”

  Daniel glanced up from the muffin he’d lathered with butter, his brow raised. The heavy curtains were drawn. A branch of candles on the table flickered, a poor substitute for the morning light. “Good day, dear cousin. I didn’t expect to see you here. This is the first you’ve visited my little home away from home. I didn’t even know you knew of its existence.”

  Jared strode into the dining room, ignoring the cheerful chatter. He was sweaty and covered with dust, certainly in no mood for frivolous conversation. “I want to know what you’ve done with Merideth.”

  Daniel shrugged. “Why, nothing. Nothing but send her on her way to New York. She wanted to go back to England. I simply helped—” Daniel yelped as he was hauled up out of his chair.

  Using the scarlet banyan to hold him, Jared gave his cousin a shake. “I’ve been riding all night and most of the morning, and I want to know where she is. Not some vague response like ‘She’s on her way north.’ ” He twisted his fingers in the silk. “Who is she with and when did she leave?”

  “I’ll tell you nothing till you put me down.” Daniel’s slippered feet landed with a thud on the carpet. He straightened his wig and smoothed the wrinkles from his gown. “You always did think your brawn could take care of any problem,” Daniel said, his expression cold. “I would have thought you’d have learned by now it doesn’t.”

  Sinking into a chair, Jared rubbed both hands down over his face. His eyes felt gritty from lack of sleep, and two days’ worth of whiskers covered his cheeks and chin. Daniel was right. Jared knew better than to fly into a rage, especially around his cousin. He needed information, and though he was anxious to be on his way, he’d have to play the game Daniel’s way. “I’m sorry,” he said when his emotions were somewhat under control. “This probably isn’t your fault. I know how persuasive Merideth can be, but I need to know where she is.”