Sylvia Andrew

by Lord Calthorpes Promise

  ‘I was ill. I didn’t know what I was saying.’

  ‘Didn’t you? Didn’t you, Kate?’ He held her eye.

  After a moment she looked away. ‘Perhaps I did. But you needn’t pay any attention to it,’ she said in her old detached manner.

  ‘Oh, no, you can’t use that tone with me—not any more. I’ve seen the real Kate Payne.’

  Katharine looked at him with desperation in her eyes. ‘Can’t you forget what I said last night, Adam? It’s so humiliating!’

  ‘Let me take you downstairs. There’s something I want to say to you. We shan’t be disturbed. Mama has taken Miss Tillyard for a drive in the country.’

  ‘What do you want to say?’

  ‘I’ll tell you in the garden.’

  She gave a little gesture of resignation and allowed him to pick her up and carry her downstairs.

  In the garden she sat under the apple tree, gazing at her fingers, refusing to meet Adam’s eyes. He took her hand.

  ‘Don’t shut me out, Kate. Don’t ever shut me out.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I mean,’ he said deliberately, ‘that it would hurt me, more than I have ever been hurt before, if you were to deny me the girl I saw last night. Let the rest of the world be happy to know the Katharine Payne it saw in Bridge House, and in the London ballrooms. But you mustn’t deprive me of the real Kate Payne. I fell in love with her before I really knew she existed, but now that I’ve seen her, I will never be content with less. I love you, Katharine. Never doubt that. Passionately and forever.’

  ‘You…you said you wanted us to marry because I needed a home and you needed a wife.’

  ‘I was mad! I need you! No other woman will do. And making a home with you, living at Calthorpe, building our future together, is everything I want. Can you forgive me for being so blind before?’

  ‘I suppose you did call me your darling,’ she said slowly.

  ‘I thought you were asleep!’

  She smiled. ‘I heard that,’ she said. ‘So perhaps you do mean what you said. Perhaps it’s not just because you feel sorry for me—’

  ‘Sorry for you! Are you mad? Just wait till you’re stronger. I’ll show you what I feel for you!’

  ‘It’s only my arm, Adam…’ Kate gave him a sideways look. He found he couldn’t stop the laughter. It came out, joyful, jubilant, triumphant. When Kate began to look offended, he drew her from her seat, put his arm carefully round her good shoulder, and pulled her slowly to him. The kiss that followed began gently—almost a brotherly kiss, thought Katharine, disappointed. But then she decided she had been too quick to judge. The kiss grew in depth, in feeling, in passion. The sensation was like nothing she had ever before experienced. She was whirling round like a leaf in a storm, floating like thistledown, the blood coursed through her veins with a singing joy, yet all the time she felt safe, held close, held in a lover’s arms. When he released her she had to hold on to him—she would otherwise have fallen. He held her with trembling hands for a while. Through her own tumultuous heartbeats she could feel his. They were just as uneven.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ he said. ‘I meant to treat you so carefully… And then…you’re like wine, Katharine! Champagne! You go to my head. I could have hurt you! I shouldn’t have—’

  ‘No! Don’t say that! It wasn’t weakness. If I held on to you it wasn’t because I was ill, Adam. And you mustn’t say you shouldn’t have kissed me like that. I…I liked it. I want more! Indeed, I think I could become addicted!’

  Adam shook his head. ‘I shouldn’t have done it, all the same. This isn’t the time or the place for such things. Talking of which…’

  He sat her down again. ‘Now we’ve sorted ourselves out—’

  ‘Is that what you call it?’ murmured Katharine. ‘I’ve seldom felt more unsorted, myself.’

  Adam ignored this interruption. ‘I’ll tell you what I really brought you down here to say. And I’m not afraid you’ll misunderstand me. Not now. I want you to marry me—’

  ‘Well, I should hope so!’

  ‘Be quiet and let me finish! I want us to marry almost immediately. Apart from a very natural desire to have you to myself, I want to see you absolutely safe. Let’s have no more nonsense about the Frampton inheritance. Until you’re married you will be in danger.’

  ‘I don’t think Walter will try any more tricks, Adam. He will be so shocked to hear I am still alive that he wouldn’t dare.’

  ‘Do you remember what happened in the castle grounds?’

  ‘Walter came. He wanted to talk, he said. He said he was going to marry me whether I liked it or not. I tried to get away… Then he attacked me.’

  ‘Did he hurt you?’

  ‘Not then. I…I hit him. With my crop. There was blood on his face.’

  ‘What happened next?’

  She frowned. ‘I’m not sure. I think he hit me with something heavy… And when I woke up I was in the well.’

  Adam hesitated. ‘He was a villain. Thank God we found you in time.’ He grasped her hands firmly in his. ‘But, Kate, I have to tell you this. Walter got his desserts. He’s dead.’

  ‘Dead! How? You didn’t—’

  ‘No. He was dead when we found him. He’d been thrown.’

  ‘How could he have been thrown? He didn’t have a horse with him! I’d have seen it.’

  ‘Where was Cintra?’

  ‘I tethered her under the trees. I didn’t want to risk taking her into the castle grounds.’

  ‘That’s how Walter died. He tried to get away on Cintra. He was probably in a panic.’

  ‘And Cintra threw him? I think she might if he treated her badly.’

  Adam nodded his head slowly. ‘That was probably the way of it.’

  ‘I can’t help feeling sorry for him, Adam. That wretched inheritance! If only he hadn’t been so obsessed by it…’

  They sat in silence for a moment. Then he said, ‘I still want to marry you as soon as possible.’

  She gave him a glance. ‘It’s not necessary now, is it?’

  ‘More than ever! And you will marry me here in Herriard Stoke, as soon as you are well enough! It will be a quiet wedding, of course. Your cousin’s death, to say the least—’

  ‘Are you ordering me what to do, Adam?’

  ‘Yes!’

  ‘In that case, and for this once, I submit. I think it’s a wonderful idea!’

  ‘Good. I’ll put things in motion straight away. I must get in touch with Ivo, too. I’d like him to be there.’

  ‘I’m so glad.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Why not? He’s your friend. I like him. He dances the waltz so well. And he talks so charmingly, too,’ said Katharine with an innocent look.

  Adam took her chin in his hand. He said with a mock-threatening look, ‘If I ever see you flirting with anyone, best friend or anyone else, I shall run him through with my sabre, then cut out his heart. Do you understand?’

  ‘Perfectly! And if I ever see you looking besotted at Julia Redsh—’

  ‘I was not besotted! I have never been besotted in my life!’ He stopped short. ‘I am besotted,’ he said in tones of disgust. ‘I’m besotted with my future wife!’

  Epilogue

  July 1817

  One year later, more or less to the day, Lord Calthorpe came into his lady’s bedchamber with a letter in his hand. Lady Calthorpe was sitting up looking slightly wan.

  ‘Are you feeling more the thing, my love?’ he asked, bending over to kiss her.

  She caught his hand. ‘I expect I will soon,’ she said. ‘Give me another quarter of an hour. Is the letter from your mother? It’s not to say she can’t come this month, is it? I hope not! I can’t wait to show her all the things we’ve done at Calthorpe since she was last here.’

  ‘My darling girl, I can’t imagine what could possibly arise to keep my mother away!’

  ‘Good! It’s time we told her that she’s to be a grandmother in six months’ time, as well.
’ Katharine looked worried. ‘She won’t mind, will she?’

  ‘Not in the slightest. That’s why she was so anxious to have me married! She wants grandchildren.’

  ‘Oh? And I thought it was because she liked me,’ said Katharine mournfully.

  Adam kissed the fingers twined round his hand. ‘She adores you,’ he said. ‘But not as much as I do.’

  After a short interval Katharine said, ‘Tell me who sent the letter.’

  ‘Ivo. He’s going down to visit his father at Sudiham, and he would like to call in on his way.’

  ‘That’s very good news! When?’

  ‘Tomorrow fortnight. Do you agree?’

  ‘Of course! But I don’t think I’ll try the waltz with him this time!’

  Lord Trenchard arrived to the warmest of welcomes from both the Calthorpes. Katharine had felt at ease with him from the start, even though she had never had the slightest desire to flirt with him. Adam, of course, still counted him among his closest friends.

  After dinner that night Ivo gave them the latest news from town. Towards the end he said carefully, ‘I hear Henry Payne is back at Herriards, but I doubt he’ll hold on to it for long. Rumour has it that he is trying to break the entail. Have you heard anything about it?’

  ‘We haven’t been away from Calthorpe since we first came down here last year. We haven’t heard a thing. What is being said, if anything, about Walter?’

  ‘There were rumours, of course. But nothing substantial. Nothing the scandalmongers could get their teeth into. Acheson married Catherine Payne, in spite of her father’s difficulties. And now the world doesn’t know whom to pity more—the bad-tempered husband or his flighty wife.’ They all laughed. Ivo went on with a comic look, ‘Talking of which, Balmenny has kept his lady firmly at home in Ireland. London hasn’t seen her this season. I think he’s trying to set up a family before it’s too late.’

  ‘Wise man!’ said Adam idly, filling his guest’s glass. Then he sat back. ‘So, Ivo, what brings you to Somerset? Your father?’

  ‘First, yes. I’ll spend some time with him. Since we became reconciled he seems to need to see me quite often. He’s getting old, Adam. I’m sorry now for the years we spent apart. Still, there’s nothing I can do about that—it’s water under the bridge…’ He paused. ‘I saw Colonel Ancroft in town, by the way. He has sold out of the Army, and has leased a house in Mount Street. He lives there alone. To tell the truth, I thought he looked a little lost. Has he no family?’

  ‘It’s a long story, Ivo,’ Adam said. His tone indicated that he wasn’t about to say any more.

  ‘And not a story for publication, I take it?’

  ‘Well, not mine to tell, at least,’ agreed Adam a touch apologetically. ‘It would be good to see the Colonel, though. Kate, sweetheart, would you mind if I invited him down? I’d like you to meet him.’

  ‘Er…it’ll have to be soon, won’t it?’ asked Ivo with a wicked look. ‘Or is he to be the godfather? I was rather hoping that would be my assignment.’

  ‘Be quiet, Ivo!’ said Katharine, blushing.

  Adam raised his eyebrows. ‘What? Burden our child with a rake for a godfather?’

  ‘I’ll reform! I’ll take the cloth! I’ll do whatever you say! What do you wish me to do?’

  ‘Nothing so drastic. But we’ll talk of it nearer Christmas,’ said Adam with a grin. ‘I expect when the time comes we’ll consider it. Will you be ready to report for duty?’

  ‘Try to stop me!’

  ‘Ivo, it sounded almost as if you had another reason to be down here,’ Katharine said, thinking it time to change the subject. Though her husband laughed at her, she was childishly superstitious about tempting fate.

  ‘Well, there is another reason—’

  ‘A lady! A lady! Tell us!’ cried Katharine gleefully.

  ‘Not exactly a lady, Kate. A girl. Or better still, half-boy, half-girl.’

  ‘What? This doesn’t sound like your normal quarry, Ivo!’

  ‘Oh, I’m not pursuing her. She’s far too young. She pursued me. With a pistol. She was a jolly fine shot, too.’

  Katharine looked at him in disbelief. ‘You’re making this up!’

  ‘I swear I’m not.’

  ‘My dear chap, why are you planning to seek her out again?’ asked Adam. ‘I should have thought you would want to steer well clear. So why?’

  ‘I’m curious. I want to see what happened to her… It’s an intriguing situation…would you like to know more about her?’

  The Calthorpes demanded to know the whole story immediately.

  ‘I don’t know the whole story. I suspect it hasn’t yet come to an end.’ Ivo sipped his wine, thought a moment, then began.

  ‘It all started when I was on leave in the spring of ’15. I tried to visit my father, to make my peace with him before rejoining the regiment, but he refused to see me. So, since I was at something of a loss, I decided to stay with my aunt who lived not far away…’

  The night was warm and, after their guest had gone to his room, Lord and Lady Calthorpe took a walk in the garden.

  ‘What do you think of Ivo’s story?’ asked Adam.

  ‘I think that this may be the best thing that has ever happened to him,’ Katharine said slowly.

  ‘What on earth do you mean?’

  ‘He may not be very complimentary about the girl. But she intrigues him. And you know, Adam, Ivo would never be happy with your conventional débutante. She would bore him in no time. Yes, I predict some interesting times ahead for your friend.’

  ‘You may be right,’ said Adam, losing interest as he turned to take Kate in his arms. ‘But there are more interesting times ahead for us, my love. My very…dearest…love.’

  They kissed. Ivo caught sight of them from his window, and felt, just for a moment, that there was something he had not yet found… Something that could be wonderful.

  ISBN: 978-1-4592-4009-4

  LORD CALTHORPE’S PROMISE

  First North American Publication 2004

  Copyright © 2002 by Sylvia Andrew

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