Beastly Duke and the Winsome Bride

by Charity McColl

  Samantha was anxious about their host. Her father had told her a little bit about the wounded man who had come north to hide away from his friends in London, and then the servant had also told them how badly wounded he was. She wondered what would make a normal person hide away from society, and when Alastair stepped into the room and she saw his face, she gave a small gasp of horror. His face was really disfigured, and she quickly lowered her eyes before he turned to look at her. Her heart was beating rapidly and she was afraid that he would hear it.

  “My lord,” Robin stood up in deference, not at all revolted by Alastair’s face. “My name is Robin Sikes and this here is my daughter, Samantha.” Samantha stood up and curtsied, still unable to raise her face. “Please forgive her, she is a very shy girl.”

  Alastair smiled and motioned for his guests to sit down once again. “I don’t blame anyone for not wanting to look at my face. It is hideous, but I am in my castle and so,” he shrugged.

  “Thank you for giving us audience, my lord.”

  “When Thomas came to inform me that I had visitors from London, I tried to think if I know you from anywhere but the name doesn’t ring a bell to me.”

  “You wouldn’t know us, sir. I’m a police constable in Thames District, and it is a father’s desperation that has made me undertake this long journey,” and he went on to tell the duke about the forced proposal and how he was afraid for his daughter. “From what I hear about Lord Daniel Cross, he is a very cruel man. He has buried two young wives and I didn’t want my daughter to end up as his third victim.”

  “I don’t understand what it is you think I can do for you, Mr. Sikes.”

  “Samantha has grown up in terrible circumstances, with a stepmother who has ill-treated her. She is a hardworking young woman, cooks and cleans without complaining and very gentle in nature. I brought her here because I read in the newspapers how you don’t have servants to take care of your needs. My daughter can be a good housekeeper, and this is the one place that her stepmother and Lord Cross will never think of looking for her. When things are settled at home, I will eventually come back and bring her home again.”

  “That is a very unusual request,” Alastair frowned.

  “I’m a desperate father, who only wants to protect his daughter.”

  “How sure are you that you aren’t just bringing her into a place where she will land into more trouble?”

  “I’m a police constable, and as such, I get around London very much. After I read the article about you, I made my own inquiries, which led me to a number of men and women who have been in your employ in the past. They were all unanimous in their praise for you, and how you took good care of them. The young maidens and servants were safe from any manner of harm for as long as they lived under your roof. For many, when you left London, you left them in a lot of trouble and desperation because they cannot find positions that are as good as what you offered them. I listened and I chose to trust that Samantha will be safe in your care.”

  “That is a lot to ask of a stranger. What if I don’t need her services?”

  “My lord, this is a large castle. I’m sure there must be something for her to do here. Whatever it is, I just want my daughter to be safe.”

  “Well, I have to consult with the staff that I have presently and if there is room, I will allow your daughter to stay here for as long as you need to sort things out back in London and get her back home safely.”

  “That’s all I ask, my lord.”

  “Very well then, excuse me please.”

  7

  Consternation

  Thomas smiled at his master. “Just think, my lord. The gentle hand of a young lady will bring cheer to the gloom in this castle. Not that I’m saying it isn’t a wonderful place to be, but it has been silent for too long. When the young ones in the village see that this young woman is living here and coming to no harm, perhaps we can once again revive the fairs and banquets that we had. As it is, everyone feels that if they celebrate it is mocking you, so that is why our village is silent and bereft of any merrymaking.”

  Alastair chuckled. “Thomas, you’re an old man with a young man’s heart.” He turned to Peter. “What do you say, Peter?”

  “As long as the young lady can do what her father says she can, then it will be a nice change from the hard bread and dry chicken that we have to eat. We have an enthusiastic cook, but I long for some of those delicious meals that we enjoyed in times past.”

  “The two of you are hopeless,” Alastair said, pleased that his men were on board with Samantha staying in the castle. What he didn’t see were the swift looks they exchanged, and as they were to gossip later, they hoped the young lady would fall in love with Alastair and bring love into his life.

  “Well, Mr. Sikes, it seems as if you’re in luck. My men tell me that this castle needs a woman’s touch. As long as your daughter stays in doors and tells Thomas or Peter if she needs to go out, then she will be safe. If she wanders away from the castle and gets into trouble, I’m afraid there will be nothing I can do.”

  “Samantha isn’t a troublesome girl, and she knows the stakes involved here. While I took the utmost care to cover our tracks, sometimes things do go wrong. I would rather that if any trouble comes at all, that she will have the protection of the castle and my lord.”

  “You can rest assured that no harm will come to your daughter under my care. But just to be safer, I will ask one of the older female servants who lives on the estate to come and stay here in the castle. In that way, she will not lack for company.”

  “I’m indebted to you, my lord,” Robin bowed low. “It is a relief to know that my child will be safe.”

  “Let us pray that it remains so.”

  * * *

  Robin stayed for four days in the castle, helping Samantha settle in. She was terrified of the scar-faced man, but she knew that this was where her safely lay. She had also proved herself as a wonderful cook, and it warmed her heart to see the other servants treating her like their granddaughter. Yes, she would be safe here at the castle, but she wished she didn’t have to come into the presence of their master.

  “Sam,” her father told her on the morning that he was leaving to return to London. “This is now your home. It is with a heavy heart that I leave you here, but you know that I have no choice.”

  “What if you had taken me to Uncle Jeremy, or any of Mama’s relatives?”

  “Nobody is a match for your stepmother when she is determined to get her own way. You wouldn’t have been safe, and besides, down in London, Daniel Cross is a powerful man. There’s no telling to which lengths he would go to force you to marry him. I would rather that you are up here, in a distant land, where you will be safe. I trust the duke and his people, and as long as you are obedient and take care, they will protect you.”

  “But Papa, I’m scared of him.”

  “Why child? Because of his scars? As a Christian you should never judge people by their looks. The heart is where it all counts. Look at Daniel Cross, he is a very handsome and appealing man, but with a very wicked heart. Or would you like to return to London and be wed to him?” Samantha gave a visible shudder. “I thought not. The duke may be scarred on the outside, but inside is a man with a heart of gold. And remember, he has scars of honour. He got them when he was defending England from that madman, Napoleon Bonaparte. You and I can sleep in our beds knowing that England is safe from outside invasion. Never forget that.”

  “Yes Papa, I’m sorry I was being childish. I will try my best to bring honour to you.”

  “I just want you to be safe always. When everything is alright back at home, I will come and get you again.”

  “Yes, Papa.”

  They hugged and Robin got into the carriage that was waiting to convey him to the port so he could take a ship back to London. Samantha followed it as far as the moat, waving with tears in her eyes, then turned and went back inside the castle, trying to shut out the sound of the large gates being closed once
again.

  She wasn’t aware that Alastair was standing in one of the rooms upstairs looking down into the courtyard and watching her. He knew that as a young woman she was very scared of him, and he decided that he wouldn’t make her life any more difficult. She barely looked at him and he understood her fears, though something within him longed for her to keep smiling. He had seen her smiling at Old Terry, the woman who had come to live in the castle and keep her company. The reports he got from Thomas were that she was a very polite and obedient young woman. In a way, he was happy that she was at the castle.

  Samantha didn’t know how she was going to be communicating with the duke, especially because most of the days Thomas and Peter were out of the castle, attending to business matters.

  The day after her father left, she found a note written in bold handwriting, lying on the kitchen counter.

  “Good morning, Miss Samantha. If you would prepare my tea and bring it to the parlour, I would be most grateful. Alastair.”

  As the days went by, Samantha found herself loving the castle more and more. It was such a peaceful place and sometimes she would go up to the battlement and look as far as the eye could see, imagining how it used to be in days past when it was full of people.

  One day Alastair was taking a walk along the battlement when he heard someone singing. He crept along the wall and was surprised to find Samantha dancing and singing, and something within him shifted. He hurried away, and from that time took care never to go to the battlement when he thought she might be there. Samantha was affecting his mind and heart and he didn’t know what to do about it.

  She was afraid of him and he sighed inwardly. Perhaps allowing her to stay hadn’t been such a good idea, but when he thought about the warm crispy pies, the tender chicken and beef he ate, the flowers in all the rooms even though it was autumn, and for a while he had wondered where she got them from. Then one day he saw Thomas and Peter carrying bunches of flowers, with sheepish looks on their faces and he chuckled to himself. The young woman had everyone eating out of her hand, even the village merchants with whom she knew how to haggle over prices. No one was ever offended by her forwardness, if anything it was her strong appeal.

  Samantha found life in the castle to be very interesting, especially when she discovered where the library was. She would hurry to finish her day’s chores and then run to the library and tuck her feet underneath her on the large couch and soon be lost in another world. One day she fell asleep over one of the large volumes and Alastair, who was coming to find some paper on which to write, found her there. He stood staring down at her, a tender expression in his eyes, then when she began to stir, he hurried away.

  Samantha opened her eyes and stretched herself, then jumped to her feet. The last thing she wanted was to delay dinner and upset the duke. Not that he would ever complain to her face, but she didn’t want him thinking that she wasn’t doing a good job, so she hurried back to the kitchen.

  Alastair paced in his room like a caged animal, then decided to take a long walk on the moors. That usually cleared his head, especially now that every room seemed to have an imprint of Samantha in it. Even his own. He had found young cactus plant in a pot, placed on the inside of the windowsill with a note written in capital letters for him not to water it or it would flood and die. He had chuckled over it and placed the note in his drawer, taking it out from time to time to study her flowery handwriting.

  “I must be going insane,” he told himself. “This is a young girl, innocent and kind hearted, and yet here I am beginning to have all kinds of ideas about her.”

  But he couldn’t stop himself, and was just glad that he didn’t have to face her. The notes were working very well.

  8

  Revelation

  Spring was here and the castle was looking brighter and brighter each day. Christmas had come and gone quietly, and apart from a brief service in the small chapel in the castle, there hadn’t been any celebrations. Alastair had kept his distance, much to her relief.

  When spring came, Samantha would often go up to the battlements to soak in some sun, and one day as she was walking along the wide rooftop she noticed a sizeable patch and was drawn to it. It was a garden of some sort and she noticed that some of the stems that had seemed dry were beginning to come to life again. From that day onwards she would come to her garden and tend it, knowing that whoever had placed it in this position had loved it. She dreamed of the flowers that she would be able to pluck and adorn the castle with.

  For the most part everyone left her alone to her own devices and she found that there was so much to see in the castle. The large rooms were filled with priceless treasures that spoke of a very active time in the past, and she realized that this had been a happy castle. Thomas and Peter gave her a brief history, but told her that if she wanted to learn more she had to ask the duke because it had belonged to his grandfather.

  “He loves this castle, and that is why he sold everything in London and came to live the rest of his life out here,” Thomas had told her. “I just wish …” But whatever he wanted to say was cut off by the chiming of the bell that usually summoned him to his lord’s presence.

  Samantha decided that all the bedrooms needed an uplift and so she started with those on the top floor, or the family floor. She spent hours dusting and cleaning, because she knew that Terry was watching the pot roast she was preparing for their dinner. Terry was a darling, even though she did nothing more than sit in a comfortable seat in the warm kitchen and doze for most of the day. But when she was awake, she was a lively companion who regaled Samantha with tales of the olden days.

  As Sam was cleaning windows in one of the bedrooms she happened to look towards the moors, the part that was closest to the castle and what she saw made her stop all her work and stare. Alastair was walking slowly back and forth, sometimes he would raise his hands and a bird would alight on it, and then some more birds were on his shoulders. As he walked, she noticed some small animals at his feet and her eyes almost popped out. As far as she knew, there were no dogs at the castle and when she continued looking, realized that they were small deer.

  It seemed as though a light suddenly went on in her mind and she found herself leaning weakly against the wall, her eyes glued to the man below who seemed to be communing with nature. Surely, a man to whom animals were drawn had to be special indeed. She remembered what her father had told her just before he left, that it was a man’s heart that counted and not his outer looks.

  The fear that she had felt for months just seemed to roll away, and that evening when Alastair sent her the note to serve his dinner and leave it in the parlour as usual, she didn’t do that. When he walked in a few minutes later and gave a start and made as if to go back, she smiled at him, looking into his face for the first time.

  “I’m sorry, my lord,” she curtsied. “Before today I have provided sloppy service to you, but not anymore.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  She sighed, “I was afraid of you, but suddenly it came to me that I have been in your house, under your roof for almost five months and no harm has come to me. It was just childish fear and I’m sorry.”

  “No need to be,” Alastair sat down and felt warm within when she served him and sat across from him. “Back in London, people who have been my friends for years were unable to look at me, so I don’t feel badly when people are unable to stand my presence. That is the reason I came out here, so that people will not feel guilty about running away from me.”

  “It must be terribly lonely.”

  “Sometimes, but I try not to think about it. After all, I have my castle and my people around me. Whenever I find I need to converse with someone, Peter and Thomas provide me with the company. And then I have nature out there. The Lord’s creatures, who don’t judge or look down on anybody. My life is satisfactory for the most part.”

  “This is a lovely castle, and my stay here has been wonderful. There’s so much to see, and each time I asked Thomas or
Peter about anything, they would tell me to ask you. And I intend to.”

  “Go ahead, if I can’t give you answers I’m sure someone on the estate will provide them.”

  “First, up in the battlements, I found a patch like a garden and noticed that there are roses growing there. Who tended it?”

  “My grandmother. When she died, the garden just died with her. Legend says that flowers will only grow for the lady of the castle,” he shrugged. “Like I always tell Terry, the Scots are a very superstitious people and I am just glad that my father was English and my life has been influenced by that part of my ancestry.”

  “I was reading some of the Scottish folklore and it sounds really fantastic and farfetched. Your grandfather seems to have collected a lot of those old stories.”

  “Whenever I visited him, he would tell me that he was collecting them so that one day I would pass on my Scottish heritage to my children,” Alastair laughed. “Not that it’s likely to happen, but it made the old man happy and one day those coming ahead will thank him for having kept the Scottish heritage alive.”

  “Didn’t you have any uncles?”

  “No, my grandparents had seven daughters and my mother was the only one who married an Englishman. Most of my aunts have since passed away and I lost all touch with their families. My father came on a hunting trip and they fell in love. That’s how they met and got married, and moved to Sussex where the family seat is.”

  “Now that you’re here in Scotland, who is taking care of matters in your Sussex home?”

  “I passed it on to a first cousin for he needs it more. Christopher is a good man and will take care of the estate very well. The only thing is that I still hold the title, and my children after me, if I will ever have any.”