The Bet

by Rebecca King

Estelle nodded. “How is your father?”

  “He is well and sends his regards,” Myles replied.

  He struggled to think of something to say that would ease the stiffness of their conversation but couldn’t think of anything beyond how wonderful it was to see her again. It confirmed all of his deepest suspicions and left him in little doubt that he had made the right decision to ask her to spend some time with him today.

  “Where are we going?” she asked when they had left the village behind and were steadily approaching the Whispering Woods. She stopped and looked back at the village now a mile or so away and wondered if they should turn back.

  “I thought it might be nice to go and take a look at the woods again,” Myles suggested.

  He saw he resistance on her face and hastened to reassure her. “We had the staff walk through the woods and search it once you had gone. The magistrate and his men removed all trace of the satanic practices, and have kept the stones and paraphernalia they found as evidence against those responsible. I am pleased to be able to say, with confidence, that there is nobody lurking in the woods now. The gardeners have also done some work in there that has transformed it. I should like it if you would take a look. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.”

  Estelle looked at him doubtfully. After several moments she shook her head.

  “I can’t.” She looked at the woods warily. “I am sorry.”

  Myles turned to face her. “Trust me,” he urged gently. “I promise you, it looks quite different now. Not at all scary and, while I don’t recommend you go in there when it is foggy, or dark, it is perfectly fine now.”

  He held his hand out. Estelle looked at it. Her gaze lifted to meet his. She got the distinct impression that he wasn’t just asking her to walk with him through the awful woods. He was asking her to place her trust in him.

  She looked at him again. His steady gaze didn’t waver. She suspected then that this journey was going to take her in a completely different direction than the path she had expected her life would take. With Myles, she suspected that this new journey would bring her many surprises.

  Slowly, she stepped toward him and placed her hand in his. The warmth of his fingers immediately curled protectively around her hand, and didn’t let go. Instead, he tugged her gently with him as he sauntered toward the woods.

  “I am pleased to say that everyone who has been trespassing in these woods has now met with the magistrate.”

  “I hear that their trials have taken place already,” she replied.

  “I think the sentences they received were fair. It is good to be able to put the matter at rest now,” he said. “As are my Uncle Gerald, and Aunt Beatrice.”

  Myles smiled at her as if to reassure her that they could be discussed without causing undue distress. “They both have been interred in the family crypt. While they are mourned, and will be missed, they both had their good points and bad points as we all have. It is safe to say that they will not be forgotten. However, life must go on, don’t you think?”

  “Of course,” Estelle replied. “How is Isaac?”

  Myles smiled ruefully at her. “Glad he wasn’t one of the victims. My father told him that he needed to purchase a commission, or else find some way of supporting himself from now on. Isaac, has refused to join the clergy.”

  Estelle stared at him. “He is purchasing a commission?” she asked in amazement, and couldn’t bite back her grin at the thought of Isaac being told what to do.

  Myles smiled at her. “I have a friend in the Navy. He has managed to arrange for Isaac to join him aboard his ship on his next mission, to Brazil I believe.”

  Estelle smiled. “Does Isaac like the ocean?”

  Myles grinned at her. “I should think not, but a long voyage should stop his spending for a while and make him appreciate the comforts of home. Barnabas is adamant that some honest hard work, and a day or two without gambling, should sort him out.”

  “The Navy is a bit severe, though, isn’t it?”

  Myles chuckled. “Well, the alternative is joining the clergy.” He looked at her with his brows lifted. “I don’t see Isaac in robes preaching to a congregation, do you?”

  Estelle laughed outright at that and shook her head. It was only then that she realised she was deeper in the woods than she would have liked, and looked at Myles warily.

  “It’s alright, keep going,” he urged from behind her.

  She looked down at the narrow path. All sorts of emotions and worries flew through her mind as she trod the uneven journey. This time, she felt none of the fear which usually accompanied it. Instead, strangely, she began to relax.

  “I don’t see what is different,” she whispered when she lifted a branch out of her way so she could duck beneath it. She became even more confused when Myles smiled mysteriously at her.

  “Take a look,” he suggested. He leaned over her shoulder and lifted another branch out of her way, then nodded at something over her shoulder.

  Estelle, trying desperately to ignore the wild flurry of desperate yearning that flowed through her at his close proximity, turned around to take a look at whatever was behind her. Her eyes widened. She gasped, and stared breathlessly at the most enchanting sight she had been blessed to witness.

  The small clearing where she had witnessed the hooded figures conducting their satanic worship had been cleared even more and widened out. The small glade that now lay nestled amongst the trees flowed right up to the base of the now tidied ruins like an emerald carpet. The ruins were still encased in voracious ivy, but the clawing brambles and dead foliage had been cleared leaving the stonework standing majestically amongst nature’s abundance.

  “It doesn’t look so sinister anymore,” she whispered.

  In fact, it was wonderful. As if to echo her thoughts she watched a small fawn stumble out of the trees and snuffle around in the grass. Its smooth pelt of russet fur gleamed in the golden shafts of sunlight bathing the glade in a surreal glow amongst which hopped a hare.

  “It’s like stepping into a fairy tale,” she breathed.

  Myles stepped toward her. Estelle looked at him over her shoulder and smiled at him. She had no objection when he placed his hands on her waist and drew her against his chest.

  He nodded toward the ruins. “Do you want to take a look?”

  She looked at the ground where she had seen the pentagram.

  “The magistrate’s men removed all trace of it. The Head Gardener then gathered a team of men together. They have been working to stop this place being so overgrown and I have to say that their efforts have created magnificence. Because of what happened to you, Barnabas has insisted that they create several new paths through the woods, wide enough for anybody to see them and find their way out of if they get lost. They also stop anybody hiding in the woods because nobody is able to go far without reaching a path and finding a way out.”

  She nodded. “It is no longer a secluded place to be.”

  Myles smiled at her. “There is something else I want to show you.”

  Estelle didn’t move, though, and merely watched the fawn amble slowly around the meadow, its white bobbed tail swishing happily as it munched on the lush green grass.

  “It’s beautiful,” she breathed.

  “The fawn, or the woods?” Myles teased. Her answer mattered to him than he cared to admit.

  “Both,” she laughed. “If the animals are happy to be here like this then there can be nothing wrong with these woods, can there?”

  As if to prove her point, several birds began to flutter around the high branches. Estelle shaded her eyes against the bright shafts of sunlight that streamed down upon them. It was surreal, and bathed her in a kind of peace the likes of which she had never experienced before.

  “I don’t know what I was so afraid of,” she murmured.

  “Your fear that night is quite understandable given what happened,” Myles assured her.

  Estelle nodded. “I didn’t realise being run over would
save my life.”

  Myles looked a little bashful. “I don’t think I have ever apologised for that, have I?”

  “On many occasions,” she replied. When he frowned at her and looked doubtful she explained. “You took me to safety, fed me, kept me warm and dry.”

  “Nearly got you killed, chased through a tunnel, and brought face-to-face with a murderer,” he finished for her.

  Estelle wrinkled her nose up but didn’t argue with him. She wanted to say that it was all part of the adventure but couldn’t.

  “I am glad these woods haven’t been torn down. They are too beautiful to destroy,” she murmured when Myles urged her to take a path to the right of them and led her down a new path. She suspected she knew where he was taking her and, having now witnessed the transformation of the woods, was curious to know what they had done with the small cottage.

  To her surprise it too had been cleared. However, this time there was no sign of the garden. That had been removed completely. A small clearing now lay before the ruins of what had clearly once been a small, single-storey abode hidden amongst the trees.

  “Barnabas has undertaken this as a project and has been determined to gather some information on it since he came here to take a look at it for himself. He has, so far, found no mention of the house. However, he has sourced one, very vague, reference to the priory,” Myles explained.

  Estelle stared at the gaping hole where the roof had once stood, and sighed. It now looked as though someone had started to build the place, but hadn’t managed to fit the doors, windows, or put a roof on it yet.

  “It looks as though it is sleeping; waiting for someone to finish it,” she declared after several moments of thoughtful silence.

  “There are a lot of things unfinished,” he said quietly.

  Once again he moved toward her but didn’t stand behind her to hold her. Instead, he stood in front of her and drew her into his arms. He stared into her eyes, searching for any sign of objection. It was only when she sighed and settled against him that he began to relax and believe, for the first time in a month that everything would be alright.

  Estelle rested her head on his shoulder and sighed. “Thank you for bringing me here. I don’t know why I was so scared of it. When I remember that awful night, it is difficult to believe that I was so lost in these woods.”

  “It just needed a bit of tender loving care. While it isn’t finished yet because there are more paths to go in, it is at least safe enough that even in the densest fog, nobody is likely to get lost or stuck. I have no idea who has built this house, or why in here, but the gardener says that it is a newer building than the priory. I can only assume that at some point in the past we have had a hermit living in here.”

  Estelle nodded. “But the woods have been too thick for anybody to notice him. It is strange but I cannot bring myself to consider that it was that old lady.”

  “No, me neither.”

  She looked up at him. “Have you seen her since?”

  Myles shook his head. “Eva’s body has never been found either. It disappeared under the water and, while the river has been searched at least five miles downstream, there is no sign of her. She has just vanished.”

  Estelle sighed. “I am sorry. She was still your relation.”

  Myles snorted. “Well, as the old adage goes, you cannot choose your family.” He tipped her chin up until she looked at him. “But you can choose your loved ones.”

  Estelle’s heart flipped and began to blossom deep within her chest when she saw the sincerity in his eyes.

  “I am glad you don’t hate this place. While my father has considered tearing it down and establishing new woods, it is still a part of the estate and belongs with the family. Having seen it like this now, he agrees with me that it must stay as it is. We just need to maintain it now.”

  “I am glad it is still here,” she replied.

  “I am glad you are still here,” he assured her. “My only regret about what happened was that your life was put in danger. I should have done more to protect you.”

  “But, you saved me,” she said. “If you hadn’t stopped to help me that night I would have ended up Heaven knows where.”

  “Well, you certainly changed my life. You have also cost me a fortune,” Myles warned her, but softened his accusation with a rueful smile.

  “I have?” Her cheeks flooded with heat as she looked at the mischief on his face. “How so?”

  “Well, I now owe my friends a Scottish hunting lodge,” he explained, his smile widening.

  She looked at him blankly, wondering if she had missed something.

  Myles tugged her against his side and led her back to the ruins. Hand in hand, they wandered absently around the fallen stones until they came to a halt beneath the heavy branches of a huge oak tree.

  Myles explained about the bet he had made several weeks ago, and his friend’s shocked faces when he had returned to London and admitted he had well and truly lost, through a turnabout of events that had made him reconsider life and what he wanted from it.

  Estelle stared at him. “You, lost? How? But if the bet was only made a few weeks ago you have the rest of the year yet. You could still win.”

  Myles was already shaking his head. “I have to admit that when we first met on the clifftop something inside me felt drawn to you. I had never seen such refined beauty. You looked wild and free; I struggled to leave you. That attraction swiftly turned to a very real need to find out more about you and, more importantly, see you again. I think I went to London and agreed to the bet because I was trying to deny to myself that I was so deeply affected by you. When I received the note I immediately raced home but, in the back of my mind was the knowledge that you were here and I would get to see you again. It was horrifying to have you materialise in front of my curricle like that, and even more so to watch you fall beneath it and not be able to do a damned thing to stop it. I think it is part of the reason why I didn’t take you to the doctor’s house. I wanted to keep you with me on a more personal level because I would have gone quietly out of my mind being stuck at home, not knowing how you were. I just had no idea at the time I was bringing you into a killer’s home.”

  “It isn’t your fault. Nobody knew,” she assured him.

  After several moments of silence she smiled at him. “So you wanted to see me again as well?”

  “Of course I did,” he rested his forehead against hers and then lifted it again to stare at her. “As well? You mean, you wanted to see me again?”

  Estelle nodded. “But you are the local gentry. I am merely a commoner,” she reminded him gently.

  “I think at this point in my life Barnabas doesn’t care whom I chose to marry as long as I am happy. He had, until your arrival in our lives, given up on a grandchild to keep the family name going, I think,” he murmured thoughtfully.

  Estelle stared at him. “I am sorry for your loss,” she murmured, fighting to hide her smile.

  “You have already said that,” Myles chided.

  “I mean your hunting lodge. Will you miss it?”

  Myles grinned and shrugged. “I am sure I will find something else to keep me occupied. One good thing to come out of everything that has happened of late is that I have a new respect for life, and just how precious it is.” He looked at her. “It is important not to waste a single moment of it, and spend as much time as possible with loved ones. I know that our relationship is still in its early days, I need you to understand that this love I have for you is no flight of fancy. It is very real, and means that I will accept nothing less than a lifetime together; if you will agree to be my wife?”

  Estelle looked blankly at him for a moment while she tried to control the wild flurry of emotion that swamped her entire being.

  When she didn’t speak, Myles sighed. “We need to wait out a suitable period of mourning, and I know the woods still need to be finished, the house needs a lot of work, mostly so the unused parts of the house can be restored and put into
use again, but it will make a wonderful family home. There will be no more hangers-on. Just you, me, Barnabas, and whatever children we have.” He looked at her, a question in his eyes. “If you could consider a lifetime with me?”

  Estelle smiled tremulously. “After my parents died, I had nothing and only my grandma to help me. My entire life had been ripped away in the cruellest way. I had no idea at the time that my move here would bring me so much in the way of reward. While it isn’t the life I would have chosen, I am glad of it because I met you. You have saved me on more than one level because I now have a life I never considered possible, and understand that it would be foolish to waste a second of it.” She placed a hand on either side of his head and dragged him down for a very thorough and extremely daring kiss. When she did finally release him, the slightly dazed look in his eye made her grin. “I should love to be your wife, and should consider myself the happiest woman alive if we spent the rest of our lives together. Just you, me, Barnabas, and whatever children we have.”

  “Happy ever after?” he whispered.

  “Happy ever after,” she assured him with a nod, and knew it would be.

  The End.

  THE ARRANGEMENT

  Saved By Desire Series

  Book Seven

  RELEASED JUNE 2017

  Marcus needs a woman and quickly, but without any kind of romantic entanglements. He is too busy with his duties with the Star Elite to bother with affairs of the heart. The only woman he knows but isn’t attracted to is his best friend’s sister, Briony. He hasn’t seen her for several years but remembers a shy, pig-tailed young girl who always seemed scared of, well, everything, but that’s alright because he only needs to borrow her for a couple of hours.

  What he doesn’t take into account are the changes three years can make on any woman.

  Briony owes her brother one huge favour. When he calls her on it and asks her to pose as the wife of one of his friends, at first she objects. The last thing she wants is to be saddled with a drunken rabble-rouser who grabs more than he should and expects her to be desperate enough to accept his tawdry offers of a good time. However, intrigued by the possibility of just a little adventure to break the hum-drum routine of her normal life, she agrees to go along with the charade. After all, it is only for an hour or two–what could go wrong?