Dark Rider

by Iris Johansen

“Sleep well.” Lani moved gracefully toward the door. “I’ll call you when it’s time to dress for dinner.”

  “Lani!”

  Lani glanced inquiringly over her shoulder.

  “Don’t do this. If Papa finds out, he’ll be so angry he’ll—” She stopped.

  “Cast me out?” Lani nodded. “Sometimes risks must be taken. So far you’ve taken all the risks. Now I must share them. You won’t tell Charles, and I don’t think Danemount is a man who would take his revenge in that fashion.”

  “You don’t know anything about him,” she said desperately.

  “It appears I may be going to learn a great deal regarding his—” Lani stopped, her gaze raking Cassie’s expression. “Don’t be so upset. All will be well.” With a last smile she was gone.

  Don’t be upset? She was trembling, Cassie realized as she drew the blanket closer about her. Trembling with fear and shock … and rage. Yes, rage. Lani was wrong. This wasn’t the way to help Papa. They might not have many weapons, but she did not have to sacrifice herself and—

  But for Lani it would be no sacrifice. Sex and love were separate to her, and coupling with Jared would mean nothing. She might even enjoy it.

  The rage soared to new heights as she imagined Lani in Danemount’s bunk, his hands on her breasts, his hips moving—

  No!

  She drew a deep breath and tried to block out the vision and the realization it had brought. She did not want to admit her rage was founded on anything but frustration. Yet she had to admit it, or she would be guilty of avoiding the truth.

  You’ve been robbed of time. You must think clearly and act boldly.

  Very well—the rage had been partially caused by jealousy. Her body felt cheated because it was being denied. The emotion had been driven by primitive instinct that had nothing to do with reason. But Lani had said this instinct was not shameful as long as the acts of the body were separate from the mind and soul. She must cling to that truth.

  She closed her eyes and forced her tense muscles to loosen. She must forget the picture of Lani and Jared lying together, their bodies intertwined.…

  “Ah, ladies, you’ve decided to take pity on me.” Bradford rose to his feet and seated Lani, then Cassie at the damask-draped table. “I hoped you would.”

  “Since you’ve ordered two extra places set, I’d say you expected we would,” Lani said dryly as she shook out her napkin. “And pity has nothing to do with this.”

  “No? I’d judge you to be prone to pity.” Bradford nodded to the servant standing by the door to begin serving. “Why else would you choose to grace the bed of a man old enough to be your father?”

  “According to Clara, grace did not enter into our union. She claims I seduced him with my barbaric wiles.” She smiled. “And my people believe age makes no difference; it only serves to refine and make the act more beautiful.”

  “Lani loves my father,” Cassie said. “And your remark was very rude.”

  “Yes, it was,” Bradford admitted as he reached for the bottle of brandy at his elbow. “Extraordinary. I’m usually the most polite of fellows.”

  Lani glanced at the bottle. “How would you remember?”

  “Are you suggesting my brain is pickled? Not yet. I’m keen as a sword blade until nightfall.” He smiled with surprising sweetness. “For instance, I’m fully aware that it’s not my charming company that brings you here, but I forgive you.”

  “Forgive us?”

  “You intend to inveigle information from me, do you not?”

  Lani hesitated and then said bluntly, “Yes.”

  “It will be my pleasure to be inveigled … within certain boundaries.” He took a long drink of his brandy. “As I told your friend, it offends me to have Jared fight an opponent who has so few weapons. In most circumstances it would offend Jared also. He’s a just man.”

  “I don’t believe that,” Cassie said flatly.

  “You should.” He took another drink. “You’ll find he’s scrupulously honest. I’ve seen him forfeit a race he desperately wanted to win because of the possibility of chicanery. He’s very respected in racing circles. You’ll see when we get to England.”

  “England?” Cassie stiffened. “I have no intention of going to England.”

  “That’s unfortunate, since that’s where this ship is going,” Bradford said. “Jared decided that it will be some time before Deville manages to make his way from America to France, and it would be wiser to stay at Morland and put his contacts in France on watch. When your father surfaces, we’ll leave for France.”

  “And we’re supposed to stay at this Morland and wait?” Cassie asked.

  “That’s the plan. I regret it doesn’t meet with your approval.”

  “It certainly does not.” She was caught off guard by Jared’s decision. It would have been much easier for her to escape from the Duke on French soil. She had planned to flee the moment they arrived. How was she to get across the Channel and make her way to Paris?

  “But we’ll make the adjustment,” Lani said. She reached over and encouragingly squeezed Cassie’s hand. “Won’t we?”

  Cassie nodded. “Of course.” She turned to Bradford. “How close is this Morland to the sea?”

  He burst out laughing. “Do you intend to swim? I wouldn’t advise it. Our northern waters are much colder than your warm sea.”

  “How close?”

  “Quite close.” He was still chuckling. “Morland is located on a cliff that overlooks the channel.”

  One advantage. And she might discover more once they reached England. She mustn’t be discouraged by this first setback. “How long do you think we’ll have to wait?”

  He shrugged. “A month. Two. Who knows?”

  Months. It seemed a long time, but she might be able to turn the delay to her advantage. Danemount would surely be receiving messages from his contacts in France. If she could intercept any of those messages, she might learn much more than she could on her own.

  “Will His Grace be joining us for supper?” Lani asked.

  Cassie tensed as her gaze flew to Lani. The disturbing news Bradford had imparted had momentarily caused her to forget Lani’s equally disturbing intentions.

  “Providing the stallion is calm enough to be left alone,” Bradford said. “Are we again to be favored with your company?”

  Lani’s lips parted in her brilliant smile. “Oh, yes.”

  Bradford turned to Cassie. “And you?”

  Of course, she wasn’t going to sit at Jared’s table and watch him be captivated by Lani. She intended to stay with Kapu, where she had a place and purpose.

  “Yes, I’ll be here.” The words tumbled from her lips, surprising her as much as they did Bradford. Yet she knew she would not take them back. She could not stay in the cargo hold and not know what Lani was doing with Danemount. “If Kapu can do without me.”

  “Let’s hope he won’t deprive us of your stimulating presence.”

  She glanced at Lani and found her friend staring at her with speculation. She could hardly blame her; Cassie didn’t seem to know herself what she was going to do from minute to minute.

  Lani turned back to Bradford. “Tell us of this Morland. I wish to know more than the temperature of the water.”

  That evening Lani wore her yellow silk gown that turned her into a brilliant bird of paradise. At supper she glowed, she smiled, she told amusing stories of island myths and daily doings. Cassie had never seen Lani like that. Freed of Clara’s oppressive presence, she bloomed like a golden orchid. She kept both men entertained and intrigued, effortlessly drawing them into her spell. Bradford responded eagerly to her sallies, and even Jared relaxed and displayed a wry humor.

  Cassie watched him in fascination as he leaned forward, dark, cynical, yet totally at ease, his gaze on Lani’s face. This must be the way he was in his own world, she thought, sitting at dinner tables at Brighton or London.

  At the end of the meal Jared turned to Cassie while Lani was talki
ng to Bradford. “You’re very quiet. You’ve been sitting there watching and scarcely saying a word. Should I be worried you’re planning on poisoning me again?”

  “No.” Quiet was a fitting word for her, she thought in disgust—quiet and mouselike and nondescript in Lani’s shadow. She said stiltedly, “I don’t feel like talking.”

  His eyes narrowed. “And you don’t feel like being here. Why are you?”

  “I have to eat somewhere.”

  “So you choose my table?”

  “Lord Bradford invited us.”

  He looked at her skeptically before glancing back at Lani. “Your friend is very splendid tonight and obviously trying to be … obliging.”

  “Yes.”

  “A lovely gown.”

  “Papa bought it for her.”

  “How kind of Papa.” He added with sudden harshness, “He should have taken the trouble to purchase something of equal quality for you. That gown you’re wearing is quite detestable. Don’t you have anything else?”

  “Yes, but they’re all much the same.” She was wearing the same gray silk gown she had worn that night at the cottage. How odd that his cruel condemnation on such a trivial subject could hurt her. “Clara chose them. Papa knew that it didn’t matter to me.”

  “It should have mattered to him.” He took a drink of his wine. “You look like a nun wrapped in a shroud. It’s an abomination.”

  “Then don’t look at me,” she said.

  “I have to look at you.” A little of his wine spilled on the damask cloth as he set the wineglass down with some force. “And why in Hades aren’t you fighting me? Are you ill?”

  “No.” But perhaps she was ill. She felt stifled, and beset by a queer nagging pain every time she looked at Lani. At any rate, she could bear no more tonight. The legs of her chair screeched as she abruptly pushed it back. “It was a mistake to come. I shouldn’t be here. I have to go see if Kapu is all right.”

  “No, you don’t. I have one of the men watching him.” He shook his head as he saw her eyes widen with alarm. “From a distance. He was only to watch and come get me if he thought the horse was becoming restless.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief. Events were clouded enough without her having to worry about Kapu trampling someone. “You need not bother. I’ll change and go to him now.”

  “I said you don’t need to go,” he uttered between his teeth.

  Ignoring him, she nodded to Bradford and murmured a quick good night to Lani, then almost ran from the room.

  Danemount caught up with her before she reached the door of her cabin. His hand fell on her shoulder, and he whirled her to face him. “Why?” he demanded grimly.

  His hand felt heavy, warm and disturbing. She shrugged it off and stepped back. “I told you why I’m going to Kapu,” she said, her gaze fastened on his cravat. “Because he needs me.”

  “You know that’s not what I mean. Why is your friend Lani shining like a crystal chandelier, giving us sweet smiles and sweeter words?”

  “What difference does it make? You seemed to enjoy it.”

  “Of course I enjoyed it. She’s a charming woman … and an honest one. Which is why I don’t understand all this.”

  “Don’t worry, she won’t poison you. She disapproved of my putting the laudanum in Clara’s syllabub.” She tried to turn away, but his hands tightened on her shoulders. “Let me go.”

  “In a moment. Look at me.”

  “I don’t want to look at you. I’ve seen enough of all of you tonight.”

  “You’d rather stare at your horse, no doubt.”

  “Yes.”

  “Christ.” He drew a deep breath and said with measured precision, “Very well, we won’t talk about Lani. Tell me your reason for coming to supper tonight.”

  “It was a mistake.”

  “And what reasoning engendered the mistake?”

  “I wasn’t thinking clearly. I wanted to see—” What? Lani as alluring as Venus. Danemount attracted in spite of himself. If that was her intention, she had certainly got what she wanted. Why had it made her so confused and miserable? “I don’t know.”

  “I think you do know.”

  “Then you’re a fool.” She tore away from him. “And I don’t want to talk about it. Leave me alone.”

  He gazed at her a moment before saying slowly, “By God, I wish I could.”

  He turned and walked away from her.

  And back to Lani—beautiful, wonderful Lani, who would give him much more than sweet smiles tonight if he asked it of her.

  She ran the short distance to her cabin. Lani was doing what she thought best. Lani was the wisest person she knew. If she thought this way would help Papa, then who was Cassie to argue with her?

  So why did she feel this torment? It made no sense that—

  A growl, low and menacing …

  Her head swiftly lifted, her gaze flying to the horizon. Thunder? The moon was shining brightly overhead, but in the distance she could see a churning mass of clouds.

  “No, please, don’t come closer,” she whispered. Storms meant pitching decks and loud thunder. Kapu would go crazy in a storm. There was even more danger for him in the confines of the stall than in the water. If he became excited, he might break a leg or ram his head—

  To devil with bothering to change her gown.

  She turned and ran toward the cargo hold.

  Seven

  Thunder. Closer. No longer a growl but a roar.

  Jared rolled over on his side to face the window next to his bunk, watching as a jagged bolt of lightning tore through the sky.

  Dammit, he had hoped the storm would pass. He had no desire to go back down in that cargo hold and face Cassie Deville. He had wanted to distance himself, give himself time to rid his mind of the restraints Bradford had skillfully placed on him. If he went to her now, it would be again as a comrade sharing peril. He didn’t want the blasted woman as a comrade—he wanted her in his bed.

  Another lightning bolt lit the heavens.

  He didn’t have to go to her. She had assured him she could handle Kapu by herself.

  The ship began to list as the wind quickened.

  He could send one of the seamen to watch and make sure there was no real danger.

  A crash of thunder shook the ship!

  “Damnation!”

  • • •

  “No, boy, don’t fight it. It will be gone soon.” Cassie’s arms tightened frantically around Kapu’s neck. Dear heaven, how she had prayed the storm would be gone. Every crash of thunder was causing a ripple of panic to go through her.

  Kapu tried to back away, his nostrils flaring as the ship dipped sharply. She followed, talking to him. Let him not rear or batter against the wall. “Easy. Just be calm. You know it will break my heart if you hurt yourself.”

  “Stand back from him.”

  Cassie looked over her shoulder to see Jared standing at the top of the steps in the open doorway. He was barefoot, his shirt buttoned only halfway, his hair wild and wind torn and his expression forbidding.

  None of that made her fearful. She wasn’t alone anymore. Jared had helped her save Kapu before—maybe he could again. “I can’t stand back. He’s afraid. He’s calmer if I touch him.”

  Jared muttered a curse before battling the wind to jerk the door closed. A moment later he was in the stall, on the other side of Kapu. It was like the night they had brought Kapu on board. Surely, the result would be the same, she thought desperately; Kapu would quiet, and the danger would be over.

  A crash of thunder!

  Kapu reared straight up, taking her with him!

  Jared tore her arms from the neck of the stallion and pushed her to one side. He jerked something from the waistband of his trousers and tossed it to her. “Cover his eyes.”

  Black cloth. She recognized the cravat he’d worn at supper. “Blindfold him?”

  “He’ll be able to hear and feel the pitch of the ship, but he won’t be able to see his world t
opsy-turvy. Anything might help.” He stepped closer beside the stallion. “Hurry!”

  She moved in front of Kapu and inched closer. No thunder, she prayed; this pitching was bad enough. Just give me a few minutes more.…

  Kapu was backing away from her.

  “Please …”

  Was she pleading with God or Kapu? Jared was talking, too, stroking the stallion, trying to distract him.

  It was no good, she realized in despair. It would never work this way.

  She took a deep breath and jumped on his back!

  “Christ!” she heard Jared cry out. “I didn’t say to—”

  “Be quiet.” Her legs and arms held Kapu as she talked to him softly. Then she leaned forward and draped the cloth over Kapu’s eyes. “Quick. Tie it.”

  Jared didn’t argue. He had the cloth knotted in seconds.

  Cassie held her breath, waiting.

  Kapu half reared as he became aware of his blindness. He landed hard and tried to turn in a circle!

  But Jared was there talking, stroking. Cassie held tight, hugging him close, glued to his back. Please, no thunder. Let him get used to the darkness.

  The ship pitched and slid on the swells, but there was no thunder.

  One minute. Two minutes. Every second was a gift.

  Kapu was quieting, becoming accustomed to the darkness.

  “Get off him.” Jared’s voice was still soft and soothing, but she was aware of the sharp wire of tension threading it. “Dammit, you don’t mount a horse in the middle of a thunderstorm.”

  “I do.” Her tone was as soft as his. “He likes to feel me on him. It helps. Now, stop telling me what I should do and keep talking to him.”

  “He doesn’t know whether I’m talking to him or you.”

  “Of course he does.”

  Thunder.

  Kapu reared straight up! Cassie’s thighs tightened around him, her heart pounding. “We’re here. Don’t be afraid. We won’t let anything happen to you.”

  He came down stiff-legged, the impact jarring. She closed her eyes, waiting for him to rear again or try to bolt.

  He did neither. He stood there, trembling in every limb.

  More thunder.

  Miraculously, he stood still as they talked soothingly.