eyes flared with poorly suppressed ire. ‘Then go and re-adapt with some other unsuspecting woman. Falmouth is full of willing wenches. I’m sure you will be able to find one to your taste—or perhaps you already have.’
He laughed softly. ‘A gentleman never tells, Rowena, but I’d rather spend my time with you. I’d like to get to know you better. Besides, we have to delve into this matter of how your father is to pay his debt to me.’
‘How he does that is his concern.’
‘And yours. I hate to think you’ll be forced into marriage because of a debt owed to me. You’re worth much more than any debt.’
‘Mr Searle, you have clearly taken leave of your senses if you think of me as compensation for my father’s unpaid debt to you.’
‘That is exactly what you are. To get himself out of his mess, he will have you bought and sold to the highest bidder before you can blink an eye.’
Rowena’s jaw dropped with indignation and her eyes flashed like fireworks. ‘Please don’t insult my father. My father and I might argue like the best of them among ourselves, but when family honour is called into question I can be counted on to unite with him against the world if necessary. So condemn him to others if you must, but do not do so to me.’
Tobias clamped his jaw shut. Apparently he had pricked her defences, for she looked irritated and could not let it lie.
‘You don’t know him,’ she went on, ‘what kind of man he is. When he was younger he had the tough-fibred tenacity that every man who tries to make a living at sea, whatever the size of his concern, needs to make a success of it. My father had it, for in his veins runs the blood of the stout-hearted Cornishman who would fight for his own bit of ground until they buried him in it. But ever since he returned home to live the life of a cripple, something inside him has shrivelled and died.
‘I’ve watched the fight drain out of him—the force, the need, or whatever it was that drove him—and with it the means for us to survive. Our house is tottering like a house of cards, Mr Searle, but I will not see my family homeless and forced to manage like the meanest beggars. No matter what you accuse him of, I honour my father and would not deceive him by taking up with the likes of you.’
Tobias considered her seriously for a moment, then got to his feet, slipping his hat on his head. Looking down at her his mockery was subtle yet direct. ‘No, I don’t imagine you would—and that was a commanding speech, by the way.’
‘My father is deeply concerned by your accusations. If you truly believe he was behind that terrible incident with your ship, then there is nothing I can say to change your mind—only that perhaps you don’t know the true nature of Jack Mason. With every day that dawns my father’s burden—and mine—will become more wearisome, and that is because of you. You set your verdict against a decent, honourable man before he could voice a plea.’
‘As he did when he accused me of shooting him in the back.’
‘Are you saying you didn’t?’
‘That is precisely what I am saying.’
Rowena was staring up at him, waiting for him to continue, to tell her more, but he chose not to. He looked back at her, at the tumbling mass of hair swirling about her shoulders. Beneath its fullness dark fringed, smoky blue-green eyes glowed with their own light, the colour in their depths shifting like richly hued jade. Her nose, finely boned yet slightly pert, was elevated, and gently rising cheekbones were touched with a light flush of colour. Her lips, not the pouting lips of some simpering females, but gently curving, were expressive and soft.
She was flaunting, outrageous, and he was sure that no man could come within sight of her who was not fascinated by her. He drew his breath and then looked away so she could not see the expression on his face. What the devil was the matter with him? Why should he feel this gnawing in his chest, which her words had caused him, for this woman who was nothing to him? He must be off his head. What was he doing here skulking on the high ground when he had work to do?
He stood for a moment then, making a decision which even then he was not sure was right, mounted his horse and rode back in the direction of Falmouth.
When Matthew Golding received an offer of marriage for Rowena from Lord Tregowan, it came in the form of a letter with a red wax seal, brief and to the point. It was brought by Mr Daniel Hathaway, Lord Tregowan’s solicitor in Falmouth, a man who was well known to Matthew. If Matthew agreed to the proposal, Lord Tregowan would call and see him in due course when everything would be put in order, and he would not be ungenerous.
Rowena turned the letter over in disbelief. ‘What? Is that all?’ she murmured incredulously. ‘Lord Tregowan must be very sure of himself to write in such terms. But who is he really? How old? What does he look like? What kind of man is he?’
Matthew was excited, unable to believe their good fortune. ‘Lord Tregowan? He must be back from foreign parts. It’s not every day a lord is admitted into the family. Think of it, Rowena. You could be mistress of Tregowan Hall—Lady Tregowan.’ He preened in his chair, his eyes alight with pleasure at this unexpected good fortune. ‘Very grand. Annie was only saying the other day that there’s been some activity at the house of late and masons have been called in to repair the part that was affected by the fire.’ He looked expectantly at his daughter. ‘What do you say, Rowena? Will you agree to his proposal?’
Casting all melancholy thoughts aside, Rowena desperately tried to sort out in her mind what the best course of action would be to take. She had reached a crossroads, but with only one route to take, a route on which she was being forced. Tobias Searle was going to crucify her father, and it was up to her to see that he didn’t; to do that, rather than be tricked or trapped into an alliance with Mr Searle—such was her attraction to him—she would willingly throw in her lot with this man she had never met.
Rowena stiffened her spine, her eyes hard and resolute. ‘Yes, Father, I will marry Lord Tregowan, and the sooner the better.’
While a handsome, dark-skinned man dived into the water from the Cymbeline and swam in the rippling deep waters of Falmouth harbour, Rowena was on the busy quay to see Jane off on her journey to St Mary’s, the largest of the Scilly Isles, to visit their Aunt Sarah.
Jane wouldn’t be gone for more than a month, but Rowena was going to miss her dreadfully. She was to travel with Mrs Garston, a respectable lady who lived not far from them. She was a Scillonian, whose family had been fishermen for generations and still lived there.
‘You look very serious this morning, Rowena.’ Jane gave her sister a worried look, observing that her eyes lacked their customary lustre. ‘I do hope you’re not feeling the effects of my leaving. It won’t be for long and before you know it I’ll be back.’
Rowena was feeling despondent. ‘I know. I only hope you don’t encounter any of those wretched pirates who constantly prey on honest sailors, kidnap them and carry them off to goodness knows where.’
‘You mustn’t worry. It’s a route the captain regularly takes and I’m sure the Petrel is well armed. And don’t you go marrying Lord Tregowan until I get back, will you? Aunt Sarah will soon be feeling better and when she is I’ll come home immediately.’
‘Make sure you do. I’m going to miss you, Jane, and as for me marrying Lord Tregowan, it will be a solution to all our problems.’
‘It saddens me that you are having to do
