a mixture of feelings passing over his face. Only when she had fallen silent did he speak.
‘Then I cannot say that I am surprised. He got what he deserved.’ When he saw the pain his words caused Cassandra, he placed his arm tenderly about her shoulders and drew her down beside him on to one of the divans.
‘I apologise if that offends you, Cassandra, but I never made any secret of what my feelings were regarding Nathaniel Wylde. When my own father died, followed so quickly by my mother, and he reappeared in your life, I was unable to refuse to allow him to see you. But I did so most unwillingly. I know that after living under the strict rule of my mother’s household, being with your father was like breaking out of prison.
‘But you let your love for him cloud your mind to the true nature of his character. After being denied access to you while you were an infant—and to appease his selfish desire to have you with him—he filled your head with things no properly raised young girl should listen to. He was a villain whose world was inhabited exclusively pirates—ruthless criminals, Cassandra, who deserved to hang for the crimes they perpetrated on others.’
His voice was quiet and sombre. Cassandra’s eyes narrowed and her lips compressed. She was hurt but not offended by John’s attack on Nat because, after all, he was only repeating what he had said many times in the past.
‘Yes, I know it is over, John, and for what it’s worth I have accepted it. But I was deeply affected and revolted by the manner of his death.’ Not wishing to incur his wrath further, she omitted to tell him that she had been present when Drum had sliced through the ropes securing the Dolphin to her moorings and had Nat’s body cut down from the gallows, but she was unable to keep from him the manner of her journey to Barbados. His anger reignited and his face suffused with angry colour.
‘By God, you came to the islands on a pirate ship? Arch-villain he might be, but I gave O’Leary more sense than to take you with him. He will pay for this. If I ever get my hands on him… And Captain Tillotson? Was he aware who O’Leary was—that he was a murdering scoundrel who should have hanged with his master?’
‘No, I don’t think so,’ Cassandra answered, her eyes going to Rosa perched stiffly on a chair across the room. The young woman’s cheeks flamed and her eyes had narrowed and gleamed with anger on hearing John’s scathing attack on her father. Thank goodness she didn’t say anything. She must have a word with Rosa when they were alone. Perhaps it would be best if John didn’t know she was Drum’s daughter. ‘Please, John, let the matter rest. Does it matter?’
‘Of course it matters. While men such as O’Leary are at liberty to roam the seas at will, no ship, cargo or man are safe. All colonists who rely on the merchantmen to carry their produce live in fear that they will be attacked. It’s hardly surprising that they regard such men as common murderers and robbers and hold them in the deepest contempt. It is imperative that while you remain on the island no one must discover your identity and your involvement with O’Leary. How else can you stay here without becoming the subject of a scandal? I won’t have it, Cassandra. Do you hear?’
‘I’m sorry, John. I don’t want you to suffer on my account.’ Usually Cassandra knew better than to argue with him when he used that tone, but now she looked at him mutinously. ‘I’m not going home, John. I want to stay here with you. You will let me?’
‘You leave me with no choice. You and your companion can stay for the present—here in this house,’ he conceded, rising quickly. ‘I am often away for days at a time, in Bridgetown or meeting with plantation owners—on Company business, you understand.’
He looked towards the young mulatto woman who had emerged from the bedroom. Swathed in a heavy lime-green silk dress with a contrasting border worked in gold, she stood quietly watching them at the far side of the room, and Cassandra noticed how her cousin’s gaze softened when they rested on her.
‘Elmina will remain to take care of you. She—she is my servant—prepares my food—my clothes, you know, that sort of thing,’ he explained, coughing nervously and averting his gaze, becoming awkward and embarrassed suddenly, and seeming unable to look at Cassandra, who had risen from the divan and was watching him closely. ‘As you see the bungalow is small—though comfortable. You will find Elmina helpful. She will minister to all your needs and her English is very good, so that will not be a problem.’
‘There is no need for you to put yourself about on our account. Lady Courtly has kindly offered to let Rosa and me stay at the house. She is having rooms made ready as we speak.’
John’s relief was evident. ‘I see. That’s very gracious of Julia—and, yes, I suppose that would be for the best.’
Cassandra allowed her gaze to dwell on the mulatto woman. She had fine dark eyes and an abundance of lustrous short black hair. Her coffee-coloured skin was without a blemish, and her full ripe lips and slightly flattened nose showed her Negroid ancestry. She had a slumberous, languid grace, and possessed the requisite warm softness and the firm-fleshed litheness of youth, which was capable of awaking all too easily the carnality of the opposite sex. Having already guessed at the relationship that existed between her cousin and Elmina, Cassandra was surprised but unaffected by it. She smiled inwardly, for she could well see why John was so taken with her, and why he favoured the privacy of the bungalow to the house.
She knew interracial liaisons were not uncommon on the islands, giving rise to a mulatto population and creating a new class of coloureds. However, it would be indelicate for her to discuss the situation with her cousin for, after all, if he chose to keep a native woman in his house as his mistress then it was entirely his own affair. She felt no resentment towards the woman, but it raised a complication she had not bargained for.
‘But make no mistake, Cassandra,’ John went on, ‘you cannot remain on the island indefinitely. You will return to England as soon as I can secure you a place on the first available ship.’
Swamped with disappointment, for she had hoped to remain on Barbados for as long as her cousin, Cassandra stared at him, her face crestfallen. ‘But why can I not remain here until it’s time for you to return?’
‘No,’ he answered firmly. ‘I want you away from Barbados before the rainy season. Often the devastation wrought by the high winds and rain defies exaggeration. For the island’s planters they can spell disaster.’
‘But that is too soon,’ she objected, her thoughts turning to the handsome Captain Marston, for she had hoped to still be on Barbados when he returned from Jamaica. ‘Do—please let me stay longer, John,’ she begged sweetly. ‘I shall be no trouble to you—I promise.’
John sighed, shaking his head in defeat. ‘As to that, Cassandra, I doubt it very much. We’ll see how things turn out—but I will stress that your behaviour will determine the length of your stay. Is that understood?’
‘Oh—yes, very well,’ she replied, appeased by his concession.
‘Good. As for myself,’ he said, his gaze dwelling softly on Elmina’s appealingly beautiful face, ‘I do not intend returning to England until much later.’
There were parties and stylish gatherings of local gentry given by Sir Charles and Lady Julia Courtly while Cassandra was a guest in their house. John lost no time in pointing out that it was necessary for her to replace her pitiful, pathetic belongings before he could introduce her to his friends. He would not have her appearing like a drab and was determined that she would look her best. It made him proud to know she was admired—and maybe attract the eye of one of the island’s rich planters.
Julia whisked
