drawn to a woman of more advanced years. Maude had reappeared, not bearing the tea tray, but news of another caller.
‘Mr Gavin Stone is here, miss.’
That gentleman was strolling into the room before either of its occupants had fully digested news of his arrival.
‘Mr Stone…’ Sarah’s flustered greeting drew a penetrating look from Gavin’s deep blue eyes. His attention then flicked to her companion.
Joseph executed a very stiff bow and, with his sallow complexion mottling, stalked to the sofa to collect his hat whilst muttering about the need to take his leave.
‘Don’t go on my account,’ Gavin said placidly. His tone seemed at odds with the long hard stare concentrated on the lawyer. It had the effect of hurrying Joseph towards the door.
The sight of Gavin Stone, attired in riding clothes with his black boots gleaming through a layer of dust, had unsettled Sarah for a moment. He had the look of a prosperous Romany come a-calling with his rugged tanned features and careless dark locks. Now, as the lawyer reached the door, Sarah quickly jerked herself to her senses. A suspicion niggled at her that this might be no chance meeting between the three of them, but something the gentlemen had deliberately concocted to browbeat her. Her conspiracy theory was soon quashed: Joseph Pratt looked distinctly put out by Gavin’s arrival. She was, too, for had the lawyer not been about to expound on a way of improving her lot?
‘You have not yet fully explained the reason for your visit, sir,’ Sarah reminded him, skipping to the door to intercept his departure. ‘We were talking of—’
‘It is of no consequence now, Miss Marchant,’ Joseph interrupted brusquely. His floridity increased until he was red to the roots of his receding hair. With a jerky bow he was soon gone from the room.
‘How odd,’ Sarah murmured to herself, unaware that her genuine puzzlement had caused Maude’s gimlet eyes to slide to meet those of her remaining guest.
Maude had not liked the lawyer, but she’d welcomed this fellow turning up unexpectedly. She knew as soon as he gave his name that he had every right to be here. Gavin Stone was, of course, the wild brother who’d inherited the big estate and that included Elm Lodge. That aside, she’d also given him a once over and decided he was handsome enough to be as bad as he liked. Sometimes scoundrels changed when they found what they were looking for. And Maude reckoned, from the way that Gavin Stone was staring at Sarah, he’d met his match. Satisfaction writhed across her pursed lips. ‘Shall I bring in the tea, miss?’ Maude asked.
Sarah glanced at Gavin. They had parted yesterday on frosty terms. She did not want to offer him her hospitality, yet to deny him a cup of tea seemed mean. A glint of humour in his eyes betrayed that he was aware of her quandary.
‘Yes…thank you, Maude.’ The firm order for refreshment sent Maude immediately from the room.
To break the tense quiet Sarah blurted, ‘Mr Pratt is quite an odd character, I think.’
‘Do you? Why?’ Gavin asked mildly.
‘I’m still not sure what was his purpose in coming here today. I thought at one time he was about to tell me he had found a legal loophole through which we might both wriggle to freedom. But if that were so, he would have stayed to tell us. He went off in a peculiar mood, I thought.’
Gavin strolled closer to inspect the look of bewilderment on her face. He could detect no coyness, no sham modesty. She seemed genuinely unaware that the lawyer had designs on her virtue. Once again he was struck by her apparent innocence…her undeniable beauty. He could understand why Joseph Pratt had felt compelled to try his luck. Gavin imagined the lawyer would not be the only gentleman sniffing around Miss Marchant, spouting sympathy and suggestions.
‘I think Mr Pratt was about to tell you he expected your personal attention in exchange for any assistance he offered.’
Sarah frowned and then her brow smoothed, her eyes widened in shock. Quickly she brought her soft lips together and turned away from him to shield her confusion. He would think that! The lecherous beast!
‘I do not think you should judge every gentleman by your own lax morals, sir,’ she retorted crisply. She twirled around to face him with her chin at a haughty angle. ‘I found nothing…offensive…in Mr Pratt’s behaviour.’ The moment it was out, Sarah knew that declaration was not quite true. The lawyer had indeed tried to grab inappropriately at her person. The more she pondered on the encounter, the more she realised there had been ambiguity in his conversation too. Had she been a gullible fool not to realise he had an ulterior motive? Fast on the heels of that crushing thought came a yet worse one. Would others follow? Now Edward had gone, would she be seen as fair game?
Sarah knew she was pretty. From quite a young age her mother had told her she had been blessed with exceptional looks. Her dear mama had had great hopes that her beauty would lure a wealthy suitor and solve all their financial woes. But it wasn’t to be.
More recently Edward Stone had praised her looks. In the sly eyes of some of the men hereabouts she’d seen reflected Edward’s admiration. Oh, in front of their womenfolk they might purport to dislike her, but she’d sensed that privately they’d coveted Edward’s young paramour.
And so did his brother.
Whatever Gavin thought of her as a person—and he had made his opinion of her clear yesterday when roundly attacking her character—it would not dampen his lust. The fact that she had a heart and a soul and a yearning for affection and respect would bother him not one jot. He was here today for the same reason as had been Joseph Pratt…to have her naked beneath him.
She sensed colour creep to stain her milky neck and a hand moved involuntarily to shield it. Would he still lust after her if he knew that her body was not so pretty as her face?
‘Please sit down, if you would like to.’ The words were ejected in little above a whisper.
Gavin wordlessly declined the polite invitation by moving instead to take up a position by the chimneypiece. Sarah sat down, then wished she had not, for she could sense his pitiless gaze warming the top of her head.
‘Joseph Pratt is unlikely to be the only gentleman interested in propositioning you.’
Sarah’s small teeth sunk into her bottom lip. So he could read her thoughts too. She simply nodded and blinked.
‘Is that what you want? A parade of gentlemen callers from which you might choose a wealthy candidate to keep you?’
Sarah flew to her feet, her fists gripped tight by her side. ‘You know I do not! If that were all I wanted, I would have accepted my fate and settled on you. You will be richer than all of them put together once you have the Stone inheritance.’
‘But I have not yet offered my services,’ Gavin reminded quietly.
‘You do not need to, sir,’ Sarah replied damningly. ‘You have said you will not forgo your inheritance and neither will you spare me.’
‘Your complaints would be better directed at Edward. He engineered this bizarre scheme.’
Sarah could not argue with that. She expelled a sigh, gesturing hopelessly. ‘At least you seem to have absolved me of any guilt in trying to trap you into it. For that I am grateful.’
‘My
