his sombre eyes, the result was so devastating that Rosalie felt her insides lurch again. He said to her, more gently, ‘Garrett will show you to your room. We’ll discuss what’s to be done in the morning.’
Already McGrath was trying to draw Alec to one side. ‘Captain, there’s more fellows needin’ rooms tonight. They’re waiting in the Rising Sun for you …’
She watched Alec’s tall, rangy figure disappearing from view, with red-haired McGrath at his side. And she felt as if her one pillar of safety was abandoning her.
Safety? Was she insane? Was this how Linette had felt? Still feeling sick, she held Katy close and struggled to gather her disarrayed thoughts as Eyepatch—oh, Lord, she must remember his name was Garrett—led her surlily up the stairs.
The accommodation she and Katy were to share consisted in fact of one small room. Garrett had lit a lamp before he left; as she looked around, she felt a tiny but welcome sense of relief. There was just enough space for two narrow beds; the blankets, though threadbare, looked clean and the floor was swept, with a closet for clothes and even a small mirror nailed to the wall over a washstand.
A middle-aged woman knocked on the door a few minutes later. ‘My name’s Mary, ma’am, and I’ve brought you both clothes, ‘cos the Captain said yours were soaked and here’s some milk and bread for your little one. You’ll be sure to let me know, won’t you, if there’s anything else you want? Bless her, isn’t she sweet! My little granddaughters, now—’
‘Thank you, that will be all,’ Rosalie cut in. Unable to find the promised key, she jammed the door shut with a chair after the woman had gone. On the one hand, she rebuked herself for being abominably rude. On the other hand—she was in the domain of her enemy.
And she was so tired, all she wanted to do was sleep. But first she changed Katy into those dry clothes, then took the plate of bread and, after hesitating—they wouldn’t stoop to poisoning an infant, don’t be a fool—she sat Katy on her lap and fed her.
That was when she heard the noise of men talking somewhere outside. Going over to the window with Katy still in her arms, she pulled back the faded curtain to gaze out.
‘Tick-tock man. There,’ Katy announced with satisfaction.
The window overlooked a large, overgrown garden at the back of the house. A flagged terrace was lit by the glow of a brazier, and gathered around it, with tankards of ale in their hands, were a dozen or so rough-looking men—and two young women, with whom the men were clearly on familiar terms. In their midst was Alec, laughing and joking with them. One of the women, who had dyed black hair and up-thrust breasts on full display, had her hand possessively on his arm.
What had Lord Maybury said? I’m afraid that Alec Stewart keeps company with the lowest of the low …
Shivering with dismay, Rosalie turned away from the window, freshly appalled at the situation in which she’d landed herself. Katy was nodding off in her arms; Rosalie wiped her face and fingers clean and put her in the spare bed with her rag doll next to her. She remembered, with a wrench at her insides, how in the cab Katy had slumbered in Alec Stewart’s arms, her thumb in her mouth, her dark curls tousled around her angelic face. I envied her, in those strong arms … Don’t be stupid! Don’t be so utterly idiotic! She blinked away her own hot tears of weariness and despair.
No matter how much she tried to tell herself that this was her heaven-sent opportunity to find out more about the dangerous master of Two Crows Castle, she was in a mess, she acknowledged bitterly, an almighty mess. She changed into the nightdress Mary had provided and settled herself awkwardly on the bed, preparing herself for a sleepless night. Why did Alec Stewart and Lord Maybury hate each other so? There was so much that she couldn’t make sense of …
But suddenly something that should have been obvious struck her with a dreadful jolt. No wonder Katy was so happy in Alec Stewart’s arms. She had, after all, most likely found her father.
Alec didn’t reach his bed until late. Tonight he knew he’d vastly added to his problems by taking in Rosalie—Mrs Rowland—and her child.
Why had he done it, when she so clearly hated him? When she was preparing to go off for the night with Stephen?
It was because Rosalie still struck him as Stephen’s victim, rather than his whore. And—though he despised himself for this—because he found her irresistible. He’d been fool enough to kiss her twice and both those kisses had been delicious. She was sweet, tenderly responsive, yet almost innocent … Impossible! For God’s sake, she’d been selling herself at the Temple of Beauty! Displaying herself, on stage, looking for the highest bidder!
His raging doubts were succinctly echoed by Garrett, as the two of them went as usual round the big place one last time, to check all was well before locking up for the night.
‘You’ve let yourself in for a whole heap of trouble, taking that one in, Captain, if you don’t mind my saying,’ warned Garrett softly. ‘A whole heap.’
Alec was awake early the next morning as ever and went down to breakfast, brushing aside that damned great dog, who’d jumped up to greet him from a warm spot by Mary’s cooking range. Quite a few men were already at the big table, eating. The newcomers were especially hungry and shovelled down the food as if they couldn’t believe their luck, while the two new women Garrett had hired to help out were cheerfully dishing out the plain but hearty food.
They all greeted him warmly. ‘Mornin’, Captain!’ He nodded in reply. The dark-haired wench who’d tried her luck with him last night lifted her face for a kiss, but he’d already made it plain she was hired to work and nothing else. He couldn’t see Mary, though he knew she couldn’t be far away, because only she could have got so many pans full of sizzling fried bread and bacon on the big cooking range.
He went to pour himself some coffee, then saw Mary coming through from the breakfast room—with Katy in her arms.
‘Where’s the child’s mother, Mary? Isn’t she down yet?’
Kind Mary, a mother and grandmother herself, looked anxious. ‘She’s still a-bed, Captain. The little one was heard cryin’, so I went up to fetch her. Took her clothes to freshen up, as well. The mother, she didn’t wake!’
Garrett entered just then. ‘Doubtless she’s not used to keeping early hours, Captain,’ he said pointedly.
Alec whipped round on him. ‘She has a child. No mother normally sleeps when her child’s crying!’
‘This one does.’
Alec said grimly, ‘In that case, I’m going up to her. She cannot be well.’
But first, Garrett handed him the note.
Hell’s teeth.
Rosalie was in an old dark castle, where every room was full of sneering soldiers and gaudily dressed whores. She was running along endless passageways in search of Linette, for ever glimpsing her, but unable to reach her; then she was faced with a door which turned out to be not a door,
