Page 71 of The King's Man
Without looking at Ambrose, Roger said, ‘Leave us, Morton!’
Ambrose did not move. ‘We are agreed, Knott? If you waver on me, I’ll deal with her in my way.’
Roger looked up at the taller man. ‘Leave her to me, Morton. She’ll marry you willingly, I promise. She just needs to be made to see sense.’
‘I’ll return in a week, Knott, and I expect her to be agreeable. If she has gone or if she still refuses me, you know the consequences.’
Thamsine saw her brother-in-law swallow. She wondered what had become of the serious young lawyer who had courted her sister. She did not know this man.
Morton left the room, closing the door behind him. Thamsine rose to her feet. Without Ambrose present, Roger did not scare her.
‘Roger, how have you let this happen? How could you be such a fool?’
His shoulders hunched. ‘Martin Talbot was a friend as well as a client. After he died, his widow looked to me for assistance. I never intended anything to happen.’ There were tears in his eyes. ‘Jane was at my mother’s house. You’ve met Lucy Talbot. You know what she’s like. She flattered me. She captivated me. I was beset by the Devil. The Devil made me write letters I shouldn’t have, and neglect my responsibilities. I was led into temptation by a witch and now I must pay the price.’
‘You’re a fool!’ Thamsine looked at him with contempt. ‘Now you have fallen into Ambrose Morton’s hands. I came to you because I trusted you. What tale did Ambrose spin for you to so turn against me?’
Roger passed his tongue over his dry lips and did not reply.
‘You sent for him. It was you who told him I had come to you and Jane for refuge,’ she said. ‘If I hadn’t seen him arrive, you would have handed me over to him, like a prize.’
‘Thamsine, I’m a lawyer. All I knew then was that you had a legal arrangement with Colonel Morton. I did what I thought was right. I didn’t know him,’ he added with bitterness in his voice. ‘I thought you were being obdurate. Are you going to tell me now why you won’t marry him? Why you tried to kill him?’
‘I shot him in self-defence, Roger. He tried to … ‘ She struggled with the ugly word that rose to her lips. ‘…take me without my consent.’ She tried to read Roger’s face, but it was a mask of lawyerly inscrutability. ‘Did you hear what I said, Roger? He tried to rape me and you want me to marry him.’
Roger’s pale face remained still. ‘Legally, you are contracted to marry him. Your father … ’
Thamsine looked up at the ceiling in despair. ‘My father? Oh, Roger, if you could have seen him in those last few months. Isabelle Morton was at him night and day. He needed a male heir. Edward was dead. He couldn’t leave the estate in the hands of a mere woman. Who better than her son? Every moment until he could bear it no longer and he signed my life away and even then Ambrose couldn’t wait – he is a rapist and probably worse! Roger, I cannot marry him.’
Knott shifted uneasily. His tongue ran around his dry lips. ‘Be thankful, Thamsine, that I persuaded him to let you stay here with me.’
‘Why? Why not just let him have me?’
‘Because none of us wants a scandal, Thamsine. Far better you go to the altar willingly than suffer a repeat of what occurred before.’
‘I wish to God I had killed him!’ Thamsine sank onto the bed. She looked up at Roger, her mouth twisted in anguish. ‘I came here to you for help and you betrayed me. With Ambrose in London, I have had no choice but to hide and while he controls the estate, I have no access to money. I’ve been living …survivingthese past months on nothing.’
Roger looked away, his face unhappy. ‘Thamsine, I know you must think I have failed you, but you must see that my future and that of my family are my priority. I suggest you pray for guidance from God. I find him great comfort in such times of adversity. I have left a Bible for you to contemplate.’
He turned on his heel and left the room, locking the door behind him.
A long time later, she lay curled up on the bed, looking at a cold, clear moon rising over the trees through the square of the window. She had no more tears to cry. The nightmare had begun again. Nothing she had endured in London before her path had crossed that of Kit Lovell compared with the horror of finding herself back in the power of Ambrose Morton.
She put her hand on the cold leather of the binding of the Bible Roger had left for her. She had prayed before, prayed many times, but God never listened to her prayers. Was she so insignificant in the great scheme of things? Had she asked too much? She picked up the book and hurled it at the wall.
Hot tears welled again in her eyes and she gave a wail of despair. It seemed everyone she had ever trusted had betrayed her. Even Kit Lovell had betrayed her, but his motives were different and, it was possible, she thought, that he might care for her a little. Lucy had thought that. Lucy had removed her so she could have Kit to herself.
Kit,she thought, screwing her eyes tight shut, please, if you can hear me, come back. I need you.
She shook her head. She could not expect Kit to come to her rescue again. She turned her face to the bolster, her tears soaking the pillow.
When Kit returned from Paris and found her gone, he would make a number of assumptions and they’d all be wrong. His life would continue without her. She had nothing but her own resources, and as parlous as her situation seemed to be, at least she was alive, and while she lived there remained the faintest hope for her to cling to.
Chapter 19
Thamsine lay on the narrow bed and looked up at the ceiling. She had been incarcerated for five long days with only the Bible and her thoughts for company, and in many ways, this small, bare room was worse than the cell that she had endured in the Tower of London.
At least since the first day, Roger hadn’t raised a hand to her, but he seemed to think nothing of starving her into submission. He brought her just enough bread and water to keep her alive. She felt her physical and mental reserves of strength ebbing.
