Page 85 of The Moonstone Major
Lord help him, he would never hurt a hair on her head.
He strode into the kitchen, sank onto one of the hard wooden chairs beside the long worktable, and buried his face in his hands.
He wanted to shed tears in the hope of easing his anguish, but none came.
They never did. They never would.
He’d cried them all as a boy.
Not a drop left in him.
After a while, he sensed Chloe watching him from the doorway. “Come here, love. I won’t hurt you,” he said, looking up and turning toward her.
She nodded and silently approached.
He put an arm about her waist and drew her onto his lap, circling both arms around her sweet, soft body and resting his head against her chest with a familiar intimacy.
She was his in heart, body, and soul. Just as he was in hers.
Her lovely, caring heart was beating in rapid, hitching beats. He knew he had scared her. “I love you, Chloe.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. “I know, but you are so desperately unhappy.”
“Not with you. Never with you, for you are my shining beacon in the darkness.”
She kissed the top of his head. “And you are in a very dark place right now. I am so sorry, Fionn. I wish I could make it all better for you.”
He nodded. “You do, love.”
“You are only saying this to be kind to me. Do you want to know what I think?”
He looked up at her and cast her a mirthless smile. “Do I have a choice? By the stubborn look on your face, I think you are going to give me your opinion whether I wish it or not.”
She nodded. “I think Captain Arundel died before he could find you. I think he never knew of your existence until he went through his sister’s belongings shortly before his death and realized she’d had a child. He was always at sea and only returned for a brief time between sailings. He may have been holding these papers for years and never realized what was in them until it was too late.”
“And what of their brother?”
“His name was Brendan Arundel, a younger brother who died shortly before Fiona died. It is all in the records contained in those boxes. I noted him in the family tree I created for this purpose. I did the same for Fiona’s history. The poor girl, one brother dead and the other somewhere at sea…and she with child and left alone to fend for herself.”
“You forget my father’s responsibility in all this. Where was he?”
“I don’t know, but it should not be too hard to find out. He may have died as well. A husband and brother dead, and her only other family sailing off to parts unknown. She would have come here and been safe had Moonstone Cottage existed back then, but it had not yet been built. So she must have gone to her husband’s family, the Brennans, for help. This may have been her biggest mistake.”
He frowned. “You suspect foul play?”
“It is a consideration. Perhaps she died naturally in childbirth, but with no one in her family around to protect her, and if her husband had also died, then who was left to protect a child who was the viscount’s heir? Would it not be most convenient for the next in line to have this babe simply disappear?”
Fionn laughed in bitter disbelief. “Ah, you think I am the viscount’s true heir? Wouldn’t that be rich? Chloe, you have a vivid imagination.”
“Why else would the viscount’s family be so eager to toss you out of his home before his body had turned cold? They needed to get you out before you went throughhisprivate papers and discovered an incriminating truth. It is just as plausible as your having no connection to them at all.” She kissed his cheek and then gave him a sweeter kiss on the lips. “I am going to heat us up some water for tea.”
He laughed and held her tight. “You are quite proud of yourself now that you know how to boil water, aren’t you? I don’t need tea. I just need to hold on to your delicious body.”
She cast him an impish grin. “Yours is quite delicious, too.”
“Do not encourage me, or I shall carry you upstairs and have at you again.”
“Do you think I would mind in the least?”
