Page 88 of The Moonstone Major
“No argument, Chloe. This is to be your safe haven, a place where you shall always be protected and no one can hurt you as they did Fiona.”
He turned to Cain. “Put whatever you want into that betrothal contract. I will sign it. All I ever wanted was Chloe. She can do whatever she wants with her assets.”
He turned back to her, his hand shaking as he caressed her cheek. “And now I really must get out of here and inspect the hospital damage.” He grabbed his hat and jacket and strode to the door. “I’ll see you at the church.”
“What church? When?” she called out after him.
But he’d already slammed the door shut behind him.
To his relief, Mr. Hawke had saddled Sophocles and was about to bring him into the courtyard.
Fionn thanked the man and rode off into town, his thoughts still angry and threatening to boil over in an uncontrollable rage.
If Chloe was right, then his entire life had been a lie.
A viscount?
Him?
Should he not have felt something? Seen his blood run blue instead of common red? How was a peer supposed to feel?
If any of it was true and he found the proof, then he had to give thought to what would come next. There would be a court challenge, of course. None of the viscount’s relatives were going to allow him to claim the title without a bitter fight.
That did not scare him. He’d been fighting for survival all of his life.
In the meanwhile, those Brennans had been living in luxury and taking advantage of all that should have been his. Detesting and demeaning him when all along they knew of his stolen heritage.
Was there punishment severe enough for those loathsome leeches?
Chapter Seventeen
Four days hadpassed since the storm, and Chloe had yet to hear from Fionn. She knew the damage to Moonstone Landing had been extensive and imagined the hospital construction also must have been set back. This explained his silence, for he had to be working day and night to repair the damage and salvage the entire project.
She did not want to interfere with his important work. Their marriage plans could wait.
Besides, she had more to do going through these boxes of documents on her own. Most of the cataloguing had been done, but she wanted to review every piece again to be certain she had not overlooked something important now that she understood the full history.
She had only a few hours a day to devote to this work now that Imogen and Ella were back from Falmouth. That town had been spared the brunt of the storm. In fact, Ella had told her they’d had nothing more than overcast skies with no rain at all. She was glad the girls were able to enjoy the fair, but it felt odd this storm had centered on their small patch of Cornwall and spared every other town around it.
She dismissed the thought, because this storm had brought her and Fionn closer together and she was not going to question the how or why of it. Instead, she remained on schedule, arriving each morning at the cottage and leaving by noontime to return to Westgate Hall and spend the rest of the day with the girls.
They had all kept mostly to Westgate Hall, since the town was still recovering from the storm’s damage. Nor could they go down to the beach, because the water was too roiled and there were dangerous rip currents. One had only to look down from the heights to know the sea was quite gray and angry. She dared not even dip a toe into those turbulent waters.
“Lady Chloe, would you like a cup of tea?” Mrs. Hawke asked, bustling into the dining room as the noon hour approached.
“No, thank you. I’ll be off soon.”
The kindly woman cast her a pitying look. “You take your time and let me know if you need anything.”
Chloe had learned from Mrs. Hawke that Fionn no longer returned to the cottage each evening and instead had taken to staying in the officers’ quarters at the fort, his excuse being the mountain of work required to be done after the storm.
Chloe thought the real reason was her.
Perhaps she should not have been so strident in discussing these revelations about the Brennans and the Arundels, for she saw now that it hadn’t helped him so much as brought more pain to his already burdened heart.
She sighed as she finished going through the stack of documents, and had just neatly packed them away when she heard Hen, Phoebe, and their cousin Prudence arrive at the front door.
Mrs. Hawke greeted them cheerfully and invited them in. “Good morning, Your Grace. Lady Burness. Mrs. Weston.”
