Page 20 of Exile's Return
He proffered her the glass. ‘Drink this. Your room is paid for. Nothing more to worry about.’
Agnes hunched her shoulders and straightened, looking up at him. Life flickered back into her blotched and tear-stained face.
‘Who are you? Why are you being so kind to me?’ she said, wiping her face in a most un-genteel fashion on the sleeve of her gown.
Daniel set the glass down on the nearest table and swept his hat from his head. ‘Daniel Lucas, madam. If you wish to be left alone, I will…’
She laid a hand on his sleeve and her lips began to tremble again. ‘You have been very kind and I am being ungrateful. Sit with me a while longer, sir, I beg you. I don’t want to be alone, not just yet.’ She frowned, recognition flashing in her swollen, red-rimmed eyes. ‘But I know you, don’t I?’
‘A little altercation over a ball,’ Daniel reminded her.
‘Oh yes, Master Lucas. Henry thought you were a pirate.’ Tears welled in her eyes again and she dashed them away. Taking a shuddering breath she glanced down at the glass on the table, picked it up, and downed the contents in one gulp.
She managed a wan smile. ‘I’m sorry. I must look a fright.’
Daniel had to agree that she did not present a very attractive picture, with her swollen and blotched face and red-rimmed eyes and lank curls. So much for the comely wench. Agnes Fletcher was not one of those women who could cry prettily.
He kept his peace. ‘A pirate? Really. What on earth made him think that?’
She touched her cheek in the approximate position of the scar on his face. ‘That, probably.’
Daniel fingered the old injury, sustained in battle, not in any act of piracy. ‘Ah. A childhood accident.’ He assumed a solicitous expression and leaned toward her. ‘I hope you don’t think me impertinent, but your circumstances seem somewhat strained.’
She shook her head and looked around the room. ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do, Master Lucas. I’ve lost everything. And now he has taken the children.’
‘And are they your children?’ Daniel enquired.
Her throat visibly contracted and she shook her head. ‘They are my sister’s children. Their mother is dead and they have just lost their father. I am all they have left…apart from thatman.’ She spat out the last word as if it left a vile taste in her mouth and tears spilled from her eyes again. The woman was a veritable water well. ‘What are they going to do without me?’
Daniel’s lips tightened. Even if their new guardian was anyone except Tobias Ashby, it seemed a heartless act to separate the newly orphaned children from the one steady and loving person in their lives.
He signalled the innkeeper for another glass of port and Agnes consumed it as she had the first—in one gulp. She pushed the disordered curls back behind her ear. It did not improve her appearance.
He thought in normal circumstances she probably had very fine hazel eyes and an attractive smattering of freckles acrossa neat, pert nose. That nose was now scarlet and her eyes bloodshot and red-ringed.
She cleared her throat and said in a voice, thick with her recent grief. ‘I crave your pardon, sir. You’ve been very kind, but I’ve troubled you long enough. Please return to your business and do not concern yourself for me anymore.’
Daniel shook his head. ‘I’m not leaving ‘til the morning. Can I at least buy you a meal?’ Her lips parted for a moment, revealing neat, even teeth. She sighed deeply and lowered her gaze. ‘You are very kind, sir, and I would welcome some company this evening, even though I may not be at my best.’ She ran a hand through her disordered hair and looked up at him again, the ghost of a smile catching at the corners of her mouth. ‘Perhaps allow me a moment or two to restore myself.’
Daniel smiled and inclined his head. ‘It will be my pleasure. Take whatever time you need. I’ll be waiting here.’
She stood up, running her hands down the stained and crumpled skirts of what had once been a gown of a fine quality green wool. He watched her weave between the tables and stools, the two glasses of port taking effect, and ordered a flagon of the landlord’s finest red wine.
Perfect, Daniel thought. This could not have worked out better if I had planned it.
Chapter 9
Agnes sat on the edge of the bed in the empty room, her locket open in her hand. It contained nothing more than a curled lock of soft, blonde hair, taken from Henry’s head the first time she had trimmed his baby curls.
She snapped the locket shut and replaced it around her neck while she considered her options. She could not just sit by and let the children be taken away from her without a fight. She had promised James and more than that she was bound in blood to the fate of Lizzie and Henry. Somehow, she had to find her way to Charvaley. Maybe, away from his masters in London, Tobias could be persuaded to let her stay.
She took a deep, steadying breath. She had to be realistic. She didn’t know the way to Tobias’s better nature, or even if hehada better nature. She could be of no assistance when it came to the location of the gold, but, what was it he had said?You’ve a pretty face. By all accounts you have already bedded an Earl. It shouldn’t be too hard to find yourself another protector.
What if Tobias Ashby himself would be prepared to be her protector? What if she swallowed what little pride she had left and afforded him the opportunity? The very thought of him touching her made the gorge rise in her throat and she retched port into the slops bucket.
Wiping her face with a cold, wet cloth, she sat back on her heels and considered her current situation. Alone, penniless, and friendless, she stood little chance of making it out of London, let alone as far as Charvaley.
She glanced at the door to her room. She already had a protector waiting for her in the parlour downstairs. Could he be persuaded to provide her with the means to get there? When it came to feminine wiles, she had no tricks. She had always considered herself rather plain, and James had never once told her otherwise. Her mere presence at his table had been all the invitation he had ever needed.
