many of them ideal for smuggling. Protected by high ragged cliffs, giving shelter to the east and west, the cove below her now was small in size. The tide was out, but at high tide it was inaccessible. Hidden from the cliff path, making it completely private, this cove was Lowena’s favourite, and she did not fear it as she did the cursed cove, which she always avoided.
Breathless from her exertions, she left the path and pushed her way through a narrow opening in the gorse bushes. Her cheeks were flushed pink, the colour heightening the intensity of her amber eyes. With care she climbed down to the beach and walked to the edge of the surf, taking in deep breaths of clean air. The sun was sitting on the distant horizon and the sky was an azure blue. Last night the sky had been red. Sailors said a red sky at night meant sailors’ delight. How she hoped that was true.
She was snatched from her preoccupations when she heard a sound behind her. Spinning round, she saw Edward Carberry swaggering towards her. She shuddered, and felt herself shrink as he approached her. She hated him with a vengeance, and distrusted his presence now as she had distrusted it many years ago, when she had become aware of him as the future Lord Carberry and he had so cruelly called her ‘that foundling bastard’.
But that had never stopped him looking at her, watching her, biding his time until Izzy or the servants she now worked with were not there to protect her.
When Edward stopped in front of her there was a sneer on his mouth—and it was a cruel mouth, twisted in perpetual contempt for those who, in his opinion, were beneath him. His eyes were heavy-lidded, beguiling, gloating and hungry. He looked at her with impudent admiration, letting his gaze travel from her eyes to her mouth and then, after lingering on its soft fullness, moving down to the gentle swell of her breasts beneath her bodice.
‘Well, well, Miss Trevanion! They do say as how, if one is patient enough, one will get what one wants in the end. My half-brother may have removed you from the house, but you are not out of my reach.’
As she tried to force words to her lips Lowena hated the smile which twisted his mouth. Standing stiffly, every nerve of her body tense, she knew her eyes were wary as they watched him.
‘I cannot imagine what you mean, Sir Edward,’ she replied, her look one of pure innocence even while she knew perfectly well what was in his mind. ‘Please be so kind as to step aside.’
‘Not yet, Miss Trevanion.’
Lowena stared at him with fear-filled eyes. Lord Carberry was a powerful man, and if he attacked her she would not be strong enough to fend him off. All she had was her determination to escape him and two good legs. Fair-haired and blue-eyed, his features handsomely wrought, his bold gaze swept over her once more, taking in every detail of her flower-sprigged blue dress, and all the while he continued to smile that hateful twisted smile, so much more suave and slippery of manner than any man she knew.
In the depths of his cold eyes something stirred, and she felt a strong desire to push him away. There was an air of menace about him that entered her heart like a sliver of ice.
Realising she was in terrible danger, she backed away, feeling sea water fill her shoes but uncaring at that moment. ‘I asked you to let me pass. I have to get back to Lady Alice.’
‘Oh, such a proud beauty,’ he said, laughing softly. ‘I’ll be happy to let you pass...for the price of a kiss.’
‘I will not. You—you followed me—’
‘I thought that was what you wanted when I saw you turn on the cliff path and look back. At any rate, I am at liberty to seek you out whenever I please.’ Tilting his head to one side, Edward cocked a smooth, elegant brow, the glint in the depths of his eyes needle-sharp. ‘You did know I was following you, did you not, Lowena?’
He was taunting her, as he invariably did when he managed to waylay her, and she stiffened, half with anger and half with apprehension at being alone with him. She met his eyes, so bold, gazing down at her, taking in every detail of her fear-filled face.
With his handsome looks and the merry twinkle in his eye, it was hard to believe he was anything other than a gentleman, and she could understand why all the girls she knew in the village, even those who had been born to rich families, made eyes at him and vied for his favours—but she was not one of them.
‘I did not,’ she said sharply in reply to his question, hating the nervous tremor she was unable to control in her voice. She knew what had happened to his wife, and had always felt sorry for him, but she found it both annoying and distasteful that he paid her so much attention. It did not go unnoticed by the people she worked with and she was embarrassed by it. It was uncomfortable to be singled out.
‘Had I known, I would not have come to the cove.’
‘No?’ he murmured, his face and voice expressing a disappointment he did not feel. ‘I wanted to thank you for standing watch last night. You did well.’
‘I was obeying orders. I didn’t want to do it, but I was left with no choice.’
‘There will be other nights I shall call on you.’
‘I will not do it again. Your brother—’
‘Will not stop you when I send for you,’ he was quick to inform her, anger flaring in his eyes. ‘It is me you answer to—not my brother. He knows better than to interfere in my affairs. Anyone—and I mean anyone—who informs on me or meddles in what I do—be it Marcus or anyone else—will rue the day he was born.’
Lowena remained silent. She found the implication of his words and the threat he posed towards his brother deeply troubling.
His sudden surge of anger had diminished and, reaching out, Edward touched the thick tress of her hair which hung over her breast. She recoiled sharply, and her eyes still blazed in her lovely face. His own eyes narrowed when he saw the expression in hers, and there was a moment of silence—intense, burning...
When Lowena failed to lower her eyes he recognised in that moment that Lowena Trevanion possessed something quite rare. Whatever it was that he saw he wanted a part of it, and he was prepared to be patient, to wait for it, secure in the knowledge that it would be his.
‘Ever since you came to work at the house,’ he went on, ‘I have waited for this. I thought the opportunity to get you alone would never come when my stepmother watched my every move. You are looking very lovely today.’
His voice was thick and seductive—a trick that had always proved irresistible to the many ladies of his acquaintance. His eyes rested on the soft flesh at the base of her neck, where a pulse throbbed gently, before lowering to the soft swelling of her breasts.
Instinctively Lowena put her hands to her throat, angry with herself for having inadvertently led him to this place where she had no defence.
‘Please do not speak to me like this. I have to go. Lady Alice will have need of me. I said I would not be long.’
‘To hell with my stepmother. Let someone else do her bidding.’
‘Let me go...’ she breathed, her eyes flashing angrily.
She made a move to pass him, but his hand shot out and he seized her arm. Snatching it away instantly, she backed further into the foaming surf.
‘Take your hands off me and let me pass at once.’
Edward stared at her for a moment, and then the mocking smile was back. ‘What spirit you have, Lowena. You remind me of a horse that is unbroken—a horse that is in need of a master. Me.’
It was not a threat he uttered—more a statement of fact. Lowena went cold, the blood draining from her face as she saw sudden fire leap in his eyes.
‘What do you want?’
‘You,’ he answered smoothly, moving closer. ‘Come, Lowena, why so hostile? I have done nothing to justify it. As lovely as you are, you know how much I like you.’
Words fell from his gilded tongue effortlessly, as if they carried no weight or conviction.