Читать книгу Spellbound and Seduced - Marguerite Kaye - Страница 8

December, 1822

The snow was falling heavily, thick flakes fluttering down from the leaden sky like a lace curtain. Lawrence Connaught reined in his horse and pulled his beaver hat from his head to brush it clean. Blinking away the melting crystals which clung to his lashes, he shook the damp from his hair, which was unfashionably long and curled over the high collar of his many-caped great coat. The rutted road, by London standards no more than a track, meandered ahead of him, dipping and climbing in a most contrary way, which made it impossible to tell how far he had still to travel. The last village was about five miles back. If his mother was to be relied on—which she rarely was—then Dunswaird was another mile, at most two, further on.

‘You’ll spot the place easily,’ Moira Connaught had told her son with a shudder of distaste. ‘It looks more like a medieval keep than a castle. It is quite old but quite plain too. I doubt it will appeal to your architectural sensibilities.’

For once, Lawrence had been inclined to agree with her. Tower-house-style castles were, in his experience, durable but rather dour. He was, however, curious about this unexpected legacy. Dunswaird Castle had come into his ownership following the death of his mother’s uncle, a confirmed misogynist whose will, twenty years out of date, named her brother, Lawrence’s uncle, as heir. Since he had joined his maker some ten years previous leaving a clutch of daughters, all as yet unwed, and had no other male siblings, Lawrence found himself, six months after the death of a relative he had never met, the possessor of his castle and his title, provided he paid, according to some ancient tradition, the price of a thistle and a rose to the crown each Lady Day.

The most recent of Lawrence’s architectural commissions had been completed in October. He had not yet decided on the next. More importantly, he was in urgent need of an excuse to avoid yet another of his mother’s house parties and the parade of eligible young ladies she produced for him in an increasingly desperate attempt to see her eldest son settled. But her eldest son was not in the least bit interested in settling. The very word, so staid and dull, bored him.

Variety was the spice of Lawrence’s life, in both work and women—especially women—at least it had been until recently. Recently, even variety had begun to pall. His boredom threshold was becoming alarmingly low. The thrill of the chase, the witty banter with its double entendres and seductive undertones which he had once enjoyed almost as much as the consummation which followed, now seemed to him pointless. Horrified by the notion that he might be growing arrogant, one of those tedious, seen-it-all boors, he had begun to spend more and more time alone. His last liaison had ended six months ago now, and he felt no inclination to embark upon another. Something was missing from his life, but it was not another affair. He needed a change of a more substantive kind.

‘And change, these Highlands of Scotland most certainly are,’ he muttered to his horse. ‘Though just exactly where I am for the present quite defeats me.” Jamming his hat back on his head, Lawrence set off once more, wondering if he’d been unwise not to spend the night with his baggage at the last inn.

Ten minutes later, and the snow had begun to permeate even the thick grey wool of his greatcoat. He could no longer feel his toes inside his top boots. An eerie silence prevailed. In the strange light, it could be either dawn or dusk. He felt as if he were the only living soul in this bleak, treacherous landscape.

He rode on, concentrating all his energy on remaining in the saddle, too cold and too mesmerised by the whirling snow to notice how far he had strayed from the track until a branch whipped painfully across his cheek. Reining in, he found himself in a densely wooded copse. Already, the hoofprints of his horse were obliterated behind him. Dismounting, he felt his boots sink into deep snow. The light was failing fast. The sky was murky, ominous. Around him, the gnarled branches of the bare trees seemed to be encroaching, reaching out, beckoning. His horse whinnied, straining at the reins, pawing nervously at the ground. He rubbed his gloved hand over its twitching ears, but the animal refused to be calmed, snorting and pulling more forcefully to free itself.

He was lost. He knew he was lost, though he refused to accept it, and there was a part of him which welcomed the fact, for at least it was a change. Determined to choose any way rather than none, Lawrence stumbled, dragging his reluctance mount, towards what looked like a path leading through the copse, but almost immediately the naked branches swallowed him up with their snagging limbs. He turned back, but must have missed his direction, for the next path looked wholly unfamiliar. Another turn, and he was in another small clearing.

The clutching branches of the desiccated forest snatched at his greatcoat, his hat, his hair as he stumbled in and out of rabbit holes and partially frozen streams indiscriminately, with no aim save to escape from this godforsaken place. ‘This is ridiculous,’ Lawrence muttered, quite disconcerted by the impenetrable landscape. A noise to his right made his terrified steed rear up. Lawrence whipped round in an effort to retain his tenuous grip on the reins, caught a glancing blow to his head from a low bough, and only just retained his balance.

Through the trees, a thin spiral of smoke caught his eye. Shakily, he managed to remount, pointing his horse in the direction of the smoke, forcing his way through and out of the forest. The cottage was white, thatched, almost obscured by the snow, which was falling heavier than ever. Dizzy and weak from the blow he had sustained, Lawrence clung swaying and semi-conscious to the saddle.

A voice, a female voice, musical and low, murmuring words he could not understand made him open his eyes. Gaelic. His mother’s language, though almost the only words of it he knew were the curses and insults she used to rain down upon his father when they were at odds.

The woman’s tawny hair was the first thing he noticed. Long and luxurious, it trailed all the way down her back. Her eyes, he noticed next. Golden, he thought, though maybe they were hazel, almond-shaped, fringed with dark, dark lashes. A pink, full mouth. A perfect nose. ‘I don’t speak Gaelic,’ Lawrence said, stumbling over the one phrase he’d been able to persuade his mother to teach him.

‘Don’t try to move, you’ve a nasty cut on your forehead.’

She spoke English with a delightful lilt. Those eyes, they were like liquid amber, he had never seen such a colour before. Her gown of plain brown wool was old-fashioned, the bodice laced at the front, fitted to the waist, quite unlike the Empire line so popular in London. She had an ethereal look about her, as if she was not quite of this world. ‘Who are you?’

‘Jura, Jura Mcnair.’

‘I am Lawrence Connaught.’ He looked around at his surroundings. ‘Where am I?’

‘In my cottage.’

A fire burned brightly in the hearth that was set into the gable end, a heavy black iron kettle hanging from a hook in the chimney simmering over it. His greatcoat and hat were draped over a chair, steaming gently. Lawrence struggled to sit up from the cushioned wooden settle on which he seemed to be sprawled. ‘I was in the woods. Lost. The snow. I remember now, my horse…’

‘He’s in the shed with my milk cow. You must have fainted, for I found you unconscious on the doorstep. I had a hard task of it, getting you inside,’ Jura said with a smile. It had been taxing, but also rather delightful, wrestling this muscular and extremely attractive stranger into her cottage. His expensive clothes, the air of elegance which clung to him despite the toll the weather had taken, made it obvious he was far from home even before he spoke. She could not possibly have met him before, and yet when she had seen him at first, slumped against her doorstep, she’d felt a connection, as if she knew him, or had been expecting him. It was the strangest thing.

‘You’ve hurt yourself,’ she said, delicately touching the blood-crusted cut around which a livid bruise was blooming. His eyes were the blue of rosemary flowers. The bruise throbbed under her fingers. Their gazes snagged. The air crackled, the way it did just before lightning struck.

Lawrence blinked. ‘I hit my head on branch,’ he said. ‘Stupid thing to do. My horse was trying to bolt.’ A violent shiver made his teeth chatter.

‘You need to get dry or you’ll catch your death. Take off those boots and that coat, they’re soaking. I’ll fetch a balm to take away the swelling on the bruise.’

Lawrence hesitated. ‘I don’t want to put you out.’

‘I will be glad of the company, it gets very lonely here. Besides, I doubt you’ll be able to go anywhere in this storm. The snow is over a foot deep already, and it’s dark. You’d only get lost if you tried to continue your journey. Unless… Is someone expecting you?’

They were not expecting him at the castle, he had sent no word, knowing it would not reach whoever was looking after the place before his arrival. Besides, he most decidedly didn’t want to go back out into that cold, hostile landscape, not when there was a warm fire, and the beguiling Jura Mcnair was smiling at him. Lawrence had known more beautiful women, and he had known more overtly alluring ones, but he had never met a woman quite so…so enchanting! He smiled back. ‘No one is expecting me. I’d very much like to stay, if you’re sure I won’t be intruding.’

‘You won’t be, there is only me and Brianag, my cat.’

In fact, Brianag was Jura’s familiar, her confidante, her only real friend. Though it was not like the old days, when her ancestors were shunned and feared because of their powers, the move she had made to this village of Dunswaird, away from the memories of her dear departed mother and away from the dreadful history which blighted her happiness and the happiness of her mother and her mother and so on, back two hundred years, had not been quite the fresh start Jura had hoped. The villagers of Dunswaird were too much in awe of her powers to befriend her, and though she had never given them cause, the women were suspicious of a young unwed female and the men rather too interested.

She was lonely. It was her choice, it was for a fine cause, but she was lonely nonetheless. She missed her mother. She missed having someone to talk with and laugh with and confide in. Though it was impossible, though she herself had been instrumental in ensuring it was impossible, there were days when she longed to know what it felt like to be precious to another, to be us instead of me. There were days when the loneliness made her powers fade, and she felt like a faerie whose wings have wilted. There were days, such as today, when she longed to be wanted not for her spells or her healing powers, but for herself.

Realizing that she’d been staring at him rather covetously, Jura blushed, telling herself she was imagining the seductive quality to his smile. A soft scraping on the window gave her an excuse to turn away. ‘That will be Brianag wanting in.’

She opened the latch of the window, and a sleek silver cat jumped into the room, shaking out its snow-tipped fur. Jura leaned out of the window. ‘The snow is even heavier now. If it keeps on like this, no one will be going anywhere.’

The tightly laced gown she wore showed off the sensual dip of her spine to her bottom. It was a very nice bottom, Lawrence thought appreciatively. Her gown stopped just above her ankles. As she leaned out of the window, her petticoats rode up, giving him a delightful glimpse of her pretty calves, the backs of her knees. She wore neither shoes nor stockings. She had lovely toes. He had never seen such lovely toes. He should not even be noticing her toes, with his head aching and his clothes sopping.

The long rippling fall of her tawny hair fluttered over her beautifully rounded rump. Were she naked, it would caress her breasts, silken threads, giving him tantalising glimpses of her nipples. Would they be pink, like her mouth, or darker? And would the curls which covered her sex be the same tawny colour of her hair, or darker? Darker, he decided. And her nipples would be darker pink too.

Jura pulled closed the window and turned around, catching him unawares. Embarrassed to discover that his musings had made him hard, Lawrence crossed his legs. For heaven’s sake, what was wrong with him! His libido was not usually so rampant. In fact, given the circumstances, he couldn’t understand why it was even present. The silver cat wound itself around his booted ankle. ‘Bry-an-ack,’ he said, struggling with the soft Gaelic syllables. Dammit, the cat was a sinuous as her mistress.

‘Bree-an-ach,’ Jura corrected him, stooping to pat the creature, affording Lawrence a tantalising glimpse of cleavage. “Do you want me to help you take off your boots?”

His boots, his breeches, and whatever else she chose to remove! Lawrence shook his head. “I can manage.”

Jura nodded. “Mind you do now, else you’ll likely catch a fever. I’ll be back in a moment.”

The door closed behind her. Lawrence stared into the flames of the fire. Back home, he would have been in the midst of preparations for tonight’s ball. His mother would find time, in between driving the servants mad with unnecessary reminders and completing her lengthy toilette, to lecture him on the merits and demerits of each eligible partie. He grinned. His temple throbbed. His feet were soaking. Hoby’s boots were obviously not designed for Scottish snow. His coat, too—the superfine was wet through at the shoulders to his shirt. Still, he wouldn’t swap places even if he could, because cold and tired and lost as he was, he was also thoroughly intrigued and no little aroused by his barefoot and unaccountably unattached hostess. Lawrence took off his boots.

In the wooden lean-to that was her still room at the back of the cottage, Jura collected together leaves, seeds, roots, and essential oils. Lifting her mortar and pestle from the shelf, she set about pounding a balm for the bruising, a tisane for the headache.

She had never seen such extraordinarily blue eyes as Lawrence Connaught had. If she could have cast a spell to conjure a lover, she’d have wished for eyes exactly like those. She’d have wished for hair to curl over her lover’s collar as Lawrence’s did, for his mouth to curve delicately under just such a straight nose. Her spell would have given her lover just that aura of sensuality, the same heady mix of potency and confidence which would make her feel both vulnerable and desirable.

She was not accustomed to feeling either. Her powers made her inviolable. It was her choice, her magic which ensured she would never know the happiness of true love. A bleak enough future for sure, but knowing it would also be without tragedy, without the sorrow and anguish she had seen her mother suffer, had always helped comfort her lonely hours. Though tonight…

Tonight, fate had brought her Lawrence Connaught. Tonight, for the first time, she knew the lure of temptation. She could never have love, but that did not mean she had always to be alone. Yearning, until now quite undefined, sharpened and focused. Longing, wanting to taste just a little of what was forbidden, now that it had shape—such a very attractive shape—was so much harder to resist. What harm could it do to open the door to that forbidden chamber just a little? To take just a step into the sensual, glittering world of desire? A moment out of time to warm her in the cold nights to come.

Jura tipped the crushed leaves for the tisane from the mortar into a linen sachet. She didn’t mean it, of course. She was merely indulging her imagination. No harm in that. She picked up the jar of balm. The knot in her stomach tightened. She didn’t mean it, but what harm if she did?