across his cheek. Tears sprang to her violet eyes, and she tried to escape from him. But once again she was pulled, this time viciously, to his side. He looked murderously at her; his cold, dispassionate eyes now gleamed silver with wrath.
"You have done it once, my lady. But you will never do it again. I'll not be struck by a Morrow." With that he flung her across the room. Her tears had no effect on him.
"There will not be a second rime!" she shouted, thinking of the kiss. Wiping the tears off her soft cheeks, she berated herself for being so weak. "I would sooner live in a stable than here with you!" With that she turned and fled, wanting only her few belongings so she could leave
Osterley
Park
and Avenel Slane behind forever.
But before she departed, he left her with the haunting words, "You may just get that chance, my lady."
CHAPTER FOUR
She is not what I expected her to be." Cumberland wiped his forehead with a square of linen. In spite of the cold damp day, he was sweating. He coughed as he examined Avenel, who was steadfastly looking out the window of the gallery. Avenel stood perfectly still except for the twitch of a muscle in his jaw, and he did not look at Cumberland. "I'm not quite sure I approve," Cumberland continued. "She's not the woman I expected. I've talked with her, Slane. She has a gentle spirit."
"She has her father's blood," Avenel retorted as his crystalline eyes stared off into the far misty fields of Osterley. In the distance a doe foraged for her dinner behind the garden house. He seemed entranced with its gentle movement across the lawn and thus gave Cumberland little of his attention.
"Yes, but she has her mother's blood in her, too. And I daresay the lass hardly looks like her father. Such coloring I've never seen. I never would have guessed her to be the earl's daughter."
"Damn her mother! Damn her beauty!" Avenel finally faced Cumberland. "As long as her name is Morrow, I'll curse her."
Hearing this, Cumberland sat down in one of the elbow seats and stared hard at the floorboards, deep in thought. Finally he spoke, saying each word carefully and with much thought.
"I've been with you now for twenty years, Slane. We've been through thick and through thin, riches and rags. You know I was just a bosun on that ship. But you, you were nobility. Your brother was a viscount, and your father . . . The point is, damn it, that I trust you more than my own mother, but I'm not sure you're right this time."
Avenel spun around and looked at him sharply. "It does not concern me whether I have your loyalty."
"You have my loyalty," Cumberland answered simply, mopping his forehead again. "I haven't forgotten what we've been through. And I'll not forget as long as I live. It's not a question of loyalty, Slane. It's just that she's so young."
"And what of Christopher? He was young, younger still than she is now. That bastard gave no thought to sparing my brother." Avenel turned to the portrait of Oliver Morrow. His eyes blazed violently at the image of the man in the giltwood frame. "What makes me so divine as to think of sparing her? All children must pay for the sins of their fathers. She will at least have her life to live when I am through. *Tis more than he gave to us, my good friend. And much more still than he gave to Christopher." He turned to look at Cumberland again. "You should be lauding me for what I have come to do, but yet you sit there like a reproachful old man."
"It's not that I have forgotten! I bear the same scars!" Cumberland stood up to him. "But I have a forgiving nature. I'll never forgive the earl, mind you. But what does his daughter know of his treacheries? Why must she bring about the means to his end?"
"I did not know he had a daughter when I won Osterley! I did not plan this! But she exists, and she is here. 'Tis the opportunity we have waited for, and we shall make the most of it. Twill make the end come about sooner than we ever dreamed possible." Avenel let out
Mercy Walker, Eva Sloan, Ella Stone