“Miz Lierin, she done been mighty upset by all dis commotion ’bout her bein’ another man’s wife….”
“Her name is Lenore.” He flicked the ash from his cigar, casually aiming for the porcelain dish on the table and missing it by a wide margin. “Remember it if you can.”
A dark fire had started smoldering in Willabelle’s eyes even before she witnessed the carelessly tossed ash, but now flares of anger were beginning to ignite in their black depths. She went to the table where the tiny cinders had fallen and swept them off into her hand as she stated, “De massa, he say she Miz Lierin, an’ dat suits me jes’ fine.”
Robert laughed with rancor. “Then I’d say you are as blind and foolish as your master. He demanded proof, and we gave it to him, but he has ignored good common sense. Mark my word, he will not continue to use my daughter’s illness for his own ends. I’ll see to that! He took her sister and abused her, but now he will be stopped!”
“Ah gotta tend some chores,” Willabelle announced bluntly.
Robert swept his hand in a gesture of dismissal. He didn’t know why he had stooped to argue with a servant anyway, especially one so obstinate. “Then you’d better be about them before your master comes home and beats you.”
Willabelle puffed up like an enraged toad. “My massa, he ain’t never laid a hand on any of us!” she squawked in outrage. Lifting her nose imperiously, she stalked from the room, rattling the crystal insets in the china cabinet with her heavy strides as she crossed the dining hall. Her ire was sorely strained, and in that moment she could understand quite vividly why the master had remained reticent about his father-in-law. There was nothing good to be said about the man.
A few moments later Lierin entered the parlor, her manner subdued and almost fearful. She tolerated the man’s kiss of greeting upon her cheek and allowed him to lead her to the settee, then listened in the manner of a dutiful daughter as he related stories of their past life in England. He showed her a painted miniature of twin girls, and she had to concede she bore a striking resemblance to both of them, but it was not until he brought out a sketch of a Tudor-style manor home drawn on a hill beyond a body of water that she began to sense a familiarity with the things he showed her.
“You drew this yourself,” he said, gesturing with his replenished drink to the etching. “’Tis our home in England.”
Lierin carefully studied the drawing and, in that moment, could almost imagine herself skipping through the mansion’s long galleries. She could envision walls lined with portraits, lances, and shields, and long tables placed between tall, majestic chairs.
“I think I’ve been there before,” she acknowledged. “The place seems familiar to me.”
“Aha!” Robert cried in jubilant victory. “Now we’re getting somewhere! Perhaps you’ll even concede that I might be your father….”
Her shoulders lifted in a small noncommittal shrug. She was reluctant to go that far, for doing so would give him and Malcolm Sinclair the advantage over Ashton, and she knew with whom her loyalty abided. “Whether I am Lenore or Lierin, you could still be my father, but how can I really claim you are when I don’t even remember you?”
Robert was thoughtful for a space of time, and when he began to speak, he chose his words carefully. “I honestly think you need time and a quiet place to consider this without any interference from either Malcolm or Ashton. Why don’t you let me take you to Biloxi? We have a place there on the beach. You have your own clothes there and everything else you need.”
She frowned, distressed at the thought of leaving Belle Chêne…and Ashton. “I’m happy here….”
“But you won’t be if you start remembering what Ashton Wingate did to your sister. She’s dead because of him, and you vowed one day to have your revenge on him. In fact, I don’t understand how you can hate this man so much and still think of him as your husband.”
“I don’t hate him,” she protested. “I…”
He peered at her closely, waiting for her to continue, but his curiosity was left wanting. “You know of course that Malcolm is planning on calling him out in a duel.”
Her heart stopped in sudden fear, and she stared at him with eyes wide and searching.
“Malcolm is very good at firearms,” Robert stated. “It’s doubtful that Ashton will escape.”
“You’ve got to stop them,” she urged.
“How am I going to stop them?” he inquired in amazement. “You’re the only one who can do that.”
She moaned and wrung her hands, feeling the trap closing in on her. “If I stay with Ashton, Malcolm will insist upon a duel. If I go with Malcolm, Ashton will come after us and demand the same thing. I know him. He’s already said he won’t give me up. And I don’t want anyone killed.”
“That’s why I say your only safe option is to do what I suggested…go with me back to Biloxi. It’s not likely they’ll call me out in a duel.”
Wearily Lierin slumped on the settee, hardly relishing his proposal, yet accepting the merits of it as reasonable. It offered her what was perhaps the only possible escape from her predicament. “I’ll have to think about it.”
“You don’t have much time, my dear,” he advised. “Malcolm is making arrangements to come out here and challenge Ashton very soon. If you delay, it could mean death for him.” He shrugged. “Of course, I wouldn’t mourn his passing, considering he took Lierin from us.”
“Can a father mistake his own daughter?” she asked in a tiny voice, and lifted her gaze to his bemused countenance. “Are you sure that I am Lenore?”
He flung up his hand in an impatient gesture. “What’s a father to do when his own daughter won’t believe him? How can I make you understand? The mistake is not mine but Ashton’s! Or rather some ploy of his. It’s got to be a trick he’s playing on us all. He knows Lierin drowned.”
Slowly Lierin pushed herself to her feet and passed a shaking hand across her brow. “Aunt Jennifer and Amanda are resting upstairs. It’s probably better if I leave now without them being aware of it. If you’ll wait in your carriage, I’ll just go upstairs for a moment and write a note to Ashton.”
“You won’t tell him where we’re going….”
“No,” she sighed. “That would only be an open invitation for him to come after us. I’ll just ask him not to interfere.” She left the room and climbed the stairs, feeling as if her whole world had come to an end. With tears blurring her vision, she composed a brief letter, signed it “Lenore,” and brushed a kiss upon the wedding band and placed it on top of the missive. Taking only the clothes on her back, she retraced her steps to the lower level and slipped out the front door, glad that she had not had to confront Willis or Willabelle before her departure. Tears trailed down her cheeks as she gazed back at the house, and she wondered if she would ever return.
Ashton pushed open the tall, swinging doors of the Razorback Saloon and took two steps into the smoke-filled, crowded room before letting the panels rattle shut behind him. He had taken a leisured meal at the inn, and then had gone to the River Witch to wash and garb himself in fresh attire. Judd had joined him there to review the possible whereabouts of those who had torched the warehouse, and they had both decided that a visit to the Under-the-Hill tavern was worth the effort.
Rather than give the impression that he was seeking a fight, Ashton had come dressed much like a riverboat gambler in black coat, cravat, and trousers, with a crisp, white shirt setting off his silver-and-gray-brocaded vest. His tall, rakish figure drew the admiring stares of the harlots who serviced the place, and they greeted him with sultry smiles as he paused inside the door to consider his surroundings. The ceiling was low but the room was wide, with the space broken by large posts that supported the upper floor. A stout bar, pockmarked from a multitude of brawls, angled across one corner of the hall, while the open area was crammed with small tables and crude chairs. A good many of these were filled with patrons, and a pair of scruffy characters leaned against the bar. A more sensitive nose might have turned away from the stench of sweaty bodies, soured ale, tobacco, and mold, but Ashton was no pampered prig. He had seen both sides of the world around him, but it was times like these when he felt very fortunate for his own way of life.