The chaise arrived to find the Hall’s courtyard a scene of consternation. Emily’s riderless mare had just returned, and some men were on the point of setting out to comb the grounds for her.
Peter had already rushed off to the stables for his pony, and Cora was hovering anxiously by the archway as the men mounted their horses. She wore a cream dimity gown, and was distractedly twisting the fringe of her cream-and-brown shawl as she imagined all the awful fates that might have befallen her daughter. Then the chaise swept into the courtyard, and she burst into tears of relief when she saw that Emily was unharmed.
Jack stepped quickly down from the chaise, and lifted Emily out in order to set her carefully on her feet. She smiled appreciatively and accepted his supporting arm. Cora hurried to them, hardly glancing at him in her concern for her daughter. “Emily, dearest! What happened? When your horse returned without you, I—”
“I’m quite all right, Mama,” Emily broke in reassuringly. “A pheasant frightened my mare and I fell, but Mr. Lincoln has been my Good Samaritan.”
“Mr. Lincoln?” Cora looked gratefully at him, at last pausing sufficiently to notice his fine clothes but unexpectedly long hair. What an intriguing paradox, she thought, wondering who on earth he could be and how he had come to Emily’s rescue.
Emily turned to the waiting men. “You may return to your duties, for as you see I am all in one piece.”
They nodded and touched their caps, then led their horses out of the courtyard to go back to the stables, which lay behind the house.
Emily quickly introduced Jack. “Mr. Lincoln, this is my mother, Mrs. Preston, for whom you have brought the letter.”
“Letter?” Cora repeated.
“Mr. Lincoln met Felix in Peru,” Emily said.
Cora’s eyes brightened with joy. “Really? Oh, tout vient à point à qui sait attendre!”
Emily smiled. “Yes, it seems that in this instance everything does indeed come to him—or rather, her—who waits.”
Cora was quite overcome. “Is he well, Mr. Lincoln? Do tell me he is.”
“When I took my leave of him, he was on the road to recovery after contracting the ague that is so very prevalent on the coast near Lima.”
“But he was definitely recovering?”
“Yes.”
“Dare I hope that he received my letter? The one I wrote to him late last year?”
“Yes, and he was anxious to reassure you that he did honor the, er, arrangement I understand he had with you.” Jack did not wish her to think he was party to her great secret, and so was at pains to pretend that he wasn’t. “I, er, do not know what the arrangement concerned, of course, but Felix did instruct me to tell you that if there is fault, it lies not with him but with Sir Quentin Brockhampton.”
She was both glad and angry at the same time. “Oh, I’m so glad to hear you say this, Mr. Lincoln. I feared it was a case of loin des yeux, loin du coeur.”
“Out of sight, out of mind? Not where Felix was concerned, I assure you.” Jack drew out the purse. “He wished you to have this. I fear it will not by any means banish all the debts I know beset the Hall, but it was all Felix had, and may help a little.”
Cora accepted it and pulled open the strings. Her lips parted as she saw the money inside. “I... I do not recognize the coins, sir. Their value is meaningless to me ...”
“My estimate is that if you exchange it all for sterling, you will receive in the region of five hundred pounds.”
She turned shining eyes upon Emily. “Oh, my dear, with this we can stave off the irate tradesmen of Temford and settle one or two of the more urgent matters at the bank!”
Jack realized he hadn’t given her Felix’s letter, so hastily produced it. “I almost forgot...”
She pressed it to her breast, her eyes shimmering with tears. “Mr. Lincoln, you will never know how much this means to me. It has been so long since I’ve heard from him that I was beginning to fear... Well, no matter, for at least I now know he was well some while back, and he didn’t change his mind all those years ago.” She closed the purse. “Would that this was sufficient to keep the Warrender wolf from my daughter’s door, but I fear that is far from the case.”
Emily gave her an uncomfortable look. “Mama ...”
Cora was defiant. “A wolf is how I see him, my dear.”
“Financial salvation is financial salvation,” Emily replied shortly.
Jack read much from this exchange, and his heart sank. Cora’s fears about Rafe’s intentions had clearly come to fruition, but what was Emily’s attitude? Did she regard Rafe with fondness, or resignation? It might not seem from her remark about financial salvation that she thought of him with warmth, but it wouldn’t do for Jack Lincoln to make assumptions without really knowing. One thing was certain, however—Rafe Warrender was a definite element in the picture that was Fairfield Hall.
Cora spoke again. “Well, I shall not allow the likes of Sir Rafe to spoil my pleasure in Felix’s letter and gift. I will send word to the inestimable Mr. Mackay, requesting him to come here at the earliest opportunity.” She looked at Jack, feeling she ought to explain. “Mr. Mackay is our banker in Shrewsbury and has been doing all he can to help us. Now then, you must both forgive me, but Felix’s letter burns my hand. I simply must go to my rooms to read it.” Without further ado she hurried away into the house.
Emily was mindful of her manners. “I trust you have not changed your mind about staying, Mr. Lincoln, for you see how happy you have made Mama.”
“I have not changed my mind,” he assured her.
She smiled. “Good. I will have the servants unload your things from the chaise, and you will be shown up to a guest room the moment one has been made ready.” She began to take a step toward the house, but suddenly felt oddly lightheaded.
Instinctively, she stretched out a hand to Jack, and in a moment he had caught her up in his arms again. “A doctor should be sent for, Mrs. Fairfield,” he said as he carried her into the house, where the slight, dark-haired figure of Emily’s Welsh maid, Gwyneth, was just hurrying downstairs.
Gwyneth became upset on seeing Emily being carried. “Madam? Oh, madam ... !” she cried, her brown eyes widening with alarm.
“I’m all right,” Emily insisted, feeling a little foolish for being so weak.
But Jack did not think she was all right. “Take no notice of your mistress,” he said to the maid, “Have someone bring a doctor without delay.”
“Yes, sir.” Gwyneth bobbed a curtsy, then caught up her gray woolen skirts to hurry away toward the kitchens to find someone to ride to Temford.
Jack carried Emily toward the staircase. “Direct me to your rooms,” he ordered, and she meekly did as he said.
A minute later he put her gently down on the huge velvet-hung four-posted bed she had once shared with Geoffrey Fairfield. Jack gazed down at her, thinking she looked so lost and alone against the gold brocade coverlet that he wanted to gather her to him and kiss away her unhappiness.
The urge to do just this was so strong that he stepped quickly back, as if there was safety in even a few feet of distance. He gave a quick smile. “I, er, should not be in here with you like this, so I will leave you. No doubt Gwyneth will return in a moment.”
But as he turned to go, she caught his hand. “Mr. Lincoln ... ?”
“Yes?”
She looked up into his sea green eyes. “Thank you for all you’ve done today.”
“I’ve done very little, Mrs. Fairfield.”
“It may seem that way to you, but I see it differently.”
“I—” He broke off because at that moment Peter ran into the room.
“Mama? Oh, Mama! When your horse returned like that.. !” The boy flung himself down into his mother’s arms.
Jack withdrew and closed the door gently behind him. Then he returned to the head of the staircase, where he paused. The house felt welcoming, as if it wanted him to be there, or so it seemed anyway. But he was at Fairfield Hall because he had promised Felix to do all he could to free Emily from debt— and from Rafe Warrender. How he was going to do it he still hadn’t the slightest clue, especially when Emily’s feelings were an unknown quantity, but at least he had some days in which to plan a course of action—some days to spend in Emily’s fair company ...
He was about to go downstairs, where his baggage was being brought in from the chaise, when he happened to look back along the passage behind him. He had not noticed before that Cora’s rooms lay that way. Her door was slightly ajar, and he could see her seated on a window seat with Felix’s letter on her lap. She was gazing across the park toward Temford Castle, visible above the hillside in the distance.
There was a faint smile on her lips. It was a knowing little smile, almost like a secret shared, and it made Jack feel strangely uncertain.