The Star of Love Page 13

  But he knew what to do. He knew, because she had told him, when they had first met, before he had spoiled their love with his pride and confusion.

  He began to pray. But the prayer he uttered was not for himself.

  ‘Save her,’ he prayed silently. ‘Never mind me. Save and protect her.’

  At almost the same moment she spoke.

  “I will see your hand, sir.”

  A cold smile overtook John’s face as he laid his cards face up on the table and a gasp of horror surged through the guests.

  Four queens.

  Exactly the same as before.

  No man could honestly achieve that hand twice running. In some way that nobody had noticed, he had cheated.

  Charles wanted to howl to the star above that it had failed him. How could it have let Cliona walk into such a fool’s trap?

  In total silence she raised her eyes to meet Charles’s. Their eyes held for a long moment.

  John spoke,

  “Well? Can you match my queens with kings?”

  At last Cliona looked away from Charles towards John. It was as though a warrior had taken up his spear and shield and marched out of the tent. Now only the battle counted.

  “No, sir,” she said. “I cannot.”

  A long sigh came from everyone around the table. To the last moment Charles had clung to a faint hope. But at these words he felt his world begin to crumble.

  Without taking her eyes from her opponent, Cliona laid her cards on the table.

  Four aces.

  A cheer broke out.

  Now she raised her head to look at Charles again, sending him a silent message. In the midst of the noisy, rejoicing room, only the two of them existed. And something had happened that only they understood.

  John’s face grew livid as the truth dawned on him. He rose sharply and lunged at Sir Kenton in an attempt to retrieve the deeds. Sir Kenton closed his hands over his coat, but it was unnecessary. At least three men had intervened between him and John.

  Cliona rose and confronted John.

  “You have lost, sir,” she said coldly. “The deeds you staked now belong to Mr Ormerod.”

  “It’s a trick,” John raged. “You cheated.”

  Uproar! To accuse a lady of cheating! But Cliona remained unruffled.

  “I told you, I play the same game as you,” she reminded John. “Do you cheat?”

  He did not answer. He could not. All around him were accusing eyes.

  “Uncle, may I have Mr Ormerod’s property, please?” Cliona asked the Lord Lieutenant.

  “Certainly, my dear.” Sir Kenton reached into his coat for the deeds, which he handed to Cliona.

  But instead of giving them to Mr Ormerod, she turned to Charles, speaking loudly so that all might hear.

  “My Lord, will you allow Mr Ormerod to remain here for the night?”

  “It was my intention to do so, ma’am,” he replied.

  “And will you instruct a man to sleep in the room with him, and another man to stand on guard outside his door?”

  “Perhaps two strong men will be needed to stand outside,” he said, understanding her. “What is your opinion?”

  “I agree. May I further request that two – no four – men accompany Mr Ormerod when he leaves tomorrow?”

  “Four men will be better,” said Charles with a pointed glance at John. “One never knows what accidents may befall on a journey.”

  “And then these men can accompany Mr Ormerod to his home, where they will see these – ” Cliona held up the deeds, “deposited in a safe place.”

  Charles nodded. “In some bank or a lawyer’s office.”

  Cliona shook her head. “No, I meant they should be put into the hands of Mrs Ormerod.”

  “You are entirely right, ma’am,” said Charles. “Let us hope that from now on, his wife can keep him in order.”

  “Every man needs a wife to do that,” Cliona pointed out.

  “Whatever you say. I bow to your superior knowledge. In fact, right this minute, I feel inclined to entrust my entire future into your hands, knowing that they are safer than my own.” He smiled. “Because you are far, far wiser than I.”

  “That is true,” she told him severely. “And I hope you will never forget it.”

  He took her hand in his. “I doubt if I shall ever be allowed to,” he said fondly. He lowered his voice. “Cliona, can we leave this room and be alone somewhere? I badly need to kiss you.”

  “I think we should make the announcement first.”

  “Must we?”

  “Yes, I want to make sure of you before you think up some other problem that doesn’t matter.”

  “But can’t we just – ? Oh, the devil!”

  Before she could speak he swept her up into his arms, kissing her fiercely while their guests cheered and clapped.

  Only one person was not joyful. John regarded them with stony eyes. Then he turned on his heel and walked out. Nobody watched him go.

  Charles kissed his beloved until they were both breathless. Then he took firm hold of her and ran down the steps, across the lawn and into the trees. There, shielded by darkness, he drew her into his arms again.

  “You are mine,” he breathed. “You have been mine from the first moment –”

  “Yes – yes – ” she cried eagerly.

  “And you will always been mine. Until the end of time.”

  “Yes,” she cried again, and the word was cut off by his lips.

  “I love you so much,” he declared when he could speak again. “Why was I such a fool as to think anything else mattered? Can you forgive me, my darling?”

  “There’s nothing to forgive,” she said ecstatically. “As long as you love me.”

  “I shall always love you. Tonight I thought I might lose you forever. How could you take such a risk, my beloved?”

  “But I had to. It was the miracle I asked for. After John found us together I was praying for something to happen, something I could do to make things turn out right.

  “And then Ormerod arrived,” she continued “and I knew that he was the answer to my prayer. I didn’t know how, but I was certain that if I waited for the moment, it would come. And it did.”

  She put her hands on either side of his face.

  “And then a strange thing happened, my darling. You were standing opposite me and I saw you look up into the sky.”

  “I was looking at the star you gave me.”

  “No, it was always yours.”

  “But I didn’t know about it until you gave it to me. And I thought perhaps it might really be able to help us. I prayed that you might be protected.”

  She nodded wisely.

  “That explains it.”

  “Explains what, my dearest?”

  “The sensation I felt that you were holding my hand.

  It was quite illogical, because I was using both hands for my cards. But I felt it just the same. Do you understand that?”

  “I do now. I might not have done before I met you. You have shown me so many things, so many wonders in this world that I did not know. But the greatest wonder of all is you.”

  He drew her close again and for a long time there was silence.

  “We must be married very soon,” he said at last.

  “Very soon,” she agreed. “And now I suppose we should go back to your guests and do everything the proper way.”

  “Let us walk slowly then, because there is still something I want to ask you.”

  “What is that?”

  “How did you do it? How did you manage to draw four aces?”

  “I just remembered all the things Papa taught me – keep your head, read your opponent, don’t let him read you. It’s all common sense really.”

  “Common sense didn’t give you those aces. Did your Papa’s lessons happen to include cheating at cards?”

  She became prim. “Please, Charles. Where I come from, it isn’t called cheating. It’s called making the most of your opportunitie
s.”

  “And I dare say a large, feathered fan is useful for ‘making the most of your opportunities’?”

  “Well Papa never used one,” Cliona countered innocently.

  He gave a choke of laughter.

  “Mind you,” she continued, “gentlemen have sleeves.”

  “You are not going to tell me the answer, are you?”

  Smiling, she laid her fingertips against his lips.

  “There are some things no lady should admit to knowing,” she said.

  *

  The King’s Head tavern lay at the end of the meanest street in London, overlooking the river. It was frequented by sailors and by ruffians who slept most of the day and who were for hire for almost anything.

  Raskin who was picking his way through the smoke filled atmosphere, finally found the man he had come to meet, sitting in a corner, alone, his small eyes searching the gloom.

  Raskin slid onto the wooden bench beside him.

  “Thought you weren’t coming,” the man, whose name was Preece, grunted.

  “I’m here now.”

  “Got the money?”

  “Half. The rest when you’ve done a good job.”

  “Wait a minute, not so fast. First I want to meet him.”

  “Meet who?”

  “The man who’s hiring me to –”

  “Shut your mouth,” said Raskin, looking round, terrified. “Do you want to get us all caught?”

  “To do this job,” snapped Preece. “A job like this – being special – I like to meet who I’m working for.”

  After a moment Raskin nodded and rose. “All right. Follow me.”

  It took a few minutes for them to get out into the cool night air. Then Raskin strode ahead for a few streets until they came to a plain closed carriage standing by the road.

  “Get in,” he said.

  Preece did so and found himself in near darkness. He could barely make out the other man, sitting opposite him, but he heard his cold voice.

  “You know what you have to do?”

  “The other bloke explained it to me,” said Preece.

  “And the money has been agreed?”

  “Well – I could do with a bit more.”

  “You’ll get the agreed price. You villains can be bought for ten a penny on any street corner.”

  Preece snickered. “Not many can shoot as straight as I can.”

  “I have only your word for that. But there will be a bonus if you kill him with one shot, straight through the heart.”

  “Understood.”

  “Don’t let me down.”

  “What’s this bloke done to you?” The voice from the corner of the carriage was like a blast of ice.

  “He has taken everything from me, my inheritance and the woman who should have been mine. I want to watch him die. On his wedding day. Now leave. You will be contacted with the final arrangements.”

  Preece was glad to go. There was something about this man that froze his blood.

  When he was alone, John sat very still for a long time, trying to silence the tempests in his head.

  At last he struck a match and by its light he read again the letter from Charles that he had received that morning.

  “Both Cliona and I hope to see you at our wedding and that some way can be found for us to be cordial in the future. But I must make it clear that there will be no more money. You have thrown away much of my fortune, but you will not do the same with hers.”

  John put the match to the letter and watched it burn. His face was livid in the flames.

  “On his wedding day,” he murmured. “And I shall be there to see it.”

  *

  Both bride and groom were eager to marry as soon as possible, so the date was set for the following month, when the weather would still be good enough for the wedding feast to be held outdoors.

  Lady Hester and the Countess plunged into a whirl of preparations, eagerly assisted by Lady Arnfield. Soon the castle gleamed in readiness for the new Countess.

  Freddy was to be the best man. Charles did not feel that he could ask John to perform this office, although he did insist on inviting him.

  To everyone’s surprise John wrote back a civil acceptance that contained no hint of resentment at having his income cut off. Indeed, he did not even mention it.

  It was Charles’s delight in those days to show his darling around the estate that she would soon share with him. And one evening, when they were strolling on the terrace, he broached something that had long been on his mind.

  “Dearest,” he started, “now that there are to be no secrets between us, I have a confession to make – a confession of a somewhat scandalous nature.”

  Wide-eyed, she gazed at him.

  “The day after we met, I returned to the river. You were there, swimming.”

  She gasped.

  “And you looked at me – while I was in a state of – ” she averted her eyes modestly, “ – of undress. Without telling me you were there?”

  He nodded. “I spied on you. I feel very ashamed. I feel even more ashamed of the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed every minute.”

  To his amazement and relief, Cliona chuckled.

  “Did you like my ankles?”

  “Very much.”

  “So I should hope, after the trouble I took to give you a good view of them.”

  “What – what did you say?”

  “That’s why I hopped onto the rock, so that you could see all of me.”

  “You mean – you knew I was there?”

  “All the time.”

  “You knew you were being watched – ?”

  “Spied on,” she reminded him cheekily.

  “By a man, who didn’t even have the decency to show himself –”

  “Yes, I can’t tell you how annoyed I was that you went away without getting into your bathing suit too.”

  He tried again. “You deliberately revealed yourself to male eyes – ?”

  “Only yours, my darling. It did seem such a shame not to let you see my figure. Oh dear!” she placed both her hands in his. “I am shameless, aren’t I? Are you very disappointed in me?”

  His lips twitched. “I am shocked,” he informed her.

  “Shocked!”

  “Do you think you can ever forgive me?”

  He tightened his hands on hers. “Certainly I forgive you, my love.” His eyes gleamed with amusement. “But only for the sake of your fortune, of course.”

  Watkins, the butler, happening to turn the corner of the house at that moment, was greeted by the astonishing sight of the Earl and the future Countess, locked in each other’s arms and, as he later informed Mrs Watkins, “laughing like a couple of mad creatures.”

  *

  The day of the wedding dawned, warm and sunny as everyone had hoped. The castle was filled with almost every member of the Hartley family. John had arrived the night before, but so late that there had been no time for more than a brief greeting before he retired to bed. In the morning, however, Freddy reported that his mood seemed civil.

  “I say ‘seemed’ because there’s a look in his eye that I don’t like,” he told Charles. “He’s on edge about something.”

  “That’s natural,” observed Charles, who was dressing. “Stop worrying, and start enjoying yourself, Freddy. Have you got the ring?”

  “That’s the fifth time you’ve asked. You stop worrying.”

  In the Lord Lieutenant’s house the bride was putting the final touches to her wedding dress of snowy white satin, trimmed with lace.

  Her long veil reached the floor and was held in place by a diamond tiara of fabulous value. And about her neck she wore Charles’s wedding gift, a diamond pendant in the shape of a star.

  This was an occasion for the village as well as the castle and they all turned out to watch the open carriage travelling to the little parish church. They had feared the wedding would take place in the castle chapel, but Cliona wanted everyone to share her happiness.
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  As she walked down the aisle on the arm of her uncle, she knew that the Heaven she had dreamed of was very near.

  Charles was there, watching her approach, his heart in his eyes. And when he made his vows, claiming Cliona as his wife, he did so in a firm voice, so that the whole world should know.

  The bells rang out joyfully as they came out into the sunshine, arm in arm, to the cheers of all their friends.

  There were more cheers along the route to the castle. The people from the village loved Cliona for herself, but they also knew that she had brought prosperity with her. And they would all share it.

  Tables covered in white linen were set out under the trees. Servants scurried back and forth with champagne. There were three wedding cakes so that there would be enough for everybody.

  Charles was serenely happy, now that Cliona was his at last. He was longing to have her all to himself, but he was content to wait, watch and admire her.

  In truth he was a little troubled by John. As Freddy had said, John seemed on edge and everything he did seemed slightly forced. It was, of course, natural that he should be a little uneasy. And yet Charles was assailed by the sense that something was wrong.

  “All right, old man?” he said, coming to where John stood alone. “I can’t tell you how glad I am that you came.”

  He drew him aside so that they could walk together.

  John gave a wan smile. Looking into his eyes, Charles was shocked by what he saw. Not anger or hate, but a crushing misery, as of a soul in torment.

  “I’m surprised that you wanted me to come,” said John.

  “It would not have been the same without you. We are still family, and I don’t forget the old days. I am sure you don’t forget them either.”

  John seemed to be seeing everything through a dark mist. Voices reached him from a distance. A hard stone had settled in his breast, growing heavier by the minute.

  But soon all this would be over. Just a few yards away, high in an oak tree, concealed by leaves, was the killer, his gun at the ready. He had lived for this, and at any moment –”

  Come and join the party,” said Charles, walking a few steps ahead and looking back.

  He had stopped directly in the line of fire. As he raised his hand to beckon to his cousin, John thought of the gun, being raised at this very moment, pointed straight at Charles’s head –”