To Beguile a Beast

The stables were dark compared to the sunshine outside. She stood quietly inside the door for a moment, letting her eyes get used to the dimness. There were several empty stalls at this end. Abigail started down the main aisle. Sir Alistair’s big horse, Griffin, and the little dogcart pony were stabled at the other end. That was probably where she’d find fresh straw. She heard a snort and the thump of a hoof as she neared the far end of the stable, and then she heard something else. A man muttering.



Abigail stopped. Puddles squirmed as she squeezed him too tightly to her chest. The horse snorted again, and then Mr. Wiggins backed out into the aisle from a stall, holding something in his arms. Abigail tensed to run, but before she could do so, the little man whirled and saw her.



“What’re you doin’?” he growled low. “Spyin’ on me? Are ye spyin’ on me?”



And she saw that the thing in his arms was a big silver platter. Abigail shook her head and stepped back, helplessly staring at the platter.



Mr. Wiggins’s eyes narrowed to evil slits. “You tell anyone—hisself included—and I’ll slit your throat, ye hear? I’ll slit your throat and your Mam’s and your wee little brother’s, too, ye hear me?”



Abigail could only nod frantically.



He took a step toward her, and suddenly her legs worked again. She turned and fled down the aisle of the stables, running as fast as she could. But behind her she could still hear Mr. Wiggins shout.



“Don’t you tell! You hear me? Don’t you tell!”



LISTER STARED MOODILY out his study window. “I should go north myself.”



Behind him, Henderson sighed. “Your Grace, it’s only been a few days. I doubt the men we sent have even reached Edinburgh yet.”



Lister swung on his secretary. “And by the time they do and send word, she’ll have had plenty of time to flee overseas.”



“We’ve done everything we can.”



“Which is why I should go north myself.”



“But, Your Grace…” Henderson seemed to search for words. “She’s only a demimondaine. I had not thought our emotions were this engaged.”



“She is mine and she left me.” Lister stared hard at the secretary. “She defied me. No one defies me.”



“Naturally not, Your Grace.”



“I’ve decided.” Lister went back to the window. “Make the arrangements. I leave for Scotland on the morrow.”



Chapter Ten



The next evening, Truth Teller again loosed the swallows, and once again the beautiful young man pursued them out of the courtyard. Truth Teller stood and watched as the sun set and the monster took the form of the fair princess.



Then he asked, “How has this been done to you?”



The lady sighed sadly. “The man you serve is a powerful sorcerer. He saw me one day as I rode in the forest with my court. That night he came to my father’s castle and demanded my hand in marriage. I refused him, for the sorcerer is an evil man and I wanted nothing to do with him. But the sorcerer became enraged. He stole me from my father’s house and brought me here. He put a spell on me so that by day I am that repulsive beast. Only by night am I myself again. Go now so that he does not find you talking to me.”



And again Truth Teller was forced to depart. . . .



—from TRUTH TELLER



The letter from France came late that afternoon. Alistair was so distracted by what had happened earlier with Helen and what might happen later that night with her that he nearly didn’t notice it among the papers the footman brought up. He subscribed to several journals and news sheets from London, Birmingham, and Edinburgh, and they had a tendency to arrive all at once in the week. But at the bottom of the pile lay a very battered missive, looking as if it had come by way of the Horn of Africa, which, considering England’s present relations with France, was entirely possible.



Alistair took up the letter and slit it open with a sharp knife he’d earlier used to dissect a meadow vole. He read the letter, pausing to carefully reread several passages, and then tossed it onto his crowded desk. He got up to pace restlessly to the windows and gaze out. Etienne phrased his words with circumspection, but his message was clear. He’d heard rumors from those in the French government that there had indeed been an English spy who’d given away the position of the 28th Regiment of Foot, leading to the slaughter at Spinner’s Falls. What was more, the rumors specified that the spy was a titled Englishman. Alistair drummed his fingers restlessly on the windowsill. That was new information.



Etienne wrote that he could commit no more to paper but that he could speak to Alistair in person. Even now, he was preparing to set sail on a ship that would dock in London in a fortnight’s time. If Alistair wished to meet the ship, Etienne could give more specific information at that time.



Alistair traced the scars on the left side of his face. To finally know that this was done apurpose by someone made his chest swell with a cold and determined rage. It made no logical sense. Catching a traitor wouldn’t heal his face. But even knowing it was illogical couldn’t stop the beast within. By God he wanted the Spinner’s Falls traitor to pay.



A knock came at the tower door, and he turned absently. “Yes?”



“Dinner is served, sir,” one of the maids called before clattering back down the stairs.



Alistair walked to his table and picked up Etienne’s letter. He stared at it a moment, muttered a curse, folded it, and stuck it in an already full drawer. He needed to think on this before he moved, perhaps inform Vale of the new information, but for now dinner awaited him.



As he neared the dining room, he could already hear Jamie’s high tones as he made some comment about fish. The mere sound sent his mouth to curving. Strange how the sound of a child’s voice—something that would’ve irritated him a fortnight ago—now made him smile. Was he really so mercurial? The thought made him uneasy, and he pushed it away. Why think about the future when the present held much better delights?



When he walked into the dining room, he found that the others had all sat down. Helen had unaccountably taken a seat as far away as possible from his own chair at the head of the table. She was pointedly not looking at him, and a faint flush tinged her cheeks. She would never be a great liar, and he had the contrary urge to kiss her right then and there in front of his sister and Helen’s children. Instead he strode to his own seat, avoiding Sophia’s speculative gaze, and sat. Sophia was to his right tonight with Miss McDonald on her other side. Jamie sat for some unknown reason to his left. Abigail sat on the far side of her brother, looking oddly subdued. Her mother was on the other side of Abigail, far enough away that he’d practically have to hoist a flag to communicate with her.



One of the footmen brought in a steaming platter of fish.



“Ah, lovely,” Alistair said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. He’d not had fresh trout for several months, despite it being a favorite of his. “Here’s a nice big fish for you.” He forked up the largest of the trout and deposited it on Jamie’s plate.



“Thank you,” Jamie droned, his chin sinking onto his thin little chest as he stared at the fish on his plate.



Miss McDonald coughed into her napkin.



Alistair raised his eyebrows at his sister. “Something the matter?”



“No, nothing,” Sophia said, frowning at her companion. “But perhaps Jamie would prefer just a wee bit of fish to begin with.”



Alistair looked at Jamie. “Is that so?”



The boy nodded miserably.



“Then I shall eat your fish and you shall have my empty plate,” Alistair said, switching the plates. “Have some of the bread instead.”



Jamie perked up visibly at the suggestion.



“Bring in some marmalade or jam,” Alistair instructed the footman sotto voce. “What about you, Abigail? Do you care for fish?”



“Yes,” she whispered, and she did take a fish when the platter was offered, but then she merely poked it with a fork.



Alistair exchanged a glance with Helen. Helen shook her head, looking baffled.



Perhaps the chit was feeling unwell. Alistair frowned and sipped his wine. There was a surgeon in Glenlargo, but the man was more bloodletter than healer, and Alistair wouldn’t trust himself with the man, let alone a child. In fact, the nearest good doctor might not be any closer than Edinburgh. If Abigail was truly ill, he’d have to take her there himself. Childhood illnesses could be so debilitating—and so often fatal. Damn. Perhaps he shouldn’t have woken the children so early this morning. Had the stream been too cold? Had Abigail overexcited herself? It’d always struck him as a singularly silly theory that females could excite themselves into illness, but now, with a small female child under his roof, he realized how very inadequate his knowledge of children was.



“Are you ill?” he asked Abigail, perhaps a little sharply, as both Helen and Sophia turned to look at him.



But the child merely blinked and shook her head.



Alistair snapped his fingers at the footman. “Bring in a very small glass of wine, please.”



“Yes, sir.” The footman left the room, but Alistair never took his eye from Abigail.



Sophia cleared her throat. “We saw a hawk and two rabbits on our ramble, but no badgers. Are you sure that there is a sett nearby?”



“Yes,” Alistair said absently. Was Abigail paler than normal? She was such a fair-complexioned child to begin with; it was hard to tell.



“Well, we’ll have to wait for our next visit to look for it again.” Sophia sighed.



He glanced at her in surprise. “What?”



The footman returned with the glass of wine, and Alistair indicated the girl. She stared in surprise at the tiny glass filled with ruby liquid.



“Have some of that,” he said gruffly. “It’ll fortify your blood.” He turned and scowled at his sister. “What do you mean? Are you leaving so soon?”



“Early tomorrow,” his sister confirmed.



“Sophie has a meeting of the Edinburgh Philosophical Society tomorrow,” Miss McDonald said. “Mr. William Watson has traveled from London especially to demonstrate his Leyden electrical jar. If we are lucky, we’ll be able to experience the phenomenon of electricity ourselves.”



“Watson says that if a dozen people stand in a circle with linked hands, the electrical ether will travel around the circle equally,” Sophia said. “Sounds preposterous to me, but if it does happen, I don’t want to be the one to miss out.”



“But you just got here,” Alistair growled. When Sophia and Miss McDonald had first arrived, he’d been annoyed, but now he felt unaccountably put out at their sudden defection.



“You can always come with us, brother.” Sophia raised her eyebrows in challenge behind her spectacles.



Abigail suddenly grew very still.



“I think not,” Alistair muttered, eyeing the child. What ailed her?



“But you can at least come visit us next Christmas,” Miss McDonald ventured.



Alistair didn’t reply. Christmas was a long way away. He glanced at Helen, who inexplicably blushed. Why plan for the future when it held no joy for him? Better to stay here and enjoy Helen while she let him. His lonely dreary future could wait.



THAT NIGHT, HELEN found herself sneaking up the castle stairs like a thief. Or a woman intent on an assignation, which, as it happened, she was. It had seemed to take hours for the children to fall asleep, even after she’d read them all four of the fairy tales. Abigail in particular had tossed and turned. She’d also insisted on taking the puppy into bed with her and her brother, and nothing Helen said would dissuade her. When she’d fallen asleep, she’d been hugging the little animal to her cheek. Fortunately, the puppy hadn’t seemed to mind.



Helen frowned now as she tiptoed down the dark upper corridor. She’d thought that Abigail was beginning to relax at the castle. She’d seemed so happy that morning fishing. But now she was more morose than ever. The frustrating thing she’d learned about her daughter over the years was that it was no good badgering her to tell her what was the matter. Abigail needed to take her own time to reveal what was troubling her. Of course, that didn’t mitigate the motherly guilt Helen felt at not knowing what was bothering her child.