Heiress in Regency Society: The Defiant Debutante. Helen Dickson

Чтение книги онлайн.

      Having ridden further than she intended on the brave, fast horse, Angelina found herself enveloped in a shadowy world of muted sounds, where damp and decay rose from the under-growth and assailed her nostrils, and squirrels skittered in the upper branches of the trees. Without the sun a bitter chill had fallen on this twilight world.

      A feeling of unreality crept over her and she shuddered, glad when she saw an opening in the trees ahead where sunlight slanted through. Riding towards the light, she reined in beneath a canopy of oaks. The scent of wood smoke hung heavy in the air. Experiencing a prickling sensation at the nape of her neck and an eerie, familiar feeling, her head snapped up like an animal scenting danger.

      She had emerged into some sort of encampment with an assortment of brightly painted caravans and carts, all of which had a shabby appearance. Dogs roamed and several piebald ponies grazed nearby. Men, women and children prowled about furtively in their garishly coloured attire, and some older people sat around a fire where ribbons of smoke spiralled upwards out of the embers.

      Angelina knew instinctively that these people were the gypsies Alex had told her about, the gypsies he had told to move on. She sensed that every eye had become fixed on her. Two men with gold rings in their ears and brightly coloured scarves tied loosely around their necks rose from where they were sitting on the wooden steps of the caravan nearest to her. She swallowed nervously as they stood quite still, watching her.

      They looked foreign—their skin swarthy and their hair hanging loose, lank and shiny black. Distrust and resentment lurked in their fathomless, totally unrevealing dark eyes. Her heart almost ceased to beat when her eyes were drawn to a knife sheathed at one of the men’s waists, and when she met his gaze she felt a sudden chill, as if a shadow had passed in front of the sun, robbing her of its warmth.

      No one made any attempt to speak to her, but the air was charged with an ugly tension, menace bristling all around her, the very silence an enemy. She shuddered, feeling extremely vulnerable and afraid. Through a veil of confusion and fear, what she now saw was a scene from her past. She glimpsed the dark, shadowy images creeping with stealth out of the locked doors of her mind, and she was sure they were catching up with her. All her deepest, darkest nightmares lay among the ghosts these gypsies resurrected, and with her emotions heightened to fever pitch, she feared she was about to be attacked again.

      Whirling Forest Shadow about, she kicked him into a gallop. Trembling with fear she was borne homeward, unaware as Forest Shadow’s iron-shod hooves struck the cobbles in the stable yard with ringing tones that her low state was about to be brought even lower.

       Chapter Seven

      Angelina’s distress on coming face to face with the gypsies had lessened a little when she entered the house, but the threat they posed to her peace of mind was not forgotten.

      Hoping to reach her room without encountering anyone, she was disappointed to find Jenkins waiting for her in the hall. When he saw her his body froze and he seemed to lose control of his expression as his gaze swept over her attire. His thick eyebrows rose up his forehead, and Angelina was sure she saw a little smile tug at the corners to the stern line of his mouth. But apart from this he was too respectful to show any other reaction. When he spoke, his voice was perfectly calm and controlled.

      ‘Lord Montgomery has asked to see you the minute you return from your ride, Miss Hamilton.’

      Angelina’s stomach plummeted to the bottom of her boots with dismay. ‘I’ll go up and change first. I can’t possibly face Lord Montgomery looking like a ragamuffin.’

      At that moment a door across the hall was flung open and Alex materialised. ‘Angelina.’

      Her head shot round. ‘Yes.’

      ‘A word, if you please.’

      Angelina bristled, not caring for the tone of his voice. ‘And if I don’t please?’

      ‘Then I shall say what I have to say right here.’

      ‘But—I was just—’

      ‘I’m waiting.’

      Angelina could see that Alex was furious. The glacial look in his silver eyes and the stern set of his features sent shivers down her spine. There was certainly nothing soft or lover-like in his tone, as there had been when she had left him in his rooms earlier. On a sigh she frowned. Casting a weary glance at Jenkins, she saw sympathy in his eyes.

      ‘Oh, dear, Jenkins,’ she breathed softly, ‘I think I’m for it.’

      ‘Chin up, Miss Hamilton, and you’ll be all right,’ he murmured, with his back to his ill-tempered master and with all the skill of a ventriloquist, for Angelina was certain his lips never moved.

      She doubted the conviction of Jenkins’s words as she turned and walked across the hall. There was not a single trace of reason in Alex’s expression, only an undeniable aura of restrained fury gathering pace inside him, waiting to be unleashed on her.

      He stood at the door to the sitting room like a soldier on sentry duty, waiting for her to pass—which she did, tilting her chin in a haughty manner.

      Just through the doorway Angelina stopped. The ominous thud of the door behind her was too much for her lacerated nerves. Turning to face him, she was vaguely aware of two people seated at the opposite end of the long room, but she and Alex might as well have been alone—in fact, they should be, and she was angry that he had not chosen to chastise her in private. Her blood froze at the anger burning in his eyes. He had savaged her emotions once already today and it would seem he was about to do it again, but instead of seducing her into submission, she strongly suspected that this time he was about to go to the other extreme.

      With her hands thrust deep into the pockets of her breeches, in a state of grinding tension, for what seemed an eternity she stood perfectly still, СКАЧАТЬ