A Captive Heart (7 page)

Chapter Twenty

  Tamsin was worried. They still had to deceive her father. He would come to see them off on the Marie Louise at Naim Cres port. So this meant they would have to be extra careful and must get Adam on board first of all, Martha decided, after a propitious talk with Captain Jacque of the Marie Louise.

Martha
knew that a weighty purse of gold coins would help to make the Captain hold his tongue when she asked to speak to him and sought to appeal to his romantic nature as a Frenchman.

She
explained, ‘My young charge you see is so much in love with this young man. But her Papa he does not approve of the match and so they have wished to elope without his permission or blessing.

‘He
will come on board disguised as a young woman: my daughter and my mistress’s maidservant. And no one but yourself must know of this. Do you understand, Captain Jacque? No one in your crew shall speak of it ever afterwards.’

‘Mais oui, Madame, but why do they not take a package to France on my ship? Why return to England where her Papa could stop the marriage?’

‘It
is none of your business, Captain.’

He
took off his cap, scratched his balding head, and looked puzzled but said no more about it. Martha knew it mattered little to him as long as he did not get personally involved in a family feud or the war. He made a good living from smuggling as well as shipping out the Royalists to France and he did not want to get a bad reputation and lose his trade in emigrants altogether.

Martha emptied her purse out onto the Captain’s table and his eyes lighted up appreciably as the gold coins shone brightly under the swinging lantern.

‘All
I request, Captain Jacque, from you is your silence, and that nothing will be said to anyone about her young man. Once your ship docks in Falmouth, he ceases to be your problem.’

‘
Tres bien Madame.’

Adam
was brought on board the ship dressed in his full female garb. He had had many doubts about this pantomime of role changing. Even now he could feel the dark stubble prickling to the surface on his chin despite Reuben’s best attempt to shave him clean early that morning. Luckily the crew had been kept much too busy to take notice of his appearance when he came on board and he went straight down to the women’s cabin, but there was always the risk during the voyage of them seeing through his disguise at some time or other.

H
e was forced to wait it out in the cabin. He was well used to playing different roles as an agent, but this was one role he did not like having to do. It was not something he fancied taking on ever again. Although he was forced to chuckle about it beforehand with Reuben.

It
had been a dangerous feat getting Adam safely up out of the cave with his injured arm barely healed on the previous evening. Under the cover of darkness, helped up the Cliffside by a strong rope halter under both armpits, which had been painful for him but necessary, Reuben and Tamsin had helped him onto a horse and they had ridden to the harbourside where the Marie Louise waited.

Martha
supplied the dress, cloak and covering linen headdress and his dark good looks helped the masquerade to pass muster. His height was the one drawback and Reuben who helped him to change dress in the cave was hard put to it to hide his loud guffaws of laughter when Adam was ready to leave.

Tamsin
smothered a giggle or two as well when she saw his miraculous transformation from man to maiden on board in their cabin.

‘You
make quite a handsome young woman,’ she teased as she walked around Adam, studying him.

‘Thank
you,’ he declared haughtily with a twinkle in his green eyes, ‘but I’d rather not make a habit of it. I hope I can soon change into something far more suitable for a Royalist gentleman.’

Martha scowled at this comment but Tamsin laughed and said, ‘I have brought a good suit of my father’s and a feathered beaver hat for you to wear afterwards once we reach Cornwall. From there on you will take on the Cavalier garb once again. As a Royalist you must make your own way from Falmouth by foot or by horse if you can arrange one.’

He
heard this with much relief and did his best to cheer her up after she had said goodbye tearfully to her father on the quayside. Waving to him from aboard the deck of the ship Tamsin wondered whether she would see her father again on English soil. Or whether she would ever see him again at all? She had never been parted from him like this before.

The
news that day was especially bad with Prince Charles now a fugitive and the Roundheads triumphant elsewhere. Only the good news from Prince Rupert gave them fresh heart. She knew that her Uncle Bevil was believed now to be serving with the Prince at Oxford, and her Aunt Phoebe was running the Treganna estate with the help of the family Steward, Edward Whittle.

‘What
did you tell Captain Jacque about Adam, Martha?’ Tamsin asked as she felt the ship moving on the water under them at last.

‘As
near to the truth as I could. I told him that you are an eloping couple and you needed his help and silence.’

‘You
did! Did he believe you?’

‘It
mattered little if he did not,’ she replied sharply. ‘He was paid well to keep his promise of silence.’

Tamsin
hoped that the sudden colour this induced in her cheeks went unnoticed by Adam. Adam stared back at Martha hard and long for a moment and laughed most heartily. ‘And he swallowed that? You are a far better liar than I am, Martha.’

Martha
nodded. ‘Aye, I think he believed it. The ten extra coins helped to sweeten him. It leaves us somewhat short in funds, child. I do not think your Father would approve of using his gold in this fashion. But needs must if it makes you happy,’ she sighed. ‘And keeps you safe.’

‘Thank
you. Thank you.’ Tamsin threw her arms around her nurse. ‘I promise you, Martha, that I shall see to it that you receive adequate compensation as soon as I am able to let you have it. I have few coins to spare on my person at the moment.’

Martha
eyed Adam sternly. ‘I ask only that once you have reached a place of safety, Master Adam Carey, you do not attempt to make contact with Tamsin ever again. I think it would not be wise for either of you to meet any more in the future.’

Th
at was not what either of them wished to hear at that moment although they would not voice it openly. Tamsin had to be seen to behave lest Martha told her father.

The
weather was stormy and choppy with the wind whipping the waves up high around the small vessel. It had been sultry and heavy earlier but now thunder and vivid lightening was lashing the sky into a maelstrom of fury. Was this an omen, Tamsin thought, of what was yet to come in her life?

Martha
was taken unwell and lay groaning in a berth and while Adam and Tamsin talked quietly together they knew it could be for the last time. The Royalists still held Pendennis castle at Falmouth as far as they knew.

Reuben
too was watching them both closely. He feared that there was more than friendship developing between them. But it was not for him to interfere. What would happen to them once they were on Cornish soil was impossible to think about. Like Martha he thought it best that Tamsin and Adam Carey never met again.

Chapter Twenty-One

The ship came into port in Falmouth at last. At the best of times it was never an easy voyage across but this had been a particularly bad one for them all - the worst that Tamsin had ever experienced in her young life and she was not feeling happy. It seemed only to reflect everything that she had worried about; leaving her father behind, and going to live with her aunt at Treganna however much she loved it there.

In
the cabin below Adam changed quickly into the rich plum velvet suit, put on the feathered brown beaver, and pulled on the good leather boots: all clothing that Tamsin had taken from her father’s bedchamber early that morning. She hoped he would not miss them for a day or so. It was fortunate that Adam was the same lean build and height as her father.

She
drew in her breath sharply when she came back into the cabin. Adam in his new attire now portrayed the handsome young Cavalier she had always hoped she might meet with one day.

He made her a low bow and gave her a charming smile, provoking a delighted look of approval on Tamsin’s face and a scowl on Martha’s. Then looking down at the suit he shook his head gravely. ‘Is this how you would really like to see me, Tamsin? I am afraid that this may never be. We shall always disagree on our politics.’

She
sighed. ‘I cannot change you then, Adam.’ She placed her hand impulsively on his arm. ‘But I must trust you not to betray my father. For if you should ever do so I promise you now that I shall make you live to regret it,’ she said echoing Martha’s earlier words.

He
shook his head. ‘And I shall promise you that I shall never betray or harm you or your family in any way, Tamsin.’

Martha
sat up in the bunk and viewing Adam in his Royalist guise she declared scornfully, ‘I wonder what the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell would think if he could see you now, Master Carey? Would he be so impressed to see one of his favourite lieutenants dressed up in such Royalist flummery and finery ?’

Adam
laughed. ‘Captain Carey, Martha. Oh - I doubt that he would. But if this fine plumage,’ he said making another low courtly bow, ‘makes it easier for my arrival to pass unnoticed amongst the Royalists then it will do well enough for me. I shall of course see that it is returned safely to you ere long, Tamsin.’

Martha
spoke out sharply, ‘Oh, it had better be my fine lad. Although her father will want to know how it came to leave his dressing chest.’ Martha shook her head doubtfully. ‘She has yet to find an excuse for needing it.’

Chapter Twenty-Two

As they left the ship at Falmouth Tamsin saw her Aunt Phoebe waiting for them with her coach on the busy quayside and before Adam could slip away quietly from her side she immediately introduced him boldly to her.

‘Aunt
Phoebe, this is Sir Philip Carey’s son, Adam. He came over on the ship with us. Will you not allow him to travel further with us in our carriage?’ She smiled sweetly at Adam.

‘My
Lady Phoebe.’ He greeted her with a courtly bow and a sweep of the feathered beaver. ‘I trust you are keeping well, and my Lord Bevil?’

Her
plump, pretty aunt shook her fair ringlets and greeted Adam with a pleasant dimpled smile. ‘Good day to you, sir. It gives me much pleasure to meet Philip Carey’s son again. If I remember rightly you were a friend of my son Jago. It is five years or more since you last visited Treganna, is it not? We are going on to Helford, and you, sir? Are you expecting anyone here to meet you? If not there is room in plenty on our coach.’

‘I
am expected in Illogan later this evening. Thank you, Lady Phoebe, I would be much obliged if I may travel in your company part of the way.’

Tamsin
looked over at Martha for signs of her dissent. Would she give Adam away? Martha holding onto her arm tightened her mouth firmly and said nothing; she had kept her promise so far.

Tamsin
wondered what Martha was thinking as they sat in the coach and her aunt chatted away amicably to Adam finding his light banter and conversation pleasurable. Reuben was sitting on top next to the coach driver and footman. All had passed muster so far, Tamsin believed with much relief.

Lady
Phoebe suspected nothing, obviously she had not heard about his change of allegiance to the Cromwellians. Tamsin prayed that her aunt would not be angry if she discovered the truth later about Master Adam Carey.

Tamsin
was not enjoying this journey one bit. Soon now she knew she would have to say goodbye to Adam who showed no signs of discomfort whatsoever in her delighted aunt’s company, as without fault he played the Royalist cavalier. She realised not for the first time that he must be a bold consummate actor. His work as an agent gave him good practice every hour of the day because his very life depended on it.

Had
he been acting too when he had shown his deep gratitude towards her and Reuben? This she would never know if the hostilities continued and she never saw him again. He risked his life daily as her father did on the field of battle.

S
he thought she had little chance of speaking to Adam alone before they parted company for the last time and so she spent most of the journey looking out at the passing countryside. Even though they sat next to one another in the coach, close enough for her to touch him, close enough to feel every movement he made and his body warmth, she felt like they were miles apart and it seemed that her aunt held his whole attention now.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Lady Phoebe was very interested in Tresco mainly, she confessed, because it had been her niece’s home for the past two years.

‘I
have heard that it is a beautiful place in peace time. Much too quiet though for a young girl like Tamsin with no young friends and little entertainment.’ Lady Phoebe turned to Adam. ‘Do you feel, Master Carey that Tresco is well defended?’

Only
then did Adam’s eyes meet Tamsin’s. It was a pity she thought that men did not show alarm as easily as women folk. He could lie so beautifully.

‘Yes
it is defended most admirably at all times by Colonel Trevenian, Lady Phoebe.’

Tamsin, feeling sick at heart, listened intently as they chatted and realised that her aunt was delicately probing him about his present feelings towards her niece.

‘It
must have been so good for Tamsin to have you visit the castle.’ Lady Phoebe smiled at Adam. ‘Therefore I shall not question you further about your reason for being there. It is doubtless necessary to say as little as possible these days in case it falls into the ears of our enemies, sir.’

He
nodded. ‘That is very true, my lady.’

‘I
hope you will be able to visit us at Treganna once again. What do you think Tamsin? Do you not welcome the possibility of some young company?’

Tamsin
smiled but said nothing. Her aunt would doubtless not expect her to seem too eager to voice her agreement to this invitation. She could feel the hot colour flooding her cheeks readily as he turned his smiling gaze on her. There was more than a trace of mischief sparkling in his sea green eyes now. And her heart acted accordingly as she tried in vain to avoid his gaze.

Adam
smiled charmingly at her aunt. ‘Thank you, my Lady. I shall accept your invitation gladly at the first opportunity.’

As
Tamsin expected Martha did not look too pleased by this invitation. But it was out of her hands entirely. Though Tamsin doubted whether Adam would take advantage of her aunt’s hospitality. She thought he would be kept much too busy from now onwards.

Lady
Phoebe believed that Adam had served and spent some time in the castle with her father and Adam was not going to let her think otherwise. It was his best defence and cover for the moment and he knew that Tamsin could not betray him else she betrayed what she had done to her father.

Adam
felt her discomfort as the rumbling coach brought them in close contact. He wished he could comfort her, tell her that he loved her and that no harm would come to her while he was there. And he wished that they were on their own without Martha and the eyes of his benefactor Lady Phoebe looking on them both with hopeful anticipation.