“Quite safe. There is a wall all around, so you cannot slip and fall.”
She agreed to it, but when he turned to the door that led outside, he found it already unlocked. “I think you are right, Miss Parish. Someone has definitely been here, and left the place in disarray, and now that I think about it, last time I was here, this door was locked and the key was missing. The key is still missing, yet now the door is unlocked. I will talk to Eustace about it. Well, shall we venture outside?”
The balcony did indeed have a wall all round it, but it was low, and the balcony was narrow. A gust of wind buffeted Katherine, and she gave a gasp of alarm, flattening herself against the outer wall of the tower.
Kent immediately stood in front of her as if to protect her from the unruly wind that threatened to hurl her over the precipice to the ground. His smile was gentle. “Hush, sweetheart. I will protect you, Katherine.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, wondering that her voice could operate at all when he stood so close to her, so distractingly close, his face only inches from hers.
“I will look after you,” he murmured, his voice so low she could barely hear it above the wind.
Then he leaned forward and kissed her, and Katherine melted into his arms. Oh, how long had she wanted to do this! Yet she had never dared to hope. Now, suddenly, he had made himself clear. It was a declaration of sorts, and she gloried in it, giving herself up to all the delirious joy of his lips, his arms around her, his hands firm against her back. Happiness radiated through her whole body, and she wondered that her legs could even hold her up.
All too soon, he pulled away a little, still holding her with one hand while the other brushed a stray curl from her face.
“Sweet Katherine,” he whispered. “You need never be afraid. I will always take care of you.”
She hardly knew how she got back inside, she was so exhilarated. All she had dreamed of for so long… no, all that she had tried very hardnotto dream of was suddenly hers. He loved her! Surely he loved her… or feltsomethingfor her that was more than friendship, more than simple kindness to a neighbour.I will always take care of you… that was almost a proposal of marriage, was it not? Almost… very close to one.
Yet as soon as they were back inside, he became practical again, moving the telescope back to its usual position. “This is where it should be,” he muttered, peering through the eyepiece and adjusting this and that until it was just as he wanted it.
Katherine was not composed enough to be still while he worked, so she walked round and round the small room, into the corners and out again, restlessly circling the furniture, until her foot caught something hard and she almost tripped. Her exclamation of surprise drew Kent’s attention.
“What is it?”
“Something tucked away behind this sofa… a bag of some sort.” It was a green leather portmanteau, rather worn, and firmly locked. “You definitely have a visitor.”
Kent picked it up and turned it over, then shrugged. “Someone has been staying here, that is true enough. If we ride down to Welwood, I can leave a note for Eustace to look into it, but it will be one of his men, I imagine.”
Katherine was too shivery and light-headed to quibble, so as soon as Kent was satisfied with the position of the telescope, they descended to the ground floor. Here Kent paused, his face unusually serious.
“You asked why a tower needs cellars. Katherine, I would have no secrets between us, so I will show you what goes on in the cellars.”
He disappeared into the one of the store rooms, emerging with a lantern and a key. In moments the lantern was lit, he unlocked the door and led the way into the darkness.
“The stairs are in good condition, but hold tight to the rope… or you can hold my hand if you prefer.”
She did prefer, so they slowly made their way down into the dank gloom of the cellar. It did not totally surprise her that there were a number of barrels stored there, for that, after all, was one of the purposes of a cellar. It was more surprising that the marks on them were in French.
“These are smuggled!” she said.
“They originated in France, yes. They arrive somewhere along the coast, I know not where, and eventually they end up here. We transfer the contents into local barrels, and then distribute them, and the French barrels are burned.”
“We?You are involved in this?”
He shuffled his feet. “Well, yes. My part in the operation is to man the telescope when deliveries arrive, and take orders. Katherine, it goes on all over the country, you know. No one is harmed by it, after all.”
“But it is illegal!” she cried. “You are depriving the government of rightful duties.”
“No, because French wines and brandy would not reach these shores at all, if not for the smugglers. We are providing a service for those who can get their preferred drink no other way, and also offering work for local men.”
“Dishonest work, Mr Atherton.Illegalwork, and it is immoral for you as a gentlemen to encourage working men into law-breaking. You should be setting an example. Would you be so tolerant if they were poaching from your father’s land?”
“Of course not, for that would be stealing! Nothing is stolen here, merely sold secretly.”
She could see that he was not about to acknowledge the wrongness of his actions, and she fell silent.
“Let us not fall out over this, Katherine,” he said quietly. “I did not wish to keep this a secret from you, but I can see that the idea is strange to you. Perhaps when you have thought a little about it—”
