Her tongue felt dry; her breath came quickly. Though she was afraid of Lord Cameron, still she knew that if the invitation was true, she would travel to Cameron Hall in the morning.
She dared not remain with her father, and Lord Cameron was right about one thing. A betrothal would buy her freedom.
The next day had turned to a beautiful sun-streaked twilight when Amanda first saw Cameron Hall. She didn’t know when Eric had gone to talk to the men, but she listened in silence when her father told her that she was betrothed and when Lord Dunmore told her that Pierre, with the Cameron carriage, would be waiting for her and Danielle whenever she was ready.
Lord Cameron would be leaving any day, but he wanted her to accustom herself to his home in his absence. The wedding date, in these troubled times, must be set later.
Her father caught hold of her arm just before she entered the carriage. “You will make yourself at home. You will search his desk and his papers, and you will find the truth. Anything, anything you find—letters, names, addresses—we must have. Do you understand?”
“He’d probably kill you, Father, if he knew what you were about,” she said flatly.
“You’re still my daughter, mine to command,” Sterling reminded her roughly. “And I can have you dragged home whenever I choose. Then there is your cousin. You think on it, girl.” He released her arm. Then he smiled and stared at her, and the same unease that had touched her the night before filled her with dread. She didn’t think that she could ever bear to be in a room with him alone again.
“If you touch me, he’ll kill you,” she said bitterly, and then she was startled by the fear she saw in her father’s eyes. For a man who had been badgering his prospective son-in-law about his political views not a month previous, suddenly he seemed very wary and cautious.
Sterling stepped away from her, and she was glad. Danielle was already in the carriage.
Lord Dunmore had already turned his mind to the matters of the day, and it was her father who stood before the gates of the palace to watch the carriage turn along the green. He did not wave, and Amanda was relieved. She leaned her head back against the carriage and was glad of the respite. It would be a three-hour drive down the peninsula to Lord Cameron’s home.
From the moment she first set eyes on the place, she felt a peculiar stirring in her blood. A mist was just rising as the carriage turned down the long winding drive. Great oaks sheltered the drive, and the mist caught within their branches and leaves. Then suddenly the trees parted and the house could be seen, rising high upon a hill on a waving lawn of emerald-green grasses. It was a huge place, made of brick, with a great porch surrounding the whole of it and great white Doric columns adding grace and elegance to the symmetry of the architecture.
“Mon Dieu,” Danielle murmured, pulling back the carriage draperies to better study the house. Her eyes were bright as she smiled at Amanda. “This is a house,mais oui!”
Amanda tried to smile, but she felt butterflies in her stomach. The whole of the plantation was impressive. As they rounded the drive, she could glimpse the neat rows of outbuildings all on a path and surrounded by vegetable and flower gardens. The gardens seemed to stretch out forever, just as the main house seemed almost to glitter beneath the sun and reach upward to the heavens. It was an illusion of the mist, she thought, and yet she couldn’t deny that it was beautiful. To the far left she could see the fields, and already there were a multitude of men at left. From this distance, slaves and white tenant farmers all seemed to blend together as they bent at their tasks. Far beyond she could see a rise of trees as the land sloped down to the river, and she could just make out some of the dock buildings that lay directly behind the house and far down the slope. Lord Cameron was at a distinct advantage with his property sitting on the river and with his own dock and deep harbor.
Danielle’s eyes were flashing happily. “It will be good here,ma chérie. It will be good. This lord is very wealthy, and he will marry you and keep you far from your papa.”
Amanda shivered suddenly, despite the grace and beauty that surrounded her, and she didn’t know if it had been Danielle’s mention of her father or of Lord Cameron. She was escaping the one to come to the other. He knew that she was a fraud, yet it was his fraud that they were now perpetuating. She had never lied about her own political beliefs. He knew she considered him a traitor. He had been furious to hear that her apology the other night had been forced upon her, but he’d already known that she had been spying on him.
She could never marry him. Even if nothing had ever happened between them, if she had not fallen in love with Robert, if her heart had not been twisted by her father’s dark corruption, she was still, in her heart, and always, a loyalist. They were English; they were English people, with English laws, and she was proud of that heritage. At the school for young ladies, she had learned she loved London. America was still raw and wild, but her people belonged to one of the most cultured and greatest nations on earth. To her, he was a traitor.
“There he is! Lord Cameron awaits us!” Danielle said happily.
Amanda was not so happy. She swallowed sharply as she held open the curtain. He was awaiting them on the steps to his house. He was in white breeches and stockings, boots, and a navy frock. As usual, his shirt was finely laced and impeccable, his hair was unpowdered but neatly queued. As the carriage clattered along the stone drive, Amanda admitted that he well fit the regal house, for his bearing was fine.
The carriage came to a halt. Pierre came scampering down from the driver’s seat. Lord Cameron called out something to him, and Pierre laughed, then helped Danielle from the carriage.
“Welcome, Danielle,” Cameron said. He took the woman’s hand in both of his own. “Welcome to Cameron Hall.”
Flustered, Danielle smiled and Lord Cameron kissed her hand.
“Merci, merci!”Danielle murmured, blushing and flustered. She was so happy, Amanda thought. And perhaps she had the right, for Nigel Sterling had never treated her with anything that resembled kindness.
He had always hurt her, Amanda thought, paling. Then she saw Eric’s eyes on her, and she flushed. He had known that she would come. And she had.
He took her hand. “And, my love, to you my warmest welcome. I hope that you shall be very happy here. And safe.”
Safe? she wondered. Could she be safe from him?
With both of her hands within his own, he pulled her close. He kissed her cheeks and then slowly released her, studying her eyes. “Pierre, find Thom if you would, and see to Lady Sterling’s trunks, please.”
“Mais oui,” Pierre agreed, grinning and turning toward the house.
Amanda found herself looking at the carriage with its coat-of-arms and then to Eric Cameron. He was so comfortable here, so affluent, and yet it seemed that he was willing to risk it all.
“Shall we go in?” he asked her.
She nodded, and then she realized that she hadn’t spoken a word yet.“Yes, of course.”
