Page 81 of The Cornish Inheritance

Chapter Thirty-Two

After the long climb up from the bottom of the shaft via a series of wooden platforms which Opie called sollars, Casworan greeted them at the pithead. Each sollar had offered the opportunity for a breather, with the next ladder stretching twenty feet up to a small hole in the next platform. But by the time they reached the surface, Nat was far more exhausted than he’d have liked to admit, and his right shoulder was throbbing like the worst toothache with every beat of his heart. He could only be glad he hadn’t had to carry Yves up.

One of the other miners had gone on ahead, and Casworan had blankets ready, which he quickly wrapped around Caroline, to conceal her shredded gown, and Yves. Nat turned his down as, despite being wet from the running water down below, he was hot and sweating from the climb, and the warm sun would dry him off better than a blanket would.

Opie set Yves down on a low wall, wrapped in his blanket, and the little boy gazed around himself, blinking in the bright sun. Of the three of them, he seemed to have weathered the ordeal the best, despite their worries that he might die from the cold, and to be on his way to recovery from his long immersion. Such is the resilience of children.

The wind caught Nat’s hair, and from beyond the headland the thunder of waves crashing on the cliffs rose into an air peppered with wheeling gulls. The tide must be right in. He couldn’t deny his relief to have made it out of the mine.

How long had they been underground? Nat squinted at the sun. This had to be mid-afternoon. He looked at Caroline, who was making a forlorn and hopeless effort to tidy her hair. She looked as though she’d been dragged through the dirt by a wild horse, and then thrown in a few bushes, and no doubt he did as well. What a trio. Nothing like the scions of a noble house. More like beggars you’d pass on the road without a second glance, or villains.

She met his gaze, her dark eyes brimming with confidence. What a woman. He’d never met anyone like her before. Someone prepared to enter a maze of underground tunnels she didn’t know she could get out of in order to rescue her charge even though she so plainly was terrified. A woman who had trusted him enough to follow him ever deeper into the mine when he’d assured her he’d known the way out. She must have guessed he couldn’t be certain a way out still existed after all these years. Yet she’d conquered her fears and followed him in.

The impulse to snatch her into his arms grew to epic proportions. He wanted to press her body, scantily clad as it was, against his, and kiss those lips until they bruised. He’d not felt desire like this for years. Not since Julia. He’d never thought he could find another woman like her, and yet he had, although in truth she was nothing like Julia. He felt himself harden at the thought of kissing her again, and turned away, wishing he’d accepted that blanket from Casworan.

She cleared her throat. “We’d best get Yves home. He needs to be in a warm bed.” And the moment was gone.

Casworan loaned them his horse, a sturdy cob as like Jacka’s Bosun as to be his brother. There was only an ordinary saddle, of course, but, after considerable argument, he succeeded in persuading Caroline up onto it. She, of course, was of the outspoken opinion that he, as the one injured by yesterday’s fall, should take the horse and she could walk. Ignoring his throbbing shoulder, Nat assured her he was fine. A lie, but an expedient one. Then Casworan lifted Yves up in front of her and they set off back to Roskilly.

Yves, who was clearly not as recovered as he would have liked them to think, fell asleep again in Caroline’s arms, as Nat led the cob down from the headland and onto the tracks between the small, stone-walled fields, every step jarring his aching shoulder. But it was a satisfying ache, because of how he’d gained it, and he could put up with it.

*

With Nat leadingthe cob, Caroline was able to hold onto the sleeping Yves with both hands. Thanks to the blanket and the warm July sun, he was warming rapidly, which relieved her. But nonetheless, a visit from the doctor would be in order.

She looked down at Nat. Each step he took seemed to be undertaken with care, as though his shoulder pained him. How could she ever have suspected him of evil intent to Yves? He’d leapt into action at her request for help, and risked his life to save his young cousin. And he’d kissed her. Oh, how he’d kissed her. Kissed her in the way all young girls dream of. Throughout most of the time underground she’d refused to think about it, but now, in the clear light of day, she allowed herself to remember his demanding lips on hers and the arousal she’d felt shiver through her body.

She’d been kissed before, by the young lieutenant who’d gone off to war and never come back, but it had been nothing like the passionate kiss Nat had given her. And once, many years ago, her friend Kit had kissed her, in a chaste and innocent way, as they’d both been no more than thirteen and merely curious to find out what a kiss might feel like. It had been somewhat disappointing, and not one whit like Nat’s hot and hungry kiss down there in the dark bowels of the Earth.

Did she want Nat to kiss her again? She most certainly did. In fact, she felt her cheeks heating at what she wanted Nat to do, that shiver of arousal cascading through her body once more. If he only knew what improper thoughts she was having about him, he’d be shocked. Or maybe not. Maybe he was having them himself. He was a man, after all, with a man’s needs. Clearly women had similar needs because, right now, all she could think about was not just being kissed but being undressed by him and taken to bed. How very risqué and daring of her. She smiled to herself against Yves’s tangled curls.

To distract herself from these naughty but pleasurable daydreams, she looked out to sea. A few fishing boats dotted the expanse of blue, idyllic in the sunshine, but the lack of wind was probably not good for sailing, or fishing. Overhead, the gulls continued to wheel, their raucous cries tearing at the air, and the now familiar smell of the sea wafted to her nostrils. How good it was to be alive and out in the sun again. She was never going in a mine again. Never, never, never. She couldn’t say that to herself enough times. Never. Never. Never.

They were drawing near to Roskilly before she roused herself enough to speak. “What are we going to do about Trefusis?” She kept her voice down low for fear of disturbing Yves. “He meant for Yves to die or get lost in those tunnels. That’s obvious.”

Nat looked up at her. “Intent is not an action he can easily be held answerable for.”

“I know. That’s what I’m afraid of.”

“The best I can do is ask my grandfather to dismiss him.”

“You ought to do that as soon as we’re returned. Trefusis will no doubt be hoping by now that Yves has gone for good.”

Nat nodded. “I’m looking forward to seeing the look on his face when he sees us back with him.”

Caroline shifted in the saddle to ease her aching back. “And I shall make sure I keep Hetty and Yves as safe as possible until he goes.”

“Which will be today, if I have my way.”

The track led them down to the corner of the Roskilly gardens and round to the stableyard. Young Pascoe came running, his eyes shocked at the sight that met his eyes. “What’s been goin’ on, Sir?” His eyes ran over Caroline’s bedraggled state as she relinquished her precious load to Nat with relief.

She slid down from the cob’s broad back, glad to have her feet on solid ground that wasn’t down a deep, dark hole.

“Master Yves got lost in the old adit in Penmar Cove,” Nat said. “Take Casworan’s horse for me and see it well fed. We had to make our way up to Jenny’s workings and come up by the ladder shaft. We couldn’t have walked back from there.” He had Yves almost over his left shoulder.

“I had an adventure, Tom,” Yves muttered. “I went exploring.”

“Looks like you did, that, young master,” Tom said, taking the cob’s reins. “A right brave’un you are.” He led the horse into the stable block and Nat carried Yves into the house, Caroline right behind him.