Iris Johansen - Dark Rider

"Danemount brought you back late last night. It's a little after noon now. He found you lying in a faint at the bottom of Pelée's Breath. You'd hit your head on a rock."

Cassie suddenly remembered that moment of waking on the trail. "He was angry…"

"Extremely," Lani said. "He came here first, and when he couldn't find Charles, he set out for the volcano." Her lips tightened. "I tried to keep him here, but Clara told him that you had hurried off early that day to give your father a message from the king."

"Splendid."

Lani shrugged. "She appears to be mildly enthralled with His Grace. I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. He's an English duke, and even a British peasant is better than the king of any other country."

"Haven't you told her he's Papa's enemy?"

"When has she ever believed me? I'm a heathen."

It had been a foolish question. Cassie doubted if Clara would have listened to her either.

"But is he really your father's enemy?" Lani asked. "What did Charles tell you?"

"He said Danemount wants to kill him."

Lani's face paled. "Why?"

Cassie shook her head. "He kept saying, 'God's will.' "

"Danemount is no angel sent from heaven. Quite the contrary, I'd judge. But he can be charming when it suits him, and he's made an effort to make himself pleasant to Clara." She was silent a moment. "He's a very clever man, isn't he?"

Cassie could not miss the significance of the question. Lani suspected things were not as they appeared on the surface, and Cassie knew she should tell her of that meeting on the shore. Yet she was reluctant to do so. She wanted only to block it out, forget it. "How should I know?"

Lani raised her brows. "When he brought you back, he called you Kanoa. Of course, Lakoa could have called you by name, but his manner was definitely familiar. What knowledge do you have of Danemount?"

She looked away and said haltingly, "I… met him on the beach. We talked for a few moments." She burst out, "He was a stranger. I knew nothing about him."

"But now you know he's your father's enemy."

"Of course I do," she said fiercely. "Do you think I would-"

"Shh." Lani put her fingers on Cassie's lips. "You didn't tell me of your meeting, and I had to be sure. He's a man who's practiced in molding women to his will. Even Clara has weakened before him. She believes everything he tells her."

"I can't imagine that happening."

"You'll see." Lani sat down on the bed. "Now we must talk about your father before they know you're awake."

Cassie's gaze flew to the door. "The Englishman's still here?"

She nodded. "He's been here since he brought you back. He told me to call him when you woke." She grimaced. "There are also two of his sailors from the ship wandering about the grounds 'for our protection.' "

"They think Papa will come back."

"Will he?"

Cassie shook her head. "I told him to go to Kamehameha, and I'd come to him. Can we count on the king to rid us of Danemount?"

Lani frowned. "Kamehameha has a fondness for Charles, but he won't help him against the Englishman. He wants British guns to fight his wars."

"But he'll hide Papa until the Englishman leaves the island?"

"Unless it proves uncomfortable for him. But how do you know Danemount will leave? I've rarely seen a more determined man."

"He'll grow tired of looking for Papa," she said with a confidence she didn't feel. The man she had met on the shore was not the kind who gave up easily.

"And what if Charles becomes worried about you and comes here?"

That possibility had also been Cassie's concern. "Can you send him a message?"

Lani shook her head. "I doubt if it would reach him without leading Danemount to Charles. The Englishman is watching us closely."

"Then I'll have to go to him."

"You can't even get to your feet."

"Then you must watch for him until I can. I should be fine by tomorrow."

"I will go to him."

Cassie shook her head. "He's expecting me. I have to talk to him and decide what we're going to do." She whispered, "He's so afraid, Lani."

Lani glanced at the door. "He has a right to be afraid with that man as a foe." She got to her feet. "I'll get you water for bathing and a little broth. I'll keep Danemount from coming to you until later this evening. Try to rest."

Rest?

Cassie lay back against the pillows. She was not likely to rest, but she had to try. She would need all her strength for the battle ahead. From what Lani had said, Danemount had been busily weaving a cocoon to imprison them here at the cottage. A cocoon that could prove a deadly trap if her father tried to reach her.

Cassie felt much better after the bath and meal, but not well enough to try to get out of bed until later that afternoon. It was the sound of loud male voices just outside her window that finally stirred her to the attempt.

She slowly sat up and swung her feet to the floor. No dizziness. Good.

She slipped on a dark-blue dressing gown over her nightgown and stood up. A slight feeling of nausea, but nothing she couldn't deal with. She carefully made her way to the window and threw open the shutters.

Two roughly dressed men were strolling about Lani's garden. She decided they must be the sailors from the Josephine Lani had mentioned.

"I see you appear to be doing much better than I was told."

She whirled away from the window to see Jared Danemount standing in the doorway. He looked slightly raffish, and the lack of elegance made him appear even more threatening. He was without a coat, his shirt was open at the throat, and a day's growth shadowed his lean cheeks.

But his eyes were just as cool as she remembered them. She instinctively drew the dressing gown closer about her. "Good evening, Your Grace."

"Were you contemplating leaving through that window?" He came into the room and shut the door. "I wouldn't advise it."

"This is my home. Why should I leave it as if I were a thief in the night?" Her knees were beginning to feel weak, so she crossed the room and sat down on the edge of the bed. "I was just looking out at the intruders blundering around the grounds. They're ruining Lani's vegetable garden."

"I'll give her adequate compensation."

"Can you compensate her for her distress and disappointment, for all the hours she spent planning and nurturing?"

"Enough gold can soothe most disappointments."

She shook her head. "Perhaps in your world. Not here."

"Then she will have to be disappointed." He came toward her. "And I didn't come here to discuss vegetable gardens."

She gazed at him defiantly. "It's all I'll discuss with you."

"Where is your father?"

She stared at him in silence.

"I'd advise you to tell me. It will be easier for you."

"I don't want it to be easier for me. You have no business here. Go back to England."

"On the contrary, I have very important business here."

"Murder?"

He was silent a moment. "Retribution."

"I know my father. He could never have done anything that would deserve death."

His expression hardened. "Yes, what a kind and sacrificing father he must be. He fled like the coward he is and left you to lead me away from him. You could have died on that mountain."

"It wasn't his fault I was clumsy. He didn't want to leave me. I made him go."

"And you weren't as important to him as his neck."

"My father does love me. I told you, I made him go."

"He loves you so much, he goes off into the hills and lets you run wild and half-naked where any man can assault and rape you," he said violently.

"There's no shame in nakedness, and no islander would take me by force." She stared at him scornfully. "They're not like you English."

"I didn't take you by force. I didn't take you at all. I thought you a child. Another lie. According to what I was told, you were eight when you left Marseilles. That would make you near your twentieth year now."