Iris Johansen - Dark Rider

"I don't believe there will be any difficulty with Lani." He hesitated. "Why do you look like that? What's wrong?"

Intimacy. Laughter. Involvement. All the things she had avoided on the ship. All of this was very wrong, and she suddenly felt helpless to keep the bombardment at bay. "Nothing," she muttered.

She turned and hastened away from him.

Cassie took Josette to the library to meet Lani before they went riding the next day.

"The gargoyle mustn't ever see you," Josette said as soon as she caught sight of Lani. She emphatically shook her head. "Not even a glimpse from a mile away."

"Gargoyle?" Lani asked.

"Lady Carradine."

"Oh, yes, Cassie has told me about her," she said. "Surely to refer to her as 'gargoyle' is a little cruel?"

"Actually, it's cruel to gargoyles." Josette paused and then said awkwardly, "Cassie said you'd agreed to help me. I… thank you."

Lani chuckled. "Why should I not help you when all it means is not running to this unpleasant person and telling her you had lied? It's true that I prefer to be honest, but this is no sin."

"We're going riding," Cassie said. "Will you come with us, Lani?"

Lani shook her head. "I'll stay here by the fire. It's too cold for me."

"It's only fall," Josette said. "It's not cold at all. The snows won't come for another two months."

"Snow?" Lani shuddered. "I've read about this snow, and I think it's best viewed from a window. Though Cassie remembers it with pleasure."

"It doesn't snow on your island?" Josette asked. "How odd."

"Not odd at all. It's snow that's against nature." Lani smiled. "Someday you must come and see how beautiful it is in our land."

"Maybe," Josette replied. "But Cassie says they don't have wonderful horses as we do here."

"A serious fault, I agree," Lani ceded solemnly. "Much greater than your abundance of snow."

"Are you laughing at me?"

"Yes."

"I don't like people who laugh-" Josette stopped and then said grudgingly, "But I owe you gratitude for helping me with the gargoyle. You may laugh at me, if you like."

"Only with kindness," Lani said gently. "Laughter is a balm for the soul. It would be an arid world without it."

"Those silly girls at school laugh at me, and they don't mean it kindly." She raised her chin. "But I pay no attention to them."

"Only with kindness," Lani repeated, meeting her gaze. "I promise."

Josette stared at her for a long moment. "You mean it?"

"Lani always means what she says," Cassie said.

A sudden mischievous smile lit Josette's face. "Then I guess I'll not put cockroaches in her soup as I do those ninnies." She waved her hand airily. "It's too much trouble catching them, anyway."

"Much too much trouble," Lani said. "But you have imagination. Cockroaches in the soup are far more disgusting than the frog Cassie put in my bed when I first came to the cottage."

Cassie laughed. "I was younger than Josette."

Lani exchanged a smiling glance with her. "But we had our own gargoyle."

"Did you?" Josette asked, curious. "Who?"

Lani waved a hand. "Cassie will tell you about her. Run along and have your ride."

Cassie moved toward the door but Josette hesitated. "I'd like… You're not like those other-" She stopped and then said in a rush, "Come with us."

Lani was touched. The girl was clearly so accustomed to battling that to accept an adult readily was nearly impossible for her. Should she go? No, she would be in the way of the two girls getting to know each other. Cassie was going to find it very difficult here, and if she made a friend of Josette, it could only be for the best. "Another time," Lani said. "But you're welcome to come to me here whenever you wish."

Josette nodded jerkily and strode toward the door.

Lani moved toward the window and watched them as they crossed the courtyard. They were both talking animatedly, Josette gesturing, Cassie nodding. Lani felt a wave of loneliness. She had a sudden urge to open the window and call out to them to wait, that she had changed her mind. Books were always friends, but she needed human companionship in this grim fortress.

She did not call.

She turned away from the window and picked up the book she had laid down when Cassie and Josette had come in to the library. They would be better off without her, and she needed time to herself to call up memories of Charles and home. That she found those memories slipping away frightened her. In this cold, chilly land it was difficult even to think of Charles and their life together. If France was like this England, no wonder Charles had been so happy after his flight.

Yet he had still clung to his foreign ways and traditions and had never been able to embrace fully the island ways. Why? She understood his reluctance even less now than she had before.

Why was she brooding about things she had accepted years ago? Think of the good times. Charles's sweetness to her, his need of her.

"May I come in?"

She turned to see Bradford standing in the doorway, smiling at her. That almost boyish smile was always so surprising in his lined, craggy face.

She should send him away. She had been about to refresh her memories of-

"Please?" he coaxed. "I'm lonely."

It was a lonely day in a lonely land. She should not condemn herself for seeking to ease that loneliness for them both.

"Come in." She settled herself in her chair before the fire and opened her book. "But don't expect to be entertained. This book is much too interesting for me to put down."

"Cassie!" Josette's shout echoed off the hall rafters.

"I'm in the library with Lani," Cassie called.

"Well, both of you come and meet Rose."

"Rose?" Cassie exchanged glances with Lani.

Lani shrugged and stood. "Coming."

The thin woman standing beside Josette was nearing forty, with a lovely fair complexion and a pleasant expression. She beamed as Cassie and Lani approached. "Ah, lovely. What a pleasure you'll be to dress." She bustled toward the staircase. "Now, come along to Josette's room. I must get your measurements."

Neither Lani nor Cassie moved.

Rose turned to Josette. "They don't trust me. Tell them how splendid I'll make them." She proceeded up the steps.

"Rose?" Cassie asked Josette.

"Rose Winthrop. She's the finest seamstress in Cornwall. She made me my first pair of trousers." She made a face. "She was disapproving, but Jared convinced her."

"She's going to make me a pair of trousers?" Cassie asked.

"And a few gowns."

"I don't need any gowns."

"Jared thinks you do, and after seeing you last night at dinner, I agree."

"I'll take the trousers, but I-"

"It will do no harm to accept a few gowns," Lani interrupted. "I'm growing weary of seeing you in those garments Clara chose for you."

"And what if someone sees you when they drop in to visit Jared?" Josette asked. "They would never believe Jared would permit a kinswoman to receive guests in those hideous garments. They're terribly out of fashion, and he's far too knowledgeable about females' wardrobe."

Cassie had no doubt on that score. "Then I'll hide in the stable."

Lani smiled and shook her head. "Don't be foolish."

She was being silly, Cassie realized. A few gowns would make no difference, and arguing would only lend Jared's action importance. "Very well, if you'll have a gown made, too."

"Of course," Lani said as she started up the stairs. "Several. I intend to make use of the man in every way possible."

That should be her attitude also, Cassie thought. Yet every time she made use of him, she found herself more deeply entrenched in his life.

"You'll see, it will be no trouble," Josette told her. "You won't have to make any decisions. Jared has already told her what he wants." Josette took Cassie's hand and pulled her up the steps. "And you'll like Rose. She's very quick, and she'll be careful not to stick you with pins."