“Wrong again, my wildcat. They will bring me what I want and at the moment I want you. I’d have had you ere this, but it must be legal this time. Our son will be born in wedlock. Not that I’ll brook delay. But we’ll wed first and bed after.”
“Even your wife would have to make her vows of her own volition, I suppose. How will you achieve that?”
“There are ways,” he said.
“You have chosen unwisely if you expect obedience from me.”
“I have chosen as I must and I shall have your obedience. I shall tame my wildcat so that she will purr for my caresses.”
“Your metaphors are clumsy, like everything else you do.”
“Listen to me,” he said. “You will come and meet my father. You will smile and tell him you are pleased to have been honored by us.”
“You joke.”
“I am serious. You have given me your promise and, by God, you will keep it.”
“You will make me do that?”
“I will. Do not be foolish, Mistress Catharine. It could go ill with you if I were to tell what I have this day seen through the leper’s squint.”
I turned pale and the triumph leaped into his eyes.
“I have long suspected,” he said. “I would not answer for what should happen if my father knew,”
“Even though his future daughter-in-law were involved?”
“You’re not a Papist. I know that well enough. If you were I’d beat the Popery out of you.”
“What a nice kind husband you will be.”
“So you have accepted that I shall be your husband.”
“You don’t let me finish. I was going to say … to the poor simpleton who is misguided enough to marry you.”
“That will be no simpleton. It will be a wise woman. Catharine, no less, for no one else will do. I have sworn to have her and I do not swear in vain.”
“And if I refuse?”
“How can you bring disaster to this house?”
“You would not be so cruel.”
“I would be anything to get what I want.”
“I hate you as I never thought it possible to hate anyone.”
“While your eyes flash for me I’m happy enough. I will wait a week or so … no more. So come with me now. You will meet my father. You will smile and behave as though this match between us is a delight to you.”
“How could I be so false?”
“Either be false or the betrayer of this household.”
“Does that mean that you would harm them?”
“I mean every word of it.”
“First attempted rape. Then blackmail.”
“That is just a beginning,” he said with a laugh.
I was beaten. I knew it. How foolish they were to have the priest here. Why hadn’t they thought of the leper’s squint? They locked the door to the chapel and forgot the one which led to the room in which those who looked through the squint assembled.
As I walked across the lawn with him beside me I was thinking: The betrothal then … and no more. I shall think of a way out. I will go back to my mother. Honey will have to help me. After all, she and Edward have brought me to this.
Sir Penn was sprawling in the big chair with the carved wooden back. He chuckled when I entered the hall with Jake. Honey and Edward were not there. I wondered whether they were still in the chapel.
Sir Penn hoisted himself out of the chair and came toward me; he put his arms about me and kissed me hard on the mouth. I felt bruised where his lips had touched me.
“Well,” he said, “my son never was one to waste time. You’re getting a bargain there, my girl. I can vouch for him.”
He thrust his elbow into Jake’s ribs and Jake laughed.
“No need to tell her that, Father,” he said. “She’s no foolish virgin.”
They laughed together, obscenely, I thought. Jake put his arm over my shoulder; I felt his fingers pressing my flesh.
“We’ll have the wedding shortly following the betrothal. There’s no sense in waiting. We want you to give us a little Pennlyon without delay.”
I wanted to cry out: I shall never marry this man. I’d rather burn at the stake.
But it was precisely because I feared what would happen to us all since this ruthless man knew what had taken place in the chapel this morning that I was allowing them to assume that I had accepted Jake Pennlyon’s proposal.
Honey appeared then—without her usual serenity. Her face was flushed, her manner uncertain. One of the servants must have told her that the Pennlyons were here and she would be thinking of the necessity to guard Thomas Elders from such men as these.
“Good day and welcome,” she said. “So Catharine is here. I have just heard that you had arrived. You will take some wine?” She went to the bell rope.
Edward came in and greeted the visitors.
“A happy occasion,” shouted Sir Penn. “These young people… Well, I have lost no time. There’s never time to waste. We’re celebrating the betrothal at Lyon Court and then we’ll follow with the wedding. They’re impatient, these two, and I can’t say I blame them. I don’t blame them at all.”
Honey was looking at me fixedly. She was waiting for me to protest.
I opened my mouth to say it was all a mistake and that I had no intention of marrying when I caught Jake’s eye—mocking, warning, cruelly relentless. I thought: He would betray them. He would have no compunction. He is without mercy.
Then I remembered my mother’s telling me as she had on one occasion of how the father she adored had been a prisoner in the Tower and how one day he had been taken to the block and his head placed on London Bridge. I knew that never could she escape from the memory of that time; it had shadowed all her happiness. I had lost Carey and I believed I could never be completely happy again; and if I should be the one to betray Honey how could I face my mother or forgive myself?
A sudden exhilaration came to me. I would outwit this man who had so shortly come into my life and dominated it. I would let him believe that he had won, but he never should. At the moment I must agree to this betrothal because to fail to do so would endanger Honey and Edward. His victory should be only a brief one. If Jake Pennlyon thought I had so easily succumbed he was going to find his mistake.
He took my hand and held it tightly. His grip was a warning in itself. I could break your fingers if I wished; and I will as easily break your spirit.
“Why, Catharine,” said Honey, “may I indeed congratulate the pair of you?”
“This is a time for congratulations,” said Jake. “We want a speedy wedding.”
Honey put her fragrant cheek against mine, her eye inquiring.
“So you have decided, Catharine?” she said. “Why, it is but a short time that you were declaring you would never marry.”
“My son has that in him to break down the resistance of the most retiring damsel.”
“It seems so.”
The wine and cakes were brought in.
Edward poured the wine and gave the toast.
“To the betrothed pair.”
Jake took his glass and drank, then offered it to me. I stared for a moment at his full sensual lips and turned my head slightly. He was thrusting the glass into my hands and I drank.
It was as though I had sealed my promise.
They began to talk about the betrothal, which was to be celebrated at Lyon Court. The wedding would take place here.
“It should be at my mother’s house,” I protested.
“What, on the other side of the country,” cried Jake. “Sailors have no time for such fancies. Your mother must needs come to Devon if she wishes to dance at your wedding.”
“I shall make my plans,” I said.
And I saw the smile turn up Jake Pennlyon’s lips.
I listened vaguely to the conversation. Sir Penn was asking questions about my father’s estate. Edward was answering them as best he could. There should be a good dowry, Sir Penn was saying, but even if there was not there would be no bar to the marriage. “Bar my son when he’s made up his mind! That’s something I could not do an’ I wished it. Nor should I wish it. My son is the image of his father and I’d have that so too. He sees a filly and he’s got to ride her and I know he’s in no mood to wait for his bride.” He leaned toward me. “He’s eager. You’ll find he’s no laggard. That’s the way to ensure sons. You’re not one of these poor swooning females as will faint at the sight of a man. Not you. I saw it from the first. You’re the sort who’ll breed sons with spirit, for you’ve got spirit yourself; and you’ll be as mad for him as he is for you and that’s the way to get sons … get ’em early and get ’em in plenty. Pennlyon boys.”