Chapters (50)
- Cover
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- The Pengarron Sagas
- The Harvey Family Sagas
‘I’ll not be told what to do regarding this individual, especially by you,’ Oliver replied darkly, hurt and angry. She had humiliated him by her immediate support for the whining oaf.
Guests were gathering behind them and cramming the massive doorway to witness this altercation.
Clem looked at his enemy levelly. Then covering his daughter’s ears, he said, ‘How dare you speak to Kerensa like that, you bastard-crow, Pengarron. You care nothing for her wishes, never have and never will.’
Oliver let out a mighty roar. He reached out with the intention of frog-marching Trenchard, even though he had a child in his arms, to the stables and off his property.
‘Father, don’t.’ Kane was now there, seeking to intervene by warding off his grasping hands. Oliver’s momentum was too decided and its strength upset Kane’s balance.
Kerensa screamed as Kane and Harry were sent crashing down to the bottom of the steps.
Eleven
A week later, Luke presented himself in Kane’s bedroom at Vellanoweth.
Jessica, who was sitting in vigil beside the bed, jumped to her feet, motioning at him not to make a noise. ‘He’s sleeping. He’s still in a lot of pain and I don’t want him disturbed. The servants shouldn’t have allowed you to come up.’
Luke met the hostility in her wide blue eyes with an air of solemn sympathy and a softened voice. ‘I understand your concern, sister-in-law, that is why I’ve left it until now to come here. I promise not to wake Kane. I’ve brought news. Perhaps I could sit with him awhile, and if he opens his eyes I’ll tell him quickly and leave.’
Against all advice and Kerensa’s pleadings, Jessica had insisted that Kane be moved home almost immediately following the accident. She had travelled with him and Harry, who was uninjured, in the Pengarron coach, and she had rarely left his bedside since. Her father had taken Catherine and the twins back to the parsonage. He was delaying their return home until Kane was much recovered, and able to oversee the farm; Philip was completely capable of running Greystone’s Farm on his own for a lengthy time. Jessica was relieved to have Clem at hand, she needed him.
‘I’ve no welcome for you. You never got in touch with Kane once during the year you spent in wantonness and waste. You didn’t want him near you at the baptism, nor our son – your godson – not until you’d got your own way again with this play writing thing. You’re only here now, Luke Pengarron, because, no doubt, you’ve something to boast about. Too much like your father, that’s your trouble!’
‘I understand your bitterness, Jessica—’