Page 65 of A Sense of Paradise
‘You don’t know what you are saying.’ But Latimer’s bluster lacked conviction.
‘I know precisely what I am saying. You tried to warn Flora away from me. You were fairly sure that she wouldn’t repeat what she knew about your depravity, if only to protect her mother and sisters, but you weren’t nearly so sure about me. However, if I were to be disgraced in the eyes of society, then no one would believe my account and you would be safe to carry on, perhaps founding a new form of religion that wouldn’t require you to report to anyone, Latimer. You would have your revenge.’
‘Papa?’ Flora looked at him through luminous eyes that reflected sadness and disappointment. She felt no love for her father and absolutely no respect for him, but she clearly hadn’t wanted to think quitethatbadly of him. ‘Surely you would not have…’
‘Don’t listen to this man.’ Latimer spoke with dismissive authority. ‘He has poisoned your mind against me and turned your head with his position of wealth and consequence. Things are not always what they seem. He was himself a scoundrel who took whatever caught his fancy before his so-called accident curtailed his activities.’
Archie ignored him and smiled intimately at Flora. ‘Will you listen to me, darling?’ he asked softly.
Flora returned his smile and stood on her toes to kiss his cheek. ‘Always, my love,’ she replied without hesitation.
Latimer’s jaw dropped. ‘What the devil…’
‘Now is hardly the time, but you might as well all know that Flora has graciously agreed to become my wife.’
‘Non!’Eloise cried, clutching her stomach, doubling over and howling like a wounded animal. ‘I cannot bear it.’
Louis sat on the arm of her chair and slipped his own arm around her shoulders. She didn’t shake it off. Latimer looked defeated when he realised just how badly he had miscalculated, but Archie suspected that he wouldn’t remain down for long. Men of his staggering arrogance seldom did.
‘I assumed he wanted to…’ Latimer stared at Flora for a protracted moment. ‘It never occurred to me that he would actually marry you. I was attempting to protect you from your own folly.’ He turned in a circle and threw his hands in the air. ‘You will be a marchioness, rich beyond anyone’s wildest imaginings,’ he said slowly.
‘And you will not benefit from the improvement in my situation, Papa. You have attempted to control me for the last time.’
‘Flora, I…’
Avery, who had remained sullenly silent during this exchange, suddenly lunged towards Archie, growling like an injured bear. Flora cried out a warning, convinced that Archie would be knocked from his feet, possibly badly harmed, with all the good work she had done to relieve his discomfort undone in one careless moment. She almost smiled when Avery ran headlong into Archie’s outstretched fist and landed on the floor in a bleeding, unconscious heap.
The two burly men who stood behind Latimer seemed confused. They certainly didn’t rush to overpower Archie, especially when Pawson stepped forward in a menacing fashion, large and threatening. Before the status quo could be altered, Avery stirred, groaning as he clutched his broken nose.
The Scotland Yard detectives arrived at that moment, cutting off Latimer’s lame attempt to win Flora round, along with several burly uniformed constables from the local force.
‘Have we missed all the fun?’ Sergeant Salter said, looking disappointed as he glanced dispassionately at the bloodied Avery, who had just staggered to his feet, murder in his eyes. Avery squared up to the sergeant who said, ‘Try it, sunshine, just try it.’ Avery wisely refrained from trying anything.
‘We started without you,’ Archie replied calmly, flexing his fingers. ‘Come along, darling,’ he added, taking Flora’s hand. ‘Let’s get you home and leave Lord Riley to deal with this mess.’
‘You enjoyed that, didn’t you?’ she said, half-accusingly, as Archie led her away.
‘Immensely,’ Archie replied without hesitation. ‘It made me feel whole again, just for a little while.’
‘You could have set yourself back again.’
‘Not really. I suspected that Avery would try something so I kept him in my line of sight. He moved so fast that his own momentum was his undoing. He brought it on himself.’
‘Since he is such a vile person, I cannot argue with that.’
Pawson arranged for Eloise, Louis and Maurice to be conveyed to the nearest railway station, from whence they could make their own way back to France. Their possessions will be sent on. Archie didn’t want to have anything more to do with them. Eloise looked dumbfounded still, and barely spoke a word as Louis led her away.
‘I hope he gets his heart’s desire,’ Flora said, watching them go.
‘You have a soft heart,’ Archie said. ‘All the trouble he caused and you feel sympathy for him.’
‘I recognise a man madly in love when I see one. He exercised patience and thought that Eloise would turn to him when you left France. But she didn’t and he was driven to desperate measures. One cannot blame him for that—especially since Avery duped him.’
‘Come along. Let’s leave this horrible place before you get into more trouble.’
‘I am not responsible for what happened,’ she protested. ‘I came to this village because Pamela asked me to look over the rectory with her. I had absolutely no idea that any of this would happen.’
‘Remus didn’t warn you?’
