A Place For Repentance (The Underwood Mysteries Book 6) by Suzanne Downes

to the long-suffering Underwood.
                  “With that settled, I think it is time we made our way back to Wimpleford, Captain Petch,” said Will, greatly comforted. He could see only one alternative career for the young girl if she was not under the protection of one of the party and he was appalled by the very thought.
                  The two gentlemen left, after exchanging farewells and reminders of future meetings and Underwood gratefully sank into a comfortable doze on the sofa in front of the parlour fire, having been up early and driven several miles in the chilly rain.
                  Verity went to help the cook prepare dinner and Lindell had another service to hold in the church before he could consider his duty done.
                  Violette, who had sneaked downstairs and listened outside the parlour door to hear what the gathering had to say about her future, had returned to bed, much consoled by the final conclusion, knowing herself to be safe – at least for the present. But more than that, she was warmed and heartened by the consideration apparent in the nice Mr Jebson’s voice when he had demanded to be reassured about her welfare. In her eyes, her salvation was due entirely to the apothecary, who had fought so valiantly on her behalf making sure the others would do all they could to help her.
                  She lay in the half-light of the curtained room, thinking about his kind brown eyes, his straight nose; the full, yet manly, lips which hinted at a passionate nature. In a laudanum-induced sleepiness, she closed her eyes and dreamed of the way his hair curled slightly over his forehead, and how smooth his shaved cheeks looked.  She recalled with a smile the sound of his deep voice, speaking her name and reassuring her when she was most frightened. It was a long time since anyone had been so gentle with her. Of late most men had treated her with contempt, cruelty or had viewed her as a possible conquest. Their only interest in her was the price she might command. For a long time now she had felt worthless, dirty, unloved. Will Jebson had made her feel human again, a woman to be listened to, to be protected, to be eased of pain. She was swept away by the forgotten emotions that his courtesy and care had engendered.
                  Sadly the only thing she did not consider in all this girlish happiness was the notion that he might be beyond her reach.
                  For his part, Will allowed himself to think once about his patient. He wondered vaguely if she would be safe now, from whoever had inflicted the injury which had caused her to lose a tooth, and from the harshness of a life without friends or family. He told himself that he had troubles enough of his own without involving himself in the cares of a comparative stranger. She might be young, pretty, and oddly exotic with her charming accent and large brown eyes, which had silently pleaded with him not to hurt her, but that could hold no interest for him. He had performed his task and had been paid. Let that be an end to it.
                  Please God, let that be an end to it.
                  He irrationally feared that anything else would spell disaster for them both. 
                 
                 
     
     

 
     
    CHAPTER TEN
     
    (Extract from a journal discovered by C H Underwood, Winter 1829)
     
                  As my personal servant X could not help but be aware that something was very wrong but my father was nothing if not clever. He hid his actions well and if there were times when his behaviour seemed suspect, or I was particularly distressed or he had failed to disguise my injuries, he could find sly ways to hint that the fault was mine, that the ‘frailty of mind’ was manifesting itself in self-injury or odd behaviour.
                  X wasn’t fooled for long, but