"I said nothing, I merely choked."
"Damn you, boy, I won't tolerate your damnable impudence!"
"Samuel," Ryder said smoothly, interrupting him. "There is not a consensus of opinion on the virtue of Miss Stanton-Greville. Surely you know that."
"It matters not," Grayson said. "I know the truth."
"Let us speak of other matters then. There have been no further demonic spectacles. I'm disappointed, and yet at the same time, I do wonder why they ceased so abruptly with my arrival."
Emile said slowly, "It's true. Since you spent some hours in the bay before my father brought you to Kimberly, everyone or practically everyone would have known within twenty-four hours that you had arrived."
"Which means," Ryder continued thoughtfully, "that if they were meant to cease upon my arrival then the person responsible hadn't heard of my arrival before that first night."
"Exactly," said Emile.
"I am still not certain that there is a person behind this," Grayson said. "It isn't natural, all that you saw. You said yourself, Ryder, that there was no sign of the fire where you'd seen one. Perhaps it wasn't a person in a white costume, perhaps it was simply another manifestation of voodoo evil."
"It was a flesh and blood man," Ryder said firmly. "Also, the arrow that went into my arm was shot by a very real person. Thus, there were two villains at Kimberly that first night. A question, Samuel—do you know of any man nearby who is good at archery?"
"Good God," Emile said, startled. "I hadn't thought to ask. Yes, Father, let's think on that."
Both men were silent for several moments. Ryder ate the chilled fresh fruit and the crusty fresh bread. He thought of Sophia Stanton-Greville, waiting. Both the thought and the bread were delicious.
Samuel said, 'Yes, I know a man who excels in the sport of archery."
"Who?" Emile and Ryder asked at the same time.
Samuel waved his hands in dismissal. "No, no, it makes no sense. I was thinking of Eli Thomas, Burgess's overseer. He is noted for his skill, but again, no, it makes no sense. Why would he come here and shoot Ryder? Also, David Lochridge is a devotee of the sport as is a Mr. Jenkins, a merchant in Montego Bay. There are doubtless others in the vicinity. Certainly too many to draw any sort of meaningful conclusion."
Ryder smiled. Another part of the puzzle brought out onto the table. Another link to that wretched little tart at Camille Hall who'd teased him and practically let him make love to her in the Camille Hall gardens with a hundred guests but yards away. He toyed with an orange slice. "Since the men who visited us that first night of my arrival didn't know I was here, why then, we can begin to narrow the list, because I met many gentlemen that first afternoon in the Gold Doubloon."
Emile got a piece of foolscap and a pen. They listed all the names Ryder could remember.
"Many aren't accounted for," Emile said. "More than many more. The count boggles the mind."
"Such as two of her lovers," Ryder said easily. "We can mark off Oliver Susson."
"Yes," Emile said, and his father threw his napkin down on the table and strode from the room.
Ryder frowned after him. "Why does he wish to be blind to this girl and what she is?"
Emile looked across the breakfast room to the oil painting of a sugarcane field. "He had selected her to marry me. He won't give up the idea. I think also that he is taken with her. Her wickedness teases him. You've noticed Mary, his housekeeper, is a little tease, and he is very fond of her. I tell you, Ryder, even if Sophia took him as one of her lovers, he would still defend her. You mustn't take his anger to heart. He is my father and he means well."
Ryder nodded and continued to eat.
Emile said after a moment, 'You were to have ridden with her, weren't you?"
Ryder grinned at him. "Yes, but I will never allow a woman to dictate to me. I will tell her what I wish of her and when I wish it. I will do the asking, not she the telling."
"This should prove interesting."
"I trust so," Ryder said and drank the rest of his rich black coffee. "Do you have the time, Emile?" "Yes, it's nearly nine-thirty." "I believe I will go riding." Emile gave him a crooked grin. "Good hunting."
"Indeed," Ryder said.
"Where is he?"
Sophie turned to face her uncle. "I don't know. I assumed he would be here at eight. He did not say he wouldn't come."