Gentleman in the Shadows

by Karen Sommers

  From her infinite wisdom, Gianni had tutored Shayna in the subject of male desires. Men want women who are talented, meek, submissive, subservient, coy, underhanded, and manipulative. She and Gianni had argued the point many times before. Suppressing a woman’s yearning to do certain things and learn certain things produced a replica of a perfect woman on the outside. The glossed-over, obedient and beautiful female companion all men require. Nobody was willing to admit the suppression also created a monster underneath the veneer of perfection.

  In their latter years, men would bemoan the deceitful, spiteful woman they worked so hard to engineer in their youth and never accept credit for what they had produced.

  Shayna vowed to learn and do whatever interested her. If it meant she had to sneak, she would. So far, she had held true to her convictions.

  Her fingers moved over the keys haltingly at first. Her feet remembered exactly when to depress one of the pedals. The choppy, broken notes soon turned into a soft fluid melody as her eyes closed naturally and her body realigned with the instrument; she was lost in the beauty of it.

  The piece was slow and suspenseful in the refrain, conjuring images of the mysterious man at the party. He was hidden in the alcove shadow; he was speaking with his heavy accent; he was standing in the field, cape fluttering about his form in the breeze; he was gone. Shayna struck the last few chords and before her eyes fluttered open to let harsh reality in, her mind gave her one last image of the mysterious man as he stepped from shadows. The unsteady flicker of a torch cast a dim orange glow over his face, Luca’s face.

  The image was so realistic Shayna startled, and the fingers of her left hand struck a chord that sounded somewhat like a croaking toad, ruining the end of the tune. She sat there with her hands resting on the keys, still shocked by the image. Why did her mind insist upon combining the two men?

  Shayna shook away the image and hurried back to her room. It was almost time for Maria, and she didn’t want the woman searching the house frantically trying to find her.

  Maria was in Shayna’s room, sifting through the dresses in the wardrobe. “I have already chosen my wardrobe for dinner, Maria.” Shayna smiled mischievously and pointed to the bed where the nightmare outfit lay spread out.

  Maria looked at Shayna, hand on hip, eyed the outfit and shook her head. “Not on my watch, Miss. No. That is...” She looked at the clothes again, rolled her eyes, and shook her head. “That should be burned, in my opinion.” She shook her finger at Shayna. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re trying to do, Miss. But your mother has slightly modified the plans for this evening, so...” She turned to the armoire and pulled out a deep wine-colored silk dress and a sky-blue dress which was a bit less fancy.

  Maria held them up, one in each hand, waiting for Shayna’s decision.

  “What modification, Maria?” Gianni was also a master of surprises such as this.

  “It is to be a party. She sent riders out with the invitations while you were at the market perhaps. I only found out an hour ago.”

  Shayna shook her head. “No, Maria. I think I’ll wear the outfit I chose. Mother should have told me about the changed plans. I visited her in her room an hour ago, and she specifically said dinner, not a party. She wants me to entertain the awful Carlos again, too.”

  Maria, bewildered, shook the outfits. “Miss, which one? You can’t seriously wear that tonight.” She cast a glance at the ugly outfit.

  Shayna began undressing and walked to the bed. “Yes. I’m sorry, Maria, but I’m wearing this one. I picked it for the atrociousness of the thing. I don’t want Carlos to get the idea I’m encouraging him as a suitor by dressing beautifully.”

  Maria mumbled under her breath and placed the beautiful dresses back into the armoire. Helping Shayna dress, Maria interjected many opinions about Shayna’s wardrobe selection. It grated Shayna’s nerves to the point she became annoyed with Maria as she never had been before.

  “Maria, I’m wearing this. My mind is set. If you continue to harass me about it, I shall take down my hair and rub it between my hands until it is full of knots so my hair will look horrible as the dress and shoes.”

  Maria’s cheeks reddened and she averted her gaze. Shayna had never been a willful child and had never caused Maria grief, but this was one time, Shayna was angered into the little rebellious act—which was not as bad as Alexandria’s tantrums by any means.

  “Should I make the adjustments to your hair, so it is firmly in place now?” Maria still didn’t make eye contact with Shayna.

  “Please, Maria. Thank you. I am sorry for this, but I’ll make sure Mother knows it was my doing. I’ll not let her take out her anger on you. I promise.”

  Maria scoffed. “It’s not that. I’ve withstood Gianni’s worst. The attendees will likely think I’ve tried to sabotage your looks on purpose.”

  Laughing, Shayna stood and hugged Maria. “No. I’ll not let anyone think this catastrophe was of your making. It’s all my doing and I own it.”

  Maria gave a crooked grin. “Child, you are certainly unique and headstrong.”

  Gazing at her reflection in the long mirror, Shayna snorted laughter. “Oh my. This is terrible.” She spun in a circle, the skirt of the dress puffing out and falling back against her legs.

  Maria dabbed at her eyes across the room. “No, it’s worse. I do wish you would rethink your choice, Shayna. It hurts my eyes.”

  “Perfect. Maybe it will burn Carlos’ eyes, and he’ll not want to be near me tonight.”

  Backing out of the doorway, Maria shook her head and closed the door.

  Shayna looked on at her reflection for a few more moments, setting her image firmly in her mind.

  There was still almost a whole hour before she had to make her appearance in the dining room. Shayna wanted to check on Ziti. The way Alexandria had treated the maid earlier weighed on Shayna. Knowing Ziti would likely still be fussing over Alexandria’s clothes or hair, Shayna turned in the direction of her sister’s suite.

  The outer door was open again. Shayna called out. “Alexandria? It’s Shayna. May I come in for a moment?”

  “Go away. I don’t want to talk to you right now, Shayna.” Her voice had lost all its fire and Alexandria sounded exhausted. Shayna had heard the same sound in her mother’s voice many times over the years.

  “Fine. Are you all right? Is Ziti all right?” Shayna stood in the open doorway.

  “Yes, and yes. We are fine.”

  “Ziti? Are you quite well?” Shayna hadn’t heard a peep from the maid.

  “Yes, Miss.”

  Shayna had to see it with her own eyes. Their voices didn’t sound right. She stepped into the anteroom, peering through the doorway into the dressing room. The mess still lay scattered on the floor, the dressing table overturned. Shayna eased to the bedroom door and peeked inside. She found Ziti and Alexandria standing in front of a long mirror. Ziti was putting the final touches on Alexandria’s hair, which had been done up in the most gorgeous sweeping style and highlighted with tiny silk flower pins. Ziti had yet again worked her magic and despite the tantrum, the mess, the missing creams and liquids and wax she had still made Alexandria into the most beautiful woman in Tuscany again.

  Alexandria held a hand up to stop Ziti and turned to Shayna. Her eyes widened in horror as she looked her sister up and down several times. “Shayna, what are you wearing? It’s horrid. Mother will be rabid with anger.”

  “Mother won’t notice is my guess. She should’ve told me the dinner had been changed to a party.” Shayna smiled at her sister. “You look beautiful, Alexandria.”

  “I guess it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks—especially me—as long as Guillermo finds me pleasing. Now leave, please. I must clear my mind and practice my actions for him. It’s like trying to memorize an entire book.” Her expression turned dark and made her seem years older than her age.

  A stab of pity ran through Shayna’s heart for her sister. “I am sorry, Alexandria. Whatever you’r
e dealing with that is so terrible, I’m sorry.”

  Shayna left quietly without another word and before she could inadvertently do anything which would entice her sister’s rage again.

  Chapter 11

  Luca had handled the invitation from Gianni so much that it was looking worn and flimsy now, and still he picked it up again and turned it over in his hands, inspecting it as if he might have missed some minuscule marking which would give him the answer he wanted.

  It was not to be, though. There were no other marks on the invitation than what were there when he’d first picked it up from under his door.

  Gianni had always thought of the Bianchi family as peasants at best and servants at worst. She had been among the ones who never wanted Luca’s family to enter the ranks of the aristocratically rich. In fact, she was the reason Luca’s father had never received another wine-making contract for those in her peerage. She had talked against him in all the right places.

  Though Luca had been but a child, his memories of that time were sharp and clear. His mother liked to dance skillfully over the subject and father preferred to skirt it altogether, but Luca knew the truth about why his father missed out on so many contracts.

  Shayna obviously had nothing to do with it and Luca couldn’t hold her responsible for any of it.

  Maybe he couldn’t hold Gianni much more responsible than her youngest daughter in the matter. She could have been looking to her daughters’ futures. If the Bianchi family lost their business, they all reverted to being poor. If Alexandria or Shayna married Luca, her future was uncertain.

  It didn’t make it any easier to live with, though, didn’t make its sting any less painful. If a dog is rabid, sick out of his mind, and bites you, well, you’re still bitten, and it still hurts although the poor animal had no idea what it was doing. So, the reasoning mattered little. The result was what stuck with the Bianchi family.

  Rosalyn meowed at the door and scratched. Luca let her in, and she rubbed against his leg, stretched, and went straight to her spot for cream and a snack.

  “Rosalyn, you are such an unapologetic little hedonist.” Luca served her and petted her head before going to his bedroom.

  He sat in the darkening room, debating whether to trust the invitation. His logical side told him Gianni might have found out about Shayna’s visit. Angered by it, she sent the invitation in hopes he would show up, expecting to be accepted into the fold when in reality she would use it as an opportunity to humiliate him in front of Shayna’s other, richer suitors, thereby turning her eye more firmly to them.

  The polite thing to do would be to send a rider with his decision to decline the invitation. Since the invite was only sent hours earlier, he saw no need in this formality. After all, where was Gianni’s consideration? Could she really expect someone to drop everything they had planned for the day and go to her dinner party because she invited him?

  Luca huffed and stood. Pacing in the ever-darkening room, he tried to convince himself that it was a bad idea to go in the dark again and hide. What would they do to him if he were discovered? They would be hard-pressed to catch him, but there was always a chance.

  If he was discovered, how would it affect Shayna’s opinion of him? It would definitely cast him in a negative light.

  An hour later, Luca was riding toward the west woods on the Ricci property. Cloak pulled tightly to him, he entered the forest, deftly avoiding the briers and other sharp, hard, deadly things in there. Mario knew the wooded path as well as Luca knew it. They had traveled it together for years, each earning his fair share of cuts, scrapes, bangs, and bruises on the journey to learning. Long ago, Luca had used a sword and hacked out a path in the densest part of the woods, leaving the briers and traps along the edges so all looked untouched from the outside.

  The castle came into view and Luca brought Mario to a complete halt and dismounted. He would not hobble the horse in the woods—Mario would not leave the spot; he never wandered in the west woods without Luca on his back.

  Scanning for guards, Luca eased to the edge of the forest, his cloak still pulled tight to keep it from snagging on some brier or branch and tearing the cloth.

  There were a few guards at one end of the woods—the end closest to the entrance gate, but none as far down as Luca, and he could see none at the opposite end of the woods. He had to make his way farther down to keep from being spotted as he left the woods.

  Keeping to the deep shadows, Luca made his way to the same balcony as before and shimmied quickly and quietly up and over the side. Landing on the stones, he listened for any sounds to signal where the party was. Peeking into the room beyond the balcony, he saw kitchen workers moving about and carrying pots, urns, plates, taking them into a room with no balcony.

  Determined to see Shayna, Luca climbed off the terrace and sneaked to a little-used side door he and Shayna had used to enter the cellars when they were young. He hoped the door still opened and hadn’t been sealed for security reasons. He had no way of knowing if the household still used any of the cellars down there.

  The door opened less than a foot and jammed. The ground had swollen, and the door couldn’t clear the mound there. He couldn’t force it and leave a scar on the ground or the entrance would be sealed. He had to find another way inside. The castle was huge and had many doors and accessible windows on the first floor; finding one he could enter without detection was going to be difficult, though.

  Farther down the wall from the door, there was a shuttered window. One of the shutters moved lazily back and forth in the stiff breeze which cut along the wall intermittently. Luca moved stealthily to it and hid from anyone inside who might see by keeping the closed shutter between him and the room. Several seconds passed, and he heard no sounds from the room. A quick look into the open side revealed the bottom section of the window had been raised.

  Not taking time to think about his decision, Luca hooked his leg over the window ledge, pulled up, and slid his feet to the floor. With his back to the closed shutter, he scanned the dark room. No movement, no sounds.

  He tried to determine which way to best exit and travel toward the party without running into staff members along the way. There were endless stairwells in the ancient home, just as there were hidden rooms and hidden tunnels. He was certain there were forgotten parts of the castle, too. The last thing he wanted to do was get lost.

  Starting across the room, he could hear women laughing and pots clanging through the wall. He was in the room beside the scullery. Likely the scullery maids wouldn’t take any notice of him if they did happen to glimpse him, though. The other staff might not either. They would think he was one of the invited guests and politely not see him unless he approached them.

  Hoping he was correct, Luca crept toward the door. As he reached for the handle a loud snore emanated from the corner directly behind him. Every nerve zinged to life and his heart stopped beating for a few seconds. Slowly, he turned his head. Another loud snore. He could make out the shape of a rather round man, sitting in an uncomfortable position in a chair. The man’s head had lolled to the side, his chin down. The man let out another loud, rumbling snore and Luca seized the door handle and pulled. During the next loud snore, he stepped into the hallway and pulled the door closed again.

  Not running, but close to it, Luca set out to the right, in the direction of the disused cellars and the abandoned stairwell he had seen years ago. The stairs went to the second level but not close to the party area.

  There was no time to debate; he had to move before someone saw him. Passing the scullery, he saw the opening for the stairwell thirty feet ahead. Breathing hard, he climbed the dark stairs and stopped at the second level archway.

  No movement here either. Stepping into the corridor, he could make out flickering light at the other end of the hall in a room to the right. Easing up against the wall, he tiptoed quickly and ducked into the room before the lighted one.

  The room was smallish and unused in many years. He could make o
ut the shape of a piano near the opposite wall.

  A music room. Odd that it is unused, he thought. Do neither of the sisters nor their mother play the piano?

  Luca couldn’t recall ever hearing music on his forays into the house as a child.

  Listening at the door to determine where the party was located, Luca could hear chatter but couldn’t determine from how far away. The next room was too quiet for the kitchen staff to be there so the party was definitely not there.

  Creeping to the next doorway, he could see the large room had wide open arches at each end and another, slimmer archway almost straight across from him. The arch to the right let out to the room with the party. The arch to the left attached the empty room to another room and the arch straight across opened on a corridor.

  Luca sped across the room and into the corridor. There was no other way to reach the room where Shayna sat. The corridor led away from the room. He would have to go through the empty room and into the one where the servers were moving about.

  Making his way back to the piano room, Luca reached into his pocket and pulled out the worn invitation. He could walk in; he had been invited. Not knowing precisely what Gianni had planned for him, he decided against entering. Again. Luca walked to the piano and sat on the bench. In the darkness, he wouldn’t be seen. Maybe he could think of another way to see Shayna. Why had Gianni held the party anywhere besides the usual place?

  “Excuse me, what are you doing in here?” A female voice beckoned from the doorway.

  Startled, Luca spun. He faced Shayna. Could she see him clearly? Could she possibly make out who he was in the dark? How had she known he was in the room? Where had she come from so quickly?

  Stepping into the darkness and casting a glance over her shoulder, Shayna asked, “I asked what you’re doing in here? Why are you sitting in the dark? Are you a staff member?”