He longed to press her to reveal more about herself and her family, but already his sixth sense was beginning to tell him what he wanted to know without words.
Yet he wanted to make sure that he was on the right track and not working in the wrong direction. At the same time he had no wish to upset or alarm Giovanna.
She was so fragile and so sensitive that he knew it was more important than anything else to get her first over the shock of what had occurred.
He must somehow give her a sense of security that would prevent her from believing once again that the only solution to her problem was death.
Aloud he said,
“I want you to trust me, Giovanna, and know that whatever happens I will look after you and that now there is really no reason for you to be afraid.”
She looked up at him and smiled.
“I know why you are saying that and it is so very kind of you. But you know in your heart that I am – right to be – afraid and there is – nothing else you can do but find me somewhere to hide – where they will not find me.”
The Duke had not forgotten that she had said somebody else’s life as well as her own was at stake, but he knew he should not try at the moment to persuade her to tell him anything more and he must be content with what he had already learnt.
Luckily at that moment the butler and two footmen, knowing he was back, came into the room with their tea.
There was, as the Duke had predicted, an enormous amount of different homemade delicacies, besides a comb of honey from the hives in the garden and a large heavy fruitcake, which he remembered was one of the specialities and regularly baked in the kitchens of The Castle.
He looked in amusement at the laden table and then said,
“Now pour out my tea and then, unless we are to insult the cook, we have to eat.”
“It’s impossible for me to eat very much,” Giovanna protested.
“You must try,” the Duke insisted. “I don’t know what you weighed before all this happened to you, but it must have been double or treble what you weigh now!”
She laughed.
“I was never fat! I was what my Nanny used to call ‘one of Pharaoh’s lean kine’.”
“Now it is fashionable to be plump,” the Duke said, “and every woman wants to be in the fashion.”
“Are you saying that is what you like and admire?” Giovanna asked.
It was a question that he had never considered before and the Duke, looking back on the women who had attracted him in India, realised that they were on the whole slender with definitely very feminine curves.
That was, however, something that he could not say to Giovanna and he merely replied with a twinkle in his eye,
“As a very busy soldier, I have not really had time to notice whether women were fat or thin.”
“But you are very insistent that I should be fatter!” Giovanna said. “I will try, but I feel that it’s going to be an impossibility.”
“Nothing is impossible,” the Duke insisted. “I want you always to remember that, because it is very important that you should really believe that we are going to win the battle, you and I, not only against your being much too thin but also against all the things that are frightening you.”
The way he spoke made Giovanna draw in her breath and her green and gold-flecked eyes were very large and seemed to fill her whole face as she gazed up at him.
Then she said in a voice that was little more than a whisper,
“I do – believe – you.”
chapter five
The Duke awoke with a strong sense of danger.
It was something that had happened to him several times in India.
Having gone to bed peacefully and without apprehension of anything untoward, he had woken, almost as if someone had touched him, with a feeling that something dangerous was imminent together with a sense of urgency to act.
On each occasion that this had happened his instinct had been correct and on the last occasion he had saved himself and those he commanded from an unexpected assault that would have annihilated them all.
Now he sat up in bed, realising from the moonlight on either side of the curtains that it was late and he had been asleep for some time.
He climbed out of bed, went to the nearest window and looked out.
He saw as he expected the Strath lying beneath him, the light from the sky turning the river to silver and the moors silhouetted darkly against the stars.
The moon was now on the wane and was therefore not as bright as it had been the night he had found Giovanna beside the cascade.
Yet it was light enough for him to look below and see the garden and terrace of The Castle and to realise at a quick glance that there was nothing to perturb him there.
He told himself, as he had done before, that he was imagining the danger he sensed and then he knew that his instinct was stronger than the calculations of his mind and, whether he could see it or not, there was danger.
His thoughts instantly went to Giovanna.
He looked along the side of The Castle, craning forward through the open window to see the protruding walls of the Tower where she slept.
Then he stiffened and knew that once again his instinct had been right.
There was a definite movement at the foot of the Tower, where it was encircled by a balustraded terrace from which a long flight of steps went down into the garden.
It was difficult to see clearly, but he was sure that what he was seeing was two men, perhaps three, dark against the grey stones of The Castle.
He did not waste any more time looking.
Turning back into his bedroom, he picked up his robe from where Ross had left it on a chair and, pulling open the door, began to run speedily down the passage that led to Giovanna’s room.
When he reached it, he opened the door quietly and saw with a sense of relief that she was asleep on the canopied bed.
He could see her clearly, because, since she had come to The Castle, Mrs. Sutherland had wisely insisted that there should always be a fire burning in her room.
She knew, as the Duke did, that being so emaciated through lack of food Giovanna would feel the cold more acutely than any normal person.
It was actually too early in the year for fires, except occasionally in the evenings when it was windy or raining.
The Duke had therefore found Giovanna’s bedroom, when he visited her, almost unpleasantly warm.
Now he was grateful that by the light of the burning logs that were slowly turning to ashes, he could see that she had not yet been disturbed.
He closed the door behind him, crossed the room swiftly and put his hand very gently on her shoulder.
“Wake up,” he whispered.
She opened her eyes instantly and he was sure that the fear was already back in them before he said,
“Get up! You have to hide.”
He pulled aside the bedclothes as he spoke and she stepped out of bed in her nightgown. As she did so, the Duke pulled the cover, which had been folded back on the foot of the mattress, over the bedclothes.
Then he went to the panelled wall behind the bed.
He stood, feeling with his fingers on one of the scrolls that embellished the panelling and a second later a narrow portion of the wall opened.
The Duke looked round to find Giovanna standing beside him.
Without speaking he put his arms around her, realising as he did so that she was wearing only a nightgown and the white woollen shawl that Mrs. Sutherland had provided for her shoulders.
He lifted her inside the panel and put her hands on a rung of a ladder that was attached to the wall inside.
“Climb up,” he murmured. “I am just behind you.”
He closed the panel that led into the bedroom very quietly so that it should not make a noise and, as Giovanna started to climb up the rungs attached to the stone wall, he could just discern her small bare feet moving above him.
A little light came from an arrow slit a
nd, as he followed Giovanna up to the top of the ladder, they moved into the turret of the Tower, which was immediately above her bedroom.
It was not high enough for a man to stand upright, but there was room to sit on the floor without having to crouch down.
The Duke, moving slowly so as not to make any sound, reached the centre of it and then, feeling with his hand because now there was very little light, he found what he sought.
Slowly he pulled two pieces of wood up from the floor and then reached out to take hold of Giovanna’s hand and draw her nearer to him.
Without speaking he put his arm around her and showed her that because he had removed the pieces of wood from the floor they could now look down into the bedroom beneath them.
The peepholes had actually been made hundreds of years earlier and a later Chieftain of the Clan had incorporated them in the plaster design on the ceiling so that it was impossible to notice them from below.
Looking down both Giovanna and the Duke could see in the light that came from the fire the centre of the bedroom and would undoubtedly be able to hear anything said in it.
Intent on hiding her, it was only now that the Duke became aware of how frightened she was.
As he had drawn her close against him to look through the peephole, he could feel her whole body trembling.
He longed to reassure her, but he knew that it would be a mistake to speak.
Almost before he expected it, he heard a slight sound that meant someone was climbing up the outside of The Castle to enter the room below them by an open window.
It was not as difficult as it seemed, because the outer surface of the stonework with which the older part of the Castle, especially the Towers, had been built was very uneven, many of the stones protruding and sadly in need of pointing which the late Duke had not been able to afford.
Talbot as a boy had often with his cousins climbed up the outside of The Castle, even though they were forbidden to do so.
The turret where he and Giovanna were now hiding was one of their favourite places, where they could escape from their Tutor and others who were engaged to look after them.
His elder cousin had always boasted to his younger brother and to Talbot that he in fact was the only person who was supposed to know the secrets of the various hiding places in The Castle.
“It is something that is handed down from each Chieftain to his eldest son,” he said, “and you are not to tell Papa that you have been here with me!”
“No, of course not!” his brother and Talbot had promised.
But Talbot had found it thrilling to know that there were secret hiding places where a fugitive could escape from those who pursued him, and if enemies actually penetrated into the Castle the Chieftain and his family could save themselves from being taken prisoner by an enemy.
Now he knew that it must have been his instinct that had made him take Giovanna to the turret of the Tower rather than to one of the other bedrooms, which were larger and more comfortable.
He was not certain for a moment whether the sounds he heard came from outside and were relayed through the air holes which were hidden under the ledge of the roof or whether the men who were searching for Giovanna were already inside her bedroom.
Then they could see through the peepholes a dark figure appear in the centre of the floor and a man said in a low voice,
“She’s not here.”
“Gone!” another voice exclaimed.
Just that single word told the Duke that it was Kane Horn who spoke.
He had a fleeting glimpse of him moving below as he stood looking at the bed and said,
“You told me that she was here this morning!”
“She were, sir, I see’d her with me own eyes standin’ at the window.”
“Then he must have got her away unless she’s in another room.”
Kane Horn moved again so that both Giovanna and the Duke could see the top of his head beneath them.
He stood still, as if he was thinking, and then said sharply,
“Look into the other rooms, but be careful not to wake anyone. If there’s a fire here in this room, she’s likely to have a fire anywhere else she’s sleeping.”
It sounded logical and the man he was speaking to must have gone from the room without a reply, for Kane Horn said no more nor did he move from where he was standing.
Then a few seconds later, as if he could not bear the inaction, he followed the man who had left him.
But the Duke thought that he would, in fact, only go into the passage and would not actually search himself in case he was seen.
It was just an idea, but, as the space beneath them cleared, Giovanna looked up at him and he knew that she was going to say something.
Because he knew that it was dangerous, the Duke without thinking acted instantaneously and silenced her lips with his.
His mouth came down on hers and at the same time he pulled her closer fearing lest by one unwary word they would reveal their hiding place.
He felt her stiffen with surprise.
Then, as his lips held hers captive, he was aware not only that he was kissing her but also of the softness of her mouth and the quivering of her body and the helpless little movement she made with her hands gave him a strange feeling that he had never known before.
It was something he could not explain even to himself.
Yet he felt as if the vibrations that had drawn him to Giovanna in the first place now joined them indivisibly.
They had made him aware of what she had been about to do at the cascade and had forced him against his better judgement to save her not only from herself but also from the people she was so afraid of.
Now the same vibrations became intensified until his lips told him that Giovanna belonged to him.
He could not explain it, he only knew that, as his mouth became more possessive, her lips gave him a rapture that he had never experienced in the whole of his life.
He knew too, without being told, that the terror which had made her tremble had now become a quiver of ecstasy that made her forget that she was afraid or that she was being hunted.
Just for one second the Duke released Giovanna’s lips to draw in his breath and then he was kissing her again, kissing her with a long slow demanding kiss that made her pulsate to him until he could feel thrills like shafts of lightning moving through them both.
Without realising what he was doing, he pulled his robe open, so that her body could be closer to his.
There was now only two pieces of silk between them, and the closeness of it was part of the same glory as their kisses.
Then suddenly, when it seemed to the Duke that with Giovanna he was touching the stars, a voice, not loud but hard and sharp, broke in on them and they came back to earth.
“You’ve found nothing?”
It was Kane Horn who asked the question and the Duke recognised that he had been right in guessing that he had not gone far from the open door.
Now he moved back into the room followed by the man who had gone to search for Giovanna.
“Nothin’, sir. The rooms are all closed and empty except for one.”
“Which one?”
“I think it be the Master’s Room. The bed has been slept in, but there was no one there.”
The Duke knew that he was speaking of his room and there was silence until Kane Horn said,
“They must have got away. Who else was watching the house besides you?”
“Only Antonio and he ain’t much of a hand with a spyglass. Shall I ask him what he saw?”
The man speaking was moving towards the window when Kane Horn said sharply,
“No, you fool! If they have gone, the Duke will have taken her to the Railway Station from where she can travel home.”
“Home? Do you mean to Italy?”
“Of course I mean Naples! Where else would she go?”
There was a short silence before Kane Horn said harshly,
“By letting her get away you’ve
mucked it up between you, but it’s of no account. We can kill her there more easily than we can here and the old woman with her.”
“You should have done that when she arrived as I says at the time.”
“I know, I know!” Kane Horn said irritably. “But it might have been more difficult in Scotland with too many people to ask questions.”
“Well, what are we going to do now?” the man asked.
“I’ve told you. We leave for Italy and make no mistakes this time!”
“That sounds more like you. Now how do we get out of this old ruin?”
“Through a door!” Kane Horn said sharply. “There’ll be one that leads into the garden and you can collect Antonio.”
He walked across the bedroom as he spoke and the Duke saw the head of the other man following him.
They did not close the door, but their feet made no sound moving down the corridor.
The Duke, however, sat very still for a long time, holding Giovanna against him and putting his finger to her lips just in case she spoke.
He was too experienced not to know that it was always dangerous to assume that a room was empty.
Then at last when he thought that it was safe, he took his finger from Giovanna’s lips and, putting his hand under her chin, turned her face up to his.
He would have kissed her, but she made a sound like a small animal in pain and turned her head so that she could hide it against his neck.
“It’s all right, my darling,” the Duke said. “I will not let them kill you, you know that.”
“But they – will kill – Grandmama, because they are – afraid she would – identify me.”
“As I have already done. Why did you not trust me?”
“I was so afraid – so desperately – afraid because my stepmother said that, if I ever – betrayed them in any way, she would not only – kill me but – Grandmama as well.”
Her words were almost incoherent with tears and the Duke held her very closely against him, his lips on her hair.
“Now we have to move very quickly,” he said.
“What – do we – do?” Giovanna asked with a sob.
“We are leaving at once for Italy to save your grandmother and you from these fiends.”
The Devilish Deception Page 9