“I think you may have something here. Your sense of smell is extremely acute.”
“Which could explain the severity of my reaction to him.” Her voice betrayed the anguish that truth caused her.
His arms tightened around her. “Was it really that bad?”
“It was so intense that I could not have stopped him had he chosen to have his way with me on the dance floor. Worse yet, he wasn’t even trying to seduce me. He just wanted me to give Catherine a message.”
Antonio pressed his lips to the crook of her neck. “He won’t show at anymore balls, I promise you.”
Amy rolled over and studied his face. “You did not kill him, did you?”
His brow furrowed in worry. “No, he boarded a ship, but would it have upset you if I had?”
“If you are asking if he has a lingering hold on me, the answer is decidedly no. I didn’t like him even while I was in his thrall. I was only concerned for Catherine.”
“Catherine loves the bastard that ruined her?” he demanded in outrage.
“Lower your voice and have some compassion. Not every woman is fortunate enough to love a passionate man who is also a good person. In fact, I’m beginning to wonder if I might be the only one.”
He kissed her. “We are not the only ones, but it is rare indeed.”
***
At breakfast, Antonio spoke to Ann. “I believe Amy has something with her theory that the count’s thrall depended upon the sense of smell.” He listed several women who would swoon when the count neared their proximity. “They always claimed it was his eyes, but perhaps his physical appearance made them breathe in deeply.”
“Animals do that,” Gunter observed. “Breathe in when the opposite sex comes along. That’s how they tell if the females are in…” he stopped. realizing his company, “…are looking for husbands.”
Domnika and Amy burst into laughter at the absurdity that animals married and had husbands.
Catherine, however, did not find anything humorous about the topic. “So, if I understand matters correctly, I have no valid reason why I allowed the count to ruin me. Without the sense of smell, I should have been able to resist his charm. Well, I am so relieved we have put this mystery to rest. Now we know that I am little more than a wanton whore, whereas Amy, who sleeps in Antonio’s bed every night, is a paragon of virtue.”
With that outburst bringing utter silence to the room, Catherine ran upstairs.
Amy rose to follow her, but Ann stood up. “I need to handle this, Amy.”
“Before you go upstairs you need to understand that Catherine loved him. With all her heart, she loved the count and that has not changed. She has hidden this because she didn’t want you to be appalled and disgusted with her. You cannot simply go up and tell her she is not a whore. You must make her understand you’d still love her even if she were.”
Ann sat back down, looking very pale. Gunter came to her side and gripped her shoulders. “Perhaps you should rest in the library first.”
Amy had a sinking feeling she had made a terrible error. What if Catherine’s fear comes to be? What if her mother couldn’t love her now that she knew the truth?
Antonio pulled her into his arms. He seemed to read her mind. “Ann won’t fail her, Amy. She’s just got the wind knocked out of her. She’ll be up soon. You did the right thing in letting her know what Catherine needs to hear. You did the right thing, love.”
Domnika excused herself. “I have to go teach the troops math.” As she passed behind Amy, she hugged her. “It was the right thing, Amy. Mrs. Halloway won’t let us down, you’ll see.”
Needing something constructive to do, Amy went to the library to retrieve her book, but upon hearing Mrs. Halloway sobbing cries from inside the library, she decided to wait. She turned and ran straight into Antonio’s chest. He picked her up in his arms and carried her upstairs to their room.
“You must be very strong to carry a giant girl like me up those stairs without getting winded.”
His eyes sparkled with adoration. “With you in my arms, I am the strongest man alive.”
Chapter 48
The house remained very quiet that day. Domnika kept the troops upstairs learning math. Most of them preferred marching in the garden or learning skills, but Amy knew they would do their best for Colonel Domnika. Domnika taught the lessons so the children could see the practical application. She would begin the class with the objective of the day. This would normally be a logistical problem concerning the housing of twenty-seven soldiers such as: If three days of supplies are needed for the troop marching in the winter, how many coats, handkerchiefs, scarves and mittens are required? Or how long would a bridge need to be to cross the pond?
Upon posing the problem that needed to be solved, Domnika would teach or reinforce the skills required to obtain the answer and then allow the children time to interrogate her for additional information they might need to solve their problem. Sometimes she would answer, other times she would declare she did not know, but someone else might. Then the children would decide what person might know the answer and a captain would send a soldier behind enemy lines to get the information.
Today the soldier located Amy reading her medical book. His question concerned bandages for cuts and wraps for sprained ankles. How much would they need for a battle?
She smiled knowing he had asked the final question Domnika had posed, hoping she would answer that so he and the troops could go outside and enact the battle rather than solve math problems.
“I won’t answer that, and now I know you plan a battle, once you leave, I will report my information to my army and your battle is lost before it has begun.”
His eyes widened in horror at his grievous error. For several moments, she thought he might cry but bravely he stiffened his lip. “How long does a wrap need to be for a twisted ankle?”
Amy answered his question.
“That is the truth?” His eyes narrowed in distrust, for she had set herself as his enemy with her declaration.
Amy assured him it was.
“Well, I thank you for the information, but now I must kill you, so you do not tell about our battle. I am sorry. I know it was my fault and you should not have had to die if I were a better soldier, but the error is done, and it is the only way I can see of preventing you from talking.”
Amy stared at little Benny in shock. What on earth were Domnika and Catherine teaching these children?
Antonio slipped behind the boy and picked him up. “You’ll not be killing innocents Benjamin, especially not to cover up your own grievous errors.”
“But she’s not an innocent. She told me herself she is a spy for the enemy and she will tell them of our battle plan. I know the error was mine, but I cannot let the battle fail because I was a dunderhead!”
Antonio set the boy down. “Well, you’ll not be killing my lady love, so find another solution,” he growled.
Benny had to give it quite a bit of thought before an answer came to him. “Can you watch over her and make sure she does not escape and tell the enemy? You are our ally,” he reminded Antonio, “and she is your lady love. If anyone can keep her here, it will be you.”
“I will keep her hidden away, but not here. The enemy could come any moment. I will take her high in the mountains to a cabin of mine. That way she will cause no harm. When is the battle planned?”
Benny opened his mouth to answer and then closed it. “You do not need to know that.”
“Then how will I know when I can release her?”
“You will know as our enemy will know: from the sound of our goriest celebration once we’ve won.”
Amy burst into laughter. “I think you mean glorious celebration.”
“Silence prisoner and just be glad I didn’t have to kill you,” Benny growled in his best imitation of Antonio and then ran back upstairs to deliver his newly acquired information.
Antonio smiled at the little boy and shook his head. He lifted Amy in his arms and c
arried her upstairs to his mountain cabin. Several hours of pleasure later, they heard from the garden, the cacophony of the soldier’s ‘goriest’ celebration.
Antonio smiled. “I wonder if he told his captain of his error.”
“Would you have done so under the same conditions?”
Antonio sighed. “On my first reconnaissance mission I did something very similar.”
“What happened?”
“I ran back to camp and confessed it all to the colonel, so he could change his plans. I knew he would never trust me again, but I could not risk the lives of the soldiers, of my father, just because I had proven unworthy of the trust placed in me.”
“What did Uncle John do?”
Antonio smiled. “He ordered me to stop crying, that it was unbecoming to a soldier. He then told me that he never sends fresh recruits out with good information. It takes time for a spy to learn how to hold his secrets while getting the enemy to talk. He told me the information I let slip would do no harm, and in fact, might do good. However, he was most impressed that I returned and reported my error. That meant I was a man of courage and worthy of his greatest trust.”
Amy could see even now how much her uncle’s words had meant to him.
Antonio looked down on her. “He turned the day of my greatest defeat into a day of victory that has been my moral compass ever since. I still make mistakes in my work. But I own up to them immediately and by doing so the damage they cause has always been contained.”
“Then let us hope Benny will tell. It is a good thing you convinced him not to kill me. I doubt Colonel Domnika would have taken it well.”
“And Catherine?”
Amy sighed with sadness. “She apologized for her words, but there is a wall between us now.”
“Maybe I should talk to her.”
Amy shook her head. “I think she is angry at me because I’m ‘working against’ the count, trying to discover his power and stop it. It has put us on opposite sides of a war. I fear the wall will remain until I give up the battle.”
“Are you giving up the battle?” he asked in surprise, glancing at the medical book she had carried with her when he stole her away to his cabin.
“I don’t want to, but from my reading, no work has been done in this area. Perhaps I should abandon medical books entirely and locate books on breeding animals.”
“Maybe you should. Scientists have documented that animals use scent to attract a mate. Breeding books may be far more helpful in understanding how this occurs. I will stop at the bookshop today and put in a request.”
Dodson knocked on the door and informed Antonio that Inspector Yardrow was downstairs and would not be put off.
Antonio quickly dressed. “The man comes at the most inconvenient times.”
Amy laughed. “Yes, two in the afternoon, what on earth was he thinking?”
Chapter 49
Antonio could tell upon sight of Yardrow that something had broken the fragile trust between the two men. Antonio sighed and closed the library door. “I can tell by your expression that you are angry, so save the dance and tell me what you think I have done.”
“Where were you two days ago?”
“Here.”
“All the time?”
“No, of course not. I went out in the evening.”
“For how long?”
“I really can’t say. Just tell me what you think I’ve done.”
“The Earl of Soundberry’s wife was poisoned two days ago.”
“I did not leave London.”
“Yes, just as you did not leave France a year ago. I might overlook the accidental death of a vicious man like Allen, but you have broken the understanding between us when you take up poisoning young women, so your friend can find himself a dowered wife to relieve his debt.”
“If I poisoned her, I certainly would understand your anger. Allow me to correct a few misconceptions. First of all, I think poisonings are a sloppy and cowardly method of murder, secondly, Nicolas Dupree is not my friend and I would be the last person in the world to kill his wife.”
“You have an odd way of treating your enemies then. You protected him while his father-in-law has a mysterious accident; you remained in his house as a valet for almost a year; and you personally delivered his wife to his estate where she has been kept in a stupor since. Why would you flinch at ending her pathetic life when Nicolas’ debts have become so great that he had to place his London house on the market?”
“Time changes the way you look at a man.” Antonio told him how he had first met Nicolas, and why he stayed to meet John Winston’s niece. While his opinion of Nicolas worsened through his stay, he then believed Nicolas’ main problem was that his wife held him in her thrall.
Yardrow made some notes in his pad. This concerned Antonio, for it meant Yardrow still believed him guilty.
“So, you remained to protect Nicolas from his wife.”
“That is not what I said. I stayed so I would be in a position to meet the colonel’s niece, Amy Winston, the moment she left the girl’s school.”
“That seems extreme: to take the position of valet for a year, just to meet the master’s ward. What could that possibly accomplish?”
Antonio sighed, for stated like that, it sounded ridiculous. “I am not explaining it well. Father Duncan had described Amy’s character a year before and I had set my mind that I would find her and marry her. Something in my heart told me this was the woman I was meant to have.” He could see Yardrow wasn’t buying any of it.
“I know you find it hard to believe, but the Satan of South End does long to love and be loved just as other people do, perhaps even more than some.”
He explained how she eventually arrived and the problems that arose, requiring her and Domnika to be moved to Ann’s care.
Yardrow continued writing copious notes.
“Once Ann got the girls safely here, she sent Nicolas a note saying they were too dear for her daughter to give up.”
Yardrow looked up from his notes. “How did he take that?”
Antonio paused. “I would prefer you not take notes on this. Nicolas’ reply was that Ann could have Amy, but he wanted Domnika returned.”
Yardrow frowned.
“It struck Ann odd as well, and with some questioning of the girls, and later an interrogation of Nicolas, we believe that in a short two and half days in his protection, Nicolas had come perilously close to ruining Domnika. The girl has no family, no money, and only a possible connection to Russian royalty. If Nicolas had ruined her, she would have had no hope of any sort of marriage. And now he has demanded her back where she would no longer even have Amy to save her.”
Anthony sighed at his inability to move Yardrow from his pre-drawn conclusion. “My opinion of Nicolas was very low at this point. Then Amy, with intuitive skills that would give you a run for your money, determined Nicolas was being poisoned. After all that he had done and further confessed, Amy still loved him and felt certain if only he could get away from Sicily, he could return to the man she had known when the colonel lived.
“She begged me to help him, so I offered to help Nicolas move his wife to the country. In exchange, he would give me the original deed to Amy’s winery he had signed but never filed.
“Unfortunately, things got complicated, for Sicily. Upon learning Nicolas intended to move and cut her allowance, she decided to forgo slow poisoning and doctored his scotch with a lethal amount of poison. Nicolas survived with Amy’s doctoring and we sedated Sicily. A doctor was called to ensure she was unharmed. He recommended a private mental institution, but Nicolas refused. Oddly, even after she tried to kill him, he remained in her thrall. So, I suggested he allow me to take her to the estate, and he remain here. She would have never made it to the estate if I had not moved her to a new location that evening. One of her lovers, from whom she had borrowed considerable money, broke into Nicolas’ house in an attempt to abduct her. I am not certain whether the man’s intentions were to
save her or to take his own revenge, having discovered he was not her only lover.”
“His name?” Yardrow demanded, pencil posed to scribe the reply.
“General Bradley.”
Yardrow paused and closed his book. He looked at Antonio. “You give me your word that you did not leave London two days ago and that you were in no way involved in her death?”
“My only involvement was sedating and transporting her to the estate. I am now sorry I did that much.”
“Why is that?”
“Nicolas gave me the deed written a year ago, but before he did, he filed the newer deed changing the date of maturity to twenty-one. For his own selfish need of the cash from the winery, he cheated and lied to Amy once again. I am now convinced there is no good man within him. The colonel and Amy were misled from the first. As to saving Nicolas’ London house, my interests are just the opposite. I want the house to come up on the market so I can buy it. That house has been in the Winston’s family for over ten generations. I want it returned to Amy, who carries the last of the Winston blood.”
Yardrow stared at him. “I am surprised you can afford the house after buying so many children.”
“Ann was so taken with the children she insisted I accepted reimbursement for their procurement.”
“And you accepted her money?”
Antonio laughed softly. “Wait until you come face to face with Lady Halloway. She is a force to be reckoned with and when she is determined, nothing stands in her way.”
“And it provides the means for you to restore the Winston home to a Winston.”
“Yes. Ann loves her as much as I do.”
Yardrow frowned. “I apologize for judging you prior to our conversation.”
“No harm has been done.”
“Unfortunately, that might not be the case. I prematurely reported my suspicions to my supervisor. I will require your whereabouts and witnesses to confirm you were here in London to clear you in their eyes.”
Antonio sighed. “I was here most of the day. Ann and the servants can testify to that. Dodson is a fine butler, so he can no doubt tell you exactly when I left and when I returned. I know I left the house a few hours after lunch and did not return until late, however it could not have been terribly late, for the ladies were up performing a series of tests on Catherine.”
Love's Betrayals (The Extraordinary Life of Amy Winston Book 2) Page 27