Journey to love

by Barbara Cartland

  After Shana had retired to bed he had blown out all the candles, but had left the oil lamp, which was quite a small one, burning on the writing table and so he could easily see the way to her room.

  He had no wish to frighten her and therefore moved quietly across the thick carpet thinking that if she was asleep he would not waken her.

  He pushed open the door which was slightly ajar and saw at once that the curtains over the window had been pulled back.

  A man who appeared to be carrying Shana was in the act of handing her out of the window to a confederate outside.

  Just for a moment the Marquis paused.

  Then he shot the man who was holding Shana in the back.

  As the explosion seemed to fill the whole room he fell forward and the man outside the window took the sudden force of Shana’s feet.

  He gave a scream and disappeared and as he did so the Marquis rushed forward and caught hold of Shana, who might have fallen either way off the windowsill.

  The Marquis picked her up in his arms and realised how completely she was enveloped and bound.

  He carried her across the drawing room and into his own bedroom where he laid her gently on the bed.

  Next he ran back into Shana’s room, where he picked up the man he had shot and threw him out of the window and when he had done so he looked out to see where he had fallen.

  The moonlight showed very clearly that there were two men spread-eagled on the ground below and the Marquis thought that the one he had shot was dead.

  At least as they had both fallen on a tiled path, they would be unconscious from concussion and he noticed that the man who had been outside the window had fallen from a rope ladder that had been fastened to the windowsill.

  He had intended to carry Shana down over his shoulder just like as a fire-fighter and the other man would have followed and the Marquis realised that they must have practised this well-executed performance many times to be so efficient.

  He released the rope ladder so that it fell to the ground on top of the prostrate men and closed the window before returning to his own room.

  Shana was still lying on the bed where he had left her.

  Very gently he untied the ropes which held the sheet covering her and then when she could see him vaguely in the moonlight coming from the uncurtained window he undid her gag.

  As he looked down at her frightened face he realised she was trembling violently.

  He bent his head.

  “It is all right, my darling,” he said, “you are safe and no one shall take you away again.”

  As he finished speaking, he kissed her very gently.

  As his mouth held her lips captive, he felt that she responded to him.

  Quickly he began to undo the ropes around her arms and ankles and only as he finished did she say in a voice which was little more than a whisper,

  “You – came. You – heard me.”

  “I heard you calling me,” the Marquis told her. “Now you needn’t be frightened anymore. The men are dead.”

  He put his arms around her as he spoke and he would have kissed her again, but she burst into tears.

  She hid her face against his neck and he held her very close.

  “It is all over, my precious, my darling. You are safe and nothing like this shall ever happen to you again.”

  She was still trembling and as she was wearing only her nightgown the Marquis thought she might be cold.

  He pulled open the bedclothes and laid Shana down into the bed with her head on the pillow and then he covered her.

  Her hands came out to hold onto him.

  “I – thought they – were – going to – kill me,” she managed to stutter.

  “You were absolutely right in believing it was the man you had seen at the inn and I was wrong,” the Marquis admitted. “You will have to forgive me for being so foolish.”

  “How could – they have – worked so – quickly?” Shana stammered.

  “They have obviously had a great deal of experience. The way they climbed up to your window was the work of experts.”

  “I thought – they would – kill me,” Shana whispered again.

  “No one shall kill you, my beautiful one,” the Marquis said lovingly.

  Then he was kissing her again, kissing her lips and the tears away from her eyes and her cheeks.

  When he finally raised his head, she gave a little cry.

  “Don’t – leave – me!”

  “I have no intention of doing so, my dearest Shana, but I want you to go to sleep and forget what has happened.”

  He kissed her again and now he realised that she was no longer trembling.

  Her lips were soft and sweet against his and he was also aware of how innocent she was.

  He was certain that he was the first man who had ever kissed her.

  “I want you to try to go to sleep, my precious. You know as well as I do that we are going to have a difficult time tomorrow explaining all that has happened tonight.”

  He thought it very likely that the men who had come to kidnap Shana would first have attacked their guard, but he did not want Shana to know.

  He closed the door into the drawing room and locked it.

  Then he moved to the other side of the bed and realised that Shana was watching him.

  He lay down beside her still wearing his robe and pulled the eiderdown, which he had dispensed with when he got into bed, over them both.

  “Now I am here,” he assured her, “and my revolver is still loaded if anyone interrupts us.”

  “I am still – frightened of what they – could do,” Shana murmured.

  “I think the two men were on their own, although there will be others waiting for them. But when they do not appear, there will be nothing more they can do tonight.”

  “And you – will stay – with – me?” Shana asked.

  “This is my bed,” the Marquis smiled, “and just as I want you to go to sleep, I need some rest too.”

  She stretched out her hand and held onto the lapel of his robe.

  “You do not – think that they will try – to kill us – both?”

  “I think they would like to, but it will be very difficult to break in now that my door is locked and I doubt if they could conjure up another means on this side of the house to carry us both away.”

  He spoke so firmly that Shana seemed reassured.

  At the same time she did not stop holding on to him.

  The Marquis slipped his arm round her and drew her closer.

  “Now you are safe,” he whispered softly, “and although I want to go on kissing you, my precious, I want you to sleep.”

  He kissed her once again.

  Then although he longed to be closer still to her, he closed his eyes, recognising that the shock of what had just happened would have left most women screaming hysterically.

  Shana’s self-control prevented her from behaving like other women and yet inevitably she would suffer a reaction from the terror she had just been through.

  He knew he was right when ten minutes later he realised that she was fast asleep – the sleep of utter exhaustion.

  *

  Shana was still asleep when the rising sun came through the window.

  The Marquis lay watching the first beam touch Shana’s golden hair.

  Now that he could see her face quite clearly, he knew no one could look lovelier even after all that she had gone through.

  He lay looking at her thinking that she was unique in every way. It would have been impossible for any woman to have behaved better in such appalling circumstances.

  A little later he thought he heard the drawing room door open.

  Very gently he managed to take his arm from behind Shana without waking her and then moving silently towards the door he unlocked it and entered the drawing room.

  He was right in thinking that someone was there – it was Curtis, who would have spoken, but the Marquis put his finger to his lips and Curtis unders
tood.

  The Marquis closed the door into his own room and crossed into Shana’s and beckoned Curtis to follow him.

  Once inside he signalled to him to close the door before he asked,

  “What has happened?”

  “Terrible things, my Lord,” Curtis replied. “Three men dead, and the guard who ’as just come on duty ’as gone back to fetch his Chief.”

  “I expected this to have happened,” the Marquis said. “The two men they found dead beneath the window were trying to abduct Miss Shana and I guessed they must have killed our guard first.”

  “Stabbed ’im through the ’eart, my Lord, ’e be a nasty sight I can tell you.”

  “I do not doubt it and how long ago did the guard who has just come on duty leave for his Headquarters?”

  “Over fifteen minutes ago, my Lord. I was asleep when ’e arrived and ’e wakes the other servants and as soon as he’d done so and afore us were dressed, he sets orf.”

  “Then he should be back very soon. I will fetch my clothes and you can help me dress. However, I wish Miss Shana to sleep as long as possible.”

  He did not wait for Curtis to reply, but returned to his bedroom and very quickly collected his clothes.

  Shana did not stir.

  The Marquis was determined to keep all this trouble from her for as long as possible and to make it easier for her when she had to report what had occurred.

  He had just finished dressing when the Duke’s butler entered the drawing room. Curtis heard him and managed to push him into Shana’s bedroom before he could speak.

  “I was just coming downstairs,” the Marquis told him.

  “I came to tell you, my Lord,” the butler blurted out, “that the Chief of Police is here with three of his men. I have put them in the Saloon and they said they would like some coffee.”

  “I will come at once,” the Marquis said briskly. “But we will leave Curtis here in case Miss Shana wakes up and finds herself alone.”

  He looked at Curtis as he spoke and knew there was no necessity to give any other instructions.

  The Marquis walked quickly downstairs and the Chief of Police rose to his feet as he entered the Saloon.

  “I expect you have been told,” the Marquis began, “exactly what happened last night.”

  “I have seen the bodies, my Lord,” the Chief answered, “and I am horrified. Can you explain how this has happened?”

  “I can do so easily. My cousin, Miss Brooke, thought she recognised one of the men we are looking for coming down the steps of a house while our carriage was held up by traffic in the road last night.”

  “Coming from a house! Do you know which house it was?”

  “It is easy to describe. It was the last house before we reached the road which brings us here beside the river.”

  The Chief stared at him and the Marquis continued,

  “It has nearly a dozen steps up to the front door which is most impressive. I noticed when we were driving yesterday that the house itself was built of black bricks and the owner, I should have thought, must be an individual of some distinction.”

  “Black bricks!” the Chief exclaimed in an astonished voice. “But it cannot be Labrama!”

  The Marquis stared at him.

  “Labrama?” he asked. “Why did you not think of that name before? Miss Shana said Abramo was as near as she could get to the name mentioned by the Italians in England.”

  “Palazzo Labrama, my Lord,” the Chief said slowly, “is the home of Prince Vasaro.”

  His two companions had remained silent, but now they joined in the conversation.

  One of them said the Prince had always been a recluse and the other informed them that it was well known that he owned a magnificent art collection.

  Some of it was inherited and some he had bought during his lifetime.

  “And the rest he has been stealing!” the Chief intervened. “Now I understand many clues which I should have considered earlier. The reports of large van loads of what appeared to be furniture being taken to the Palazzo. The rumours that the Prince never entertained nor invited any of his acquaintances in Rome to visit him.”

  They were still talking nineteen to the dozen when the Marquis interrupted,

  “I think, Chief, that we have now solved your problem. May I ask that my cousin be involved in your investigation as little as possible? I think it would be best if I made a statement on her behalf. Then there would be no need for her to be cross-questioned any more. The man you were looking for is dead and his body is now in your possession.”

  “I can understand exactly what you are saying, my Lord,” the Chief replied. “And I can promise that your very beautiful cousin will not be troubled any further. If your Lordship will make a full statement of everything that occurred last night, that will be sufficient for us to act on, as I intend to do immediately.”

  There was fortunately a large desk in the Saloon and the Marquis sat down.

  He wrote his report in Italian as he thought it would save time and signed his name with a flourish.

  The Marquis was well aware, because Prince Vasaro was so important, that the Chief of Police would be praised and congratulated on solving such a difficult criminal case and it would be to his advantage if the announcement was handled discreetly.

  When he handed over his report, the Chief thanked him profusely for everything he had done.

  “I can only speak on behalf of all my people, my Lord, when I tell you how grateful we are. I know you will have the gratitude of a great many other countries in Europe, especially France.”

  “To prove your gratitude, I should be most grateful if you do not reveal my name or that of my cousin. Take the credit, Chief, of having found this man yourself and please keep us completely out of the picture.”

  The Marquis caught a flicker of delight in the Chief’s eyes as he recognised that it would do him a great deal of good if everyone believed that it was his brilliance alone that had tracked down the Prince Vasaro and his evil gang.

  He decided to give the Chief a considerable donation for the Police benefit fund, which pleased him a great deal and then he left them to enjoy their breakfast.

  He ran upstairs and into his bedroom.

  Shana was still asleep, but she stirred as she heard him open the door.

  “What has happened?” she asked drowsily.

  The Marquis walked across the room and sat down on the bed.

  He bent forward and kissed her.

  “It is all over,” he told her. “We will need to pay a visit to the British Embassy and then we can leave Rome.”

  The memory of what had happened last night flooded over Shana and she reached out her hands towards him.

  “That man – tried to take me away,” she mumbled a little incoherently.

  “It has all to be forgotten,” the Marquis said quietly. “The Chief of Police has everything he needs in his hands and the man you identified is now dead. He came from the Palazzo Labrama, which is owned by the Prince Vasaro.”

  Shana gave a gasp as the Marquis went on,

  “They understand now why the Prince never entertained and kept himself very much to himself, or rather to the amazing collection of art he has stolen from so many different collectors and museums in different countries.”

  “You are making it all sound like a fairy story!” Shana exclaimed.

  “And you are the good fairy or rather the angel of the story. Now get up and get dressed. We will have breakfast here by ourselves before proceeding to the Embassy.”

  He did not wait for her to ask any more questions, but walked back into the drawing room.

  Curtis came in carrying a can of hot water and asked Shana which dress she would like to wear.

  “I’m packin’ all your other things, miss,” he said, “so it’d be best if you dressed in here where there’s plenty of room.”

  “Are we really able to go away now?” Shana asked.

  “Just leave it to ’is Lordship,�
� Curtis said cheerily, “ ’e’s got it all under control and there’s no one who can solve things better than when ’e’s up against it, so to speak.”

  Shana laughed because she could not help it.

  “That’s just what I want to do as soon as possible,” she said and knew it to be the truth.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Shana was dressed except for her gown and she had finished combing her hair when Curtis knocked and came into the room.

  “I’ve packed all your other things, miss,” he announced, “and ’is Lordship thought you’d like to wear this gown.”

  He held up one as he spoke.

  Shana smiled.

  It was the gown she had bought thinking she might have to attend some important luncheon with her father or a fashionable garden party.

  She had not worn it since she had come abroad and thought it was rather a strange choice for the Marquis to make.

  However, as everything else was packed, it was no use protesting and she therefore put on the gown and Curtis did it up for her. There was a matching hat which was particularly becoming.

  She realised when she walked into the drawing room that the Marquis was looking at her with admiration.

  “We must hurry,” he urged, “because I want to put to sea as soon as possible.”

  “That is just what I would like too,” Shana replied.

  They thanked the servants who had looked after them and the Marquis had already tipped them generously.

  When they drove off Shana gave a deep sigh of relief. She never wanted to see the bedroom again or even think of what had happened last night.

  The horses took them at a good pace through the streets of Rome and when they were close to the British Embassy they came to a standstill.

  The Marquis opened the door without waiting for the footman to descend from the box to do it for him.

  “I will not keep you long,” he called cheerfully, “I want to buy something here.”

  He disappeared into a shop, which Shana saw was a flower shop.

  She wondered what he was doing, but thought perhaps he was buying some flowers to take with them to the Seashell.

  The Marquis did not take long and he returned to the carriage with a large bouquet of white lilies.