A Collector of Hearts (10 page)

           
“The prince? No, no idea. I suppose the Hendersons will
know. What makes you ask?”

           
“It’s just that he’s sprung from nowhere. And I’m pretty
sure that Mrs Oakengate’s funny spell – for want of a better term – had
something to do with him. She seems to think he’s been making a fool of her.”

           
“In what way?”

           
“Oh, I don’t know. The flirting I suppose. Pretending he’s
smitten with her. It is odd, isn’t it? A man of thirty going after a woman in
her sixties. Not that it doesn’t happen. I know someone who married a man half
her age. But a prince… well, to put it in rather crude terms, you’d think he’d
be looking for someone who could give him the heir and spare, wouldn’t you?”

           
Anna laughed. “Yes, I suppose so. But there’s no
accounting for taste. Not that the Oakengate isn’t very well preserved for her
age.”

           
“No, she’s still very attractive. But it doesn’t ring true.”
Caroline sighed.

           
“You are in a mood.”

           
“There are things going on you don’t know about.”

           
“Please, do tell. I love a mystery.”

           
“No,” said Caroline. She smiled wryly. “And now I’m doing
it.”

           
“Doing what?”

           
“Keeping things from someone. Maybe later, when everyone
has settled down for the night, I’ll come along to your room and tell you
everything that’s been happening. I could use a friend to talk to. But not now.
There are too many people around.”

           
“Is the delicious Blake Laurenson involved somehow?”

           
“Yes.” Caroline’s lips set in a grim line.

           
“He’s real heart throb material, isn’t he? If you don’t
want him anymore, I’d be quite happy to end up on his casting couch.”

           
That threw Caroline for a moment, before she remembered
that all the other guests still believed Blake was an up and coming director.
“What made you think I wanted him in the first place?”

           
“I’ve got eyes in my head. I’ve seen the way you look at
each other. Look, Caroline, I’m probably not the right person to say this.
Joking aside, I’ve heard it said that Blake might not be what he pretends to
be. None of the actors here have ever heard of him as a director, and believe
me, they would all know. They collect directors’ names like other people
collect stamps.”

           
Caroline wondered how much she could trust Anna with the
truth about Blake. What harm would it do? A small voice inside her said that it
might do a lot of harm. She did not know why Blake wanted his identity kept a
secret, and to tell Anna would be betraying a trust. As angry as she was with
him, she would not do that.

           
“But if he’s only just starting out,” said Caroline, and
left the rest hanging.

           
A Harlequin approached the table and Caroline’s heart
flipped. “Lady Cassandra, you must do me the honour of dancing with me,” the
Harlequin said in Jack Henderson’s voice.

           
“Sorry, but I’m keeping Anna company.”

           
“Go on, Caroline. In that outfit, it’s a sin not to
dance,” said Anna.

           
“In that case, I’d be honoured,” said Caroline, before
joining Jack on the dance floor. She hoped that a dance with another handsome
man, albeit a married one and therefore out of bounds, would cheer her up a
little.

           
“If I ever decide to make a film of Lady Cassandra’s
life, I think I’ll be calling you,” said Jack as they started to dance a quick
step to a Fred Astaire song.

           
“You haven’t seen my acting yet!”

           
“Believe me, Caroline, I know quite a lot of actors who
can’t really act. You’d be amazed how much we achieve with smoke and mirrors.”

           
“That’s strange,” said Caroline. “I was thinking about
smoke and mirrors when I came in tonight and saw all this.”

           
“It’s in our bones,” said Jack. “We can’t see a room
without wondering how to create a scene.”

           
“Mr Henderson…”

           
“Jack.”

           
“Jack. I hope you don’t mind me asking, but how did the
prince end up coming this weekend? I mean, he hasn’t come out in public
elsewhere. So why now?”

           
“A secretary from the Cariastan Embassy called me and
said that the prince was interested in coming, because Mrs Oakengate was going
to be here.”

           
“So you’d never actually met him before he arrived.”

           
“No, not at all.”

           
“And it was definitely the Cariastan Embassy.”

           
“I thought so at the time,” said Jack, mysteriously. “I
suppose Blake has been talking to you.”

           
“Blake? Why, what has he got to do with this?”

           
Another Harlequin standing next to them interrupted them.
It was Blake. “May I cut in?”

           
“Yes, of course,” said Jack, lightly. “I must go and find
my wife before she runs off with a highwayman. There are far too many around
tonight.”

           
Blake took Caroline in his arms just as the music changed
to a slow dance. She stood stiffly in his arms, whilst he guided her around the
floor. “I’m sorry for what I said,” he murmured against her hair. “It was
unforgivable.”

           
“Yes, it was.”

           
“So does that mean you’ll never forgive me?”

           
“I might if you stop being so obscure and tell me what’s
going on.”

           
“Even if I stripped away that last layer, as you called
it, Caroline, it wouldn’t tell you anything about else about me. It wouldn’t
tell you that I like watching cricket on a sunny afternoon, or that I like
going to see Hitchcock films. Or that I one day want to write the great
political novel. Or that I lost my first tooth at the age of six, and the one
and only time I ever lost my heart was two days ago in the lane, or that the
happiest moment of my life was standing in a secret passageway in the dark,
holding you in my arms. That’s who I am, and nothing else you learn about me
will change that. Or at least it won’t change me. It will change the way others
look at me, even the way you look at me, and I’m not ready for that. I don’t
think I ever will be.”

           
“What is it? What can be so awful that you want to run
away from it?” asked Caroline. Tears stung her eyes. “Because that’s what you
talked about. Running away.”

           
“It’s something that will crush me, if I let it. But I’m
not going to let it. I won’t let them come between what I feel for you, and
they will definitely try to do that. They will want to take you away from me,
and I can’t allow it.” He held her even tighter. “Damn it, I’m not going to
lose you. You’re the only light in the darkness for me. I love you, Caroline.”

           
“Whatever it is, I promise you won’t lose me,” she said,
pressing her cheek against his. “I love you too.”

           
“Just keep telling me that, darling then I won’t get weak
and give in to them.”

           
“Who are they, darling? Is it something you’ve gotten
into that you wish you hadn’t? Is it about stealing the Cariastan Heart?”

           
Blake threw back his head and laughed. “So you’re
determined to think I’m a criminal, then? Would you still run away with me, if
you thought that’s what I’d been up to?”

           
Caroline did not even have to think about it. The
sensible black and white view of the world she had always maintained suddenly
became very grey indeed. For the first time in her life, she understood the love
her mother had for her father. It might not be the right thing to do, but as
far as she could see it was the only thing she could do. She nodded. “Yes, if
it will help you to escape from the people you talk about, I will. Because I
know there’s good in you.”

           
“And you intend to be my saviour.”

           
“It sounds awful when you put it like that.”

           
“Not awful. Wonderful. Except you’d actually be stopping
me from doing something that deep down I know I should do, but which utter
selfishness prevents me from doing. If you knew, you’d think I should do it to.
I know you would. Which is why I’d rather not tell you.”

           
Caroline frowned; perplexed by the direction the
conversation had taken. She saw herself reflected in one of the mirrors, but as
always with the funfair mirrors, it all felt wrong. Only this time it felt more
wrong, as if she were standing in the wrong place.

The music stopped, and as it
did, all the lights in the ballroom went down, so that they were in near
darkness. The male guests gasped, and some of the women screamed. People making
‘oo oo’ sounds in the style of ghosts followed this. That soon turned to
laughter and someone shouted, ‘Nice one, Jack.”

           
Caroline felt Blake moving away from her, but it was too
dark to see where he went.

           
“It’s nothing to do with me,” said Jack from somewhere
within the darkness. “Penelope, did you arrange this?”

           
“No, darling, and I wish whoever switched them off would
switch them back on again. I’ve spilt my gin and tonic.” The guests laughed
again. Everyone seemed certain that it was part of the evening’s entertainment.
Caroline thought otherwise, actively waiting for a gunshot or some other sound
to show that a crime had taken place.

           
The lights went back up as suddenly has they had gone
off. Caroline looked around but Blake was nowhere to be seen. It occurred to
her that he had gone down to the cellar, to see who had switched off the gas
taps, so she made to follow him, only to find her way blocked by Mrs Oakengate.

           
“What have you done with it?” said Mrs Oakengate.

           
“What?”

           
“What have you done with the Cariastan Heart?”

           
“You were wearing it, Mrs Oakengate.”

           
“Yes, and I felt you snatch it from my neck!”

Chapter Eight

Caroline and Mrs Oakengate
carried on their discussion in the hallway. “I didn’t take it Mrs Oakengate.
Honestly.”

           
As she spoke, Blake emerged from the door that led to the
kitchens. Count Chlomsky and the Hendersons had followed them into the hall,
whilst other guests crowded towards the ballroom door.

           
“What’s going on?” asked Blake.

           
“She stole the Cariastan Heart,” said Mrs Oakengate. “She
was near to me just beforehand and snatched it from me whilst the lights were
out. I saw her dashing away as they came up again.”

           
“She can’t have,” said Blake. “She was with me when the
lights went out.”

           
“Oh you would say that. No doubt she’s fooled you too. I
knew I shouldn’t have taken on someone whose parents were so notorious.”

           
Caroline turned to her employer indignantly. “How on
earth does it follow that if my parents were both spies that it would turn me into
a thief? That doesn’t even make sense.”

           
“Stealing state secrets. Stealing expensive jewellery.
It’s all the same,” said Mrs Oakengate. “I knew there was something going on
here this weekend, but I hardly believed it was my own companion.”

           
“I’ll call the police,” said Jack Henderson. “Then we’ll
sort this out.”

           
“No,” said Mrs Oakengate. “I don’t want a scandal.
Caroline, if you just give it back to me, we’ll forget the whole thing. Of
course, I won’t be able to employ you anymore, but you can hardly expect
otherwise.”

           
Caroline felt as if her life were spiralling out of
control. The whole thing was ludicrous. Just because her parents were spies did
not automatically make her a thief. She also began to wonder about Blake. Had
this been what he was involved in? If so, that would mean that he had used her
as an alibi, by saying he was with her when the lights went out. But it also
made him her alibi, so that did not make sense. Unless…. Unless he had an
accomplice. Someone who dressed up as Lady Cassandra. It went back to who had
suggested Caroline’s costume. She still doubted it was her employer’s idea.
“Mrs Oakengate,” she said, as calmly as she could. “Whose idea was it that I
dress as Lady Cassandra tonight?”

           
“It was mine. I’ve already told you that. You look just
like her.”

           
“Please forgive my rudeness, Mrs Oakengate, but you’re
not the most insightful woman in the world.”

           
“I won’t forgive that.”

           
“Well, as you’ve just fired me, it hardly matters if I’m
rude to you or not, does it? And as I’ve been wrongly accused of stealing, I
think I’ve every right to ask questions.” Caroline took a deep breath, to try
to calm her fevered mind. “In fact, Mr Henderson I would like you to call the
police. Get them here now, and have everyone searched.”