Castles (23 page)

Colin let go of Alesandra. She stood up when he did. She caught hold of his hand before he could leave.

“Your father now believes I'm a trollop,” she whispered. “I would appreciate it if you would set him straight.”

Colin leaned down close to her ear. “I'll explain everything after we're married.”

His warm breath sent a shiver of pleasure down her neck, making it difficult for her to concentrate. Up until an hour ago, when Colin had kissed her so passionately, she'd been desperately trying to think of him as a friend . . . or a cousin. She'd been lying to herself, of course, but, damn it all, it was working. Colin had turned the tables on her, though, when he'd touched her. Now, just standing so close to him made her heartbeat race. He smelled so wonderful, so masculine, and . . . Oh, Lord, she really needed to get hold of her thoughts.

“You're a scoundrel, Colin.”

“I like to think I am.”

She gave up trying to make him angry. “Why don't you want your family to know you're working for . . .”

He wouldn't let her finish. His mouth covered hers in a quick, hard kiss. She let out a little sigh when he pulled back, then repeated her question. He kissed her again.

She finally got his message and quit her questions. “Will you explain after we're married?”

“Yes.”

Jade walked back into the dining room. “Colin, I would like to speak to Alesandra in private. We'll be along in a minute.”

Alesandra waited until Colin had left the dining room, then went around the table to stand next to Jade.

“Do you really dislike the idea of marrying Colin?”

“No,” Alesandra answered. “And that, you see, is the problem.”

“How is it a problem?”

“Colin's being forced into marrying me. He's acting out of duty. I can't control that.”

“I don't understand,” Jade remarked.

Alesandra brushed her hair back over her shoulder in a nervous gesture. “I wanted to control the situation,” she whispered. When it first became apparent I would have to get married, I was very angry inside. I felt so . . . powerless. It didn't seem fair. I finally came to terms with my circumstances, however, as soon as I began to think of the marriage as a business transaction and not a personal relationship. I decided that if I chose my husband and set my own terms, then it wouldn't matter if he loved me or not. It would be a business arrangement, nothing more.”

“Colin won't agree to your terms, though, will he? I'm not surprised,” Jade remarked. “He's an independent man. He's proud of the fact that he's making it on his own, without help from family or friends. He isn't going to be easy to control, but in time I believe you'll be happy about that. Have some faith in him, Alesandra. He'll take care of you.”

Yes, Alesandra thought to herself. Colin would take care of her.

And she would become a burden to him.

He wasn't interested in her inheritance and in fact had made it perfectly clear he wouldn't touch it.

He wasn't impressed with her title, either. Being married to a princess was going to be a nuisance because he would have to suffer going to several important functions during the year. He'd have to mingle with the prince regent, and, Lord, she knew he'd hate that.

Colin had rejected everything she had to offer.

No, it wasn't a fair exchange.

S
ir Richards had just finished greeting everyone when Jade and Alesandra walked into the salon. The director turned to both ladies. He knew Jade, and after telling her how wonderful it was to see her again, he turned his full attention to Alesandra.

“Henry told me the good news. Congratulations, Princess. You've chosen a fine man.”

Alesandra forced a smile. She thanked the director, agreed Colin was indeed a fine man, and asked him if he would be attending the wedding.

“Yes,” Sir Richards replied. “I wouldn't miss it. It's a pity it has to be kept a secret, but you understand well enough the reasons. Come and sit down now. I've some information you'll be interested in hearing.”

Sir Richards ushered her over to one of the settees. Jade and Caine were seated across from her, and the duke and duchess took the third settee.

Colin stood alone in front of the hearth. He wasn't paying any attention to the director or his family. His back was turned to the gathering and he was intently studying the miniature on the mantel. Alesandra watched Colin as he lifted the castle to get a better look at it. The expression on Colin's face was masked, and she wondered what he was thinking.

The duchess was explaining her plans for the wedding. She was determined to make the intimate affair as lovely as possible. She was interrupted by her husband when he called out to Colin.

“Be careful with that, son. It's priceless to me.”

Colin nodded but he didn't turn around. He had just noticed the tiny drawbridge latched with a delicate-looking chain. “This really is a piece of workmanship,” he remarked as he gently pried the drawbridge away from the hook. The door immediately dropped down. Colin lifted the castle higher so that he could look inside.

Alesandra saw the surprised look in his eyes. He smiled, too. She smiled in reaction. He had just figured out the bit of trickery her father had played on his friend so many years ago.

Colin turned to Caine and motioned to him with a quick tilt of his head. Caine stood up and walked over to the mantel. Colin didn't say a word to his brother. He simply handed him the castle, then turned and walked over to sit next to Alesandra.

The duchess had only just warmed to her topic of the wedding plans. Both her husband and the director were patiently listening to her.

Caine suddenly let out a hoot of laughter. He drew everyone's attention, of course.

Caine turned to Alesandra. “Did you know about this?”

She nodded. “My mother told me the story.”

“Later, when you're alone with Father, would you show him?” Caine asked.

“Yes, of course.”

“Put that down,” his father ordered. “It makes me nervous to see it handled. Do you have any idea of its value, Caine?”

His son laughed. “Yes, father, I understand its value.” He closed the drawbridge and put the castle back where it belonged.

“Mother, I don't believe Sir Richards is interested in your plans for the wedding,” Colin said. “He's been polite long enough. Let him get to his reason for calling.”

Gweneth turned to the director. “Were you just being polite?”

“Of course he was, Gweneth,” her husband told her. He softened his bluntness by patting his wife's hand.

Caine had returned to his seat next to his wife. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to his side.

Alesandra noticed that both her guardian and his eldest son were very open in showing their affection for their wives. Caine was stroking his wife's arm in an absentminded way and her uncle Henry hadn't let go of his wife's hand. Alesandra envied the loving couples. She knew it had been a true love match between her guardian and his wife, and from the way Jade and Caine looked at each other, she assumed they had also fallen in love before they were married.

She and Colin were another matter altogether. She wondered if he realized what he was giving up to marry her and almost asked him that question then and there.

Sir Richards saved her from embarrassing herself when he took the floor. “Colin asked me to assist him with a little experiment. He had reason to believe the lady's maid, Valena, was in a league with the ruffians trying to snatch the princess.”

Alesandra was stunned by the director's explanation. She turned to Colin. “What reason would you have to distrust that sweet . . .”

He interrupted her. “Let him finish, Alesandra.”

“Colin was correct,” Sir Richards announced. He smiled at his host. “Both your sons have the best instincts I've ever come across in all my days working for the department.”

Henry beamed with pleasure. “It's a trait I like to think they inherited from me,” he remarked.

“Yes,” Gweneth agreed. Her loyalty to her husband was absolute. “Henry's always been as cunning as a lion.”

Colin tried not to smile. He believed his father was more like a lamb than a lion, but he didn't see that as a flaw. In truth, he envied his innocence. He'd lost his own years ago. His father was a rare man indeed. He seemed to be immune to the darker side of life. Having heard his father's confession of the dark period he went through when he was a younger man made him all the more remarkable. The experience hadn't made him cynical. He wore his heart on his sleeve most of the time, and Colin knew that if there was any softness at all left in his own nature, it had come from his father.

“Now, then, as I was saying,” the director continued. “Colin told the maid to inform the princess that there would be a meeting at my town house. He set the time for ten the following morning. Valena slipped out during the night to tell her companions. Colin had one of Alesandra's guards follow her. Right as rain the following morning, there they were, four in all, hiding in wait near my home to nab the princess.”

“So there were four in all?” Colin asked. He wasn't at all surprised by the news. Alesandra was speechless. She had always believed she was a good judge of character but now admitted she'd certainly been off the mark with Valena. Alesandra's thoughts immediately turned to Victoria and she wondered if she'd been wrong about her, too.

“Good heavens, I hired Valena,” the duchess blurted out. “She came to me and I should have thought that odd, but I was so pleased with her because she was born near Alesandra's father's home. I thought it would make our ward feel more comfortable to have a reminder of her past. Valena spoke the language, you see. I looked into her references, Henry. Yes, I did, but now I realize I should have been more thorough.”

“No one's blaming you, Mother,” Colin told her.

“Why didn't you tell me about your suspicions?” Alesandra asked Colin.

He was surprised by the question. “Because it was my problem to solve, not yours.”

He looked like he believed what he'd just told her. Alesandra didn't know how to respond to that arrogant belief. “But how did you know? What made you suspicious?”

“The latch on one of the windows was unlocked an hour after Raymond had checked,” he explained. “And someone had to alert the men that we would be attending the opera.”

“The prince regent could have mentioned it to . . .”

Colin cut her off. “Yes, he could have,” he agreed. “But he wouldn't have unlocked the window.”

“Did you catch all of them?” Henry asked the director then.

“Yes, we did,” Richards answered. “They're safely tucked away.”

“I'll talk to them first thing tomorrow,” Colin announced.

“May I go with you?” Alesandra asked.

“Not.”

Colin's voice suggested she not argue. His father supported his son's decision, too. “It's out of the question, Alesandra.”

The discussion was over. Sir Richards took his leave a few minutes later. Colin accompanied the director to the door. Jade and Caine said their farewells at the same time. Both the duke and duchess walked to the door with them. Alesandra stood by the hearth, watching the way the family members talked and laughed with one another, and the sudden yearning to be a part of the loving, close-knit family fairly overwhelmed her. She shook her head against the possibility. Colin wasn't marrying her because he loved her. She mustn't forget that, she told herself.

The door closed behind Jade and Caine, and she realized then that Colin had already taken his leave.

He hadn't even bothered to say good-bye. Alesandra was so hurt by his rudeness, she turned around to stare at the mantel so her guardian wouldn't see the tears in her eyes.

Dignity and decorum,
she silently chanted to herself. She would get through the wedding with her cloak of serenity tightly wrapped around her. If Colin was determined to be stupidly noble, then so be it.

The castle caught her attention and the anger she was trying to stir up over Colin's high-handed methods in gaining her agreement was all but forgotten. A wave of homesickness for her mother and father made her ache inside.

Dear God, she was miserable. She never should have left the convent—she realized that mistake now. She'd been safe there, and the memories of her mother were somehow far more comforting.

Alesandra took a deep breath in an attempt to stop the panic she could feel catching hold. She understood why she was so afraid. God help her, she was falling in love with the Dragon.