The Lodestone (41 page)

“If you did desire me, it might solve the problem altogether,” she said frankly. “If you were to get me with child, he would leave me alone. Then I could escape.”

“No, my dear,” Garnett warned. “You must not try to leave on your own. It would be far too dangerous.” He sighed and looked up, trying to think, and noticed there was a mirror on the ceiling. He looked back at Edwina but she had fallen asleep.

**

Garnett awakened from a fitful half-sleep to find that the door was unlocked but the burly servant, Bernardo, was stationed just outside it. He fought the fury that threatened to explode within him, knowing that he had to remain calm in order to reason with Paolo. It would take an enormous amount of self-control to keep from throttling the officious bastard. He stormed into the breakfast room where Paolo’s valet or bodyguard or whatever he was had directed him, and he found his host sitting at a table by the window, enjoying a healthy hunk of cheese, a thick slice of bread and a steaming cup of cappuccino.

“
B
uon giorno
!” Paolo welcomed him. “I trust you slept well?”
“I did not sleep at all!”

Paolo smiled. “I am glad to hear it. You must be famished. Come and—”

“What kind of fiend are you?” Garnett demanded. “After what you assume I have done, you do not even inquire after your wife?”

“My dear fellow! When did you become such a bore? You were ever so much more fun at school, and always eager for a naughty adventure.”

Garnett lunged at Paolo, grabbed him by his jacket lapels and pulled him out of the chair, which sent the table, along with the count’s breakfast, crashing to the floor. The commotion brought Bernardo rushing in to pull Garnett off his master.

“She didn’t know!” Garnett shouted as Bernardo held him back. “It was the most debased trickery! She did not know what was to happen!”

“Let him go,” Paolo ordered, his voice deadly level. “He will behave, for he would not want my esteemed wife to suffer for his lack of manners.” Bernardo released Garnett. “Leave us,” Paolo told the servant. When he was gone, the count spoke again. “Now, Garnett. What are you going on about? Did you not find her willing?”

“You are the lowest form of vermin. How could you do such a thing to an innocent young girl?”

“I?” The count raised his eyebrows mockingly. “I am not in this alone, old friend. You did not hesitate much in your agreement.”

“You didn’t tell me your bride was my friend. You made it sound as if she were a woman of experience who would welcome my participation,”

“If you try to stop us, I shall go to your priest and tell him just how you propose to keep the money your father meant for his parish,” Garnett promised. “I will expose you for the beast you are.”

“And expose yourself into the bargain?”

“You forget. I have nothing to lose, except my dubious reputation.”

“You have much to lose, if you still count your life worth anything. Not to mention what your parents will suffer without your pitiful income. Now, be reasonable and you’ll be eight thousand pounds the richer for it.”

“I don’t want your money.”

“While I appreciate your generosity, it doesn’t change a thing. You cannot leave until you fulfill our contract. Surely you’ve noticed all the guards about the place.”

“I’ll be missed. The clerk in the shipping office knows where I am.”

“The clerk at the shipping office is in my employ. If you do not cooperate, the captain of your ship will receive a note from you saying that you’ve resigned your post to work for me. I can hold you here indefinitely.”

“What will you do if I refuse? Or if Edwina should not conceive?”

“Then, it would be necessary for me to marry again, and quickly
.
And if there can be no divorce . . . well, you understand.”

“Perfectly.” Garnett had not imagined that Paolo would go so far. “Very well, then. If I honor our diabolical agreement, how long will you keep me here?”

“I am surprised you have to ask,” Paolo said. “You know I’m a man of my word. You can leave as soon as you wish, after you perform the service we agreed on. And when my wife places her child in my arms, she will also be free to go. The child, of course, must remain with me.”

“Of course.”

“Excellent. Now, let me walk back with you to that room of delights. I’ll have this mess cleared away and then we can all enjoy a lovely breakfast together.”

“You are absolutely vile.”

“And you bristle like an old wet cat,” Paolo complained as he ushered Garnett out of the breakfast room and down the hall. “It is altogether tiresome.” He stopped in front of a small doorway not far from the room where Garnett had left Edwina sleeping. The count opened the door and stepped into what appeared to be a closet. “Come,” he invited his guest. “I want to show you something.”

Garnett followed him in to find that it was not a closet, but a long, interior hallway. Paolo led him up a few steps to a mezzanine room, also long and narrow. The lighting was dim, but Garnett could make out a chair facing a wall, several feet in.

“Sit in the chair,” said Paolo. “Lean forward and tell me what you see.”

As Garnett sat down, he noticed a thin sliver of light coming through a crack in the wall. He leaned forward so that his eyes were directly in line with the beam of light. Squinting a little, he peeked through the crack and got a clear view into the room next door—the lilac room. Edwina’s piano had been moved in and she was sitting at it, playing. He could see her clearly, but the thickness of the walls and the embroidered hangings that adorned them muffled the sound of her music. Slowly, he stood to face Paolo.

“I intend to see that our agreement is fulfilled, Garnett. I am not a fool.” He smiled licentiously, his eyes narrowing with a depraved lust. “And surely, you can understand. Just because I cannot perform the act doesn’t mean I cannot enjoy it.”

“Only the fear of what you would do to Edwina keeps you safe from me at this moment,” Garnett declared.

“You must remember that. Bernardo has his instructions and he is very loyal. If only his coloring were light, like my own, we needn’t have troubled you at all. But now you see the way of it.” He indicated his little observation room. “So please do not take it into your head to try and deceive me. I have no time left to negotiate. You will either put a babe in her belly or you will disappear without a trace. Then I’ll find someone else to do it, and he will likely not be as considerate of my wife as you are.”

**

Edwina had fought encroaching consciousness that morning, for the dreams—when they were good—were ever so much better than her existence at the Villa Paresi. In this dream, she was in London, in Cleome’s townhouse garden, and Garnett and Cleome were with her. Somehow, the fountain turned into her piano, and the birds that had been frolicking in the shimmering water flew onto the music stand and chirped on key as Edwina played. Then Cleome and Garnett gathered close and sang with her, and their voices rang sweet and true.

The sound of it woke her and when she looked around, still groggy from the drugged bon bons, she could scarcely believe her eyes. In the corner of the room sat her beautiful piano and it was open. The ivory and ebony keys sparkled in the sunlight filtering through the glass-paned door that opened onto a lush garden where she could see two of Paolo’s guards standing watch, their backs to her. She got up and made her way as steadily as she could to her piano. She didn’t know how long she’d been playing when Garnett rushed in.

“Edwina, we must talk. Now!” The urgency in his voice increased, even though he still whispered. Slowly, resisting, she stopped playing and turned to face him.

When he told her that Paolo could see them, and he wasn’t sure how much he could hear, she turned even paler. He described the secret room and she rose from the piano bench, shaken, and went to stand before the spot in the wall that Garnett had pointed out, from which Paolo could be watching at that very moment.

“Is there a way to cover it?” she asked, looking around. “If there is something we can stand on, to hang something over it—”

“Edwina,” he interrupted, a little more harshly than he intended. “Come and sit down. We must talk. He is mad but he’s perfectly serious.” He took her hand and led her back to the piano. “Paolo means to kill us if we do not cooperate.”

“Then there’s but one course of action to take,” she said logically. Shivering, she added, “But I wouldn’t like to think that he can see us.”

“Do be serious,” he entreated. “Play something.”

“What would you like to hear?” As always, she was ready to put music before everything else, even with their lives at risk.

“Anything.” He placed her hands on the keys and with no other bidding, her fingers started to move over their polished surface, drawing glorious sounds from the instrument. Standing behind her, he leaned close and whispered in her ear, “Louder. If he’s in that infernal little closet, we don’t want him to hear. Edwina, we must think of something, some way to escape. Surely you know the grounds—”

“I haven’t been outside the house since I arrived,” she murmured, keeping her voice low. “He will not allow it. But he’s told me the place is heavily guarded. You can see two of them right outside. At least the door to the garden has a drape we can close.”

For a moment, she stopped playing and took his face in her hands, drawing it to her own. “Thank you for that,” she whispered and kissed him with longing. Then her hands were back on the keys, coaxing out a symphony. “But yes, Garnett. You can leave me here so you can go and get help. If I’m carrying the child that will be his heir, he’ll not harm me. Perhaps he’ll even stop drugging my food. You’ll have time to get a message to Cleome. She’ll give you money to hire a ship and men to help.”

“He could kill me, rather than let me go and take the chance I’ll do exactly that.”

“He’ll let you go because I’ll guarantee that you’ll come back. The horrid Dr. Rupert will confirm that the first three months are risky, for it is a fact. We’ll tell him that if I should lose the child in that time, he may need your services again. He wants you as his surrogate, don’t you see, because you have a similar look about you, though he is not nearly so handsome.” She blushed prettily at the admission and in spite of his determination to maintain control, he felt himself grow taut with desire for her.

“He expects us to join him for breakfast,” he explained quickly, still speaking in low tones. “Perhaps we can bargain with him, after all. My ship is scheduled here again in ten weeks. If he thinks . . .” His voice trailed off as he rose to stand behind her again. “What am I saying? I cannot possibly allow you to sacrifice your virtue so despicably.”

Her eyes grew wide with surprise and her hands left the keyboard as she burst into laughter. She laughed and laughed until her eyes were streaming.

“Edwina, my dear. What is it?” he asked, alarmed.

“My virtue!” she gasped, at last catching her breath and leaning back against him. “I assure you,” she whispered, rising and moving into his arms, “it would be far less despicable than what he has done to me already. Besides, you’d be saving our lives. And what about your parents? They cannot survive without your income. And then there is the life of the child,” she finished soberly.

“The child?”

“If we do not comply with his demands, he might kill you; and he will certainly find someone else to bed me. If I have a child, he’ll allow me to live, as long as I am useful to him in some way.” She sat down at the piano again, and her fingers moved across the keys once more. “But it would be a cruel existence at best, and I could not leave an innocent babe in his care. Don’t you see? There is no other way. We must do as he bids so that you can go and get help.”

“Edwina! It is unthinkable. How can I allow you to sacrifice your goodness?”

“Oh, Garnett,” she said softly. “It is no sacrifice. Not when I love you as I do.”

**

For the first time in his life, Garnett could think of absolutely nothing to say. At last, Edwina spoke again.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured, her eyes filling with tears as she went to sit on the edge of the bed. “Is the idea of making love to me so entirely objectionable?”

“The idea is . . . breathtaking. That’s what it is.” He went to her and turned her face up to his, so that he could look into her eyes. “You are so sweet and lovely. I’ve done nothing to deserve such a reward. It is an honor that you would even consider it.” He kissed her gently, meaning it more as a gesture of comfort than one of passion, but once he had tasted her sweetness he wanted more. There was a loud rap on the door and he had just time to release her when it opened and Dr. Rupert stepped into the room.

“The count wishes you to join him for breakfast in half an hour, contessa. Please get ready.” He stepped aside and Bernardo came in with a copper bathtub, followed by two strong male servants bearing buckets of hot water. Sophia entered last, with clothing for Edwina. Turning to Garnett, the doctor said, “There is a hot bath awaiting you in your room, sir. Bernardo will show you the way.”