stand for a young woman to take in those days, especially one who was such a catch. But she was brave and determined.’ He smiled. ‘Like you.’
‘Only in my case people say “stubborn as a donkey”.’
‘I expect her father said that about her, too. She wasn’t just rich and beautiful. She was a witch.’
She laughed. ‘No, seriously.’
‘I am serious. She vanished suddenly.’
‘You mean she went up in a puff of smoke at the wedding?’
‘No, she stayed for about two years, and had a son. But then she just disappeared and nobody ever knew what became of her. There were stories. Some people said they’d seen her fly away from the top of one of the towers, so they called her a witch.’
Actually they’d called her the enchantress, but, sitting here with this black-haired woman who’d risen from the sea to torment him with hopes and dreams, and who would disappear again at any moment, he didn’t want to think of enchantment.
‘The truth is more prosaic, of course,’ he went on. ‘It always is. She was the faithless one. She tired of poor old Giles pretty soon and started casting eyes at one of his stewards. The two of them vanished together. I’ll show you her portrait in the castle. She’s wearing a triple rope of pearls that were famous in their day. They vanished with her and were never heard of again, so I suppose they sold them off one by one and lived on the money. She took her maid, but left her baby son behind.’
‘And nobody ever spotted them?’
‘This was the fifteenth century. They couldn’t plaster missing persons all over the television screen. If people didn’t know what you looked like, and you had money, you could hide successfully. Giles never recovered from losing her. He took to drink and was dead in five years, leaving their son to inherit.’
‘What a sad story. That poor man!’
‘Yes, he must have thought everything was going to be wonderful, and he didn’t know what had hit him.’
‘You know, this food really is delicious,’ she said appreciatively. ‘These little batter cakes-’
‘Yorkshire puddings.’
‘I’d almost marry you just to have them every day.’
Instead of rising to the bait he merely raised his eyebrows ironically. She laughed and it was allowed to drop. They ate slowly, lulled to sleepiness by the warmth after the cold and wet outside. Meryl felt herself suffused by drowsy contentment. When, she wondered, had she last been content in the whirl and bustle of a moneyed life?
‘Wake up!’
‘Eh? What?’ She opened her eyes to find Jarvis’s face very near and his hands on her shoulders, shaking her.
‘Wake up!’ he said gently. ‘Mrs Helms wants to close.’
‘Have I been asleep?’
‘For ages.’
‘I didn’t snore, did I?’
He smiled. ‘No, you didn’t snore. I promise. But you talk in your sleep.’
‘What did I say?’ she demanded suspiciously.
‘I couldn’t follow most of it. Something about destiny.’
She didn’t want to move. She just wanted to stay here, with her mouth dangerously close to his, trying to understand the look in his eyes.
Except that she already did understand it. She’d seen that look before in men’s eyes. And she’d laughed and teased them, kissed them if she was in the mood or sent them away unkissed, knowing they’d be back next day.
But this man was different. His strength of will was as great as her own, and his pride even stronger. She held her breath, knowing that he was fighting temptation, willing him to lose the battle.
‘Mike says the car’s ready,’ Mrs Helms said, barging in noisily.
They pulled quickly apart, each stunned by the shock, struggling for a foothold in this new, strange world.
‘I’ll go up and get my things,’ Meryl muttered, not quite knowing what she said.
She came down a few minutes later to find Jarvis gone and Mrs Helms waiting by the door. She tried to pay her, but Jarvis had settled the entire bill, which she felt was high-handed of him. She wandered over to the direction of the garage, thankful that the rain had stopped.
‘I’ve patched it up,’ Mike declared. ‘But it’s time to have this thing put painlessly to sleep. Drive carefully.’
It had gone midnight as they drove home. A brilliant moon had come out, bathing the countryside in silver. By now Meryl was getting used to the way everything changed from magic to danger and back to magic again. But still the awesome beauty made her hold her breath.
‘I tried to pay the landlady-’ she began.
‘You had no right to. It was for me to settle the bill.’
‘Maybe for the meal, but my room-’
‘You wouldn’t have needed it if you hadn’t been helping me push the car.’
‘But you didn’t want me on this trip anyway, and I think it was for me to pay.’
‘I disagree.’
‘But you-’ She choked off the words, You can’t afford it.
‘Don’t say it,’ he advised.
‘I wasn’t going to.’
‘Yes, you were, and it would have got you dumped by the roadside. This is exactly why I want you out of my hair.’
The brief moment of understanding had gone. He was on guard against her again, and doubly so because of his moment of weakness.
‘Look-’ she tried again.
‘The subject is closed.’
‘No way!’
‘Why? Because Lord Larne says so? You’ve got a nerve.’
His answer was to slam on the brakes and look at her with meaning. He’d do it, too, she thought. The rotten swine would dump her out here.
‘Have you got anything else to say?’ he asked dangerously.
‘Just one thing. After what you did to those brakes it would serve you right if you couldn’t start this thing again.’
He didn’t risk answering that, but started up without trouble. Which only went to prove, she thought crossly, that the devil looked after his own.
CHAPTER SIX
AT LAST the shore came into view, the causeway forming a silver ribbon across the water to where the castle reared up against the night sky. She wondered if she was looking at it for the last time.
There was a strange car parked at the entrance, and Hannah came bustling to meet them as they entered.
‘There’s a man called Blackham been waiting for you for hours,’ she told Jarvis. ‘He says he’s not going away until he sees you.’
‘That’s right,’ said a voice over her shoulder. ‘I promised my client that you wouldn’t escape me.’
He was a scrawny individual with an unhealthy colour, somewhere in his fifties. Just the sight of him was enough to make Meryl’s skin crawl.
From his tone, Jarvis evidently shared her distaste. ‘I’m not trying to escape you, Mr Blackham.’
