Page 62 of Awakened in Her Enemy's Palazzo

He approached, one hand extended. There was tension still in his face, but the haggard look had vanished and he was exuding an almost indecent amount of vitality. He took her hand in his and led her to a pathway that was only revealed when he stomped down some brambles with his boot.

She looked at his brown fingers covering hers. Only a few moments ago she had felt unable to put one foot in front of the other, but it was almost as if he had transmitted some of his energy to her, she mused, as she followed his instruction to be careful where she trod.

‘Almost there,’ he said, studying her as he paused to allow her to catch her breath.

She suspected that she was running on adrenalin and sheer determination.

‘Most people seem to think that having you around is worth the trouble you bring,’ he said.

Her eyes flickered upwards, a question in them.

‘Not all?’ she asked.

He shrugged. ‘I can only speak for myself.’

Before she had time to react to this revelation they were moving again. She had suspected he was humouring her with the ‘almost there’, but he lifted an overhanging branch and suddenly there it was: a small square building, its walls clad in silvered larch wood, the roof red corrugated metal, and the window frames painted turquoise.

It looked as if it belonged in a picture book, she decided.

Inside, most surprisingly, there was no dust. The wooden floor was neatly scrubbed and brushed clean. There were no pictures on the wall, just maps marked with walking trails and posters picturing native animal and bird life. There was a cupboard, markedTake what youneedin several languages, and an honesty box underneath.

There was also a wood-burning stove ready laid with kindling beside a basket of dry logs, two folding camp beds stood against one wall, while the opposite wall contained a built-in old-fashioned bed frame that would be cosy when the curtain that hung across it was pulled.

Theo, who seemed to be taking in their surroundings too, put the rucksack on the table that stood in the centre of the room and looked at her.

‘It seems that we have several of these across the estate. Walkers and bird watchers use them for free, on a “one-night-only-and-move-on” basis. A good innovation... We could expand on this idea, I think.’

Did that mean he was staying? How was she to interpret that ‘we’? Was he speaking for himself?

So many questions... Her head buzzed with them.

It was fear of the answers that kept her silent as she watched him walk to the cast-iron wood-burner, ignite the paper and close the door before he straightened up.

‘It won’t take long to warm up,’ he said, nodding to the flames already dancing behind the glass door.

‘What was this place?’

‘An old hunter’s cabin. Nic and I used to camp here when we were kids. I thought it might have fallen down by now—I didn’t know about this initiative.’

She nodded, surprised when, instead of walking over to the two-ring hob beside a deep old-fashioned sink set on bricks, he walked across to the table.

‘Marta,’ he said, opening a flask and filling a cup. ‘Me,’ he added, producing a smaller flask and adding a generous amount of the amber liquid it contained into the hot drink.

‘Thanks,’ she said, feeling unaccountably shy as she took it from him.

She took a sip of the scalding liquid, cooled by the additional generous shot of brandy which made her blink.

‘We might be here a while now they know you’re safe,’ he said. ‘The rescue chopper is evacuating a village where the river broke its banks.’

‘Is anyone hurt?’

‘Not seriously, luckily. The new flood defences didn’t hold, but they lessened the damage. When we were children it was a different story. A flood could take several lives. I remember news clips of people being lifted off roofs. And there was once a landslide in almost exactly the same spot as the one today that took a truck with it. The driver left a widow and two children.’

Had Theo remembered that tragedy when he was searching for her? And not just Theo but all the others who had gone out in this weather to find her?

Grace realised the enormity of what she had done...what had nearly happened...and drained her cup in one gulp.

‘I’m not normally so reckless.’ She recognised now that she had been.

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