Page 24 of Masquerading with the Duke
‘Hello, who’s this handsome fellow?’
A sleek black cat with piercing green eyes stalked up to them, tail swishing. Thor became agitated when he sensed some sport to be had in tormenting the feline and Jared was obliged to hold him back.
‘Careful,’ Martina warned. ‘That’s Pagan, the duchess’s cat. He rules the henhouse—’
‘The roost,’ Jared said, amusing by her misunderstanding of English clichés.
‘Pardon?’ She looked confused.
‘The saying is that someone rules the roost.’
‘That’s silly.’
He chuckled. ‘Very likely, our language often is.’
‘Well, Pagan rules this estate. The duke’s dogs are terrified of him and your dog should be as well, if he has any sense.’
‘I can see why.’ Jared held out a hand for Pagan’s inspection, smiling when the cat arched his back and spat at Thor. The dog looked confused and glanced up at Jared for guidance. ‘Don’t look at me, you foolish mutt,’ he said. ‘If you’re willing to chance a scratched nose, don’t let me stop you.’
Thor whined and made them both smile when he hid behind Jared’s back.
‘Pagan doesn’t like people much.’
‘Or dogs, but he seems to like me,’ Jared replied when Pagan sniffed his hand and then graciously allowed Jared to stroke his back.
Thor barked a feeble protest from his position behind Jared. Pagan levelled a regal stare at the dog and then completely ignored him. He stalked up to the jar of tadpoles as though they were worthy of his attention, but Jared shooed him away. The cat looked highly affronted and took himself off into the reeds with an angry swish of his tail, clearly intent upon capturing his own tadpoles.
‘You’re lucky he didn’t scratch you,’ Martina said.
‘It’s just a case of letting animals know who’s in charge.’
‘Hmm.’
She looked away from him, not seeming to be in any hurry to return to the house, but not making any effort to instigate a conversation either. She was a puzzle. Too young to attract his interest—even though she did—and yet worldly wise beyond her years. Jared found her intriguing, sensing a great sadness about her as well as the wariness he’d noticed on first meeting her. He searched his mind for a safe topic of conversation, just to prolong their interlude together. The desire to do so surprised Jared. He usually avoided solitary meetings with single females as resolutely as he now ignored the claims on his time by the diplomatic service, for fear of the wrong conclusion being drawn.
‘Do you miss Spain?’ he asked.
She sent him a long, appraising look, but at least she was looking at him again. ‘I miss the way it used to be. The old Spain. I miss my family. I only have Ariana now. As for the rest…’ She lifted one shoulder. ‘They are gone. It’s not possible to turn time back.’
‘The war ruined so many lives.’ Jared stared out across the surface of the lake for a few seconds until the loud splash made by Pagan when he attempted to pounce on some hapless aquatic creature brought a smile to his face. ‘Tell me how Lord Amos helped you and your sister to settle here.’
‘He saved us from being sold into prostitution,’ she said harshly.
‘Good God!’ Jared blinked at her in stark astonishment. ‘In that case, I am sorry to have brought such a painful subject up. I had absolutely no idea.’
‘There’s no reason why you should have—and just so that we’re clear, God had little to do with the matter.’
He listened, dumbfounded, when she told him how they had been duped by the captain who offered to take them from Valencia to Barcelona, where Ariana had applied for a position as governess that was supposed to improve their circumstances. Instead, they found themselves being held prisoner here in Hampshire. He got the impression that she had never spoken of her nightmare to a stranger before, and could see she had surprised herself by opening up to him. Perhaps his courteous behaviour, give or take her seeing him virtually as God had intended, had created an illusion of integrity. Jared turned a wry smile into a cough, thinking that if she could read the lascivious thoughts tumbling through his brain as her flashing eyes and fiercely proud profile stirred his passions, she might have felt differently.
‘That’s all behind you now,’ he said, thinking how inadequate the words sounded. ‘You are perfectly safe here.’
‘Is it? Behind us, I mean. I still wake up sometimes and imagine…’ She shuddered. ‘Yes, Mr Braden, I do miss Spain very much but there’s nothing for me there now. All my family are gone, apart from Ariana and my brother. He might be dead too. We have no way of knowing.’
‘When did you see him last?’
‘About a year before…well, before everything changed and we were obliged to run away in the clothes we stood up in. If people had not helped us…’ She blinked back tears. ‘Raphael spied for the British but when the war ended and there were no longer any laws in our country and no one to enforce them if there had been, Raphael’s services were taken up by the new Spanish authorities. He didn’t have any choice in the matter. Now they have lost track of him and can’t tell us where he is—or so they claim.’ She twitched her nose. ‘I suspect they know more than they are saying but we have no way of speaking with anyone who actually possesses definite information. We have applied to the Spanish Embassy in London but they pretend concern and do nothing.’
Jared nodded sympathetically. ‘It must be hard for you both. Not knowing, I mean.’
