Princess! Her stomach curdled, thinking about it. Or was that because of the tower? She didn’t have a head for heights and the open window beside her gave a dizzying view to the city below.
Luisa pressed a damp palm to the wall and kept moving. Soon she emerged at a low opening looking towards the castle. Someone had been working here and she side-stepped a pile of tools. The opening was so low she felt safer on her knees, her hands on the stonework.
The garden was spectacular, though overgrown. She made out the remnants of the Maritzian dragon, the one flying on the flag from the topmost turret, laid out in the hedges below. Shrubs with gold foliage denoted its eyes and a straggling group of red-leaved plants might have been its fiery breath. Its tail was missing and a path cut through one claw, yet it was still magnificent.
Enchanted, Luisa leaned a little further out.
She’d inherited her mother’s love of gardens, though she’d had little time to indulge the interest.
Movement caught her eye. She looked up to see a familiar figure striding through the garden. Raul. Instantly, absurdly, her pulse fluttered.
He saw her and shouted something as he raced forward.
Instinctively Luisa recoiled, feeling as if she’d been caught trespassing. She pushed back and again that dizzy sensation hit. Only this time it wasn’t just in her head.
To her horror, the wall beneath her hands shifted. Instead of rising up, her movement pushed her further out, the stone sliding forward with a terrible grinding noise.
She scrabbled back but her centre of gravity was too far forward. With a loud groan, the old sill tumbled out of her grasp to fall, with dreadful resounding thuds, to the ground below.
Luisa lurched forward, spreadeagled over jagged rock, her arms dangling into space and her eyes focused disbelievingly on the sheer drop below. Masonry bruised her ribs but she couldn’t get breath to try inching back. Fear of another fall, this time with her in it, froze her.
She couldn’t see Raul now and the staccato beat of blood in her ears drowned every sound. Her throat closed so she couldn’t even yell for help. Swirling nausea made her head swim.
Her breath came in jerky gasps as she tried to crawl backwards, only to slide further forward as another block tumbled with a reverberating crash.
Any minute now, that could be her.
‘It’s all right.’ The deep, soothing voice barely penetrated her consciousness. ‘I’ve got you.’ On the words strong arms slid beneath her waist.
‘No!’ she gasped, terror freezing her muscles. ‘Keep back. It’s too dangerous.’ Surely Raul’s weight with hers on the unstable wall would send them both plummeting.
‘Don’t move. Just relax and let me do this.’
‘Relax?’ He must be kidding. Luisa squeezed her eyes shut as swirling dots appeared in her vision.
Her body was rigid as he hauled her back, his arms locked around her. She waited, breathless, for the ominous groan of rock on rock. Instead she heard Raul’s indrawn breath as he took her weight against him, dragging her slowly but inexorably to safety.
There was heat behind her. Searing heat that branded her back as he held her to him. His breath feathered her nape and his hands gripped so hard she wondered if she’d have bruises. But they’d be nothing to the bruises on her ribs from the stones. Or to her injuries if she’d fallen.
A shudder racked her and she squeezed her eyes even tighter, trying to block the pictures her mind conjured.
‘Shh. It’s all right. You’re safe. I promise.’ Yet the tremors wouldn’t subside. Her teeth began to chatter.
Desperately she sought for composure. ‘I n-never did l-like heights.’
‘Open your eyes.’ He held her away and the shaking worsened. Her eyes snapped open in protest but he was already lowering her to sit on the floor.
Luisa slumped like a rag doll, her bones water. Even now the view down to the distant flagstones was emblazoned on her brain.
‘Here, lean forward.’ She did as she was told and heat enveloped her as Raul draped his jacket around her quaking shoulders. A subtle spicy scent surrounded her. The scent of Raul’s aftershave. Or perhaps the scent of him. Luisa breathed deep, letting the fragrance fill her lungs.
She lifted her head. He stood before her, hands on hips, brow pleated and mouth a stark line.
Luisa had seen him without a jacket only once, briefly, in the limo. Always he was impeccably dressed. It shocked her that beneath that tailored elegance was a broad chest of considerable power.
Her eyes trailed over his heaving torso, noting the way his stance drew the fine cotton of his shirt taut, moulding to a body that wasn’t that of an effete clothes horse but a strong, very masculine man. Luisa’s heart skittered to a new rhythm as she remembered that solid muscle pressed against her on the boat in Paris. No wonder he’d felt so good!
‘We need to get you inside where it’s warm.’ Yet he didn’t move to help her rise. Did he see how weak she was?
Shakily she nodded, drawing his jacket close. ‘Soon. I need to get my b-breath.’ She had to pull herself together but she couldn’t quite manage it.
‘Here.’ With a quick stride, Raul moved behind her. Next thing she knew, those capable hands were on her again. He pulled her up and across his lap as he sat leaning against the wall opposite the gap.
Luisa should protest. She didn’t want to be this close to him. But she didn’t have the energy to resist and had to be content holding herself as stiff as she could in his arms. As if she could ignore the heat of those solid, muscular thighs or his arms around her!
‘I hope that wall’s safe!’
‘It’s fine. Don’t worry. It’s only the other side that’s a problem.’ He hauled her closer so her shoulder was tucked into his chest. ‘Didn’t you see the warning sign?’
She recalled a neat sign at the base of the tower but she’d barely glanced at it.
‘The door was unlocked.’
‘It won’t be in future.’ His voice was grim. ‘Not until it’s safe.’ He tugged her closer but she resisted. Any nearer and her head would be on his shoulder. The idea both attracted and horrified her.
‘Why did you come up here? You get finer views from the other side of the castle.’
She shrugged jerkily. ‘I wanted to see the parterre garden. Gregor showed it to me, but you don’t get the effect from the ground.’
‘Gregor?’ A steely note in his voice made her turn and meet his eyes head-on. They had darkened to a shade of rich forest-green. This close she was surprised to find a glimmer of scintillating gold sprinkled there too.
‘Yes.’ She found she was leaning towards him and drew back abruptly. ‘One of your gardeners. He showed me around.’
The frown returned to Raul’s face and his mouth flattened. But, instead of marring his features, it made him look like a sulky angel.
A quiver began low in her stomach that had nothing to do with her recent scare.
‘He didn’t encourage you to come up here, did he?’
‘Of course not.’ It was only now she realised Gregor’s gestures had been to warn her away from the unsafe structure.
‘Thank you for saving me.’ She should have thanked Raul immediately but her brain was too frazzled.
‘I’m just glad I saw you when I did.’ His hold firmed and his frown became a scowl, as if he’d like to blame someone.