Count Valieri's Prisoner

chapter FOURTEEN



‘MY GOD, DARLING,’ Jeremy said huskily. ‘It’s been absolute hell on bloody earth. I felt I was living through a nightmare.’

Maddie looked down at the glitter of the diamonds, now restored to her left hand. She said quietly, ‘It wasn’t exactly a walk in the park for me, either.’

But her nightmare, she thought, had begun forty-eight hours ago and was still continuing.

Jeremy shuddered. ‘You must have been terrified.’

‘At first,’ she said. ‘Then I got angry.’

‘Although, as my father said, you were never in any real danger. It wasn’t as if you’d been grabbed by the Mafia.’ He lowered his voice confidentially. ‘In fact, I gather it was all rather a storm in a teacup.’

‘Really?’ She kept her voice even. ‘I didn’t see it like that.’

‘Perhaps not,’ he said. ‘Yet here you are, home, safe, and all in one piece.’

In one piece, Maddie echoed in silent incredulity. Are you blind? Can’t you see that I’ve fallen apart? That I’m in bits?

Jeremy was speaking again, ‘I suppose you’ve told your family—your boss—everyone—what happened to you.’

‘No,’ she said. ‘My aunt and uncle, the girls, Todd—they all think I’ve been running round Northern Italy trying to track my lost soprano, and have now admitted defeat.’ She gave him a steady look. ‘I thought that was best.’

‘Absolutely. It solves a lot of problems—awkward questions and stuff.’ He shook his head. ‘After all, the whole thing was utterly ludicrous. Completely OTT. All this panic and uproar just to get Dad to exonerate some long-dead former employee from a richly deserved charge of fraud. Well, who could believe that?’

‘Who indeed?’ Maddie agreed ironically. ‘But if it was such a trivial matter, why did it take so long to fix it?’

He looked uncomfortable. ‘Well, darling, it’s the kind of situation that could easily be misconstrued. Dad had the bank’s reputation to consider.’

‘Yes, of course,’ she said. ‘Silly me.’

‘And what’s it to do with this Valieri guy anyway? He must be totally barking.’

‘No.’ Maddie considered for a moment. ‘Just—single-minded and very determined.’

‘Well, Trevor Simpson didn’t see him like that. His report was very different.’

‘I can imagine.’

He hesitated. ‘For one thing, it mentions that when he arrived, you were out driving round the countryside in Valieri’s company.’

Maddie turned her instinctive flinch into a shrug. ‘What of it?’

‘And then you refused to let Simpson bring you back.’ He paused. ‘You must see that it looks—odd.’

‘Actually, I don’t. I was offered a “get out of jail free” card for a few hours.’ Or free apart from the bitter cost in heartache, shame and regret.

‘I was going stir-crazy,’ she went on. ‘So I accepted.’

She added crisply, ‘And I found your Mr Simpson quite loathsome. Is that sufficient explanation?’

‘A bit of a rough diamond, perhaps,’ Jeremy said stiffly. ‘But Dad finds him useful and efficient.’ He took her hand. ‘I’m not trying to upset you, truly, but this is a difficult situation for me—and clearly I’m not handling it very well.

‘But I have to say that meeting in a wine bar after work isn’t the sort of romantic reunion I’d hoped for.’ He put his lips close to her ear. ‘Let’s get out of here and go to the flat. Dad’s promised we’ll have it to ourselves.’

Maddie controlled a sudden shiver. She said, ‘Jeremy, I can’t. Not yet. I’ve been through an ordeal. I—I need time.’

He sat back, his mouth tightening in obvious disappointment. ‘Which is something else we need to talk about. My father suggests that our wedding should be brought forward. That we have a quiet ceremony quite soon, and a big celebratory party as planned on the original date.’

‘Bring the wedding forward?’ she said slowly. ‘But why?’

Jeremy looked uncomfortable again. ‘He hopes it will make you feel more—settled. Besides, it’s only what you once claimed you wanted,’ he added defensively. ‘Let’s elope, you said. Special licence and a couple of witnesses.’

‘Which you refused.’

‘Surely I’m allowed to change my mind.’

‘Yes,’ Maddie said. ‘But so am I. And I think the previous arrangements should stand.’ She paused. ‘Needing some recovery time doesn’t make me a basket case.’

He took her hand again. ‘Sweetheart, can’t you understand that, after what happened, I don’t want to wait any longer?’

She bit her lip. ‘I think I’ve been subjected to enough pressure just recently. This is a major decision, Jeremy, and I won’t be rushed.’

‘Rushed?’ he repeated as if the word was new to him. ‘God, Maddie, we’re engaged to be married. You’ve promised to be my wife. Does it really matter if it happens sooner rather than later?’

Logic suggested that it didn’t. Gut instinct advised her to stick to her guns.

She said, ‘Tell me something. Why didn’t you bring that letter to Italy yourself?’

‘I wanted to, darling, believe me. But it was—tricky. You must see that.’

‘Tricky?’ she repeated. ‘What’s tricky about a storm in a teacup? Be honest, Jeremy. Your father said no, and you wouldn’t go against him. Not even if it meant being reunited with me a few days sooner.’

‘It was natural for him to be concerned.’

‘I wish he’d been equally concerned for me. I could have been free so much earlier.’ She paused. ‘Is that why he didn’t want me to go to Italy—because he was afraid the past might come back to haunt him?’

‘Of course not,’ he said quickly. ‘It was just some long-forgotten petty crime. He simply didn’t wish to be forced into a number of untruthful and potentially damaging admissions about it.

‘But, of course, your safety and well-being were paramount, so, in the end, he put his name to that tissue of lies. And that wasn’t all either. He had to ask not to be put forward for a life peerage. This hit him hard, but he said no sacrifice was too great.’

Maddie thought of the Contessa collapsing into a flood of tears because the honour of the man she loved had been vindicated at last. Of Andrea dropping the letter into the flames as if it was coated in slime.

But she supposed Jeremy, the devoted only son, could hardly be blamed for believing anything his father told him.

Jeremy’s voice became quiet, almost casual. ‘Tell me, my sweet, did the Valieri man ever say what he planned to do with it? Dad’s letter, I mean? He went to enough trouble to get hold of it, so he must have something in mind.’

He burnt it...

She almost spoke the words, but at the last moment something stopped her.

She said, ‘He was hardly likely to confide in me.’ And paused. ‘Why do you ask?’

‘For God’s sake, darling, isn’t it obvious? The bloody thing’s out there like a time bomb waiting to go off.’

Maddie said carefully, ‘Perhaps just having it is enough and he doesn’t mean to use it.’

Jeremy’s mouth hardened into an unpleasant line. ‘Sure—and watch out for flying pigs. Do you really think a bastard like that can be trusted?’

‘My experience of bastards,’ Maddie said, ‘is rather limited.’

He sighed. ‘Darling, this is why I want us to get married as quickly as possible. Maybe the notion of a man wanting to cherish and protect his wife is an old-fashioned one. If so, I’m an old-fashioned man and proud of it. So why make me wait?’

Maddie took a deep breath. ‘Maybe because of an inbuilt conviction that marriage is an equal partnership and that I’m quite able to take care of myself,’ she retorted.

‘Not,’ Jeremy said, ‘according to the evidence of the past few weeks.’

‘But I wasn’t the real target,’ Maddie pointed out quietly. ‘It was my association with your family that really exposed me to risk.’

‘And is this why you’re refusing to marry me?’

‘I haven’t refused,’ she said. ‘I just haven’t made up my mind.’

‘Well, we can discuss it at the weekend,’ said Jeremy. ‘Dad suggested we should go somewhere quiet and secluded together.’

Maddie wondered dispassionately how many times Nigel Sylvester had been mentioned since they’d first brought their drinks to this corner table.

She said quietly, ‘I’m afraid that isn’t possible. I’ve already arranged to stay with my aunt and uncle.’

He looked dismayed. ‘Can’t you see them another time? Surely if you explained we need time together they’d understand.’

‘Perhaps, but I owed them a visit before I went away,’ Maddie returned. ‘And anyway a few days at home will give me time to think. Then I promise you’ll have your answer.’

She also refused more wine and dinner at her favourite restaurant. ‘Can I take a rain check?’ Sensing his annoyance, she gave him a placatory smile. ‘I haven’t been sleeping too well since I got back, and I need an early night.’ Alone...

Outside the bar, Jeremy signalled to a taxi. As it drew up to the kerb, he took Maddie’s face in his hands and looked into her eyes.

He said in a low voice, ‘I hate myself for asking this, but I must. This Valieri—I need to know what happened while you were together. Oh God, Maddie did he use you—force himself on you?’

She met his gaze, telling herself she should be thankful that she could. Glad that she could be truthful about this at least.

‘No,’ she said quietly. ‘He never did. On the contrary.’ She swallowed. ‘I was simply part of a business transaction. Does that reassure you?’

‘I suppose it has to.’ He bent his head and kissed her, and Maddie made herself respond to the pressure of his lips.

‘We’re together again,’ he whispered, as he put her into the cab. ‘Back where we belong. I know everything’s going to be all right, and I’ll be waiting for your answer.’

As the taxi drove off, Maddie glanced back and saw him still standing on the edge of the kerb, eyes narrowed, face frowning as he watched her go, and had the strangest impression she was looking at a stranger.

But then nothing in the past two days had seemed quite real.

Not from the moment she’d fled from the salone back to her room, ripping off the robe and nightgown and leaving them in a crumpled heap on the floor. Crawling into the bed like a small animal seeking its lair.

But not to sleep. Instead she’d lain, staring into the darkness, counting the hours. Twice she’d got up, stumbling over to the door to his room and standing there, her fingers clasping the handle but afraid to turn it.

Wondering which would be worse—to find the bed unoccupied or risk another rejection.

When he’d said it was over, she hadn’t realised he also meant she had served her purpose. That at best she had been a challenge but now she had become an inconvenience to be dispensed with as soon as possible. A line had been drawn and her pathetic ill-judged attempt to cross it had simply ended in her own humiliation.

In the morning, all the other possessions she’d brought to Italy were waiting in the hall, as she came downstairs with her travel bag. Nothing had been overlooked.

Removing all trace of me, she thought, and the hurt of that was not assuaged by discovering at the airport that she’d been upgraded to first class.

Waiting for the flight to be called, she’d rung Aunt Fee, Todd and her flatmates warning them of her imminent return.

But not Jeremy. She wasn’t ready to face him. Not immediately.

I’ve too much to hide, she’d told herself, and I need some leeway.

Because she was too muddled, too emotionally bruised to be making major decisions about her future. Her days at the House of the Wolf had thrown her entire life into chaos and somehow she needed to pick up the threads of her existence and weave them back into a pattern that made sense.

Because, with the only certainty in her reeling world, she knew that if Andrea Valieri had taken her when she offered herself, she would not have left.

That she would have given herself, body and soul, for good or ill, and for as long as he wanted.

And the knowledge terrified her.

But now she had a whole weekend of peace and quiet in which to pull herself together, close the door on the past, and rebuild her future. The real future she had so nearly betrayed.

‘Back where we belong,’ Jeremy had said, and he was right. Because that was surely what she had to aim for. To remember, to the exclusion of all else, why she’d fallen in love with him, and agreed to be his wife. Because nothing else mattered.

After all, it would be wrong to assign any real blame in the Marchetti affair to him. He wasn’t responsible for something his father had done before he was born and lied about ever since.

Essentially, she needed to create a strong marriage which would act as a counterweight to Nigel Sylvester’s influence. It wouldn’t be easy, because she couldn’t destroy Jeremy’s illusions about his father, but it must happen if they were to have any chance of happiness.

And I’ll make it happen, she vowed silently.

Sally and Trisha had gone to the cinema, so she had the flat to herself when she got back. There was quiche and salad waiting in the fridge, so she ate a quick supper and decided to look through some of the emails that had accumulated on her personal laptop while she’d been absent.

As she scrolled down, the name ‘Janet Gladstone’ leapt out at her. My wedding dress, she thought, faintly puzzled. I wasn’t expecting to hear from her.

She clicked on the message, and sat, staring in disbelief. ‘It was a rush,’ it read. ‘But I’ve managed to get it finished. Please let me know when you can come for a final fitting.’

For a moment, Maddie felt as if a cold hand had touched her skin. Did Mrs Gladstone practise clairvoyance in her spare time? she wondered. Because this was more than odd. In fact, it was seriously weird, and distinctly premature.

‘What a surprise,’ she wrote back, after some thought. ‘I’ll see you at the weekend.’

And I’ll be asking some questions at the same time, she thought as she pressed Send.

* * *

‘It’s perfect,’ Maddie said almost reverently, letting the wild silk shimmer round her as she turned slowly in front of the full-length mirror. ‘Beautiful. And it needs no alterations at all.’ She shook her head. ‘Amazing. Thank you so much.’

Janet Gladstone beamed with satisfaction. ‘Not completely finished. Just one last stitch needed in the hem before you leave for the church. I like the old superstitions.’

Before I leave for the church, thought Maddie, trying to imagine it. To see herself walking up the aisle on Uncle Patrick’s arm to where Jeremy waited. To feel her heart lift as he turned to smile at her.

But this inner picture was strangely blurred, and, as she tried to focus, it wavered and vanished.

As the dress was wrapped in sheets of tissue then carefully encased in its plastic carrier, Maddie asked her question.

‘Mrs Gladstone, why did you think this was a rush job? The date I gave you is still weeks away.’

‘But Mrs Sylvester told me that date no longer applied. She said that she was calling on your behalf to warn me that the wedding would now be much earlier, and that the order would be cancelled if I couldn’t finish the dress in the time available.’

She added, looking anxious, ‘I hope I haven’t got it wrong, but she seemed so definite.’

‘Well, the mistake isn’t yours,’ Maddie said lightly. ‘And what really matters is that I have a wonderful dress.’

She paid the bill and took the dress carrier back to the parking area, placing it carefully across the rear seat of Aunt Fee’s car.

She’d intended to go straight home, but when she reached the crossroads, she turned left, heading for Fallowdene.

The housekeeper who answered the door agreed that Mrs Sylvester was at home, and conducted her to the drawing room where Esme was lounging on a sofa reading ‘Vogue’, a tray of coffee on the table in front of her.

‘Madeleine,’ she said. ‘To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?’ She put down her magazine and waved her to the opposite sofa. ‘Mrs Ferguson, please bring another cup.’

‘Thank you, but I don’t want any coffee.’ Maddie paused. ‘I’ve just collected my wedding dress, and I’d like to know why you wanted it finished in such a tearing hurry—and in my absence.’

Esme Sylvester’s elegant brows rose. ‘The Gladstone woman’s actually managed it? How unexpectedly efficient. But I was just the messenger. And a very surprised one, let me tell you.’

‘What do you mean?’

She shrugged. ‘I didn’t think there was going to be a wedding. Neither my husband nor my stepson like having their express wishes ignored, and Jeremy wants a wife who’ll do as she’s told and fall into line when required. Your Italian trip was quite the last straw.

‘But then you were kidnapped, and they had to think again.’

She paused. ‘If it had been only about money, they’d never have paid, of course, whatever the kidnappers had threatened. Some statement would have been issued about it being morally reprehensible to yield to blackmail.

‘But this, of course, was far worse. This was loss of face. Potential ruin.

‘Which is why they had to get you home, and why Jeremy has to sweep you off your feet and into instant matrimony. Because, my dear Madeleine, you now know far too much about the Tommaso Marchetti unpleasantness, and they need those particular facts kept safely in the family.’

Maddie’s lips felt stiff. ‘You—and Jeremy both know the truth?’

‘Naturally.’ Esme sounded almost bored. ‘Jeremy and his father have no secrets from each other. And, unlike you, I never had any illusions about the man I was going to marry. But the rewards have more than compensated for any passing moral qualms. Will you be able to say the same?’

‘I don’t believe any of this,’ Maddie said desperately. ‘You’re simply saying these things to make trouble, because you’ve never liked me.’

Esme smiled cynically. ‘You mean Jeremy hasn’t already questioned you about what the Valieri man intends to do with his information? Whether he can be trusted to keep his word about Nigel’s confession?’

‘How—how did you know that?’

‘Because, my naïve child, I know the Sylvesters and you don’t—or not yet, anyway. And until they get an answer, they won’t stop asking.’

She paused. ‘And I’m trying to do you a favour here, because you’ve no idea what you’re getting into.’

She gave a short laugh. ‘You always made it so transparently clear you were planning to prise Jeremy lovingly from his father’s grasp. But that will never happen, because, whatever you may choose to believe, Jeremy is no longer the boy you fell in love with years ago, but his father’s own son.’

She lowered her voice confidentially. ‘In fact, I can see a time when Nigel will learn from him. And I’m not at all sure you’ll be able to cope with that, however rich you become. You see, we’re so very different, you and I.’

‘Yes,’ Maddie said quietly. ‘Yes, we are.’ She eased the diamond ring from her left hand and put it on the table. ‘Thank you. It’s been—illuminating. You see I’d almost convinced myself that Jeremy needed me.’

‘Oh, no,’ Esme said softly. ‘Those two only need each other.’

Maddie was never sure how she got out of the house and back into the car. And of the journey home, she could only remember pulling over on to a verge somewhere and kneeling on the grass being violently sick.

And when the paroxysms were over, she sat up, knowing she was absolved from guilt and heart searching, and half-laughing, half-crying with the relief of it. Knowing too that being completely and utterly alone was so much better than settling for less than second best.

And that, somehow, she could learn to live with that.