‘But looking for proof,’ Melusine uttered impatiently. ‘Have I not said so?’
‘No, as it happens.’ He smiled down at her. ‘But that will do for a start. Now I’d like the rest of your story.’
Melusine’s eyes flashed. ‘You would like? And do you imagine that I will tell you?’
‘Won’t you?’
‘No, a thousand times.’
‘Damnation!’
‘What the devil ails you?’ demanded his friend, striding forward. ‘You know pretty much everything you need to know.’
Melusine swung round and stared at him, while Gerald silently cursed.
‘How much does he know?’ Without waiting for a reply, she turned narrowed eyes on Gerald. ‘So it is that you have made Jacques betray me.’
‘No, miss,’ cut in Kimble.
She glanced at him and made a dismissive gesture. ‘Do not be alarmed, Jacques. I am not angry with you, but with this—this—’
‘Idiot? Imbecile?’ offered Gerald in a helpful tone.
Melusine choked on a laugh, and Gerald at once seized the initiative, speaking in a tone deliberately soothing.
‘You have every right to be angry with me. You see, I kidnapped poor Jack and made him promise to send me word if you went careering off anywhere. He was extremely loyal to you. Indeed, he told me nothing at all. But he was at last persuaded that I mean you no harm, and that I might—just possibly, since I am both a gentleman and a major of militia—be able to be of more assistance to you than he himself. So, you see—’
‘Do not say any more,’ Melusine uttered, flinging away and moving to the fireplace. She turned there, clasped her hands behind her back and put up her chin. ‘I see that Leonardo was right. One cannot trust any man at all.’
The lad Kimble moved swiftly to the door and walked out of the room. Disappointment flickered in Gerald’s chest, and he did not hesitate to speak his mind, unable to help a reproachful note.
‘I don’t think he deserved that, Melusine.’
Quick remorse raced through Melusine’s veins, but she hit back strongly. ‘It needs not that you tell me.’ Then she ran swiftly out of the library, calling out as her cavalier was almost at the front door. ‘Jacques!’
He stopped, but he did not turn. Melusine ran to catch at his arm.
‘Jacques, do not go!’
Jack gazed steadfastly at the floor. ‘You were right, miss. I didn’t ought to have sent for him.’
Melusine’s heart twisted. ‘Jacques, you have been very much my friend. I have had no one but for you. But it is that I have a very bad temper, you understand.’
She sighed relief to see a faint grin as he ventured to raise his head.
‘I know that, miss. I don’t mind it.’
‘But you mind that I say I do not trust you. This is not true at all.’
Melusine put her arm through his in a friendly way and moved with him outside to stand on the porch, leaning into him in a confidential way.
‘Even the nuns they say I am like a devil. But you have looked after me very well, and we will not allow this Gérard, who makes me all the time excessively angry, you understand, to make trouble between us.’
‘I think he only wants to help you, miss,’ offered Jack. ‘He don’t mean you no harm.’
Melusine withdrew her hand. ‘Yes, but I do not know why he should wish to do so, and therefore I cannot permit that he interferes.’
She was about to develop this theme, when Jack’s gaze became fixed, and his expression changed. ‘Inside, miss!’
‘But what is it?’
‘Quick! We need the major.’
Before she could object, Melusine found herself hustled back into the house and dragged willy-nilly towards the library door, where Jack called softly.
‘Major, sir!’
The major appeared so swiftly that Melusine was instantly suspicious. Had he been listening inside?
‘What is amiss?’
‘That Frenchie, sir. He’s riding down the drive.’
‘Valade?’
‘Aye, sir.’
Shock threw Melusine’s heart out of kilter and she looked instinctively towards the major. ‘But―but how can he know?’
