Reckless

by Shannon Drake

  “Are we off to see the sights?” she demanded.

  “I believe so. We should all be gathered shortly.”

  Margaret entered next. She, too, was in blue, and this a very soft and true shade that matched her eyes. Kat studied the design of the gown; it was elegant yet utile, with a slight hike in the front of the skirt to afford easy walking on long treks. The bodice was quite decent, yet escalloped in a trim that emphasized the slim lines of her figure.

  “How lovely!” Lavinia told her.

  Margaret smiled, glancing at Kat, inclining her head. “I’ve a personal designer. An incredibly talented young woman.”

  Kat grinned, acknowledging with a nod the compliment on behalf of her sister, as Lavinia began insisting that she must know the designer’s name.

  “Ah, Jagger, what has taken you so long!” Lavinia demanded as Lord Avery walked into the room. “I, my friend, could have seen half of the country while you were still shaving!”

  “Lavinia, the point is, could half the country take seeing you?” he retorted.

  Hunter came in from the side door then, calling a greeting to them all. His gaze fell on the open sketchbook, then on Kat, and a frown briefly knit his brow. He walked to the sketchbook, closing it nonchalantly. “So, what treasure shall we view in the time we have?” he queried.

  Camille and Brian arrived, and the latter informed them, “We’ve several carriages below, but it would be best if we chose an itinerary.”

  “I should so love to see the Forum and the Colosseum,” Camille said.

  “Then, if it is agreeable to everyone,” Hunter said, “that is what we shall do.”

  They set off in the three carriages. Kat could not keep from continually staring out the window, amazed at the sights, arches and aqueducts, ruins here and there and everywhere dispersed between newer buildings, magnificent churches. And people! Italians bustling about, as busy as bees, ladies and gentlemen in fine clothing, gypsies approaching them, babes in arms. Cafés littered the walkways, and everywhere were shouts of “Ciao, bella!”

  When they arrived at their destination, the mighty arena rising high, guides descended upon them. Hunter made the necessary deals.

  “Lavinia, do take care,” Lord Avery warned. “There are nooks and crannies and steep steps all about.”

  “Jagger,” she complained, “I am not so old that I must be coddled. But I shall be happy to look after you!”

  Allan and Robert managed to secure positions at Lady Margaret’s side, and Kat found herself blushing when Hunter took her arm, his eyes on her possessing a strange light, a small smile on his face. “What is it?” she asked him.

  He shook his head. “It is simply pleasurable to see your utter fascination,” he told her.

  There were groups all about, and here and there, they met Lady so-and-so or Lord so and so, Conte this or that, as it seemed that this was a popular spot for the elite of Europe to tarry on their journeys elsewhere, or to simply spend the winter months.

  Once in the giant arena with their guide showing them where animals once were kept, where the caesars sat, how the masses were arrayed, they began to wander a bit. A friend of Hunter’s hailed him, and Kat did a bit of roaming about on her own.

  She wasn’t quite sure where she was when she came to an area with rather treacherous footing that ended in a steep incline. Once, it had been steps, but they were broken and in disorder. She crawled atop one, trying to get her bearings. Taking another step, she found herself in one of the archways, where, she was certain the guide had said, those about to enter the arena gathered. She turned and realized that David had followed her, that he was staring at her—and that he barred her way.

  “Kat!” He said her name like an adulation.

  “David,” she replied uneasily. “This is incredible, isn’t it?”

  “How can you live this lie?” he asked her reproachfully.

  “David, we shouldn’t be here,” she said uncomfortably.

  “I’ll do it,” he said.

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “I’ll marry you. I’ll defy my father. I’ll marry you. With your talents…” He trailed off, as if not certain.

  They were words she had longed to hear not so long ago. But now…they sounded strange. Out of place.

  “David, this isn’t the time—”

  “Give me a chance!” He started toward her.

  “David, are you mad? Hunter will tear you to pieces!”

  David lifted his chin. “Hunter! The swaggering soldier, great man of the world! Well, he is forgetting that I am a Turnberry and that my father is one of the most powerful men in the country!”

  “David, we’re far from your father now,” she told him softly.

  “Kat, I know that this is a farce. There is nothing wrong in anything I have said or done. To be the mistress of such a man as myself is certainly respectable. But as I have said… Kat, you have so much strength, ability, and with you by my side… Oh, Kat, let me touch you, let me show you…”

  Instinctively, she backed away. He followed. They were caught precariously on a step, with the incline just behind them. The sun was nearly gone, and the shadow of the archway left them in near darkness.

  “David—” she began, looking into his eyes. She broke off, hearing a strange scraping sound. Looking up, she saw that one of the massive structural stones just above them seemed to be teetering.

  It was going to fall!

  “Watch out!” she screamed, clutching him, dragging him toward her. The effort caused her to topple backward. They both fell from the precarious step into the incline.

  Chapter 12

  BRIAN WAS HIGH ATOP ONE of the tiers with Hunter, watching as the Italian guides brought their caches of tourists about, when he asked, “Do you seriously think that there is far more than meets the eye going on here?”

  Hunter shrugged. “I don’t know. It would be quite bizarre. I can’t imagine any reason that someone should want David Turnberry dead. But if it is so, would it likely be one of us? Still, Camille’s map did disappear. I can’t imagine that the map would do anyone any good if they weren’t actually out in the desert.” He shook his head. “And now, I’m afraid, everyone will know that Kat has managed to make a reproduction of it; the young men arrived this evening after she had been working, and they have all seen it. But to think that there is really something afoot here boggles the imagination.”

  “Mmm,” Brian murmured. “I was speaking with Lavinia earlier, and she is really quite fascinating.”

  “Oh, she’s a pip! But what does my dear great-aunt have to do with any of this? The only real possibility of anyone wanting anyone out of the way would be Lady Daws—she’d be glad to be rid herself of Lord Alfred. But she isn’t with us. And there’s been nothing in the years past to suggest that she might actually be a murderess. Besides, it’s David being targeted, apparently. Where do we look? Lord Avery? Doubtful. Margaret? More than doubtful.”

  “I think that perhaps we should talk more with Lavinia. She knows everyone and everything,” Brian said. “And she was telling me that it was, indeed, the scandal of the year when Isabella became Lady Daws. There were those who thought that she drugged the man to get him to marry her. And there were those, as well, who claimed that she had been his mistress for years, that she had known him before he married his first wife.”

  “But how would that put David Turnberry in danger?” Hunter said. “I see no logic.”

  “There must be logic somewhere. We simply haven’t figured it out yet.”

  “If there is anything to figure out,” Hunter reminded him.

  It was then that they heard the scream.

  “Kat!” Hunter cried, recognizing her voice immediately—and hearing the panic and desperation in it.

  He began to run.

  KAT AND DAVID TUMBLED over and over, and at last crashed into the wall at the base of the incline. He was on top of her, terror in his eyes.

  But they were alive. And becaus
e they had rolled, rather than pitching straight down, they were mussed and bruised, but they were not, thank God, broken.

  “Kat!” David held on to her, shaking.

  He was heavy, pressing her down. And, surely, they made a less-than-innocent picture.

  “David, off, please!” she begged, certain that her scream must have alerted the others. It had, indeed. Footsteps sounded above them.

  Reaching the incline first, Camille called out a startled “Oh!” And came to a dead standstill.

  Brian swept by his wife, carefully bending to walk down the steep incline, followed by Hunter. Luckily, Brian arrived first. He helped David up, and Hunter was free to grasp Kat’s hands and pull her to her feet. She didn’t at all like the look in his eyes when they met hers, but to his credit his first words were, “Are you all right?”

  She nodded.

  “What in God’s name happened?” Brian demanded.

  “A stone fell,” Kat explained.

  “Where were you when it fell?”

  She pointed. The stone had broken into many pieces.

  “We’ll return to the hotel immediately,” Hunter said.

  “But there’s so much more to see!” Kat protested.

  Brian was already helping David up to the walkway. Hunter shook his head at Kat and said, “Not for you.”

  “But…”

  Her protest was to no avail. She wasn’t sure that her feet were on the ground at all as he brought her up to the walkway. Camille and Margaret made quite a fuss over her. Lavinia studied her and the structure where they had been, and the fallen stone. “How very, very odd!” she said.

  “We’ll be returning to the hotel,” Hunter said flatly.

  “Hunter, please,” Kat said. “We have such a short time here. There are so many more wonders to behold.”

  “They’re hard to behold at night, and it’s nearly dark,” Hunter said curtly.

  “Perhaps the others would like to continue sightseeing,” Kat suggested.

  Again to no avail.

  “Oh, there’s been quite enough excitement for the day!” Margaret pointed out. She was at David’s side, briskly slapping dust from his clothing. “Are you really both quite all right?” she asked anxiously.

  “Fine,” Kat said.

  “Ever so slightly sore!” David said, offering Margaret one of his sweet smiles. Kat lowered her head, biting her lips.

  He certainly knew how and when to smile, and just how to appear courageous and wounded at the same time.

  “I have certainly had enough for the afternoon,” Lavinia remarked. “But then again, children, I have seen these wonders many times. The world is such a truly magnificent place. Truly, I think that more travel should be required of children.”

  “Not all children can afford to travel, Vinnie,” Lord Avery said, shaking his head.

  “Then you should arrange for more to do so, Jagger!” Lavinia retorted.

  “We can argue all night,” Hunter said. “Kat needs to return to the hotel.”

  “We shall all go, and that is that!” Brian said. “Any objections?”

  “Let’s all go back together,” Robert Stewart said. “Maybe we university men will step out on our own a bit later. Find Professor Atworthy—he’s supposed to be out sketching somewhere.”

  “He won’t be sketching in the dark,” Hunter said.

  “I believe he means that we free young gentlemen should do a bit of cutting up,” Allan said, clearing his throat and laughing.

  “You young gentlemen do as you wish!” Margaret told him. “I’m going to see to it that poor David has a lovely dinner and then is off to bed.”

  Kat caught a glance that David cast Allan’s way.

  There was a smug look of triumph to it. Something inside her made a little thud. She realized that she was coming to know him far better than she had dared hoped.

  And that she was not at all sure she liked what she was learning. Still, she couldn’t help but be worried for him.

  “Let’s move,” Hunter said.

  Minutes later they were back in the carriages. Back at the hotel, Emma, who had not been interested in the wonders of Rome, met them in the hallway and was aghast at the dust covering Kat. She took her under her wing, and once again, Kat had the luxury of a long soak in the bath. Emma’s perfumed body salts smelled divine, and the suds were soft and luxurious on her flesh. She had to admit that the hot water felt wonderful, and that it did soothe the soreness in her muscles.

  When she emerged, Emma was there, clucking with concern, ready to wrap her in a soft and elegant velvet robe. “Now, I’ve had a nice supper brought up for you, and after you have eaten, I want you to get some rest! Goodness, excitement does seem to follow you!” Emma declared, and left her.

  After she had finished the delicious supper of pasta and veal, Kat lay down on the bed, but she hadn’t the least desire to rest. She got up, still wearing the robe, paced the room a bit, nervous, wondering what Hunter thought, then she grew angry, aware that she had done nothing wrong, and she carefully cracked open the door that separated her room from the parlor and Hunter’s quarters.

  He was there, staring into the fire, sipping a brandy. He glanced up at her instantly. “Were you hoping I wasn’t here?” he queried.

  “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “Well, you opened the door. Come in.”

  “I think not.”

  “Are you now afraid of me?”

  “No. I’m not afraid of you—or anyone.”

  “Maybe you should be.”

  “Afraid of you?”

  He smiled slightly. “Maybe.”

  She stepped into the parlor, closing the door to her room behind her.

  “Well, then,” she said lightly, “let’s have it out. With you, it seems, I am always at fault somehow.”

  “At fault? We had an agreement,” he told her sharply.

  “It was an accident!”

  “Yes, but it’s curious that you were involved in it.”

  She strode over to him. “I was exploring the ruin, and that was all.”

  “With David?” he asked politely.

  “We were all at the ruins together.”

  “Odd, how you managed to be at the same place as he was.”

  “I was not arm in arm with him!”

  “But you did just happen to be together.”

  “Yes! We just happened to be there together.”

  “Ah. And then a stone fell,” Hunter said skeptically. “And once again, you were there, to rescue the love of your life. Or vice versa. And you managed to tumble to safety in each other’s arms.”

  She ignored his tone as a sudden realization filled her. She gasped. Only just now did she see how close either she or David or both had come to dying.

  She clutched Hunter’s arm. “No…no! Stones don’t just fall. Hunter, don’t you see? I was right. David Turnberry is in danger!”

  Hunter snorted with disgust, pulling his arm from her hold.

  “Hunter, I am telling you—”

  “Oh, yes, you’ve fallen out of your blind and absolute adoration for the man, and we’re merely on a quest to keep him alive!”

  She stared at him. “Think what you like!”

  “He is still harboring delusions that you will sleep with him, become his mistress.”

  She kept silent for a moment, staring at him. He was definitely in a mood. And she surely did not want him finding out that he was very near the truth.

  “You’re not being at all cordial and I don’t believe I care to speak with you anymore this evening,” she told him.

  She turned to walk back to her room. He caught her by the arm, swinging her hard against him, his grip firm on her arm, the length of her body pressed tightly to his. There was serious menace in his eyes, and a heated energy in his frame that seemed almost combustible.

  “You don’t care to speak to me?”

  “Hunter…please!”

  “How much of a fool do you take me fo
r?” he demanded.

  “Why must you ever assume the worst of me?” she cried in return.

  “Because you are ready to sell yourself, body and soul, to a young fool who wouldn’t know what to do with you if he had you!”

  “Well, Sir Hunter, everyone cannot have your vast experience in life and love!” she mocked angrily.

  “Perhaps it’s not so much a matter of experience as it is a simple matter of real desire and passion in life,” he returned.

  “Ah, yes, you know life. There is no indecision for you, no uncertainty. There is nothing for you to fear, for your life is your own! There are not parents, loved ones, those who hold a hand in your future.”

  “The future, for any of us, is what we are willing to make of it!”

  “Easy for you to say, and easy for you to do!”

  “Easy? I had not his life of luxury. I was lucky to get into the queen’s forces as an officer, and lucky to fight and survive, and indeed, yes, make of my life what I would!”

  “With a princess for an aunt,” she mocked.

  “And you came from such a bitter place? A father who worked that you and your sister might do well?”

  “That is no reason to mock David so!” she defended.

  “Don’t you see yet that you don’t want him?”

  “And I should want you?” she cried. Whatever anger or frustration was ruling her, she did not know. She sought only to make him understand, yet what, exactly, it was that she wanted him to understand, she wasn’t entirely sure. She meant to be mocking only, to touch him, withdraw, to tell him that he was the only man a woman could want. “You!” she said scornfully again, and pressed herself harder against him, rising on her toes and pressing her lips to his.

  At the very least, she took him completely by surprise.

  But if she meant to play a dangerous game, he was willing to pick up the gauntlet.

  She had begun the taunting kiss. He would see it through.

  She had pressed herself against him; he put an arm around her back, fingers splaying across her spine. His left hand cupped the base of her skull, fingertips spread wide and caressing above her nape. His lips forced hers open, and when his tongue invaded the tender recesses of her mouth, it was as if a volcano had erupted within her, and she near melted with the heat. Her limbs seemed to grow weak, and she knew that what she had started was no longer something within her control at all, and that it should be stopped, had to be stopped….