Once they were out of the room and Antonio secured the door, she insisted he remain still and quiet while she placed her hand on his face and sought out anything wrong in his body.
She found inflammation in his throat and willed it away. She lowered her hand upon his chest and felt his heart and lungs. Both were vibrantly healthy. She smiled and removed her hand.
His hand touched his throat. “Amy, I think you have a touch of healing.”
She stared up at him, worried he would disappoint her. She was so certain he would not care. Gunter and the Silent Three had not minded her gift. He was so like them.
“Why was it kept a secret from me?”
“I’ve always kept it a secret. Gunter feared the townspeople would burn me on a stake if they knew.”
“I am not a townsperson. Can you heal yourself. You were in that room as long as I.”
“I’ve healed my ankle when it was sprained.”
“Then do so now, while we are alone.”
“He’s right Amy, if you found damage in him, it is probably in you as well,” Uncle John said.
Amy closed her eyes and pulled her thoughts inward to her own body. She quickly located damage, not in her throat but deep in her lung. That deep breath she had taken must have pulled the particles into her. She willed them away and then opened her eyes.
“Did it work?”
She smiled and nodded, hoping it did. She would check them both the next day just to make certain.
“Now return to the others, Ann is growing concerned,” Uncle John ordered.
“We’re going now,” she assured him and then blushed as she realized she had spoken aloud.
“Amy, is there some other secret you keep from the townspeople that I should know?”
“I’m not mad,” she assured him.
“That thought never crossed my mind. But you were just talking to someone that I cannot see, and it’s not the first time I’ve seen you distracted as if listening to words no one else can hear.”
“You might as well tell him. If he doesn’t believe you, you can tell him to ask Gunter,” Uncle John said.
“It’s Uncle John. When he died, he did not leave in the light. He stayed for me.”
Antonio looked around the room. “The colonel is here? Can he hear me?”
“Yes, he can hear and see everyone, but only a few can hear and see him.”
“Gunter can hear him,” Antonio realized.
“Yes…and Father Duncan.”
“How I envy them!” He paused and took her hands into his. “If I send you upstairs, is it possible for the colonel to remain down here. I would greatly like to speak to him.”
Amy looked at Uncle John.
Uncle John smiled. “I would greatly like to hear what he has to say.”
“I will leave you to your talk then.” She sighed and left the room.
Chapter 18
Antonio looked around the room. “I wish I knew where you were, Colonel, so I could face you. The conversation I wish to have is one that should be made face to face.” Suddenly a broom fell. He turned to the noise. “You know more about me than almost anyone. You know most of the deeds I’ve done for my country as a young boy, and I’ve done worse since. I have no regrets or shame for my actions, but by the mores of society, they would be found unacceptable by even the lowest tier of men. I am seen as ruthless and hard.”
Antonio paused, for he had almost talked himself out of his request. He was so unworthy of what he wanted, but that stubborn resilience that had served him so well through his life forced him to pursue it even when it seemed utterly hopeless.
“Colonel, I am not a man that any father or uncle would wish for their child. While I am well-educated and capable of the pretense of being a gentleman, I have no desire to enter society and lead a foolish idle life. I prefer action to no action. I choose conversations of reason and logic to gossip. I enjoy planning and then seeing the plan through to perfection. The truth is that I became a soldier so early in life that I cannot put it down in times of peace as you did.”
He sighed. “Sadly, my faults do not just end with my occupation. You know my reputation with the ladies, and I would like to assure you that the stories are exaggerated, but they are not. In fact, I’ve never heard one told that wasn’t the ugly truth of what I had done. I did not set out to break young girl’s hearts, and I have tried very hard not to leave them with lasting gifts, but by now I have probably broken over a thousand hearts, and there may be a child or two of mine somewhere out there. I do not know of them if there are, but there are many nights when I’ve been so full of drink that I cannot account for my actions.”
He focused hard into the corner searching for something that would tell him the colonel was there. “At first, I enjoyed the ease in which women came to me. I knew it was only this face and body that attracted them, but it made the taking of pleasure so easy. I never went a day without one or two young ladies. I took of pleasure with the same regularity that I took of food and drink. I liked being the envy of men. I enjoyed the ability to possess all the women in a room with a single smile.
“You once said that I would be better served if I had not come out of the war quite so untouched. At the time, I thought you were talking about my soul and the fact, like Gunter, I felt no guilt over the lives I took. But as years went by in which I partook of pleasure from women who knew nothing about me nor I of them, I wondered if you had not meant a few ragged scars to remove the beauty of this face.
“And as the years continued, I began to wonder the same, finding my endless supply of passion quite unfulfilling. I would feel this terrible loneliness even in the midst of making love. I wanted what the poets wrote about, a love based on deeper attributes than a pretty face and shapely body. I wanted a companion, a friend who would fill me in all ways, not just in the bed.
“I tried to find this woman, and it was like searching in a mirror. I would ask them what their favorite color might be, and they would ask mine and then declare it to be theirs. Each one of them seemed to be an empty slate waiting for me to write in their likes and interests.” He sighed. “I didn’t want an empty slate. I wanted someone whose slate was already filled so I could spend my life reading it. I wanted an active woman with skills I could admire, with a sense of humor and playfulness to match my own, with an intelligence that could follow my thoughts and rationale.
“I began to fear no such woman existed, but then I met Father Duncan when he came to help a poor old tortured soul in the hells of London. He had requested volunteers to help hold a frail old man to his bed. He required the volunteers to be strong, healthy, brave, and able to follow orders without deviation or hesitation.” Antonio smiled. “You have to realize how irresistible that list was to me. When I applied for the job, Father Duncan took one look at me and said I’d do. Three other burly men he sent away. I had to wait for several hours before eight men could be found that met Father Duncan’s approval.
“When we finally walked into the room of the old man, I, for a moment thought Father Duncan had played us for a fool. The man weighed no more than eighty pounds and looked so frail a strong wind might break him. Yet, I had committed to assist, so I stayed at my task.”
Antonio paused. “The demons inside that poor old man were not frail. That was the most frightening thing I have ever experienced. When we left two days later, depleted beyond any exhaustion I have ever known, it was Father Duncan who tended us while we recovered. And while I lay on a mat with hardly the strength to drink water, he inquired of my past and the future I sought. I told him about my time in the war and a bit of what I had done since. He was surprised that a man with a thriving business would take time to answer a call for volunteers for a poor old man in the slums. I confessed I had found the ad in the paper too irresistible.
“Then I told him about the wife I sought but could not find. I admitted I had begun to fear no women like her existed. He assured me they did and told me about this wonderful girl he kn
ew who was always full of joy, with the sweetest temperament. While still quite young she studied to be a doctor, wishing to be a person with a useful occupation. I asked where I might find her, but he refused to say anything except she was too young yet.”
Antonio grimaced. “To be teased with my dream and then have it taken back put me in a terrible temper and I cursed the priest for even telling me about her. He said he mentioned her, not so I could marry her, but so I knew that diamonds were out there and not to settle for less.”
“Then a year ago, Father Duncan comes to me and asks if I will help save the life of the new Earl of Soundberry. At first, I refused. He was going through your money at a rate that even Allen could not have done. With that wife, it would be unlikely any child born would be his. I honestly didn’t care if he died or not. But then Father Duncan reminded me of my dream girl and disclosed she was your niece. She had planned to marry Nicolas, but he had broken his word with you and married Allen’s daughter instead, and now Amy was at risk. If Nicolas were to die, she would have no guardian and the courts would appoint one.
“I’ve seen enough court appointed guardians to know how badly that goes. Although to be honest, they couldn’t have done worse for her than Nicolas had,” he grumbled. “Helping Nicolas would help Amy. I got Nicolas and his horrid bride off to France and then returned and did London a great favor by removing an evil cancer. I made it look like an accident, but so many people wanted Allen dead, that the Metropolitan Police didn’t believe it an accident for a second. So ironically, the fact that it looked exactly like an accident made them suspect me.”
Antonio smiled. “I was almost too clever for my own good. Fortunately, Nicolas held firm on my alibi that I had never left his service while in France and there was nothing they could do. That I remained as Nicolas’ valet all these years has confounded Inspector Yardrow. He had me watched constantly the first three months and then his men had to return to real work. There was no way he could discover my motivation for remaining.”
“I imagine you’ve figured it out. You watched me hunt enough times. I had settled into my hide and was waiting. This time instead of a prey, I waited for the woman I planned to marry. I had no idea what she looked like. I had no idea if I would find her the least bit physically attractive. But from all that Father Duncan had said, I knew she was the perfect woman for me.”
He paced they room as excitement filled his heart. “You have no idea the emotions I felt as we watched her ship arrive. When I first saw her—dear God she was so beautiful and so full of joy and life—I could barely contain myself. To have everything I wanted in such a lovely package. It was too much to believe.”
He laughed with bitterness. “I would have been better served if she were not half so beautiful. I fear even without a dowry or a firm claim to your bloodline, there will be at least one of the gentry that will recognize the diamond she is. I fear they will seduce her—she is so ripe for seduction—and I will lose her even before she is aware that I am a contender for her hand.”
“You might wonder why I have held back. Why I have not proclaimed I love her? My fear is that she has not yet seen all of the man behind the pretty face. I don’t want her to marry me and then discover she has married a monster. I need her to know who I am, so she can choose another if she wishes.”
“Colonel, you know who I am. If you do not think it is possible for an angel so sweet and pure to ever to accept such darkness, can you find a way to let me know? I will respect your decision and pull back. Otherwise, I intend to move forward and fight to claim this beautiful diamond.”
Antonio stopped pacing and sighed. “I wish I could see you. I wish I could hear your voice. Perhaps you can send a message through Gunter.” After a long pause of silence, he left the room.
***
When Antonio entered the drawing room, Ann stopped mid-sentence and focused on him. “Did you get lost? You shouldn’t have remained down there for so long. It’s not safe.”
His eyes sought out Gunter who was frowning as he tilted his head to one side as if listening to instructions.
He noted that Amy frowned as well as she stared at Gunter. She looked neither happy nor heart broken, which confused him. She then rose and took a seat closer to Gunter. The old soldier glanced over at her and scowled. Antonio almost laughed. The little sneak was trying to eavesdrop on the colonel’s and Gunter’s conversation.
Then he felt Gunter’s dark eyes on him. The hairs on the back of his neck rose, but that was nothing new. That had been his reaction to Gunter’s stare since he was a boy of six. His mother had claimed Gunter was the angel of death and even a glance at a person would cause their soul to tremble in fear.
He met Gunter’s stare. The man didn’t seem upset, but neither did he look as if he were planning congratulations on a soon to be marriage. He wondered how soon he would get a reply from Gunter.
He surveyed the room and realized Nicolas and Tomas were missing.
“Did Nicolas leave?”
Ann looked up. “Yes, soon after Amy returned with the drugs and ensured he understood the dosages. I had offered him a place to stay tonight, but he had evidently given orders to pack their luggage and be ready to leave to the country when he left at noon. He didn’t want Sicily to arrive home and countermand his order.”
“Was there a discussion on how he was going to get Sicily to voluntarily drink her laudanum?” Antonio challenged. He was very concerned that Nicolas left with half a plan.
“He said he could manage that well enough,” Amy replied.
“It’s the small details that make a plan work.” Antonio stood up. Locating his jacket, he pulled it on and looked at Amy. “I should be back later.”
“I hope you are not going to Nicolas’ with the document still in your pocket,” Ann scolded.
“Actually, I planned to sneak into the records room of the courthouse and file it myself while everyone is distracted. When I’m done, I will stop over and assist Nicolas. By then he will have either failed or succeeded with his own attempt.”
With one more look at Amy’s smiling face, he left the room.
Chapter 19
Antonio did not mind his good looks today. When trying to do something not exactly within the regulations, it never hurt to have good looks and irresistible charm. The young clerk who stopped and chided him for entering a restricted area, now cheerfully helped him fix ‘the error’ in the official filing records.
“I don’t understand. The logging of this document should be right here,” the clerk declared and pointed at the records book.
“Is it possible it was recorded on the wrong page?”
“It happens,” the young man admitted. “But when it does, it’s the clerk that gets fired. This is so unfair; I did not work in this section when this was improperly filed, but mark my word, I will be blamed.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Nevertheless, I will be fired.”
“What if you were to write it in now between the two lines?” Antonio suggested. “I noticed other pages where that was done.”
“I could, but somewhere in here there will be another filing of the same record.”
“Unless the clerk failed to record it at all. And either way, who would notice a double filing? The only place anyone would ever look for it is in its proper place.”
“That’s true,” the young man admitted and then checked to make certain his supervisor was not about. Then the young clerk wrote the filing date into the records and took the document from Antonio. “Thank you for understanding about how these things happen. I assure you, I will return the document back to its proper place in the filing system.” Then he paused, with a furrowed brow. “Do you know who let you in here, sir? You weren’t supposed to retrieve the records. A clerk at the desk should have gotten it for you.”
“When I came in I didn’t see a clerk, so I came back here. It’s a good thing I did. I imagine a clerk would have looked at the records book and told me the
document didn’t exist.”
The clerk nodded in agreement.
“Elden, who is this gentleman?” an authoritative voice demanded.
“I don’t know, sir,” the clerk stammered.
Antonio introduced himself as Carl Smitherson, the judge’s nephew. He claimed he was taking a tour while he waited for the judge to be done with court. “I thought the cases would be interesting to watch, but I found them dreadfully dull, talking on and on about this law and that.” He sighed. “Although, this is a very dull library as well.”
“This is not a library, sir,” the man assured him. “You should not have been allowed back here.” He glared at poor Elden.
“That was what this fellow was explaining when you arrived. And if you will point the way out, I will gladly leave. This place is in need of dusting.” To prove his complaint, he sneezed on the man and then apologized profusely.
Elden was ordered to see the gentleman out. As the young man opened the door that would lead to the hall, his eyes studied Antonio’s jacket. “You aren’t really the judge’s nephew, are you, sir?”
“No, I said that in hopes of keeping you from being fired. If I said I was just an average fellow, your boss would have held you responsible for my presence. However, he cannot expect you to boss about the social elite, so I hoped it would save your job. If it doesn’t, you may ask for Harry at the Barns Shipping Company. Tell him apples are best picked from the tree. He will give you a job.”
The young man frowned. “I appreciate that, sir, but it is my responsibility to protect these records until I am fired. If you wouldn’t mind removing your jacket and allow me to examine it.”
Antonio laughed at the boy’s cheekiness.
“Not at all, Elden. It would be my pleasure.”
Once assured Antonio had not pilfered documents from the records room, Elden apologized for the necessity. “I hope you were not too insulted.”
“It makes me think all the better of you. And remember ‘apples are best picked from the tree.’ If you ever need a job, it’s yours.”
Love's Betrayals (The Extraordinary Life of Amy Winston Book 2) Page 11
