The Duke awoke with a strong sense of danger.
It was something that had happened to him several times in India.
Having gone to bed peacefully and without apprehension of anything untoward, he had woken, almost as if someone had touched him, with a feeling that something dangerous was imminent together with a sense of urgency to act.
On each occasion that this had happened his instinct had been correct and on the last occasion he had saved himself and those he commanded from an unexpected assault that would have annihilated them all.
Now he sat up in bed, realising from the moonlight on either side of the curtains that it was late and he had been asleep for some time.
He climbed out of bed, went to the nearest window and looked out.
He saw as he expected the Strath lying beneath him, the light from the sky turning the river to silver and the moors silhouetted darkly against the stars.
The moon was now on the wane and was therefore not as bright as it had been the night he had found Giovanna beside the cascade.
Yet it was light enough for him to look below and see the garden and terrace of The Castle and to realise at a quick glance that there was nothing to perturb him there.
He told himself, as he had done before, that he was imagining the danger he sensed and then he knew that his instinct was stronger than the calculations of his mind and, whether he could see it or not, there was danger.
His thoughts instantly went to Giovanna.
He looked along the side of The Castle, craning forward through the open window to see the protruding walls of the Tower where she slept.
Then he stiffened and knew that once again his instinct had been right.
There was a definite movement at the foot of the Tower, where it was encircled by a balustraded terrace from which a long flight of steps went down into the garden.
It was difficult to see clearly, but he was sure that what he was seeing was two men, perhaps three, dark against the grey stones of The Castle.
He did not waste any more time looking.
Turning back into his bedroom, he picked up his robe from where Ross had left it on a chair and, pulling open the door, began to run speedily down the passage that led to Giovanna’s room.
When he reached it, he opened the door quietly and saw with a sense of relief that she was asleep on the canopied bed.
He could see her clearly, because, since she had come to The Castle, Mrs. Sutherland had wisely insisted that there should always be a fire burning in her room.
She knew, as the Duke did, that being so emaciated through lack of food Giovanna would feel the cold more acutely than any normal person.
It was actually too early in the year for fires, except occasionally in the evenings when it was windy or raining.
The Duke had therefore found Giovanna’s bedroom, when he visited her, almost unpleasantly warm.
Now he was grateful that by the light of the burning logs that were slowly turning to ashes, he could see that she had not yet been disturbed.
He closed the door behind him, crossed the room swiftly and put his hand very gently on her shoulder.
“Wake up,” he whispered.
She opened her eyes instantly and he was sure that the fear was already back in them before he said,
“Get up! You have to hide.”
He pulled aside the bedclothes as he spoke and she stepped out of bed in her nightgown. As she did so, the Duke pulled the cover, which had been folded back on the foot of the mattress, over the bedclothes.
Then he went to the panelled wall behind the bed.
He stood, feeling with his fingers on one of the scrolls that embellished the panelling and a second later a narrow portion of the wall opened.
The Duke looked round to find Giovanna standing beside him.
Without speaking he put his arms around her, realising as he did so that she was wearing only a nightgown and the white woollen shawl that Mrs. Sutherland had provided for her shoulders.
He lifted her inside the panel and put her hands on a rung of a ladder that was attached to the wall inside.
“Climb up,” he murmured. “I am just behind you.”
He closed the panel that led into the bedroom very quietly so that it should not make a noise and, as Giovanna started to climb up the rungs attached to the stone wall, he could just discern her small bare feet moving above him.
A little light came from an arrow slit and, as he followed Giovanna up to the top of the ladder, they moved into the turret of the Tower, which was immediately above her bedroom.
It was not high enough for a man to stand upright, but there was room to sit on the floor without having to crouch down.
The Duke, moving slowly so as not to make any sound, reached the centre of it and then, feeling with his hand because now there was very little light, he found what he sought.
Slowly he pulled two pieces of wood up from the floor and then reached out to take hold of Giovanna’s hand and draw her nearer to him.
Without speaking he put his arm around her and showed her that because he had removed the pieces of wood from the floor they could now look down into the bedroom beneath them.
The peepholes had actually been made hundreds of years earlier and a later Chieftain of the Clan had incorporated them in the plaster design on the ceiling so that it was impossible to notice them from below.
Looking down both Giovanna and the Duke could see in the light that came from the fire the centre of the bedroom and would undoubtedly be able to hear anything said in it.
Intent on hiding her, it was only now that the Duke became aware of how frightened she was.
As he had drawn her close against him to look through the peephole, he could feel her whole body trembling.
He longed to reassure her, but he knew that it would be a mistake to speak.
Almost before he expected it, he heard a slight sound that meant someone was climbing up the outside of The Castle to enter the room below them by an open window.
It was not as difficult as it seemed, because the outer surface of the stonework with which the older part of the Castle, especially the Towers, had been built was very uneven, many of the stones protruding and sadly in need of pointing which the late Duke had not been able to afford.
Talbot as a boy had often with his cousins climbed up the outside of The Castle, even though they were forbidden to do so.
The turret where he and Giovanna were now hiding was one of their favourite places, where they could escape from their Tutor and others who were engaged to look after them.
His elder cousin had always boasted to his younger brother and to Talbot that he in fact was the only person who was supposed to know the secrets of the various hiding places in The Castle.
“It is something that is handed down from each Chieftain to his eldest son,” he said, “and you are not to tell Papa that you have been here with me!”
“No, of course not!” his brother and Talbot had promised.
But Talbot had found it thrilling to know that there were secret hiding places where a fugitive could escape from those who pursued him, and if enemies actually penetrated into the Castle the Chieftain and his family could save themselves from being taken prisoner by an enemy.
Now he knew that it must have been his instinct that had made him take Giovanna to the turret of the Tower rather than to one of the other bedrooms, which were larger and more comfortable.
He was not certain for a moment whether the sounds he heard came from outside and were relayed through the air holes which were hidden under the ledge of the roof or whether the men who were searching for Giovanna were already inside her bedroom.
Then they could see through the peepholes a dark figure appear in the centre of the floor and a man said in a low voice,
“She’s not here.”
“Gone!” another voice exclaimed.
Just that single word told the Duke that it was Kane Horn who spoke.
He had a fleeting glimpse of him moving below as he stood looking at the bed and said,
“You told me that she was here this morning!”
“She were, sir, I see’d her with me own eyes standin’ at the window.”
“Then he must have got her away unless she’s in another room.”
Kane Horn moved again so that both Giovanna and the Duke could see the top of his head beneath them.
He stood still, as if he was thinking, and then said sharply,
“Look into the other rooms, but be careful not to wake anyone. If there’s a fire here in this room, she’s likely to have a fire anywhere else she’s sleeping.”
It sounded logical and the man he was speaking to must have gone from the room without a reply, for Kane Horn said no more nor did he move from where he was standing.
Then a few seconds later, as if he could not bear the inaction, he followed the man who had left him.
But the Duke thought that he would, in fact, only go into the passage and would not actually search himself in case he was seen.
It was just an idea, but, as the space beneath them cleared, Giovanna looked up at him and he knew that she was going to say something.
Because he knew that it was dangerous, the Duke without thinking acted instantaneously and silenced her lips with his.
His mouth came down on hers and at the same time he pulled her closer fearing lest by one unwary word they would reveal their hiding place.
He felt her stiffen with surprise.
Then, as his lips held hers captive, he was aware not only that he was kissing her but also of the softness of her mouth and the quivering of her body and the helpless little movement she made with her hands gave him a strange feeling that he had never known before.
It was something he could not explain even to himself.
Yet he felt as if the vibrations that had drawn him to Giovanna in the first place now joined them indivisibly.
They had made him aware of what she had been about to do at the cascade and had forced him against his better judgement to save her not only from herself but also from the people she was so afraid of.
Now the same vibrations became intensified until his lips told him that Giovanna belonged to him.
He could not explain it, he only knew that, as his mouth became more possessive, her lips gave him a rapture that he had never experienced in the whole of his life.
He knew too, without being told, that the terror which had made her tremble had now become a quiver of ecstasy that made her forget that she was afraid or that she was being hunted.
Just for one second the Duke released Giovanna’s lips to draw in his breath and then he was kissing her again, kissing her with a long slow demanding kiss that made her pulsate to him until he could feel thrills like shafts of lightning moving through them both.
Without realising what he was doing, he pulled his robe open, so that her body could be closer to his.
There was now only two pieces of silk between them, and the closeness of it was part of the same glory as their kisses.
Then suddenly, when it seemed to the Duke that with Giovanna he was touching the stars, a voice, not loud but hard and sharp, broke in on them and they came back to earth.
“You’ve found nothing?”
It was Kane Horn who asked the question and the Duke recognised that he had been right in guessing that he had not gone far from the open door.
Now he moved back into the room followed by the man who had gone to search for Giovanna.
“Nothin’, sir. The rooms are all closed and empty except for one.”
“Which one?”
“I think it be the Master’s Room. The bed has been slept in, but there was no one there.”
The Duke knew that he was speaking of his room and there was silence until Kane Horn said,
“They must have got away. Who else was watching the house besides you?”
“Only Antonio and he ain’t much of a hand with a spyglass. Shall I ask him what he saw?”
The man speaking was moving towards the window when Kane Horn said sharply,
“No, you fool! If they have gone, the Duke will have taken her to the Railway Station from where she can travel home.”
“Home? Do you mean to Italy?”
“Of course I mean Naples! Where else would she go?”
There was a short silence before Kane Horn said harshly,
“By letting her get away you’ve mucked it up between you, but it’s of no account. We can kill her there more easily than we can here and the old woman with her.”
“You should have done that when she arrived as I says at the time.”
“I know, I know!” Kane Horn said irritably. “But it might have been more difficult in Scotland with too many people to ask questions.”
“Well, what are we going to do now?” the man asked.
“I’ve told you. We leave for Italy and make no mistakes this time!”
“That sounds more like you. Now how do we get out of this old ruin?”
“Through a door!” Kane Horn said sharply. “There’ll be one that leads into the garden and you can collect Antonio.”
He walked across the bedroom as he spoke and the Duke saw the head of the other man following him.
They did not close the door, but their feet made no sound moving down the corridor.
The Duke, however, sat very still for a long time, holding Giovanna against him and putting his finger to her lips just in case she spoke.
He was too experienced not to know that it was always dangerous to assume that a room was empty.
Then at last when he thought that it was safe, he took his finger from Giovanna’s lips and, putting his hand under her chin, turned her face up to his.
He would have kissed her, but she made a sound like a small animal in pain and turned her head so that she could hide it against his neck.
“It’s all right, my darling,” the Duke said. “I will not let them kill you, you know that.”
“But they – will kill – Grandmama, because they are – afraid she would – identify me.”
“As I have already done. Why did you not trust me?”
“I was so afraid – so desperately – afraid because my stepmother said that, if I ever – betrayed them in any way, she would not only – kill me but – Grandmama as well.”
Her words were almost incoherent with tears and the Duke held her very closely against him, his lips on her hair.
“Now we have to move very quickly,” he said.
“What – do we – do?” Giovanna asked with a sob.
“We are leaving at once for Italy to save your grandmother and you from these fiends.”
He gave a sigh before he added,
“At least now there need be no more secrets between us. But we have no time to do anything but leave as they think we have already done.”
He moved ahead of Giovanna, climbing down the secret stairway and opening the panel into the bedroom so that she could see her way more clearly.
At the same time he helped her, putting each of her small naked feet on the rungs of the ladder until as she stood beside him he held her against him and kissed her gently.
“I love you,” he sighed, “and love is stronger than evil and invincible even against the most unpleasant thugs I have ever encountered.”
“Can you – really save – Grandmama?”
She spoke in little gasps and the Duke knew that it was because she was pulsating from his kiss and in the light from the fire he could see that her eyes were shining and seemed to fill her whole face.
He took her back into the bedroom and, pulling open the bedclothes, lifted her into it.
“Now stay there and rest,” he ordered, “while I set the wheels rolling. As you are well aware, they have to roll very quickly.”
Giovanna looked at him and there were no words to express what she was feeling.
He wanted to kiss her to reassure her that they would win, but he knew that time was important and without saying anything more he went from the room to ring the bell for Ross and start dressing.
Because both the Duke and Ross were used to emergencies when a few seconds could mean the difference between life and death, they actually drove away from The Castle only an hour and a half later.
Mrs. Sutherland had produced some clothes for Giovanna to wear, which the Duke knew had belonged to his aunt.
She had fortunately been a small woman and, although the clothes were simple and suitable to be worn only in Scotland, the Duke reckoned that it was of primary importance that Giovanna should be clothed somehow.
What Mrs. Sutherland did produce in case she was cold was a slightly old-fashioned but very beautiful sable fur coat that the Duke’s aunt had worn in the last years of her life.
It was, he thought, a very sensible garment that would protect Giovanna from the cold.
He thought too he could wrap her in it so that she could sleep as much as possible on what was going to be a very arduous journey, even for someone in good health.
Ross, of course, was invaluable and it was he who alerted the coachman and got the travelling carriage drawn by four horses ready in record time.
It was the Duke who suggested that they should leave from the stables rather than from the front door, just in case Kane Horn’s men were still watching The Castle, even though he thought it unlikely.
Actually he was certain that by whatever means they had arrived from Dalbeth House, they would now have returned and would be making their plans to leave as they were for Italy.
Whatever way they travelled, whether by sea or by road to the nearest Railway Station, he and Giovanna must get ahead of them.
He knew now he had been right in thinking that Kane Horn was Italian.
He may have been living in America, but it was obvious from what he had said that his home was in Italy, doubtless in Naples itself.
The Dowager Countess would have told him of the immense fortune that Jane had inherited, but he might have also heard it talked about and exclaimed over locally.
There was a great deal that the Duke wanted to know and to understand and some of his questions would obviously be answered when he could talk to Giovanna.
However for the moment all that mattered was speed.
He had to make arrangements to see that he had enough money for the journey and also to make some explanation to the Clan.
Hastily, while Ross was packing, he sat down at his desk and wrote to Sir Iain McCaron.
He told him that he had been sent for by the Secretary of State for India to give an account of what had happened on the Northwest Frontier just before he came home.
“You will understand,” he wrote in a neat upright hand, “that it is a request I cannot refuse, as officially I am still a Serving Officer. I will, however, return as soon as I possibly can, but, as I know you are aware, these enquiries, which incidentally are Top Secret, often take a long time.
Will you therefore make my apologies to the Dowager Countess whom I invited to stay this coming weekend and also her stepdaughter? Tell the elders of the Clan that I am in my absence leaving everything in your hands.
Go ahead with the repairs that are of immediate necessity and I enclose a cheque for the wages and any urgent demands that have to be met before my return.”
He then wrote a cheque, which he knew would, together with the money he required for the journey, use up his entire bank balance and leave him in debt for the future, but it seemed of little importance.
It was not money that worried him at that moment, but lives, the most important being Giovanna’s.
He finished his letter to Sir Iain and, as he sealed it, he thought that not only was he engaged in one of the most dangerous exploits he had ever undertaken, he had also, although he could hardly believe it himself, fallen wildly and head-over-heels in love.
It seemed impossible that it should have happened so quickly.
Yet his instinct, which he never denied, told him that what he was feeling now was not only different from anything he had ever felt before for a woman, but was something so fundamentally wonderful that it marked the beginning of a new life that he had never dreamt of or expected.
Carrying the letter to Sir Iain in his hand, he went from his desk to find, as he expected, the Steward in charge of the household waiting for him outside.
“I understands Your Grace has to go South,” the old man remarked.
He was obviously a trifle bemused at being woken so hastily in the middle of the night.
“It is something I have to do, Donald,” the Duke replied. “I know that you will look after everything while I am away. What is important is that I want nobody outside The Castle itself to know that we left during the night. Instead, if you are asked, will you say I drove away late in the afternoon.”
The Steward looked surprised, but he replied stolidly,
“You can rely on me to say what Your Grace wishes.”
“Thank you, Donald, and the less it is talked about the better. Of course, as Mrs. Sutherland will tell you, no one except those you can trust must be aware that there was a young lady with me.”
“I’ll see to it, Your Grace.”
The Duke did not say any more, but quickly ran down some stairs and along a passage, which carried him through a side door that led directly to the stables.
The carriage was ready and he found Ross and Mrs. Sutherland had already taken Giovanna downstairs and she was waiting for him in the carriage.
He thought, as he gazed at her in the light of the stable lamps, that she looked very lovely enveloped in his aunt’s sable coat and with a little sable-trimmed bonnet on her fair hair.
“Now you take care of yourself,” Mrs. Sutherland was saying, “and drink your milk at least three times a day. Promise me.”
“I will do my best,” Giovanna answered. “And thank you, dear Mrs. Sutherland, for being so kind.”
There was a little sob in her voice as she spoke and the Duke had the feeling that she was afraid that she was saying goodbye, not only to Mrs. Sutherland but also to The Castle.
He touched Mrs. Sutherland on the shoulder as he climbed into the carriage.
Then, as the wheels started to move, he knew Ross that had jumped up onto the box and the luggage they were taking with them was already on top of the carriage and strapped on behind.
He took Giovanna’s hand in his and said,
“Now we are off on the last lap of our adventure and, as we are going together, I hope that you think it is rather exciting!”
She turned her face towards him.
As it was not yet dawn, although the moonlight and stars were fading from the sky, he could not see the expression in her eyes.
But there was a little catch in her voice as she asked,
“You – are not angry – with me for not – telling you who – I was?”
“I wish you had trusted me,” the Duke answered, “but at the same time I guessed.”
“How could you – have guessed?”
“I think the most convincing thing was that you kept your own name.”
He felt her fingers stiffen in surprise before she asked,
“You knew that Giovanna means ‘Jane’ in Italian?”
“I am not entirely an ignoramus!”
“No, of course not,” she replied, “but few people would have known and I told Papa in a letter that it was what the girls called me at the Convent.”
“So your stepmother told you that you were to be ‘Giovanna’.”
“Yes.”
He saw a little shiver go through her as she spoke of her stepmother and he said quickly,
“We are not going to talk about it now because there is a long journey in front of us. It is a story I want you to tell me to pass the hours, but I don’t want it to upset you.”
“How can I – help being – upset when I have involved – you in something so – terrible.”
“I think you know I love you and I would loathe and detest not being involved in anything that concerns you.”
He felt her fingers cling to his as she said,
“Only you would say – something so – wonderful, and if you – love me – I have loved you from the very first moment I looked at you after you had – taken me away from the cascade.”
“We are not going to talk about the cascade,” the Duke said, “for the simple reason it frightens me to think that I might have lost you. All I want to talk about now is our love and to tell you that I have been looking for you all my life. But I had become convinced that you did not exist, when suddenly, like a miracle, you are here!”
He paused for a moment before he added, his voice very deep,
“You are mine, Giovanna, and I will never lose you!”