Kiss from a Stranger Read online

  “My father told me about him,” Shenda answered, “and of the way he has forced many of the émigrés to work for him by threatening to kill their relatives who were still in France.”

  The Earl looked surprised.

  It flashed through his mind that in some way this exquisite creature facing him might become involved with a man who during the Revolution used to arrive at the guillotine with a pair of human ears dangling from either side of his hat.

  Then he told himself that he was being over-imaginative and the Channel lay between Shenda and the most cruel and unscrupulous of all Napoleon’s servants.

  “What I would ask you to do,” he said, “is to go to London with her Ladyship, but stay only as briefly as possible. If she tries to keep you, and you wish to leave, make some excuse that you are required at The Castle and have to return as arranged.”

  “I – understand,” Shenda said in a small voice.

  “But if by any chance you think you are in danger,” the Earl said quickly, “if you feel that somebody is suspicious of you or you find the position intolerable, then my house in Berkeley Square is only a short distance from Lady Gratton’s.”

  He thought there was relief in Shenda’s very expressive eyes and he said,

  “Go there immediately and, if I am not there, tell my secretary, Mr. Masters, to find me. I will always inform him where I am so that there will be as little delay as possible.”

  “I-I understand,” Shenda said, “but it is rather – frightening!”

  The Earl took a step nearer to her.

  “Are you quite certain you can do this?” he asked. “If you are really afraid, then I promise, I will understand, and you can stay here at The Castle.”

  She looked up at him and he liked the way she lifted her chin a little higher, as if to stiffen her own resolve.

  “If I can save the life of one seaman,” she said, “then however uncomfortable and terrifying it may be, it is something I must do!”

  “Thank you,” the Earl said simply.

  He was looking at her and once again his eyes were on her lips. She felt the colour come into her cheeks.

  “I-I must go back,” she said. “Her Ladyship wishes to be woken at six-thirty.”

  She did not wait for the Earl to reply, but turning, sped away from him as if she had wings on her feet.

  As he watched her go, he had an almost uncontrollable impulse to run after her and take her in his arms.

  She was too beautiful to be concerned with danger or the disgusting degradation of foreign spies, especially when they were women using their looks and bodies in order to obtain the information Bonaparte required.

  Then he told himself that, whatever the cost, England must come first and no one knew better than he that the Secret Expedition must reach its destination safely.

  If Shenda had not warned him, he might have inadvertently, he thought, said something that would have betrayed it.

  And yet with all the secrecy and warnings, it seemed inconceivable that two people in the quiet little village of Arrowhead should know not only that the Secret Expedition had left England, but that Nelson was on his way to Jamaica.

  He knew that his first priority when he arrived in London tomorrow was to take what information he had so far to Lord Barham.

  *

  Shenda, in her gingham dress and mob cap, called Lady Gratton at exactly six-thirty.

  She was asleep when Shenda entered the room, but roused herself to say drowsily,

  “Oh, Heavens! Is it time to get up? I was dreaming.”

  “What of, my Lady?” Shenda asked.

  “That I could afford to purchase the most delectable evening wrap that I saw in Bond Street last week.”

  “Was it so very beautiful?” Shenda asked.

  “It was of ermine and lined with a silk that exactly matched my eyes!”

  “It sounds very becoming, my Lady.”

  “If it costs five hundred pounds,” Lady Gratton said dreamily, “I am determined it shall be mine!”

  Shenda drew in her breath.

  She wondered how any woman, whatever nationality, could sacrifice men’s lives for a fur she could wear over her white shoulders.

  ‘She is wicked – evil!’ Shenda told herself.

  She wondered as she did so how the Earl could be infatuated with anyone who could be so utterly despicable.

  He was so strong, so brave, so exactly what an Englishman should be and obviously a good judge of men.

  But his perception had failed when he encountered a woman who might be beautiful, but beneath the surface was as unpleasant as the spymaster himself, Joseph Fouché.

  How could the Earl not realise when she looked at him with her seductive eyes that she was evil?

  She might be interested in him as a man, but she was prepared to murder those he had commanded and only so that she could wear a white ermine stole.

  “I hate her! I hate her!” Shenda said over and over again as she helped Lady Gratton into a gown of diamante-spangled gauze that had obviously cost an astronomical sum.

  ‘How many have died to provide her with this?’ she asked herself.

  She had finished arranging Lady Gratton’s hair and clasped round her neck a diamond necklace. Then, looking at her reflection in the mirror, her Ladyship said,

  “The other women staying here will want to scratch my eyes out tonight! How can his Lordship notice any of them when he can look at me?”

  She was speaking almost to herself.

  As Shenda heard her words and the hard satisfaction in her tone, she felt a sudden constriction of her breast.

  Bad, wicked, criminal she might be, but she was very beautiful!

  As she thought of the Earl kissing Lady Gratton, she remembered the sensations that his lips could arouse.

  It was then, as she felt as if there was a sharp dagger stabbing her in the heart, she knew that she loved him.

  *

  The following morning the whole castle was a-flutter, as everybody, including his Lordship, was to depart for London immediately after an early luncheon.

  There was a mountain of trunks to be carried downstairs to travel in the brake drawn by six horses.

  They would also take with them the lady’s maids and the valets of the visiting guests.

  By some clever contrivance on Mrs. Davison’s part, Shenda was not to travel with the other servants, but instead was to go to London in a travelling chariot with Mrs. Davison herself.

  “I have to purchase,” she had said firmly, “some new linen for The Castle and I’ve no intention of allowing anyone to choose it but myself, knowing where her late Ladyship always shopped and where she obtained the very best linen.”

  She smiled as she spoke, and Shenda said,

  “Thank you, thank you! I know you are doing this for me.”

  “I am looking forward to the trip,” Mrs. Davison answered firmly, “and I know if his Lordship asks questions, when I explain, he’ll agree I’ve done the right thing.”

  It flashed through Shenda’s mind that the Earl might have thought of something like that himself.

  Then she told herself that he thought of her as only a seamstress.

  He would think perhaps that she liked the company of the rest of the staff, who were laughing and giggling amongst themselves as they climbed into the brake.

  They took only a little over two hours to reach London from The Castle.

  The Earl’s fastest horses were employed and were drawing the lightest vehicles.

  Lady Gratton had left earlier, driving with the Earl in his phaeton drawn by his team of perfectly matched chestnuts.

  With a little pain in her heart Shenda watched them leave.

  Lady Gratton was looking very beautiful, her high-crowned bonnet trimmed with small ostrich feathers.

  When she had been dressed and ready to leave her bedroom, she had turned to Shenda and said,

  “I have enjoyed my visit to The Castle and I know it will be the f
irst of many. Don’t forget to bring the gowns I want altering.”

  “I’ll do my best, my Lady,” Shenda said quietly.

  “There are a lot to be done in London and, as you realise, I must look my best to please such a fastidious gentleman as his Lordship.”

  She looked in the mirror and said as if speaking to herself,

  “He is a very very attractive man!”

  Shenda clenched her fingers together until the knuckles went white.

  ‘What has he – said? What has he – done to make Lady Gratton – speak like that?’ she asked herself.

  Was he acting the part she knew he would have to do or was he really in love?

  Then she was ashamed of herself for doubting his loyalty to England.

  And yet, as she watched them drive away, she thought that no two people could appear more perfectly matched when it came to looks.

  Perry Crawshore was following them in another phaeton and the rest of the gentlemen were accommodated in coaches and carriages, some their own and others that belonged to The Castle.

  The Earl, as he drove away, was not thinking of his guests or of Lucille, sitting beside him.

  He was thinking of what he would say to Lord Barham and how last night he had been suspicious of the young Baronet who worked in the Admiralty, who had come for dinner at The Castle.

  Because he was a friend of Perry’s, it had not really struck the Earl that he was in the Admiralty until he remembered Lord Barham had said that information was coming, incredible though it seemed, from his own office.

  The Earl had therefore contrived to talk to Sir David Jackson alone.

  “Are you enjoying work with Lord Barham?” he asked. “I have always admired him tremendously.”

  “I have hardly seen him since he took over from Lord Melville,” Sir David replied.

  “Then you don’t work for him directly,” the Earl said.

  “No, I work with the Second Secretary,” Sir David replied. “It seems strange, but he is a Frenchman!”

  The Earl was instantly alert, but he did not show it.

  “A Frenchman?” he repeated, his voice drawling a little as if he was not particularly interested.

  “Oh, you need not be suspicious of him,” Sir David said. “Comte Jacques de Beauvais is the son of an émigré who was one of Louis XV’s most important and aristocratic Ambassadors.”

  “Really!” the Earl exclaimed.

  “He came to England,” Sir David continued, “at the very beginning of the Revolution and was brought up here. He went to school at Eton.”

  The Earl laughed.

  “That certainly sounds very reliable!”

  “He has a fanatical hatred of Napoleon,” Sir David went on, “because his grandmother, although she was very old, was guillotined and the family château was not only pillaged but also set on fire.”

  “He certainly has no reason, then, to like the French!” the Earl remarked.

  “No, indeed,” Sir David replied. “He raises his glass to Napoleon’s downfall at every meal and buys us all a drink when the news comes through a French ship has been sunk.”

  He looked at the Earl admiringly as he said,

  “We had quite an orgy in the office when the news came through that you had personally sunk two of France’s best first rates at Toulon!”

  “I was very fortunate,” the Earl said. “The wind changed at exactly the right moment or I might not be here now!”

  “What I want to do,” Sir David said, “is to get back to my Regiment. My leg is much better, but the doctors will not give me a clean bill of health for another six months or so!”

  “Well, I am sure, in the meantime, you are doing a good job,” the Earl remarked.

  At the same time he had a feeling that he would like to know a little more about the Comte Jacques de Beauvais.

  He might be as wholeheartedly in favour of winning the war as Sir David said.

  However, one never knew for sure and for the moment he felt, after the treachery of Lucille, that he could trust no one.

  Then he told himself he must not become obsessed with hounding out spies to the point where he did not think clearly, and became fanatical on the subject.

  He had known men like that in the past and had always thought them slightly unbalanced.

  He drove on, keeping his horses at a sharp pace.

  Despite the cooing voice of Lucille Gratton paying him compliments and sitting a little nearer to him than was necessary, he was thinking of Shenda.

  He was wondering if he had made a terrible mistake in allowing her to go to London.

  Chapter Six

  The carriage dropped Mrs. Davison at Arrow House in Berkeley Square.

  Shenda thought the house was very impressive, as it had a lantern on brass supports fixed to the railings that were tipped with gold.

  She longed to look inside, but Mrs. Davison, having alighted, told the coachman to take her to Lady Gratton’s house.

  This, Shenda found, was in one of the streets that connected with Berkeley Square and was a small residence set between two much larger ones.

  It was attractively furnished and she discovered that there was a large dining room and a small sitting room on the ground floor.

  On the first floor there was a big drawing room and above that there was Lady Gratton’s bedroom, which looked out onto the back of the house so that it was quiet.

  Shenda expected that she would have to sleep in the attic.

  It was a relief to learn there were only three bedrooms, which were occupied by two maidservants and the lady’s maid, who was still in bed with a fractured leg.

  She was, therefore, told that for the moment she must use a small bedroom that was opposite to her Ladyship’s.

  It adjoined a dressing room that was used by Sir Henry when he was at home.

  Shenda’s room was very small and a huge wardrobe containing her Ladyship’s clothes covered one wall.

  When she entered it, she saw that the bed that stood in one corner was covered with at least a dozen of her Ladyship’s bonnets.

  One of the maids helped her to move these into boxes which they placed on top of the wardrobe, but even then there was hardly room for Shenda to turn round.

  But at least, she thought, she had a room to herself.

  She had been half-afraid that she would be expected to share one either with the lady’s maid who was indisposed or else with one of the housemaids.

  She was unpacking Lady Gratton’s trunks and hanging up her gowns in the wardrobe when her Ladyship arrived.

  She was looking exceedingly lovely, but, when she came nearer, Shenda felt herself shudder.

  “As soon as you have finished unpacking,” she said in an authoritative tone, “I will show you the gowns that I wish altered and as quickly as possible!”

  Shenda felt inclined to reply that she would find it difficult to work in such a small place.

  Then she suddenly became aware that if she were to find out anything important, it might be useful to be so near to her Ladyship’s bedroom.

  She therefore finished emptying the trunk, which was taken away by a manservant and went to her own room to await her Ladyship’s orders.

  When she could see the pile of alterations that Lady Gratton gave her, it was not difficult to tell the maids that, as she had so much work to do, she would eat in her own room.

  She knew that they would resent having to carry a tray upstairs.

  At the same time she was aware that, unlike those at The Castle, the servants were not the best type and obviously had no liking for their Mistress.

  As she might have expected, her supper, when it arrived, was cold and not very appetising and she told herself that she must expect to make sacrifices if she was to help the Earl.

  As she thought of him while she was eating, it was easy not to notice what she was putting into her mouth.

  ‘I must help him – I must!’ she thought fervently.

  When Lady Gratt
on came up to bed, Shenda forced herself to be pleasant while she helped her to undress.

  There had been two elderly gentlemen to dinner who, she learnt, were relatives who had just returned to London.

  They did not seem to be of any particular consequence as far as she was concerned.

  She gave them only a cursory glance over the banisters as after dinner they moved slowly up the stairs and into the drawing room.

  Shenda was, in fact, feeling very tired by the time Lady Gratton came up to bed.

  It had been a long day.

  Also, because she was nervous about what she was doing, she felt as if the walls of the small house were pressing in on her like prison bars and that she might find it difficult to escape.

  She thought she was being over-imaginative and it was a relief to hold Rufus in her arms and to know how much he loved her.

  She had taken him for a walk down the street while Lady Gratton was having dinner and she had longed to turn into Berkeley Square and look again at Arrow House.

  Then she decided that if by some mischance the Earl should see her, he would either think she was being curious about him or else neglecting her duties.

  Now, as she caressed Rufus, she said in a whisper,

  “I hope we shall not be here too long. I know you want to be back at The Castle – and so – do I!”

  She found herself thinking how handsome the Earl had looked yesterday when he had stood waiting for her in the Greek Temple.

  It struck her that he might almost be a God himself, perhaps Apollo, bringing light to all who sought it.

  Then she remembered how he had kissed her and knew that it would never happen again.

  When he had no further use for her, it would be all that she would have to remember.

  ‘If I was sensible, I would leave The Castle and the village and go somewhere else,’ she told herself.

  But she knew that the only place she had to go to was her uncle’s house.

  Therefore, she would cling to her position as seamstress until it was completely untenable.

  When she had finished helping Lady Gratton to undress, she thought that her Ladyship would get into bed.

  She was wearing one of her transparent nightgowns, but to Shenda’s surprise she said,

  “Fetch me my thicker negligee. It is hanging in my wardrobe and it is made of blue satin and trimmed with lace.”