A Gift for a Lion (10 page)

Josef stared at her, distressed. 'But I am sure the
signore
has never regarded you as a fool,
signorina,'
he protested.

'No?' Joanna asked satirically. 'And what's my programme for today now that the condemned woman has eaten her hearty breakfast? Are there any mailbags I can stitch, or shall I simply measure my room in paces from wall to wall?'

'
Che c
ò
sa
?' Josef was clearly puzzled, and Joanna sighed impatiently.

'I'm sorry, Josef. It isn't your fault,' she said. 'It's just that I don't think I can face being shut up like this for very much longer.'

'But that is not the
signore's
intention,' Josef assured her. 'He means the
signorina
to move freely around the
palazzo
!'

'And the grounds?' Joanna spoke casually, but she was inwardly alert. She might soon have an opportunity to search around for the landing strip.

Josef shrugged rather vaguely. 'It is possible—with an escort.' He did not meet Joanna's eyes. 'The grounds are large. The
signorina
might lose herself,' he explained.

'Oh, really?' Joanna returned, too pleasantly. 'But you can assure the
signore
that my bump of direction is really very good.'

Josef looked uncomfortable. 'Nevertheless…'

Was it just the landing strip she wasn't supposed to find, Joanna wondered, or might she stumble across something else?'

Aloud, she said quickly, 'I'm teasing you, Josef. I don't mind how many escorts I have just as long as I can get out of this room sometimes.'

'I will tell the
signore
.' Josef gave her a little bow and departed.

When he had gone, Joanna could not resist performing one quick, joyous pirouette. She would not spoil her chances by attempting to rush into headlong flight. She would take her time and lay her plans properly. Apart from finding an escape route, she still had to recover her passport and other belongings from Leo Vargas' study, and it would all take time.

She smiled to herself. Time was something she seemed to have plenty of, and if there was a way off this island then she would find it. And if at the same time she could bring down the Lion of Saracina, she would do so.

If Leo Vargas intended to allow her some freedom, he was certainly in no hurry to do so, Joanna thought as another hour dragged by. She had filled in the time by unpacking her clothes and putting them away in the large carved wardrobe and matching chest of drawers, but now she was bored with that task accomplished, and becoming restive.

She had begun to think that he was playing a cat and mouse game with her, when to her relief she heard footsteps, and Josef appeared again.

'Will the
signorina
accompany me downstairs to the
salotto
?'

Joanna nodded slowly. She had hoped to avoid another encounter with the master of Saracina until the devastating events of the previous night had faded a little in her memory, but she supposed a meeting was inevitable and had to be faced.

As they left her room and started along the corridor, she gazed around with interest. She had been too upset when she had been brought here to take much note of her surroundings, but now in the morning sunlight she found the
palazzo
almost breathtaking. The walls had been washed in clear, pale colours that reflected back the light and the corridors were lined with small alcoves, each of which seemed to contain some valuable piece of furniture, statuary or a painting.

Joanna would have liked to linger and examine some of them more closely, but she was anxious to find out to what extent she was free to wander about, so she matched her own step to Josef's brisk stride and soon they came out on to a broad gallery, bordered by a carved stone balustrade. The gallery led, she saw, the whole length of the
palazzo's
great entrance hall to rooms in other wings of the building, and from its centre point a wide marble staircase gently curved to the ground floor, exquisitely tiled in grey, pink and white.

The doors leading off the hall were very tall and dark, heavy with carving and embellished with ornate iron handles—in the shape of a lion's head, Joanna saw with a faint curl of her lip. She wondered which was Leo Vargas' study, but the doors were all closed and gave nothing away.

The main doorway stood open to the morning air as Joanna came downstairs at Josef's side. There was freedom and the sunlight seemed to beckon her, but at the same time she was only too aware that any attempt at flight would probably prove abortive. She would be caught by one of the patrol guards, if not by Josef himself, before she got a hundred yards away.

'
Signorina
.' Josef had reached one of the tall closed doors and had opened it for her to pass through. She paused, a sudden tension entering her limbs, then with a faint shrug she walked slowly into the room.

For a moment she hesitated, swiftly assimilating the elegant surroundings—the cream-tiled floor, the walls hung with valuable-looking tapestries and the high, frescoed ceiling. Then her eyes went to the dark figure of the man standing at the far end of the room, looking out of the french windows, his back turned to her.

In a formal suit, he did not look quite as tall or imposing as he had done last night, she was thinking, when he turned and she found she was studying a complete stranger.

He was younger than Leo Vargas and much darker.

But he was attractive too, with a dancing smile that lit up his face when he saw her.

'So you are Signorina Leighton. I am charmed to make your acquaintance.' He spoke English with only the faintest of accents, she noticed, as he came over to her, taking her hand and bowing over it with an old-fashioned gallantry that Joanna found rather soothing. 'Permit me to introduce myself. I am Nick Vargas, Leo's cousin.'

'You are staying here too?' Joanna asked.

He smiled pointedly. 'As from now,
si
.'

'Does your autocratic cousin know?' Joanna knew she was being rude, but was unable to resist the temptation.

'But of course he knows. I am here only at his express invitation. Normally I would stay with him later in the year, but last night I received his summons, so I flew in early this morning.'

'You flew in—by helicopter?'

'
Si
. I trust I did not waken you.'

'Oh, no.' Joanna replied mechanically, her mind working furiously. She wondered if the helicopter which had brought Nick Vargas was still at the landing area, and when it was due to make its return trip to the mainland. She asked, trying to keep her voice casual, 'Are you staying long?'

'That depends on you,
signorina
.'

'On me?' she stared at him.

'I shall stay while you do,
signorina.'

'I see. Your cousin has brought you here to be my keeper, in other words.'

'Signorina Leighton,' his voice drowned her in reproach, 'do I look like anyone's keeper?' He gave her another of his disarming smiles. 'Naturally, you would prefer to be with Leo—and who can blame you, but it is impossible just at the moment, as you must know. So he has asked me to act as your companion until all this is over and he can behave as a proper host again.'

'Signore Vargas,' Joanna interrupted him forcibly, 'I think you're under a misapprehension. I have absolutely no wish to be with your cousin, now or later. I find him totally objectionable. And I don't know where you have got the idea he is my host. My jailer would be a more appropriate description.'

'So,' Nick Vargas gave a slight whistle, 'you are not enjoying your stay at the
palazzo, signorina
? You have quarrelled with Leo, perhaps. His temper can be abominable I have experience of it myself and…'

'No!' Joanna said almost despairingly. 'You're completely wrong,
signore
. Whatever your cousin may have told you, I am not his guest. I wasn't even acquainted with him until yesterday when his men caught me sunbathing on a beach on the other side of the island. I was bundled up like a—a parcel of washing and brought here under guard. I've been here ever since, locked in an upstairs room with bars on the windows and a portrait of some Renaissance sadist to keep me company.'

'The Vorghese room?' Nick gave a little grin.-'I can assure you,
signorina
, that room is generally reserved for Leo's closest acquaintances. I am sure he does not mean for you to remain such bad friends with him. And having seen you,
signorina
, I cannot find it in my heart to blame him.

'I suppose you think I should be flattered by your revolting insinuations,' Joanna said icily. 'Well, I'm afraid I find them too high a price to pay, even for companionship and a certain amount of freedom. You can tell your cousin that I prefer my own company, Signore Vargas, and you can go back to wherever you came from—
presto
!'

She turned away from him sharply, tears pricking at her eyelids.

'
Signorina
.' His hand was on her arm, and his voice was suddenly very gentle. 'It is more than possible that I have misread the situation entirely, and I ask your pardon. Please don't send me away. We are both obliged to stay here for a time and it seems foolish for us both to be lonely.'

Joanna was quiet for a moment, then she gave a little sigh. 'It would be stupid,' she agreed. 'I—I accept your apology,
signore
. Perhaps I'm over-sensitive on the subject, but I get very tired of everyone I meet assuming I'm some kind of—gift for the Lion.'

Nick Vargas' mobile mouth quirked. 'And what brave man dared to call you that,
signorina
?'

For a moment Joanna hovered between annoyance and laughter, then laughter won. 'One of the men who captured me,' she admitted. 'I had no idea what he meant, of course, and I was absolutely terrified.'

'And when you did find out?'

'I was absolutely terrified.'

They both laughed then, and the atmosphere between them suddenly relaxed.

'Now we are friends. I will ring for Josef to bring us some coffee.' Nick walked to the ornate fireplace and pulled a long embroidered cord that hung there. 'We will take it on the terrace, I think, and you shall tell me all about yourself, Joanna—I may call you that? And you shall call me Nick.'

'Very well,' Joanna found herself acceding rather weakly as he opened one of the long glass doors and ushered her out on to a wide terrace with a small arbour of bougainvillaea at one end containing a comfortable-looking wickerwork swing seat and a table. There was another group of chairs around a table further along the terrace and Joanna guessed it was often the setting for alfresco meals. She could quite understand why. The air was like wine, and the view from the terrace was magnificent, looking down over a vista of formal gardens to the glitter of the sea beyond.

'The grounds of the
palazzo
run right to the edge of the cliff.' Nick told her as they drank their coffee. 'It was built on a tongue of land and the town and the harbourage grew up on the other side in its shadow.'

'Mutual protection, I suppose, in the bad old days.' Joanna shaded her eyes against the glare of the sun. It was difficult not to breathe a sigh of utter contentment in such surroundings.

'Indeed, yes. The great Lion of Saracina, Leo Vorghese whose portrait hangs in your room, built look-outs on the highest points in this island and a system of little forts around it as security against the pirates. Saracina was overwhelmed a number of times in the centuries after his death, but usually when the Lord of Saracina was absent. The islanders began to say the Lion of Saracina was their protection and that no evil would befall them while he lived here among them.'

'And do they feel that now, with your cousin's armed guards standing over them?' Joanna asked tartly.

Nick looked uncomfortable. 'They accept the necessity.'

'As they accept living here without their women at the
signore's
whim?'

'Joanna,' Nick laid his hand over hers. There may be things on Saracina that seem strange to you, but do not question them, I beg you. Try to accept…'

'Like one of the poor superstitious islanders, I suppose,' Joanna said disdainfully. 'I'm sorry, Nick. I'm not in the least grateful for the protection of the current Lion of Saracina, and when I get away from here, I'll make him wish he'd never been born.'

Nick surveyed her enigmatically. 'Maybe you will not have to leave here to do that, Joanna.' He laughed suddenly. 'Now what would you like to do after lunch?'

Joanna thought briefly, then opted for a tour of the
palazzo
and its grounds. She had realised that Nick was obviously in his cousin's confidence to a certain extent and was doubtful whether she would ever be able to obtain his co-operation in any attempt to escape from the island. She felt it was better not to appear to be too eager to get away from the vicinity of the
palazzo
, to begin with at any rate. It was not beyond the realms of possibility that Nick, for all his apparent friendliness and admiration, might be reporting back to Leo Vargas on anything significant she said or did.

'I hope he is,' she thought vindictively. 'I hope he repeats everything I've said about him!'

Nick was grumbling good-humouredly about her plans for the afternoon, insisting that they were too strenuous for the heat of the day.

'I will show you the
palazzo
, and then we will lie by the swimming pool and someone will bring us iced drinks,' he declared.

'A swimming pool?' Joanna sat up, her plans for escape momentarily forgotten. 'Oh, Nick, how wonderful. Where?'

Nick pointed. 'At the side of the house where it is most sheltered. It will be pleasant to go there—and perhaps not make any tours at all,' he added on a note of inspiration.

Joanna gave an exasperated chuckle. 'You're just being lazy. Besides, I really do want to see round the
palazzo
. Just from the glimpse I got this morning some of the art treasures look almost priceless.'

Nick shrugged. 'You are probably right. But I warn you, Joanna, I am no expert. It is Leo who cares about such things. He knows the history of every picture— every piece of sculpture. You should ask him to escort you when he has time.'