Devil's Embrace (26 page)

The wizened Signore Accorambonis was all complaisance. By the time all the guests had arrived and the earl and Cassie had made their welcomes, Cassie firmly on his arm, she was forced to admit that the earl seemed to have chosen his guests well.

She grinned crookedly at the earl when Scargill entered the brightly lit drawing room and announced dinner in the most formal voice she had ever heard from him.

The earl guided her firmly to the foot of the long table
in the dining room and seated her himself. He gave her arm a slight squeeze before walking to the master’s place at the head of the table. She gazed down the expanse of table at him, but he merely smiled at her reassuringly. She stole a look at their guests, fourteen in all, and found to her amusement that the heavily laden table was the focus of their attention. Seated at her left was Caesare and to her right, a Signora Bianca Piasi, a young woman as vivacious as she was lovely.

“I see that you have decided to stay with us,
signorina,
” Signora Piasi said, her fork already in her hand, hovering over an abundant portion of braised pheasant.

Cassie could not understand how Signora Piasi saw anything of the sort, but she merely smiled and said lightly, “Everyone is very kind,
signora.
”

When Signora Piasi gave her attention to her plate, Cassie turned to Caesare, who was regarding her, a strange expression in his eyes.

“Whatever is the matter?” she asked him. “Have I gravy on my chin or wine spots on my gown?”

His expression changed instantly. He cocked his head at her and said in an amused voice, “You have nothing untoward on your person, Cassandra. I have observed that you are quite the success this evening.”

Cassie said, “I think it is all because of my ghastly accent. People find me an amusing oddity.”

“I think not,” he said.

Caesare’s conversation floated over Cassie’s head some minutes later as she gazed around the table. Save for the fact that everyone spoke Italian, she could see little differences between the manners of Genoese aristocracy and the English. Perhaps laughter was freer, she quickly amended to herself, and certainly their guests very much needed their hands to emphasize their conversation. Her eyes stopped at the Contessa Giovanna Giusti, seated toward the middle of the table, Signore Montalto at her side. She was undeniably alluring, and a center of gaiety. Cassie had only spoken a few words to the beautiful contessa, for she was the last guest to arrive. The contessa had looked at her closely, and turned abruptly away.

“Cassandra, you have not heard a word I’ve said.”

“Do forgive me, Caesare. Much here is new to me.”

He gave her a look of mock reproof. “And here I was telling you about Genoese velvet, and how some Genoese ladies adore its quality to such a degree that their undergarments are also of velvet.”

“But I have never heard of such a thing.”

Some minutes later, at a signal from the earl, Cassie rose with him and led their guests back to the drawing room to enjoy more wine and cakes. After some moments, the earl drew her aside. “I hope you do not mind sharing a short business meeting with me,
cara.
Signore Montalto is awaiting me in the library.”

Cassie looked up at him, puzzled. “I hardly think that appropriate, my lord. Surely Signore Montalto would not expect you to bring me to your meeting.”

“I see you are too hidebound by societal rules,
cara.
Did I not promise not to leave you alone this evening?”

“I suppose so, my lord,” she said doubtfully.

“A bit more enthusiasm, if you please,” he said, and opened the thick double doors to the library. He stepped back to allow Cassie to precede him.

Signore Montalto looked up from his chair, clearly startled. He looked to the earl, expecting him to peremptorily dismiss the girl. But the earl appeared unperturbed at Signore Montalto’s stiff countenance, and planted a guileless smile on his face.

“You are enjoying the party, I trust, Marcello,” he said easily. “You, of course, have made the acquaintance of Signorina Brougham.”

Signore Montalto rose ponderously from his chair and offered Cassie a stiff bow.

“You will share a glass of sherry with us,
signore?
” The earl added smoothly, an imp of mischief compelling him, “Marcello is here, Cassandra, to discuss a rather thorny problem with me. Perhaps you would not mind giving us your opinion.” Much to his delight, a slight smile indented the corners of her mouth, and she inclined her head in graceful assent.

“I would be delighted, my lord, to provide you whatever assistance I can.”

She graciously accepted a chair held for her by the flustered Marcello, settled her heavy skirts about her, and sipped the sherry the earl offered her.

The earl said, “It involves a Dutch shipping group trading with the southern colonies in America, which has recently suffered rather large financial losses. The losses are, unfortunately, much my concern, since I provided much of the capital. A Dutch representative has brought Marcello a proposal that he believes will pay us handsomely. You may tell
la signorina,
Marcello.”

Cassie turned her eyes from the earl’s sardonic expression and fastened them on Signore Montalto’s heavy jowled face. He seemed to struggle with himself to speak, and Cassie barely managed to suppress a grin of amusement.

“As you know,
signorina,
” Signore Montalto began ponderously, imagining full well that she knew nothing at all, “England’s southern colonies are exporting more cotton and tobacco by the year. Even their timber is gaining in importance as the English denude their own forests.”

Cassie tried to curb her impatience at his condescending tone. “Your point,
signore?
”

Signore Montalto tugged uncomfortably at his black waistcoat. “The Dutch trade has been primarily with the West Indies. Pirates and Caribbean storms have brought them—and his lordship—substantial losses, and thus, their recent shift to trade with the colonies.”

“A logical course, it would seem to me,
signore.
”

“Ah, but there is more, Cassandra.” The earl waved Marcello to continue. Cassie was aware that the earl was regarding her intently, and she grew more alert.

“For every cause, there is an effect,” Marcello said grandly. “The southern colonists have constant need of labor for their cotton and tobacco plantations. The Dutch proposal, a proposal, I might add, that meets with my approval, is simply to capture African savages, transport them to the colonies and sell them to the plantation owners. Immediately, there is a sizable profit. Cotton, tobacco, and
timber could be brought back to England and Europe, and thus the profit is doubled.”

“I am not certain that I understand,
signore,
” Cassie said. “You believe that we should encourage, through our financial backing, the capture of people to be sold as slaves in a foreign country?”

“People,” Marcello scoffed. “They are naught but savages, dear lady. Their only value is that they breed at an appalling rate and work well in the fields.”

“And how does one go about capturing these savages,
signore?
Are they trapped?”

“Oh no,” Marcello hastened to correct her, “trapping would mutilate them and lessen their value at auction. They are like children,
signorina,
and can be herded together quite readily with but one musket shot over their heads.”

“How odd it is that you now liken them to children. If it is true that they live in a state of primitive innocence, like children, then they should be protected from predators.”

“Perhaps calling them ‘children’ was unfortunate,” Marcello ground out. He shot a silent plea toward the earl, but received only an ironic smile.

“Everyone buys and sells these black beggars. Even the Church is not certain that they have souls.”

“And, of course, they do not speak the civilized Italian tongue, do they,
signore?
”

“No, ’tis gibberish they utter. One can make no sense of them at all.”

Cassie slowly rose from her chair. As Signore Montalto was not a tall man, she was very nearly at his eye level. “So it is your proposal,
signore,
that we should agree to the capture and sale of innocent men and women to fatten our coffers.”

“I have told you,
signorina,
that they are animals, uncivilized savages.”

“It is very curious, you know,” Cassie said. “I was very near to believing that the Italians held no claim to civilization, since they do not speak the English tongue and do such barbaric things as locking their female children away in convents. But look how very wrong I was.”

Signore Montalto turned a mottled red, and the earl
intervened. “So, Cassandra, we will agree to leave the Africans to other, less scrupulous, men. However, my dear, our financial problem still remains.”

The earl knew he was placing her in a situation that called for experience she did not possess, and he was on the point of rescuing her when she asked abruptly, “Is it not true that there are vast, unpopulated lands in the colonies?”

Signore Montalto had learned painfully not to patronize her, and thus responded cautiously. “Yes,
signorina.
It is so vast that all of Europe—and England—would fit on the eastern seacoast.”

Cassie chewed furiously on her lower lip and turned to the earl, a hint of apology in her voice. “I ask that you forgive my ignorance, my lord, but since there is so much unused land, would not free men and women do just as well as slaves?”

“What do you mean,
cara?
”

“Could not the Dutchmen transport Englishmen and Europeans to the colonies? Men and women who want to begin a new life on their own land. Would not such men and women swell the colonies’ population and increase the valuable exports Signore Montalto speaks of? Perhaps I am being naive, my lord, but would there not be profit to be made from such a venture?”

Silence fell, and Cassie shuffled her feet nervously.

Signore Montalto wiped the look of surprise from his face, and waved a dismissing hand. “A possibility,
signorina,
certainly, and one that I have considered. However, there is little profit in such a notion.”

The earl said thoughtfully, his long fingers stroking the line of his jaw, “The profits would not, of course, be as great, for such men as Cassandra describes have little money. And the Dutch would of necessity have to refit their ships, since their cargo would not be slaves, but free men. But it can be done, Marcello. You will present the idea to the Dutch representative.”

“It would serve, perhaps, if you insist,” Marcello said.

“Excellent. Now that we have come to an amicable decision, I suggest that we return to our guests.”

As they left the library, arm in arm, the earl turned to her, raised her hand to his lips, and kissed her fingers. “I thank you,
cara.
”

She looked up at him wonderingly and shook her head. “I do not understand you, my lord. What am I to make of a man who abducts me, brings me to a foreign country, and then proceeds to let me meddle with his fortune?”

His eyes rested a moment on the strand of pearls. He said smoothly, “You need make nothing of me, Cassandra. You need only to become my wife.”

Cassie frowned him down, turned on her heel, and walked quickly back to the drawing room.

“You are enjoying yourself, Cassandra?” he asked, when he caught up with her.

“Let us say,” she said deliberately, “that I am pleasantly surprised. Have you bribed your guests to be kind to me?”

“If you consider good food and drink a bribe, then the answer is yes.”

“How interesting it would be to know the question.”

Cassie whirled about at the sound of the Contessa Giovanna Giusti’s bright voice.

“My dear Antonio,” Giovanna said softly, her slender white hand touching his sleeve, “I have had the opportunity to speak only a few words to your charming guest. Things English, you know, I find most fascinating. Would you not leave the
signorina
and me alone so that we may learn more of each other?”

The earl hesitated, for the smile on Giovanna’s lips was dangerous. He was on the point of including himself when Cassie said easily, “Yes, my lord, do leave us for a while. I have heard so much about the contessa that I am most desirous of learning more about her.”

He looked at her searchingly for a moment. “Very well, my dear. But do not be too long, for there are other of my friends who wish to enjoy your company.”

The earl stared after the two women, scarcely heeding the words of his friend, Jacopo Sandro, an aging aristocrat whose only pleasure appeared to be the purchase of outlandish wigs from Paris.

“So,
signorina,
” the contessa began, “you are enjoying your stay in Genoa?”

“I daresay it is always interesting to visit a foreign country, contessa.” Although Cassie had not had much experience with ladies who were bitches, she knew enough to be on her guard.

Giovanna’s eyes roved to the pearls about Cassie’s neck. “The pearls are lovely and quite distinctive.”

“
Grazie, signora,
” Cassie said simply, wondering what the contessa was about. It occurred to her that perhaps she had misread the lady’s intentions toward her, and she unbent a trifle. “And your jewels are quite elegant.”

The contessa inclined her graceful neck, her smile still firmly affixed to her full lips. “Did the earl teach you Italian?”

“No, it was my governess. I fear that my accent is quite fearful.”

So Caesare was right, Giovanna thought, if the little slut had a governess, she is likely of acceptable birth. She looked again at the pearls and felt anger knot in her throat. “So you intend to wed with the earl, I see.”

Cassie looked at her, puzzled. “What makes you believe that, contessa?”

“The pearls, of course. They have served as bride’s pearls in the earl’s family for several generations.”

Cassie looked at her stupidly, until understanding of what the earl had done made her tremble with chagrin.
Bride’s pearls!
Perfidious wretch that he was, the earl had convinced her to wear them. Was that why all the guests had treated her so kindly? Had they accepted her because the pearls announced his intention to wed her? She said stiffly to Giovanna, “It is merely a necklace, contessa. It has no particular meaning, I assure you.”