Beyond the Sunrise by Mary Balogh Page A

off to visit her now—without delay at all—and you are not to reappear before dawn tomorrow, at which time I have no doubt Captain Blake will be riding into the courtyard chafing at the bit ready to leave.”
    Matilda argued. Her ladyship would need to have hot water ordered for a bath, and refreshments brought up. And it would be unseemly for her to spend the evening alone in the house, with only the servants for company. Besides . . .
    â€œBesides nothing,” Joana said, waving a dismissive hand. “I shall have my bath and refreshments whether you are here or not, Matilda. And I would be a very dull companion for you this evening, since I am weary and intend to retire early with a book. So there. Go. Now.” She smiled her most charming smile and felt only a twinge of guilt when Matilda showered her with gratitude and went. After all, she was no girl to be needing chaperones wherever she went.
    Even though, she thought as she made her way to her room and the bath she longed for, she had never entertained a man alone before. Except for Luis, of course, but that did not count. She had always considered that there was safety in numbers. The trouble with Captain Blake was that if there were anyone else present but her and him, he would be likely to fade away into the furniture. He would not be able to do that with her alone. She would not allow it.
    She smiled at the prospect. And felt a little breathless with apprehension. She was not at all sure that the captain could be counted upon to behave predictably in a given situation. But then, maybe she did not wish him to do so.

    *   *   *
    There was no sign of either dinner or her chaperone when he returned to the villa a little more than an hour after taking his leave of her. Only the marquesa, clad inevitably in white, her dress softly flowing, her pelisse embroidered with silver thread, a bonnet swinging from one hand: She was in the low hall of the villa, looking at a painting. She smiled at him.
    â€œAh, Captain,” she said, “you are late. Deliberately so? It is too early for dinner and the weather is too fine to be missed and Obidos is too pretty a town not to be viewed. You are to take me walking, if you please.”
    â€œWhere is your companion?” he asked.
    â€œProbably talking nonstop with her sister, a niece or a nephew on each knee,” she said. “I do not know. I am not her keeper. And don’t scowl at me, Captain, as if I were a naughty schoolgirl about to escape from her chaperone. I will be safe with you, will I not? Arthur recommended you.”
    He stiffened. “You will be safe with me, ma’am,” he said.
    â€œOh, bother.” She laughed lightly. “Shall we go? I shall take you up onto the town walls. There is a lookout path extending right around them. And flights of steep stone steps leading up to it. I hope you have recovered sufficiently from your wounds not to get too breathless.”
    She had set out to charm him. That was very clear to him. She smiled at him and chattered to him and clung to his arm as they walked. For reasons of her own she was trying to make him her latest conquest. Perhaps it was necessary to the woman to make every man her slave. He looked about him and tried to ignore his awareness of the small, delicately perfumed female at his side. And he wished he had brought Beatriz with him. She had wanted to come, to follow the army about as so many women did. He had said nobecause he was Captain Blake, not Private Blake. But he wished now he had said yes.
    The lookout path provided them with a magnificent view down into the town and out across the surrounding countryside.
    She unlinked her arm from his and leaned her arms along the outer wall and gazed outward. She looked as delicate as a girl, he thought—that girl who had thrown her arms wide at the top of the ruined castle on his father’s land and turned her face to the wind. But