Master: An Erotic Novel of the Count of Monte Cristo by Colette Gale Page B

Albert said, his young eyes shining with admiration, “but he actually rode to the hideout of Signor Vampa and insisted that he release me at once.”
    “And you were released? And there was no ransom paid? And they didn’t hurt you?” Mercédès couldn’t stop herself from reaching to touch his handsome, beloved face. Albert was all she had left in the world that she cared for.
    “No, Mama, as you can see, they didn’t hurt me.”
    “And this Signor Vampa, he knows the man you speak of, this Count of Monte Cristo? What else do you know about this count?”
    Albert’s eyes were still shining. “As I said, Mama, I have never seen such power and wealth. He is a fine fellow, very accommodating and agreeable, and quite magnificent when he came bursting into the hideaway where the bandits had kept me. This Signor Vampa is an infamous brigand who strikes fear into the hearts of many in Rome and along the coast, for when he calls for a ransom, it must be produced or he will execute his victim,” he said, seemingly unaware that he had just negated his earlier assurances. “But Monte Cristo had no fear of him at all, and there was no hesitation on Vampa’s part when the count told him that I was a friend of his. In fact, as I have said, he was most apologetic for offending the count.”
    “What a debt we owe to this grand man,” she said, real gratitude swelling in her chest, “for if not for him, you would not have returned to me.”
    “Indeed, Mama, I knew you would feel this way. And Papa too. And so I have invited him to come to Paris, and agreed to show him around the city, for he has never been here.”
    “Then Morcerf and I will be able to thank him ourselves. How splendid!” Mercédès spoke with heartfelt enthusiasm. The man who had saved her son’s life would be more than welcome into her home, into her society, and she would show her gratitude in any way possible.
    But she was still disconcerted about the connection with her own experience, of which Albert and Fernand knew nothing.
    Could this Count of Monte Cristo have known that she was Albert’s mother, and somehow interfered in Signor Vampa’s plans for her as well?
    For when he first abducted her, Jacopo had warned her it would take several days before the ransom request would reach Fernand, and then more days before the money could be delivered . . . and yet, she had been returned to Marseille a total of only five days after she had been kidnapped. She had spent a single night on the island of Monte Cristo, and when she awoke the next morning, she was already on the Nemesis being returned to Marseille. She hadn’t seen Sinbad again.
    There were days when Mercédès truly wondered if it had all been a dream.
    Julie Morrel hadn’t even known she’d been gone, for a message had been sent to her that Mercédès had decided to travel back to Paris for a short time, and so her friend hadn’t worried about her absence.
    But, no, this Count of Monte Cristo couldn’t have known of the connection between Mercédès and Albert, for he had not even met her son until February . . . and her abduction had occurred in November.
    And she had never met a count called Monte Cristo; she had only been incarcerated on an island with the same name. Neither Sinbad nor Jacopo had spoken such a name either. Perhaps it was simply a wild coincidence. After all, how could anyone be lord over such a piece of rock?
    Mercédès realized that Albert had continued to describe his plans for meeting the count here in Paris, and she said, “When he arrives, you must tell me so that your papa and I might invite him to dinner.”
    “But, Mama, I already know when he is to arrive. On May the twentieth, exactly three months after we left each other in Rome. He will take breakfast with me here at ten o’clock in the morning.”
    Mercédès looked at him. “And you believe that he will be here for this appointment?”
    “Mama, if you had met this amazing gentleman, you would have