them.
His first thought as he stared into the gray day was that Bianca had spoken the truth. Everything from her father’s tools to the gift of old King Henry seemed to be corroborated. But that did not mean that everything she said was the truth. There were still too many unanswered questions and too many unresolved coincidences. Why had she been at the scene of the crime in the first place and why wouldn’t she tell him? Where had she gone last evening? Who was the intruder?
He tried to make himself recall the events of the previous night, from hearing the intruder to his mad dash across the slick rooftops of the city, but his mind kept returning to what had happened after. Bianca’s naked body, warmed by the heat of the fire, filled his memory. He could see her and feel her and smell her again. He heard her voice, her unnameable but alluring tone, as she asked him if he was going to make love to her. Yes , he hungered to tell her, yes, yes, yes . His senses began to tingle and his body to grow hard, and he found himself wondering if perhaps he shouldn’t seek her out.
“Fool, idiot, madman!” he spoke aloud to himself, halting just in time, before he managed to open the door. What was happening to his mind? What had she done to him? Francesco had called her charming, and indeed she was, like some ancient sorceress bewitching men to their ruin. It wasn’t that conniving, seductive Salva scamp he needed, he told himself, it was a woman. Any woman. The sooner the better. That day. That hour if possible. Moving with a new sense of resolve, Ian stomped out of the library and began barking orders for his gondola to be made ready.
Bianca was staring out the empty hole where the window of her laboratory used to be when she heard the noise. It was so faint she thought she had imagined it, but as it grew louder and more insistent she realized that it was coming from the wall to her right. Just as she was about to step toward it, the whole wall moved in her direction with enough grinding and squeaking of hinges to raise the dead.
A hand appeared around the side.
Then a foot.
And then a handsome blond head.
“Oh, good, I was hoping to catch you in here.” Crispin greeted Bianca jovially, as if his entrance had been anything but extraordinary.
Bianca tried to match his nonchalance, shoving her trembling hands under her arms. “Do all the walls in the house do that?”
“Not all of them, no. But many of them do have trick doors and secret passages. This house has more secret compartments and hallways than the entire Doge’s Palace. It seems that when the house was built our ancestors were involved in something shady that required quick escapes and inviolable hiding places. They must have been a more interesting bunch than the lot of us who lives here now.” He crossed to the glassless window and looked out, then turned to regard her. “Of course, you’ve livened things up a bit with your presence.”
“I’m sorry, Your Lordship. I realize that I have caused nothing but inconvenience for everyone since I arrived. I will, of course, pay for the new window and…”
Crispin cut her off mid-sentence. “On the contrary, it has been a pleasure to have you here. It does my heart good to see Ian so animated.”
“Animated? I would describe him as raving. How do you stand it?”
“I would rather see him acting alive like a rabid dog than doing that walking-corpse imitation he has spent the past several years perfecting.”
“Two years?” Bianca asked quietly.
The gaze he turned on her was questioning. “Yes, ah , something like that.” He did not know how much his brother’s betrothed knew about the incidents of 1583, but he was certain he did not want to be the one to disclose them. If Ian wanted to keep his secrets, who was he to intervene? And if he did not, it was his own responsibility to disclose them. Besides, Crispin admitted to himself, he wasn’t sure he even knew what had happened all those
His first thought as he stared into the gray day was that Bianca had spoken the truth. Everything from her father’s tools to the gift of old King Henry seemed to be corroborated. But that did not mean that everything she said was the truth. There were still too many unanswered questions and too many unresolved coincidences. Why had she been at the scene of the crime in the first place and why wouldn’t she tell him? Where had she gone last evening? Who was the intruder?
He tried to make himself recall the events of the previous night, from hearing the intruder to his mad dash across the slick rooftops of the city, but his mind kept returning to what had happened after. Bianca’s naked body, warmed by the heat of the fire, filled his memory. He could see her and feel her and smell her again. He heard her voice, her unnameable but alluring tone, as she asked him if he was going to make love to her. Yes , he hungered to tell her, yes, yes, yes . His senses began to tingle and his body to grow hard, and he found himself wondering if perhaps he shouldn’t seek her out.
“Fool, idiot, madman!” he spoke aloud to himself, halting just in time, before he managed to open the door. What was happening to his mind? What had she done to him? Francesco had called her charming, and indeed she was, like some ancient sorceress bewitching men to their ruin. It wasn’t that conniving, seductive Salva scamp he needed, he told himself, it was a woman. Any woman. The sooner the better. That day. That hour if possible. Moving with a new sense of resolve, Ian stomped out of the library and began barking orders for his gondola to be made ready.
Bianca was staring out the empty hole where the window of her laboratory used to be when she heard the noise. It was so faint she thought she had imagined it, but as it grew louder and more insistent she realized that it was coming from the wall to her right. Just as she was about to step toward it, the whole wall moved in her direction with enough grinding and squeaking of hinges to raise the dead.
A hand appeared around the side.
Then a foot.
And then a handsome blond head.
“Oh, good, I was hoping to catch you in here.” Crispin greeted Bianca jovially, as if his entrance had been anything but extraordinary.
Bianca tried to match his nonchalance, shoving her trembling hands under her arms. “Do all the walls in the house do that?”
“Not all of them, no. But many of them do have trick doors and secret passages. This house has more secret compartments and hallways than the entire Doge’s Palace. It seems that when the house was built our ancestors were involved in something shady that required quick escapes and inviolable hiding places. They must have been a more interesting bunch than the lot of us who lives here now.” He crossed to the glassless window and looked out, then turned to regard her. “Of course, you’ve livened things up a bit with your presence.”
“I’m sorry, Your Lordship. I realize that I have caused nothing but inconvenience for everyone since I arrived. I will, of course, pay for the new window and…”
Crispin cut her off mid-sentence. “On the contrary, it has been a pleasure to have you here. It does my heart good to see Ian so animated.”
“Animated? I would describe him as raving. How do you stand it?”
“I would rather see him acting alive like a rabid dog than doing that walking-corpse imitation he has spent the past several years perfecting.”
“Two years?” Bianca asked quietly.
The gaze he turned on her was questioning. “Yes, ah , something like that.” He did not know how much his brother’s betrothed knew about the incidents of 1583, but he was certain he did not want to be the one to disclose them. If Ian wanted to keep his secrets, who was he to intervene? And if he did not, it was his own responsibility to disclose them. Besides, Crispin admitted to himself, he wasn’t sure he even knew what had happened all those
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