“You damned little fool,” he said. “And almost lost your own in the process. But that does not answermy question.” She did not step back when he took astep forward this time. He took her by the shoulders and shook her none too gently. “I should beat youuntil you are too sore to sit down.”
“You are not my father,” she said, clinging to his elbows. “Or my husband. I do not have to explainmyself to you. I saw the ship and the boat and cameto the top of the path and saw those two men. Andwhen I went down a little way, I saw you and the othermen on the beach. And then one of the two was goingto shoot you.” Her voice shook. “He was going to kill you.”
“You did not see the ship from your room,” he said in exasperation. But his fury had ebbed as quickly asit had come and he saw it for what it was—horror atwhat he had almost caused to happen to her.
“Edgar,” she said, “who were those men if not customs officers? And do you make yourself very richby smuggling? Please say no.”
“No,” he said. “I am not a smuggler, Dinah.”
“What, then?” she said.
He kept his hands on her shoulders and drew in a deep breath before letting it out slowly. “I think I hadbetter tell you the truth,” he said. “It cannot do agreat deal of harm now, I suppose. I had already madeit known that this was my last assignment, and evenif I had not decided to end it, circumstances wouldnow force me to do so. Obviously my cover has beenshattered and I can be of no further use. Not in mypresent capacity anyway.”
She looked at him mutely. She was biting her lower lip.
“For a few years,” he said, “I was an active agent for our government, spending most of my time inFrance gathering what information I could.”
“A spy,” she said.
“I suppose you could call it that,” he said. “More recently the convenient situation of Malvern has enabled me to offer safe landing and safe departure toother agents. Safe until this time, that is. Somethingwent horribly wrong and Fournier fled to Malvern, thefool, more than a week early and trailing a whole armyof thugs behind him. He has papers and informationthat must be safely delivered in France. After that Isuppose he will have to disappear. His name and facemust be too well known for him to be of much use toanyone for a while.”
He watched her swallow. “You have been harboring a spy at Malvern?” she said. “Where?”
“In the white tower,” he said. “You almost came upon him there when you got lost, Dinah. It must havebeen his presence you felt. Fortunately you thought itwas ghosts.”
“You tried to scare me with them to keep me out of the way,” Dinah said.
“To keep you safe,” he said. “One of my men, who was employed as a gardener at Malvern, was killed theday after Fournier’s arrival.”
“Oh,” she said, her mouth forming the word, though there was not much sound.
“I made arrangements for Fournier to leave tonight,” he said, “instead of in four nights’ time when the tides would be more favorable and the moon in itsleast damaging phase. There would have been too largea reception committee waiting for us then. Tonight,thank God, there were only two.”
“So,” she said, “it was probably not you he was going to kill.”
“Doubtless his first shot was intended for Fournier,” he said.
She looked down at her hands, which she held palm up between them. “I think shock is wearing off andreality intruding,” she said, her voice very steady.“Hold me, Edgar. Will you, please?”
“Come here,” he said, wrapping his arms tightly about her and bringing her full length against him. Sheturned her head to lay it against his shoulder. And thenshe began to tremble in convulsive jerks and he knewthat if he let her go she would crumple to the sand. He rocked her against him and laid his cheek againstthe top of her head.
She felt warm and comforted and safe. And everything was all right. He was not after all a smuggler but an agent acting for England against the power ofNapoleon Bonaparte. And he was not a murderereither. He was a killer, certainly, and those two menwere probably not the only two he had killed. But hewas part of the war effort and killing was acceptablein war if it was absolutely necessary. The deaths ofthose two men had been necessary. She shivered asher trembling came under control.
But she could not help remembering that he might have been dead now if she had not come when shehad. And that she might be dead if he had not actedso decisively. She could still feel the cold terror of theblade at her throat. And she knew that her dreamswould be haunted for a long time to come by the eventsof this night.
But she was warm and safe now. Safe in the arms of a man she had known for only two and a half days,on a deserted beach in the middle of the night onemile from home and her bed. In the arms of a manwho had been kissing her just a few minutes before ina deep and intimate and suggestive manner and whosehand had been inside her nightgown touching her moreintimately than she had allowed him to touch her inher dream—centuries ago when she had been asleep inher bed. The man whose hand had been coming underneath the hem of her gown to discover her nakedness and who had stopped only when she hadrepeatedly begged him to do so and when she had already been giving up hope that he would heed herwords.
Safe!
She raised her head and looked into his face. “Edgar,” she said.
But he surprised her by smiling—no,grinningwas a more appropriate word, and she did not continue.“I think you have been compromised quite sufficientlythat you will have to accept my marriage offer.Wouldn’t you agree, Dinah?” he asked.
“Of course not,” she said, her eyes widening. “How absurd!”
“Alone with me on the beach after midnight,” he said, echoing her thoughts of a moment before, “innothing more than your nightgown and a cloak. I thinkyou are going to have to marry me, Dinah.”
“Silly,” she said. “No one need know unless you tell them. Besides, we have known each other for lessthan three days. It would be foolish to marry on suchshort acquaintance.”
