Finally she could resist the urge no longer. A moment later she was at the window and drawing back the curtain a little more cautiously than she had thefirst time. And peering downward.
He was still there. Or rather, he was thereagain,she thought with a frown. This time he was astride amagnificent black horse, which was pawing the groundas if eager to be off and galloping. And he had dispensed with his hat. Now he was unmistakably LordAsquith. And he was looking directly up at her.
Dinah clung to the curtain, mortified. He could not have failed to see her, though there was no light behind her. She was wearing a white nightgown. Sheraised one hand in acknowledgment of his presence,though she did not wave it. And she wondered if sheshould immediately drop the curtain back into place.He looked quite gorgeously beautiful, she thought despite her embarrassment. Gloriously romantic.
And then he raised his arms to her, beckoning with both.
She leaned closer to the window. “Me?” she said, laying one hand against her bosom and forming theword with her lips, though no sound escaped her. Andthen she felt remarkably foolish. Who else could hemean?
He continued to beckon. But what could be wrong? For what could he possibly need her that necessitatedhis coming beneath her window and beckoning her?Had someone been hurt? Or was he merely trying toarrange a clandestine meeting with her? She drew backa little at the thought. But she could not resist leaningforward for one more look down. He was still beckoning with both arms, though his horse was more impatient now, and it looked as if he should have bothhands on the reins.
What should she do? But it was a foolish question, Dinah admitted as soon as she had formed it in hermind. She would never sleep. She would worry andwonder. She must go down. Of course she must. Shehesitated after hurrying through to her dressing room,but she decided against the delay of dressing. Shepulled on her half boots and drew a warm gray cloakabout her shoulders.
She knew the way downstairs, she told herself as she let herself out of her room and looked about hersomewhat fearfully. Even in the dark. It was not reallydark anyway. Her eyes were accustomed to it and shecould see quite clearly. She did not know if she wouldbe able to get out through the front doors. Perhapsthey would be too heavily bolted for her strength. Butprobably not. As she found the staircase without anyreal difficulty, her mind was occupied with workingout how she was to get from the front doors to the footof her tower. But she thought it was not far if sheturned right outside the courtyard and if there were nounknown obstacles in the way.
The front doors were not bolted at all. But of course. Edgar must have gone out this way. Neither was thecourtyard gate locked. And there was no obstacle outside more serious than a large flower bed that had tobe skirted. The white tower rose large and massive inthe darkness, and Dinah shivered despite herself asshe circled around it and came to the narrower, moreelegant tower that held her room.
She looked up at her window. Yes, it was unmistakably hers. She was in the right place. But there was no one standing beneath it except her. She was toolate. Whatever he had wanted her for must have beenurgent, and she had made no signal to assure him thatshe was coming. When the curtain had dropped backinto place, he must have assumed that she was ignoring his plea. He had gone away. Dinah stood on thewet grass between the white tower and hers and felt a great disappointment.
He would think that she had not cared. And she had missed some sort of adventure. She would die of curiosity between now and morning, when he would explain what he had wanted and when she would be ableto explain that she had come only to find him gone.
She sighed and turned to look around her. Should she walk about in the hope of coming upon him? Butshe did not know the grounds of Malvern and couldeasily get lost. Besides, she noticed when the first disappointment was fading, the house looked very largeand very dark and very ominous. She had not given athought to fear until this point, but now her heart wasbeginning to beat uncomfortably. And suddenly thethought that there were outside ghosts at Malvern aswell as indoor ones gave her a twinge of uneasiness.And the next night was All Hallows’ Eve—the nightfor ghosts and the spirits of the dead.
No, she would return to the house, she decided, and to her bed. And she shuddered at the conviction thata hand was going to tap her on the back at any moment. She glanced nervously over her shoulder. Andalmost jumped with fright when a dark figure camestriding out of the deeper darkness from the directionof the sea. He was on foot and covered from shouldersto booted feet by a dark cloak. He wore a hat.
He stopped walking abruptly and stared at her.
“What are you doing?’’ he asked after a moment’s silence. His voice was low and ominously tense.
Dinah licked her lips and looked behind him. “Where is your horse?” she asked.
“My horse?” he said, taking the remaining steps that separated them and gazing at her with eyes thatseemed disconcertingly dark—and angry. “Where is my horse? In the stable where it belongs. I asked youwhat you were doing.”
“What did you want?” she asked. “Was there some trouble?”
His eyes sharpened on her but lost none of their anger.
“You saw me?” he said. And he glanced up to her window and took her by the wrist to draw her away,around the base of the white tower toward the courtyard arch. But he glanced up at the white tower too,she noticed. “Foolish girl. You should be in your bed,not wandering about outside where you might come toall kinds of harm.”
“But I thought you needed me,” she said even as she realized that she had been mistaken. It could nothave been her window that he had been looking at. Itmust have been someone else’s. He had been beckoning to someone else.
He drew her to a halt and turned her. He was still furious, she could see. And his rather austere face,which she had seen as beautiful during the day, nowlooked forbidding and even frightening. She would notwant to cross his will, she thought. And yet she seemedunwittingly to have done just that.
“Listen to me,” he said, his voice cold. “You are a guest in this house. Has no one ever explained toyou that it is ill-mannered to wander about someoneelse’s house and property unescorted and uninvited?”
He might as well have slapped her face, she thought. He could not have stung her more. His hands were onher upper arms. She rather thought his fingers mightleave bruises there. She swallowed. There was no answer to such a question.
“This is a rough part of the coastline,” he said. “There are smugglers here, not to mention other assorted villains. Do you want to be murdered? Or ravished?”
He waited for her answer.
“No,” she said in a voice that was little more than a whisper. “I’m sorry, Edgar. I thought you neededme.”
He gazed at her, and some of the tension went out of his face. “Dinah,” he said, “you are my guesthere. You are under my protection. It is my duty tolook to your safety. Forgive me that burst of temper.I came outside to get some air. I often do when I cannot sleep at night. I paused below the white tower todecide which direction to take. I am sorry I disturbedyour sleep and gave you the wrong impression. Let metake you back to your room.”
He locked the gate and bolted the front doors behind them and gave her his arm. They walked upstairs andthrough the maze of corridors in silence, Dinah feeling more mortified with every step she took.
“Where did you ride?” she asked as they approached her room.
