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Shaking his head, Janos patted his grandson on the arm. ‘Oh, I was just trying to reassure Prudence that her presence here was in no way a disappointment. In fact, I’m rather hoping she might agree to be a charming, if sadly temporary, addition to our bachelor evenings of chess and backgammon.’
Forcing herself to look straight ahead, Prudence managed a faint smile. ‘That would be lovely, Mr de— I mean Janos. But I wouldn’t want to intrude.’
Janos shook his head. ‘Not at all. You’re a long way from home,’ he said firmly. ‘And while you’re our guest it’s our job to make you feel welcome—isn’t it, Laszlo?’
Prudence caught her breath as Laszlo gave the ghost of a smile and nodded slowly. ‘Of course, Papi,’ he said stiffly. ‘But right now you need to go downstairs and find Rosa. Apparently you’re supposed to be discussing curtains?’
Janos frowned. ‘Ah, yes. The curtains. I hadn’t forgotten. I just rather hoped Rosa had.’ He ran a hand over his face and cast an apologetic glance towards Prudence. ‘If you’ll excuse me, my dear? Perhaps, however, I can persuade you to join Laszlo and myself for lunch?’
Watching Janos leave, Prudence felt a pit open up in her stomach and the air seemed suddenly to swell in the pulsing, steepening silence. Since arriving at the castle three days ago she’d made a point of staying in the cottage outside of work hours, and had hardly seen Laszlo except at mealtimes, when she’d found his marked courtesy towards her both grating and depressing. Only now here they were: alone. There was nowhere to hide from his dark, probing gaze. Or from the fluttering, shivery anticipation squirming inside her.
Biting her lip, she reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear before remembering that, as usual for work, she’d tied it back into a low ponytail.
‘I don’t have to come to lunch. I could say I have work to do. Or that I’ve got a headache.’ She spoke quickly, desperate to say something before her body began to slip apart and she couldn’t even think straight, far less talk.
Laszlo stared at her, his face expressionless, and then he said coldly, ‘I’d rather you didn’t keep lying to my grandfather, Prudence.’
She glared at him. ‘I’m not lying. I do have work I could be doing.’ And, turning, she began to rifle pointedly through a pile of papers on the desk.
‘And the headache?’ Laszlo said relentlessly.
Gritting her teeth, Prudence turned back to face him. ‘Also true—and standing right in front of me!’ she snapped.
Laszlo stared at her for a long, long moment, until finally he began to drift around the room. From the corner of her eye, she watched furtively as he walked up to his mother’s painting and idly ran a finger down the frame.
‘Don’t you have somewhere to be?’ she snapped finally.
Turning, he shrugged, and then in a voice that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand upright, he said mildly, ‘I have a cure for headaches.’
His eyes locked onto hers and she felt heat break out on her skin. Clenching her fists, she gave him an icy glare. ‘So do I. Painkillers. In my handbag.’
Laszlo frowned. ‘You shouldn’t take pills for a headache. They’re not a cure. You need to treat the cause, not the symptom.’
Prudence glanced at him irritably. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were a doctor. Is that another of your parallel lives?’
A muscle flickered in his cheek. ‘I don’t like you taking drugs.’
‘It’s a painkiller!’ she said through gritted teeth. ‘And I’d be grateful if you kept your remarks to matters relating to the cataloguing. That is unless you think my drug-taking is affecting my job—’
She gazed at him in astonishment as he began peering under tables and rifling through canvases. ‘Be careful! Don’t touch them without gloves.’
She hurried across the room, and then her feet stuttered to a halt as he turned to face her.
‘Wh—what are you doing?’ she stammered. His eyes rested on her face and, legs shaking, she pressed her knees together as her body tightened automatically in response.
‘I’m looking for your high horse,’ he said softly. ‘Or is he in stables with all the others?’
Prudence swallowed. ‘Very funny! I don’t know why you’re making fun of me. It was you who said we couldn’t discuss anything apart from the cataloguing. I’m just following the rules.’
‘But I make the rules. And I can change them too.’
She held her breath as his eyes locked onto hers. Then, abruptly, he walked towards the window and glanced outside.
‘What you need is some fresh air,’ he said smoothly. ‘And some sunlight. A walk, maybe. You used to like going for walks.’
Prudence licked her lips. A sudden, all too vivid memory of where a walk with Laszlo might lead flashed into her head and she felt heat rise up inside her. Cheeks burning, she fumbled for the remnants of her anger—for something that would banish the slow, treacherous thickening of her blood.
‘Okay. I’ll go for a walk before lunch. Satisfied? And now, if you don’t mind, I have work to do.’
