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He nodded slowly, but it was an impossible promise to make. Why did people always insist that one should commit to a reaction before actually hearing what they were supposed to monitor their reaction to? Is not a reaction just that? Unpredictable?
Giulia pulled his hand into her own and looked him firmly in the eyes. “I saw my mother yesterday. She is here somewhere, and it was right after seeing her that I heard the shot that frightened my horse.”
Nick felt ice travel down his spine and distribute throughout his body. He felt the paralyzing fear that had only taken hold of his body one time before, when he had thought that Giulia had been hurt. “Where was the gun pointed?” He heard himself ask the question, and the cold fear was replaced with hot anger.
“It was at you, wasn’t it?” he yelled, stepping away and running a hand over his face. The sudden jerk sent a wave of pain through his shoulder. He ignored it, levelling Giulia with a fierce look. “That woman tried to shoot you?”
“She was hidden behind foliage, so I am unsure where she aimed the gun. She could have been hunting, for all we know. What would it gain for her to shoot me?”
He started pacing the length of the tower as he considered the new development. Giulia’s mother, and Robert’s old flame, was here. The woman had traveled clear from Italy, if her postmarks could be relied on.
The letters! He spun back to Giulia, who was watching him with alarm on her face.
“You’ve analyzed the letters?” he asked.
“Yes.” She shook her head. “And I found nothing. Nothing beyond the jeweled key that she is seeking, whatever that means. I truly have no earthly idea what she is talking about.” She threw up her arms in frustration and aimed her face at the sky. “Why must you have left, Father, right before the biggest adventure even began?”
Nick chuckled at the ridiculousness before him, despite his unease. Even in the face of such trials, she found a way to brighten his life. She was addressing the sky. Such an odd girl.
Giulia dropped her arms, facing him. “Should we inform the earl?”
“I’m not sure.” Nick resumed his pacing. “I should think it would be prudent to warn him, but I cannot predict how he will take the news. He nearly kicked you out simply because you resemble the woman. Perhaps he still loves her.”
“Then we must resume life as usual until we can discover more. Why she has come, specifically. I can only think that if we can discover what key she is asking for then everything else will fall into place.”
“Yes.” Nick nodded. “But how?”
“I do not know. I had hoped it would be revealed in the journal.”
The way she spoke ripped at his heart. Nick stopped and looked at the small warrior who stood tall before him. Well, tall was relative, but her strong soul was apparent. He wanted to cross to her, to pull her into his arms and comfort away the fear she struggled to hide from him.
She looked weary, and he could not help but feel anger and envy toward the man who had his claim on her. Ames. Anger that the man had abandoned her, for all intents and purposes, and envy over the man’s claim on her heart. He approached her cautiously and she remained still, watching him ease forward with a slight crease between her brows.
“Giulia,” he said softly, “I will be by your side through all of this. Until your mother is gone, and you feel safe again, you need not fear.” He laughed a little as he traced her strong jaw with his knuckles. “I would say that I will protect you, but I know you can take care of yourself. You must know, though, that you will not be alone. I will not leave you alone.”
She crumpled forward and it took a moment for Nick to register that she was leaning into him, her small hands clutching the front of his shirt and her head tucked into his chest. He moved his arms around her and soaked in the feel of Giulia against him. His stomach tightened when he felt her shoulders heave in a sob and he pulled her in closer, holding her tight and stroking the back of her head. Nick could not recall feeling so equally content and disheartened before, and he memorized the feeling, storing it away for a time when Giulia would no longer be in his life. With another man in the picture, that was the inevitable future that he could neither ignore nor dispute.
She let out a long sigh and relaxed into him further before raising her hands and wiping her eyes. She lifted her face and gave him a soft smile. Her perfect lips were so close to his he could close the gap with nothing but a slight tilt of his face, but he did not. He respected her too much to cause her to be untrue to another. He used every ounce of self-control he had to look down and smile at her, to reassure her that he would be there for her.
When Giulia pushed away, he let her go with reluctance and offered her a bright smile to belie the malaise that had settled over him as soon as she moved away. They stood on the tower and looked at one another with an odd discomfort between them. She could see through his grin, he was sure, and he needed to remove himself from her presence. The air was too thick with unresolved feelings and there was too much on the line to play the heartbroken lover.
She lowered her eyes and smiled. “Forgive me for ruining your shirt.”
“It is nothing.” His smile widened and he moved toward the hatch in the floor. “I will go and change my shirt and then meet you for breakfast.”
She followed him through the hatch and back downstairs. He felt her presence as strongly as he felt her emotional distance, and a renewed determination came over him. He needed to figure out what this jeweled key was about, but first, he would need to have a talk with Robert. Halstead needed to resort to its prior form—a fortified castle ready to protect and defend.
