Page 63 of Needs Must
‘None whatsoever,’ Donna replied with an innocent-looking smile.
‘There is however one stumbling block that I can see,’ Cal said.
Miriam grunted. ‘Only one?’ she demanded belligerently, glowering at Cal. Far from being offended by her audacity, he was pleased that Donna had such a staunch defender on her side.
‘Can I trust you, Aykroyd?’ he asked, fixing the man with a frosty look.
‘Why should you not, me lord?’ he replied without hesitation. ‘I owe Ian no loyalty whatsoever. Seems to me that if I were firmly on his side then I’d have looked for those letters and told him where to find Mrs Harte long since.’
Cal exchanged a glance with Jules, who nodded. Aykroyd’s loyalties didn’t extend beyond protecting his own skin; a point upon which they were in total agreement. He had been offered an opportunity to come out on the winning side in his rivalry with Ian Harte. He probably realised too that Cal’s influence was far-reaching and that it would be an act of sheer folly to cross him. Even so, Cal wasn’t prepared to take any risks. Well, no more than he’d already been forced into against his better judgement.
‘If you do as we have agreed and draw Harte to the area to confront Mrs Harte then I will reward you with a permanent position on my estate.’ Aykroyd opened his mouth, but Cal silenced him with a raised hand. ‘But if you think you can dupe me, then I would strongly suggest that you reconsider. I have resources that you can only dream about. Make an enemy of me and I will run you to ground. Be aware, there won’t be a rock small enough for you to hide under. Never doubt it.’
Aykroyd, to his credit, didn’t flinch beneath the full force of Cal’s stern glower. He had meant every word of it and the man clearly got the message. Cal himself was surprised by the fierce feeling of emotional protectiveness that Donna inspired in him. He put it down to the fact that there was something about this opinionated, often disrespectful but always challenging female that robbed him of the ability to recall his own name when she looked at him in that way of hers, daring him to …
To what precisely? Cal wished he knew.
‘I won’t let you down, me lord.’
‘You had better not, because I do not make idle threats.’ Cal paused. ‘Where is Harte residing?’
‘Chichester.’
‘I thought as much,’ Donna muttered.
‘Go back to the city tomorrow and tell him that you’ve found Mrs Harte but not the letters. Get him to come here himself the following day. That will give us time to ensure that she is adequately protected.’
Aykroyd tugged at his forelock, stood and left the lodge, disappearing into the surrounding trees with a stealth that was a little disconcerting.
‘Well, I am glad we are resolved,’ Donna said, standing also.
‘Can we trust him?’ Cal asked.
‘About as far as you can throw him.’ It was Miriam who responded, wrinkling her nose as she did so. ‘But he’s nobody’s fool and he knows that you can be of more use to him than that wily so-and-so Ian Harte ever will be. Harte will use Aykroyd and then do him over if he possibly can. You just mark my words. What’s more Aykroyd will know it, and will want to get in first.’
‘She’s right,’ Donna said, smiling at her maid’s forthright manner. ‘Ian will come.’
‘Then we need to prepare for that happy occasion,’ Cal replied with a sarcastic smile. ‘Come.’ He took Donna’s arm. ‘We shall walk back to the cottage together.’
Miriam and Jules fell behind as they left the lodge and Cal and Donna soon outstripped them.
‘Thank you,’ she said, breaking the silence that had spread between them. ‘I know you do not like the arrangement we have made, but I don’t see any other way.’
He smiled at her. ‘Believe me, if therewasany other way, I would not have agreed to your taking all the risks.’
‘There is no real risk, not if you are concealed above my head, ready to intervene if Ian turns violent.’ She returned his smile. ‘I dare to hope that my reputation will be salvaged, thereby leaving me with the opportunity to find a suitable position free from the merest whiff of suspicion.’
Cal grunted but said nothing about a possibility too painful to contemplate.
‘Will you really give Aykroyd a position if he plays his part?’ she asked, after a brief pause.
‘Certainly. I am sure he will make an excellent gamekeeper. Set a thief to catch a thief and all that. Unless I miss my guess, that one will always put his own comforts first. Besides, I have my reasons for supposing that he would like to remain in the area.’
‘Oh?’ She turned to offer him her full attention and a sparkling smile simultaneously. ‘Do share.’
‘I have it on good authority that he is lodging with a very pretty little widow, who has given him reason to suppose that she would like to make that arrangement permanent.’
‘I see.’ She chuckled. ‘But if you offer him a position, will he not have to live in staff quarters on the estate?’
