by Laura Martin
Chapter One
Rosa lifted her head from the pillow as the door opened and looked at the unappetising bowl of stew before turning her gaze to her odious cousin. He watched her as she dismissed first the dinner and then him, a cold contempt behind his eyes.
‘You should be grateful for the scraps I bring you,’ Antonio Di Mercurio sneered as he flung the bowl of brown slop on to the rickety wooden table. ‘Whores don’t deserve to eat with the rest of the family.’
‘Would it hurt you to be civil?’ Rosa replied in her broken Italian. She tried to remain aloof, but could already feel the anger threatening to take over. Her cousin had been needling her for the past four weeks, trying to provoke some kind of reaction, and Rosa knew it wouldn’t be long before he succeeded. There were only so many insults she could turn the other cheek to before retaliating.
‘Civil? Maybe you should work on being less civil. Might save the family from further shame in the future.’ Antonio laughed heartily at his joke, made the protective sign against the evil eye with his hands and turned to leave.
Rosa picked up the bowl Antonio had just set down and flung it at her malicious cousin, but he was already out of the room and the dinner splatted against the closed door. Letting out a growl of annoyance, Rosa flopped back on the bed and tried to relax. She knew she shouldn’t let Antonio upset her so much, but it was difficult being in a foreign country with people she didn’t know. The Di Mercurios might be her family on her mother’s side, but they didn’t act warm or loving. In the four weeks she’d been staying in the villa in Italy not one of them had said a single kind word towards her.
Rosa suddenly sat up straight and looked at the door. In Antonio’s haste to avoid her flying dinner he might have forgotten to lock it. She didn’t remember hearing the click or the grating of the metal key in the ancient lock. Hardly daring to hope, Rosa stood and crossed the room. She gripped the handle, wondering whether it was a trick, an unkind ruse planned by her cousin to give her the hope of freedom.
Knowing she couldn’t give up on even the slightest chance of escaping her imprisonment, Rosa pushed down on the handle and nearly cried out with happiness as the door opened. Quickly she glanced out into the corridor and saw it was deserted; the Di Mercurio family had no need to station a guard outside her door when they kept it locked all day and night.
Rosa carefully closed the door and rested her head against the rough wood. This was her one and only chance to escape. For twenty-three hours a day she was locked in this small chamber, only let out for one hour’s exercise around the grounds daily. When outside her room she was always watched closely by one of her numerous uncles or cousins, all intent on keeping her hidden from the world so she wouldn’t bring shame to their family. So now really was her only chance and she wouldn’t let the nerves that were bubbling away inside her spoil it.
Grabbing her travelling cloak, Rosa collected together the few items she felt she couldn’t leave behind and made a neat bundle. Just before leaving the room she pushed her hand under her mattress and removed the small purse of money she’d managed to keep hidden throughout her journey to Italy and subsequent imprisonment in the villa. Then, without a backwards glance at the room that had been her prison cell for the past month, Rosa darted out into the courtyard.
The garden was shrouded in an inky blackness and it took Rosa’s eyes a few minutes to adjust. Luckily she knew this part of the grounds from her daily exercise excursions from her room and as she felt her way along the villa wall an escape route began to form in her mind.
‘Don’t be like that, Maria.’ Antonio’s voice carried through the night.
Rosa stiffened, her heart pounding in her chest so loudly she thought the whole world must be able to hear.
‘I never promised this would be anything more than a few nights of fun. You’re only a maid after all.’
Rosa couldn’t hear the words of Maria’s reply, but she understood the gist of her feelings from the tone. No doubt Antonio had implied he would give the servant much more than a quick fumble. Normally Rosa would have stormed over and confronted her cousin, but tonight she had to be selfish. She couldn’t bear to be locked up for another five months, but more importantly she wouldn’t let the Di Mercurios snatch her baby away and send it to live with some other family. Going forward, Rosa would have to be selfish, it wasn’t just her own future she was fighting for now.
Creeping softly through the night, Rosa moved further away from the villa, making sure she kept the perimeter wall to her right. She was heading for a huge lemon tree at the southernmost corner of the grounds. There she was confident she could make it over the wall and to freedom, and even the most vigilant of her family wouldn’t be able to see her climbing the tree that far from the house.
With the lemon tree looming above her Rosa checked she hadn’t been followed before testing out the branches. There was no movement from the villa, even Antonio and his disappointed maid had fallen quiet and Rosa concluded they must have returned inside.
Rosa had been climbing trees since she was a little girl, but concern for the baby inside her made her pause and evaluate for a moment longer. Knowing she had no choice, she hiked up her skirt and began to climb. Within two minutes she was sitting on the stone wall, regarding the drop on the other side. It was further down than on the villa side of the wall, due to a sloping of the land, maybe six or seven feet. There was a rough path running alongside the wall with nothing to cushion her drop. She could probably jump without doing herself too big an injury, but the tiny life inside her was another matter. Maybe if she lowered herself slowly whilst holding on to the top of the wall she would be safe.
She was still contemplating her options as she heard movement coming along the path. Footsteps and a low whistling became gradually louder as Rosa pressed herself into the stone and wondered what to do. At this height whoever was approaching might not see her, but if they happened to look up for any reason her escape attempt would be ruined.
The whistling got louder and Rosa knew there was nothing for it but to climb back over the wall until the man had passed. It went against every instinct to return to the grounds of her prison, but she kept telling herself it was only temporary. In a few minutes she would be back on top of the wall and on her way to freedom.
As she swung her legs over she felt herself toppling slightly. With the extra weight she was now carrying around her middle her equilibrium was off just slightly and as she windmilled her arms to try to regain her balance Rosa knew it wasn’t going to be enough. With a scream she fell backwards, wrapping her arms protectively around her belly and praying for a miracle.
* * *
Thomas felt his breath knocked from his lungs as something careened into him from above. One moment he’d been walking along lost in thought and the next he was flattened, unable to move.
‘Oooh...’ a soft voice moaned on top of him.
Thomas reached up and his hand met soft fabric. If he wasn’t much mistaken there was a woman lying on top of him, but he had no idea where she had come from.
‘Excuse me,’ he said in Italian eventually when the woman made no attempt to move. He almost laughed at the stiff formality of the words—even after three years of living abroad you still couldn’t remove his innate good manners.
There was some wriggling, then fingers digging into his ribcage as she manoeuvred herself upright. Thomas watched in a daze as the young woman ran her hands over her body as if checking for bumps and bruises, caressing her abdomen through the material of her dress.
‘Are you hurt?’ she asked eventually, once Thomas could see she was satisfied she had not injured herself in any obvious way. She spoke in Italian, but there was an accent that made him wonder if she was not native to this part of the world.
Testing out his theory, Thomas replied in English, ‘Just a little winded.’
‘You’re English.’
He could hear the note of fear in her voice and noticed how she begun to lean away from him as if he were about to do her harm.
‘Yes,’ he replied tersely. ‘Would you mind letting me up?’
‘Oh,’ the young woman said, mortification in her voice as she looked down and realised she was still straddling him. Quickly she stood, but as she transferred her weight to her left foot she cried out in pain. From his position on the ground Thomas saw her stumble and then come lurching back towards him. This time it was her elbow that caught him in the stomach and a slender knee in the groin area. For a moment Thomas felt the whole world blur with pain before he was back on the dusty country road with a woman on top of him.
‘I’m sorry,’ the young woman mumbled, too focused on her own pain to realise the extent of the damage she had inflicted on him.
Thomas just grunted, lying still until the ache had subsided, before gripping the young woman around the waist and firmly setting her on the road beside him.
Before deciding what to do next, he regarded the woman in front of him for a few moments. She was dusty and dishevelled, and at the moment her face was screwed up with pain, but if Thomas wasn’t much mistaken this was no common thief or intruder trying to escape the Di Mercurio property. She was too well dressed, her bearing and her speech too polished.
‘Why did you jump off the wall?’ Thomas asked.
Immediately he saw the young woman bristle.
‘I didn’t jump. I fell.’
‘Let me rephrase the question. Why were you climbing over the wall in the first place?’
‘That is none of your concern,’ she said primly.
Thomas watched her for a few seconds and then shrugged nonchalantly. He wasn’t about to browbeat the information from her, but she would tell him.
‘Would you like me to escort you back to the Di Mercurio villa, or fetch someone to come and get you?’ he asked lightly.
He actually saw the pallor bloom on her face as the blood drained away.
‘Please do not concern yourself,’ she said. ‘I’ll just get on my way and you can continue with your evening.’
‘You will need my help...’ he motioned to her left ankle ‘... I’d wager you won’t get far on your own.’
‘Truly, please do not let me detain you further,’ she said with exaggerated politeness. Thomas could see he was beginning to irk her, but found himself unable to stop with his goading. He was enjoying this interaction more than he had any for months now.
He looked on with interest as she tottered to her feet, grimaced and bit down forcibly on her lower lip, presumably to stop her crying out in pain as she tried to put weight on her left foot. Thomas’s concern turned to amusement as she began hopping down the road and he had to stop himself from laughing out loud.
‘I don’t think anyone has ever gone to such lengths to avoid my company before,’ he mused loudly as he pushed himself upright and began to stroll along beside her.
She didn’t even spare him a look, just hopped resolutely onwards.
‘I hope you didn’t need to be somewhere in a hurry. You’re rather slow at hopping.’ This did earn him a glance, but no conversation.
Suddenly she stopped, changed direction and hopped unsteadily to the side of the road. Thomas watched with interest as she hefted a heavy fallen branch from the ground and tested it as a makeshift crutch. It didn’t look that helpful.
‘So let me guess,’ he said as she staggered onwards. ‘You’re a disgraced maid and you stole the family silver.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous.’
Two more steps, then she rested, looking back over her shoulder and appearing disappointed with how little progress they’d made.
‘You’re being forced to marry one of the unpleasant Di Mercurio boys and you’re fleeing on the eve of the wedding.’
‘That would be a very good reason to run,’ the young woman muttered under her breath.
‘I’ve got it,’ Thomas exclaimed. ‘They were going to offer you up as a ritual sacrifice to the devil.’
‘Why are you following me?’ she demanded.
‘I thought you might need some assistance.’
She stared at him with wide eyes and motioned to the nearly useless crutch. ‘You’re not providing any assistance so will you just leave me alone.’
‘I could provide you with assistance,’ Thomas said with a charming smile, ‘If you ask nicely. And tell me what you were doing climbing over the wall.’
She had a stubborn streak running through her, Thomas mused as she limped a few more paces with her head held high before relenting.
‘I was being held prisoner. Now, please will you help me?’
‘Well, that wasn’t the most gracious of pleas, but a gentleman can overlook these things.’ Thomas scooped her up into his arms, hiding a grin at her squeal of surprise and the initial stiffness of her body. ‘Where to, my lady?’
No reply was forthcoming and Thomas could see the thoughts tumbling through her head. For some reason she had felt she was being held prisoner by the well-to-do Di Mercurios and had manufactured her escape, but he would wager his entire inheritance that she hadn’t really planned beyond getting over the wall.
‘Maybe to the residence of the local magistrate so you could report your imprisonment?’ Thomas suggested, suppressing a smile as she tensed. ‘Or we could go straight to the governatore, the man in charge, seeing as they are such an influential family in the region.’
Still no reply from the woman in his arms.
‘What’s your name?’ he asked.
‘Miss Rosa Rothwell.’
‘Well, Rosa,’ he said, enjoying her scowl of indignation at his use of the overfamiliar form of address, ‘it is decision time. What’s the plan?’
‘I would be grateful if you would take me to a local pensione,’ she said decisively.
‘I don’t like to criticise a well-thought-out plan, but won’t the village guest house be the first place the Di Mercurios look for their runaway?’
‘I will ask the owner to be discreet.’
‘It will all come down to who has the bigger purse, you or the wealthiest landowners around the lake.’
Rosa fell quiet again and Thomas adjusted his grip on the pensive young woman in his arms.
‘Are you sure you can’t sort this feud out with the Di Mercurios?’ Thomas asked softly, the levity gone from his voice. ‘It would be the easiest way.’
‘No.’ The force behind that one short word told Thomas all he needed to know about Rosa’s predicament. She was in trouble, real trouble, and it wasn’t going to be sorted with an apology and a friendly handshake. He couldn’t imagine the Di Mercurios had actually kept Rosa locked up, they were a respected and important family, but he was well aware he didn’t know the details. ‘I need to get away from here,’ Rosa said quietly. ‘I need to get back to England.’
Thomas quickened his pace along the dusty road and felt Rosa squirm in his arms.
‘Where are we going?’ she asked.
‘I’m renting a villa about a mile from here,’ Thomas said. ‘You will stay tonight and arrangements can be made in the morning.’
‘I’m not sure that is an appropriate—’
‘You don’t really have a choice,’ Thomas interrupted her. ‘It’s this or the Di Mercurios finding you within the hour.’
‘I am a young woman of a good family,’ Rosa said stiffly.
‘Trust me, there is nothing further from my mind than ravishing you. You’ll be perfectly safe.’
Not that she wasn’t pretty enough, in a wholesome, innocent sort of way, but Thomas had not been tempted in a long time and he wasn’t going to let this dishevelled young woman be the reason he stepped off his predestined path.
Copyright © 2017 by Laura Martin