Captive in His Castle(8)

‘That’s exactly what it is. It was built in the early fifteenth century by one of my ancestors and has belonged to the Cassari family since then.’

‘You’re kidding—right?’ Her smile faded when she realised Drago was serious.

‘The name Palazzo d’Inverno means Winter Palace—so named because traditionally the family lived here during the winter and spring, but spent the hot summer months at a house in the Italian Alps.’ Drago steered the boat alongside a wooden jetty and looped a rope around a bollard before jumping out. ‘Give me your hand,’ he ordered.

It was a fair leap onto the jetty so Jess reluctantly obeyed, feeling a tingling sensation like an electrical shock shoot up her arm when his fingers closed around hers.

‘Does Angelo live here?’ she asked, staring up at the magnificent house rather than meet Drago’s far too knowing gaze.

‘He has an apartment in one of the wings, and my mother and aunt have accommodation in another wing.’

Jess fell silent as she followed Drago along the stone walkway that ran beside this part of the canal. He led her up a flight of steps and through a huge, ornately carved front door. ‘I told the staff not to wait up,’ he explained as he ushered her into the quiet house. ‘They are all fond of Angelo and the past few days have been a strain for everyone.’

The entrance hall was vast, and their footsteps rang on the marble floor and on the sweeping staircase that wound up through the centre of the house.

‘This is your room,’ Drago announced at last, stopping at the far end of a long corridor. He opened the door and Jess could not restrain a startled gasp as she walked past him. The proportions of the room were breathtaking, and as she lifted her eyes to the ceiling high above she was amazed to see that it had been decorated with a series of frescoes depicting plump cherubs and figures that she guessed were characters from Roman mythology.

‘Thank heavens I don’t work as a decorator in Venice,’ she murmured. ‘How on earth did anyone get up there to paint such exquisite artwork?’

The bed was covered in a cobalt blue satin bedspread, and the floor-length curtains were made of the same rich material. Walking across the plush cream velvet carpet to the window, she stared down at the canal below and watched a gondola decorated with lanterns glide past.

‘I don’t understand why Angelo let me think he had no money or family,’ she said flatly. ‘Was it some kind of joke to him?’ She felt angry and hurt that Angelo had played her for a fool, but she was more furious that she had allowed herself to be duped. God, if she had learned anything from Seb surely it was never to trust anyone.

‘It doesn’t make sense to me, either.’

Alerted by a curious nuance in Drago’s tone, Jess spun round and found that he had come up silently behind her. Once again she was struck by his height and muscular physique, and as she lifted her eyes to his face she felt a flicker of unease at his grim expression.

‘I can think of no possible reason why he would have made up a story that he was destitute,’ he said in a hard voice. ‘My cousin is inherently honest. But I suspect that you are a liar, Jess Harper.’

‘Excuse me?’ She wondered if she had heard him correctly. At the hospital, when he had persuaded her to stay at his house, he had exerted an easy charm, but there was no hint of friendliness now in eyes that were as hard as shards of obsidian. ‘I’m not a liar,’ she said angrily.

‘In that case I assume you will tell me the truth about why you persuaded my cousin to give you a million pounds?’

Jess’s jaw dropped. ‘Angelo never gave me anything,’ she stammered. ‘In London he didn’t have a penny, and if I hadn’t paid for his food he would have starved.’ She pushed her hair back from her face with a trembling hand, feeling that she was sinking ever deeper into a nightmare. ‘This is crazy. I don’t understand anything. Why do you think Angelo gave me money—let alone such an incredible amount?’

‘Because he told his mother he had done so,’ Drago said coolly. ‘My aunt was concerned when she learned from Angelo’s financial adviser that he had withdrawn his entire inheritance fund from the bank. She asked him what he had done with the money and he said he had given it to you.’

Jess drew a sharp breath. ‘But he didn’t, I swear. I know nothing about any money.’

Drago’s eyes narrowed. He had expected her to deny it, but he was surprised by how convincing she sounded. Did he want to believe her because he was intrigued by her fey beauty? taunted a voice inside his head.

Dismissing the unwelcome thought, he said harshly, ‘I think you do. I also think you were fully aware of Angelo’s identity. I admit the situation is not clear to me yet, but I’m convinced that you somehow conned him into giving you a fortune. I don’t know how you did it, but I intend to find out—and I warn you that I will use every means available to me to make sure you repay the money.’

‘This is outrageous,’ Jess snapped, anger rapidly replacing her disbelief at Drago’s shocking accusation. ‘I don’t have to listen to this…this fantasy story you’ve concocted.’ She swung away from him and hurried over to the door, but his next words halted her in her tracks.

‘It’s not a fantasy that you were convicted of fraud a few years ago, is it?’

Shock ricocheted through Jess and the blood drained from her face. She did not hear Drago’s footsteps on the thick carpet, and she flinched when he caught hold of her arm and jerked her round to face him.

‘The private investigator I hired to look into your background found evidence of your criminal record, so don’t waste your time denying it.’

She shivered at the coldness in his black eyes. ‘It wasn’t what it seems,’ she muttered.

He ignored her and continued ruthlessly, ‘You were found guilty. It was only because you were seventeen at the time you committed the offence that you were ordered to carry out community service rather than receive a custodial sentence.’

Shame swept through Jess, even though she had nothing to feel ashamed of. The fraud charge had been a mistake, but no one had believed her. The evidence had been stacked against her—Seb had made sure of it, she thought bitterly. She had been found guilty of a crime she had unwittingly committed, set up by the man she had loved and who had told her he loved her.

The arrogant expression on Drago’s face made her wish she could crawl away and hide. She cringed when she recalled how she’d thought she had sensed a sexual chemistry between them. Now she knew that he had been watching her so closely because he believed she was a common criminal, not because he was attracted to her.

‘I know nothing about Angelo’s missing money,’ she insisted. ‘It isn’t fair to accuse me just because of something that happened years ago.’

To her surprise, Drago nodded. ‘You’re right—it’s not up to me to find out the truth. That’s the job of the police. And I am sure that when I hand you over to them tomorrow they will quickly establish whether you are innocent or guilty.’ His brows rose at the sound of her swiftly indrawn breath. ‘Now, why does the mention of the police cause you to look so worried, I wonder?’ he drawled.

‘It doesn’t,’ Jess lied.

She had nothing to hide, but the memory of when she had been arrested and the claustrophobic terror she had felt when she had been locked in a police cell made her tremble. On the rough estate where she had spent her early childhood the police had been mistrusted by many people, including her father, and she had grown up with an intrinsic wariness of authority.

Drago strolled over to the door. ‘Well, you’ve got a few hours to come up with an explanation about Angelo’s missing inheritance fund. Buonanotte, Jess. I’d try to get some sleep if I were you. You’re going to need your wits about you tomorrow.’

Jess stared at the door as he closed it behind him, feeling another jolt of shock when she heard a key turn in the lock. ‘Hey!’ Disbelief turned to anger as she tried the handle and found that it wouldn’t move. She hammered on the solid oak. ‘Let me out of here. You have no right to imprison me.’

‘My cousin’s missing a million pounds gives me every right’ came the curt reply. ‘By the way, you can make as much noise as you like—no one will hear you. My room is at the other end of the hall, and the staff quarters are on the other side of the house.’

If this was a crazy dream it would be helpful if she could wake up now, before she attempted her daring escape plan, Jess thought some twenty minutes later. But as she stood on the balcony outside her room the whisper of the cool night breeze on her face and the faint lapping sound of the water in the canal were very real. It was fortunate that her room was on the second storey of the house rather than the top floor, but the canal path below still looked a long way down and she almost lost her nerve.

But the prospect of being questioned by the police and having to try to convince them that she knew nothing about Angelo’s missing money filled her with dread. Drago clearly thought she had conned his cousin out of his inheritance fund, and because of her criminal record the police were likely to share his suspicions. The only person who could clear her name was Angelo, but until he regained consciousness she once again stood accused of something she had not done.