Always - Iris Johansen [49]
Clancy took one look at the pouch and a smile tugged at his lips. “Marna. It’s a charm of some sort. I’ve seen them hanging on Kira’s doorknobs on occasion.”
Lisa lifted the pouch to her nose and sniffed, experimentally. “Well, it doesn’t smell of garlic, so evidently we’re not threatened by vampires. I wonder what it could be.”
“There’s no telling. Why don’t you go ask her? I was going to call Alex before breakfast anyway.”
“Do you think I should? After all, it was hanging on your doorknob. She might tell me it’s none of my business.”
“I doubt that. Marna has an uncanny way of knowing what’s going on around her. I’m sure she knows you were occupying this room last night.” His expression grew sober. “Not only last night, I hope. I know it’s not considered chic for a couple to occupy the same bedroom these days, but I’d like very much to have you move in with me.” Gruffly he added, “I’ll try not to get in your way.”
“I’d like that, too,” she said. “I’ll pack and move my things from my room right after breakfast.”
“You won’t miss your tower, princess? I hate to be an Indian giver. You occupied that room for less than an hour.”
“Not a bit. I’ve decided that towers are too lonely for me, anyway.” She blew him a kiss and closed the door.
Her step was as springy and light as her mood as she strolled down the corridor. Now if she could only manage to find her room in this labyrinth, it would make her day. She hadn’t been paying any attention to where they were going last night when Clancy had been playing Rhett Butler. For that matter, she hadn’t noticed anything but Clancy.
Lisa only lost her way once in the twisting corridors before she found the right wing. Next time she ventured in this area, she told herself, she’d have to leave a trail of bread crumbs like those children in the fairy tale. However, Marna would probably not appreciate bread crumbs in her immaculate halls, she thought ruefully. The gypsy housekeeper would soon be putting a pouch on her doorknob to attract vampires instead of keeping them away.
She opened the door to her room and went directly to the closet to get a robe. She stood stock still, a puzzled frown creasing her brow. The closet was almost empty. There was a terry-cloth robe, a blouse, and a pair of slacks on the padded hangers. What had happened to the rest of her clothes? She had unpacked and hung up everything last night before she’d dressed for dinner.
She slipped the robe from the hanger and crossed to the bureau. One set of underwear remained in the middle drawer. Everything else was gone. In the adjoining bathroom her makeup and toiletries remained on the vanity. Whoever had removed her belongings had been very selective. Marna? Lisa doubted if any of the maids would have dared touch her things without Marna’s approval; she clearly had them all under her control. It was evident there was something to discuss with the housekeeper besides the talisman.
After Lisa had showered and dressed, she set out to try to locate Marna for that discussion. Finally she tracked the housekeeper down in the kitchen, which proved to be a converted scullery in the cellars of the castle. Marna was standing beside a modernistic microwave oven, consulting in a low voice with a white-clad boy.
She turned an expressionless face as Lisa approached her. “Breakfast will be served in twenty minutes. You wish something special?”
“No, anything will be fine. I just—”
“This is Hassan, Miss Landon.” She gave the boy a surprisingly warm smile. “He is the cook. He was responsible for your dinner last night.”
“It was a wonderful dinner, Hassan. We enjoyed it very much.” She turned to the housekeeper. “I wonder if I could speak to you for a moment, Miss Debuk.”
“Marna,” she corrected as she turned away from the stove. “I’m through here, we can go upstairs now.” She gave the cook another fleeting smile and led the way through the scullery and up the curving stone steps to the hall. “Hassan is a good boy with sense in his head. Not like those other chitkas.”
“Chitkas?”
“Fools. It is a Tamrovian word.