Always - Iris Johansen [62]
“WE HAVEN’T TIRED you, have we?” Kira asked anxiously. “I warned the others and we tried to be as careful as we could.”
“No, you didn’t tire me,” Lisa said with a reassuring smile. “I enjoyed myself. I was glad I was able to meet everyone today before the wedding and get to know them. It will make me more at ease during the ceremony.”
“I told you there was nothing to be nervous about. Now you’ve been officially accepted by the family.” Kira looked at her wristwatch. “It’s nearly eleven. I’d better get out of here and let you get some rest or Clancy will skin me.” She wrinkled her nose. “I suppose I should get some sleep myself. I have to get up early to fly back to the castle and pick up Marna and bring her here for the ceremony. Our departure from the castle this morning was a little too precipitous to board passengers.”
“Thank heavens it was,” Lisa with a reminiscent shiver. “I haven’t even thanked you, Kira.”
Kira’s eyes widened in surprise. “For what? It was the best time I’ve had in months.” She turned to the door. “Good night. I’ll be here at ten in the morning to help you dress. That pink brocade gown is going to look fantastic on you.” She paused as she opened the door. “Clancy called you an hour or so ago, didn’t he? Is everything all right? What did he say?”
“Just that Martin had told them what they wanted to know and they were in the process of arresting not only the palace informant, but the terrorists as well. He said he’d be here as soon as he could.”
“Are you sure you wouldn’t like me to stay until he comes?” Kira asked. “Sometimes a strange place isn’t very comfortable.”
Lisa shook her head. “No, you go on to bed. This suite doesn’t feel strange to me. I feel very much at home. You said I would, remember?” She smiled. “I think I’ll just walk in the garden for a while and wait for Clancy. I’m too restless to go to bed.”
“I can see why, after the day you’ve had. Well, if you change your mind, dial seven zero on the house phone. That will connect you with my suite and I’ll come running. See you in the morning.” The door closed behind her.
Lisa turned away and wandered over to the French doors across the room. Clancy had sounded both grim and harried on the phone. Perhaps she should wait until tomorrow to speak to him.
No! She had waited too long already. How long had Clancy been feeling that pain he had revealed today? She never wanted to see that particular expression on his face again as long as she lived. There had been too many misunderstandings, too much giving on Clancy’s part, too much taking on hers. It was time to blow away all the inequalities of the past and make way for a new beginning.
She opened the French doors and stood looking out into the garden. The warm breeze touched her face and she was suddenly surrounded by scent and sound. She could dimly make out the shape of an oleander tree burdened with blossoms in the distance and suddenly heard the musical trill of a nightingale somewhere high in its branches. Or was it perched on the jasmine tree nearby?
Lisa stepped out into the soft night and closed the doors behind her. What better occupation could she find while she waited for Clancy than to go in search of a nightingale?
The private garden adjoining Clancy’s suite was fantastically beautiful in the moonlight. The pale, fragrant blossoms that graced it looked like drops of moonlight themselves. White roses, camellias, creamy gardenias grew in profusion along flagstone walkways that wound to a graceful fountain in the very center of the garden. The fountain area itself was surrounded by curving marble benches and encircled by square latticework Moorish lanterns mounted on tall, graceful spears, which glowed with the same opalescent beauty as the garden itself.
“Lisa!”
Clancy. “I’m here by the fountain.”
She heard his quick, heavy footsteps, and then he appeared in the clearing