The Courtship - Catherine Coulter [111]
This was very important, and she knew it. She looked at him silently for a good long time, then said in a very calm voice, “Gerard, I truly believed there was a lamp. When I found that ancient leather scroll in an iron cask, I prayed it was about the lamp, and it was. The scroll recounted the story you already know about Aladdin. Then the writer said it was to be buried because it was dangerous.
“Regardless, the lamp wasn’t with the scroll. Someone had taken it long ago. When? I have no idea, but it is gone. Forget the lamp. To be honest, I have.”
“Reverend Mathers was murdered.”
“Yes, and the person who did it was hoping that the scroll told the whereabouts of the lamp. He killed the poor man for nothing.”
She had told him the truth. There was nothing more she could do.
“I will kill both you and Lord Beecham if you don’t take me to this lamp.”
He was perfectly serious. He hadn’t believed her. Well, she’d tried. She felt a spurt of fear, not for herself but for Spenser. No, surely he was prepared for Gerard Yorke to slither onto the stage. He wanted him to appear. He was waiting for him.
She smiled up at him. “Very well, Gerard. I will take you to the lamp. But believe me on this. It’s just an old lamp. It has nothing at all to do with the magic lamp of legend. You will see—it is simply a worthless old lamp that does nothing at all. This lamp is nothing more than an old lump of gold. I found it in a vicar’s attic. He had bequeathed all his belongings to my father, you see. Now, think. If I truly found this magic lamp, why am I here, bound, with you? Do you not think that I would have rubbed it and kissed it and even slept with it to learn its secrets? There are no secrets. There is no power. There is no magic.”
“You lied about all of it, not just to me but to every one of those credulous fools in London. What I believe is that you have the lamp, you just haven’t found the power in it as yet. If you had, it is obvious that you would be the most powerful woman in the world. I will find the power, you will see. Now, it is not that I don’t trust you, but I am not a fool. I took not only you but also your dear friend Alexandra Sherbrooke. She is just across the corridor, all bound and trussed up, just like you.”
Oh, no. Oh, no. “How ever did you manage to get your hands on Alexandra? She sleeps with her husband, not alone, like me.”
He actually gave her a whimsical smile. “I worried about that, I can tell you. But do you know what? I was prepared to cosh her husband on the head, no hope for it—I knew it would be more than dangerous, but I couldn’t see that there would be a choice. But then, all of a sudden, there she comes floating down the front staircase in their house, on her way to the library to fetch a glass of brandy. She couldn’t sleep it seems. I nearly laughed myself sick from the luck of it. And so I have her and there’s nothing you can do about it, Helen.”
Douglas would awaken, Helen thought, he had to. Alexandra would be gone. Surely he would wonder where she was. Surely he would raise the alarm.
“You have told me truth and lies, Helen. But I know one truth—you found the magic lamp. Now, if you try to deceive me again, if you try to trick me in any way, the lovely little countess will die.”
“I am wearing my nightgown. Surely I cannot take you to the lamp like this?”
“I brought both you and the countess some men’s clothes. It will be easier than dragging you about with all those women’s skirts. I am going to reassure your friend while you change, Helen. She is already wearing her men’s clothes. They are not such a bad fit, actually. I changed her while she was still unconscious. Unfortunately, you woke up before I could strip you down.” He rose then. “Hurry, I want to leave soon.”
He leaned down and untied her wrists. He seemed not to notice