‘When will I be going home?’ she demanded to know.
A single brow rose on his immobile face. ‘That will be determined shortly. Come with me.’
‘Come where?’
‘Somewhere we can talk in comfort.’
He walked off before she could argue. She scowled at his retreating figure but when he went through the huge double doors and disappeared, she quickly got her own legs moving. This chateau...
She had never seen the likes of it before other than on a television screen.
Walking past sculptures and exquisite paintings, she entered another room where the ceiling was at least three times the height of a normal room, with a frescoed ceiling and opulent furniture and more exquisite works of art. She caught sight of Benjamin going through a door to the left and hurried after him. It would be too easy to get lost in this chateau, a thought amplified when she followed him through a third enormous living area, catching sight of a library—a proper, humongous, filled with probably tens of thousands of books library—on the way.
Eventually she caught up with him in yet another living area. It was hard to determine if this living area was indoors or outdoors. What should have been an external wall was missing, the ceiling held up by ornate marble pillars, opening the space to the spectacular view outside.
Her throat caught as she looked out, half in delight at the beauty of it all and half in anguish.
The chateau was high in the hills, surrounded by forests and fields that swept down before them. Far in the distance were the twinkling lights she had seen on the plane. Civilisation. Miles and miles away.
‘Are you going to sit?’
She took a long breath before looking at Benjamin.
He’d sat himself on a huge L-shaped soft white sofa with a square glass coffee table in front of him.
Staring at her unsmilingly, he removed his silver tie then undid the top two buttons of his shirt.
The wrinkled old man who’d greeted them on arrival appeared as if from nowhere with two tall drinks. He placed them on the coffee table and indicated one of them to her. Then he left as unobtrusively as he had come.
Benjamin mussed his hair with a grimace then took his glass and had a long drink from it. ‘What do you know about my history with the Casillas brothers?’
Surprised at his question, she eyed him warily before answering. ‘I know you’re old family friends.’
His jaw clenched as he nodded slowly. ‘Our mothers were extremely close. They had us only three months apart. We were playmates from the cradle and it’s a bond we have shared for thirty-five years. I was raised to think of Javier and Luis as cousins and I did. We have been there for each other our entire lives. You understand?’
‘I guess.’ She shrugged. ‘Is there a point to this story?’
His eyes narrowed. ‘The point to this story is the key to it.’
‘You’re talking in riddles again.’
‘Not riddles if you would bother to listen to what I am saying to you.’
She caught the faint scent of juniper. Although only a moderate drinker—very moderate—Freya loved the refreshing coolness of a gin and tonic. Usually she limited herself to only the one. But usually she hadn’t been practically abducted. And she’d fallen asleep before she could finish the one on his jet.
And she really needed something to calm the ripples crashing in her stomach.
Giving in, she picked it up then sat on the opposite side of the sofa to him, at the furthest point she could find, using all the training that had been drilled into her from the age of three to hold her core and enable herself to be still.
Never would she betray how greatly this man unnerved her but beneath her outward stillness her pulses soared, her heart completely unable to find its usual rhythm. She wished she could put it down to fear and it unnerved her more than anything to know the only fear she was currently experiencing was of her own terrifying erratic feelings for this man rather than the situation he’d thrown her into.
She took a small sip then forced herself to look at him. ‘Okay, so you grew up like cousins.’
Before he could answer the butler reappeared with a tray of food.
The tray was placed on the table and she saw a wooden board with more varieties of cheese than she’d known existed, fresh baguettes, a bowl of fruit and a smaller bowl of nuts.
‘Merci, Pierre,’ Benjamin said with a quick smile.
Pierre nodded and, just as before, disappeared.
Benjamin held a plate out to her.
‘No, thank you,’ she said stiffly. She would choke if she had to eat her captor’s food.
He shrugged and cut himself a wedge of camembert.
‘It’s not good to eat cheese so late,’ she said caustically.
He raised a brow, took a liberal amount of butter and spread it on the opened baguette. ‘You must be hungry. I took you from the gala before the food was served. You do not have to eat the cheeses.’
‘I don’t have to eat anything.’ She truly didn’t think she could swallow anything solid, doubted her stomach would unclench enough for food until she was far from this beautiful prison.
Staring back out over the thick trees and hills casting such ominous shadows around the chateau, she resigned herself to staying under his roof for the night. As soon as the sun rose she would find something to put on her feet and leave. Sooner or later she would find civilisation and help.
He took a large bite of his baguette and chewed slowly. His impenetrable green eyes didn’t move from her face.
‘If you will not eat then let us continue. I was telling you about my relationship with Javier and Luis.’
Freya pushed her fears and schemes aside and concentrated. Maybe Benjamin really had gone to all this trouble to bring her here only to talk. Maybe, come the morning, his driver would take her to the airport without any fuss.
And maybe pigs could fly.
If Benjamin wanted nothing more than to talk he would have conducted this chat in Madrid.
Either way, she needed to pay attention and listen hard.
‘Like cousins,’ she clarified. ‘A modern-day tale like The Three Musketeers, always there for each other.’
‘Exactemente. Do you know the Tour Mont Blanc building in Paris?’ He took a bite of creamy cheese.
‘The skyscraper?’ she asked uncertainly. World news was not her forte. Actually, any form of news that wasn’t related to the arts passed her by. She had no interest in any of it. She only knew of Tour Mont Blanc because Sophie had been fascinated with it, saying more
