Dangerous to Hold by Elizabeth Thornton

Author:Elizabeth Thornton [Thornton, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-307-41968-2
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 1996-07-09T07:00:00+00:00

Since Catalina was a Catholic, it made perfect sense for Catherine to go occasionally to the priest of the small Catholic church at the edge of town to make her confession. Sometimes he came to the castle to talk to her. What no one knew was that Father Granger was Major Carruther’s man and Catherine made her reports to him.

She left her carriage in the lane and entered the church unescorted. With the exception of Father Granger, the church was empty. His back was to her, and she saw that he was replenishing an iron stove with coal from a blackened scuttle. The weather had turned cold and she was wearing a warm pelisse with a sable collar that matched her muff. Her gaze wandered, taking in the marble statuary, the stained-glass windows, the candles on the altar. Then, after dipping her fingers into the font of holy water, she made the sign of the cross and entered the confessional. Father Granger followed her at once.

His face was obscured by the screen but she could hear the rasp of his breathing. The time had come for her to tell him that there had been an attack on her. They would assume, of course, that Marcus was behind it. It was what they’d been waiting for, a sign that Marcus had been lying to them all along, that he was, in fact, the man who had murdered all those English soldiers. It meant he knew that she was Catalina, and that this elaborate scheme of his was a ploy to lure El Grande out of hiding so that he could kill him too. Once she made her report, it would all be out of her hands. Whatever the consequences to Marcus, it was none of her business.

“What is it, child?”

The priest’s voice brought her back to where she was. She stared at the screen with panicked eyes. She knew how she was supposed to think. Logic. Deduction. Putting two and two together to come up with the right answer. But where Marcus was concerned she found it impossible to be logical. Everything in her recoiled from the thought that he was a murderer. It wasn’t true. It simply couldn’t be true—and she was willing to stake her life on it.

“I have nothing to report,” she said.

There was a moment of silence. “And that’s all you have to say?”

It was all she had to say to this priest. If El Grande had been here, it would have been different. He wasn’t like Major Carruthers. He saw to the heart of things. He would understand why she couldn’t betray Marcus, and he would trust her instincts. Someone else had to be behind this attack on her, and if El Grande were here, they would sort things through together.

Names came to her mind, but as quickly as they came, she discarded them. She couldn’t believe a member of Marcus’s family wished to harm her. Then who—

“My child,” said the priest, and paused.

Catherine’s thoughts snapped together.

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