Least Likely Bride by Jane Feather

Author:Jane Feather [Feather, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780307487384
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2000-10-03T07:00:00+00:00

She sanded the ink to dry it and smiled to herself. It struck the right decisive, uncompromising note. It was time Anthony learned that his opponent in this tournament had a mind of her own. She could imagine his shock when he discovered she knew how to contact him. He was also about to discover that she had a few pointed questions to ask him and she wouldn’t be satisfied with his usual evasive answers.

Throwing a shawl around her shoulders, Olivia left her chamber and hurried out of the house. It was a steep climb up St. Catherine’s Hill, but the wind was behind her, coming off the sea. At the top of the hill she turned and looked out across the glittering expanse. Was Wind Dancer out there at the moment? Would someone be looking out for a sign from the island?

She turned to the oratory, little more than a small, loosely formed pillar of stones that crowned the summit. She could see why the master had chosen it as a contact point. It was a very prominent spot that would be visible for miles around, both on the island and from the sea.

Olivia knelt to examine the stones. There was a small space between the two bottom layers. It formed a square box, almost like a cupboard. She slipped her hand in and found a white flag closely furled on a stick. She took it out, slid her message into the space in its place, and stuck the flag at the top of the oratory, pushing the stick hard down into the stones.

The white flag flew out jauntily in the brisk breeze. Now all that was needed was a watcher.

Olivia nodded to herself and set off back down the steep hill against the wind to await developments.

ANTHONY WAS SITTING with his back to the mast, sketching a pair of gulls squabbling over a fish head, when Mike rowed his dinghy into the chine and came alongside Wind Dancer later that afternoon.

Mike climbed up the rope ladder and swung himself over the side of the ship. “There’s a message, master … at the oratory. I can’t read the writin’. It’s joined up.” He handed the folded paper to Anthony with a worried frown.

Anthony opened it. He whistled softly. “How the hell … ?” He looked up at Mike, eyebrows arched in question.

“The flag was flyin’, master. I thought you wanted me. Thought maybe we was puttin’ to sea or summat. But when I saw the writin’, like, I knew it wasn’t from you.” He pulled anxiously at his earlobe. “You know what it’s about, sir?”

“Oh, yes,” Anthony said softly, “I know exactly what it’s about. What I don’t know is how the hell she learned about the oratory.” He leaned his head back against the mast, closing his eyes to the sun’s rays as it shone directly overhead into the cool green depths of the chine. “Somebody let something slip, Mike.”

Mike tugged even more fiercely on his earlobe. “Weren’t me, master.

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