Read Online Moonflower Madness by Margaret Pemberton - Free Book Online Page A

she whispered to Ben, a pulse in her throat beginning to beat fast and light. ‘Just another five minutes and then we’ll join them.’
    She counted out the time and then, excitement rising up in her until she thought she would burst with it, she touched Ben’s flanks lightly with her heels and set off at a gallop towards her unsuspecting quarry.
    They had pitched camp on the banks of the Kialing. Gianetta could see the shapes of the Chinese moving backwards and forwards in the firelight as they tended the food they were cooking, their quilted jackets and narrow trousers identical to her own. The ponies and mules were loosely tethered and she could see a tall, broad-shouldered figure removing something from one of the saddle-bags. The other remaining figure was sitting in a canvas chair, one leg across a knee, head bent, writing intently.
    The small tableau was almost instantly disrupted. She heard cries of alarm from the Chinese, saw the seated figure leap to his feet, grabbing the rifle that had been lying on the ground at his side, saw the figure by the saddle-bags spin round, pistol in hand.
    â€˜Don’t shoot!’ she cried out in sudden alarm, as she galloped out of the twilight towards them. ‘It’s not a bandit! It’s me! Gianetta Hollis!’
    Her pigtail bounced on her back, the little round hat, emblem of a house-servant, slipping precariously down over one eye. She heard Zachary Cartwright’s deep, dark voice utter an incredulous, ‘What the devil …’ and then she was among them, reining Ben in, slithering down from his lathered back.
    â€˜It’s me,’ she said again unnecessarily, smiling around at them with far more confidence than she felt. ‘Is there anything good for dinner?’
    Zachary Cartwright covered the ground between them in one swift stride and seized her shoulders. ‘What the bloody hell ’ he snarled viciously, ‘do you think you are doing?’
    Gianetta was aware that such expletives existed, but she had never imagined that she would hear them uttered so threateningly, or that when they were they would be directed at herself.
    â€˜Kindly remove your hands from my person,’ she said icily, and then turned towards Lord Rendlesham who, as leader of the party, was surely the only person to whom she was answerable. He was standing to one side looking strangely ineffectual, his pistol still in his hand, his good-natured face bewildered.
    â€˜If I could talk to you for a moment in private …’ she began, trying to sound as dignified as the situation would allow. Zachary Cartwright still held her tightly and was showing no signs of releasing her.
    â€˜But, Miss Hollis …’ Lord Rendelsham said dazedly. ‘I don’t understand … Your clothes … Why are you dressed in such a peculiar manner? Who are you with? Where are your companions?’
    Gianetta had been manhandled for long enough by Zachary Cartwright. She kicked him viciously in the shin and at the same time tried to twist herself free of his grip. She failed. He merely gave an expletive even worse than those she had already heard and dug his fingers even harder into her shoulders.
    â€˜I am dressed like this because I thought I would be safer,’ she said, directing her attention solely towards Lord Rendlesham and trying to sound level-headed and practical. ‘And I’m not with anyone. I rode here alone.’
    â€˜Then you can ride back alone!’ Zachary Cartwright rasped savagely. ‘Of all the stupid, empty-headed, insane things to do! Don’t you know that you could have been killed? Don’t you know that there are leopards in the hills that come down at night to raid pigs from the village sties? Don’t you know that there are half-starved beggars and bandits who would have killed you for your pony without a second thought?’
    He released his hold of her so suddenly and contemptuously that