“Wish me to know what?”
She turned back and it came out in a rush, her voice a little squeaky. “That you have no need to think me compromised, or that you are obliged to — to make me any sort of — of reparation. There, I’ve said it.”
Her meaning penetrated. Did she suppose he wanted her because he felt obliged? Utterly ridiculous. But before he could think how to refute the notion, Delia spoke again.
“We would be better employed talking of Piers. I’ve been anxious to tell you. He gave me a message for you.”
His attention snapped in. “Piers? A message? How, pray? How did he give you a message?”
“He caught me on the beach this morning. He suddenly came up behind me. It gave me a horrid shock, I don’t mind telling you.”
He wanted the substance of the message, but his attention became diverted. “What were you doing on the beach? Don’t say he invaded the ladies’ swimming area?”
“Of course not. How should he? I went with the footman to buy fish. I have no idea if he saw me by accident or followed me, but there he was all of a sudden.”
Giff’s senses were by now on full alert. “What’s the message?”
“He wants to meet you. He says he has a proposition to make to you.”
“A proposition? What the devil does that mean?”
“You may well ask. I wish you won’t trust him, Giff. I believe he means mischief. He wants you to go to Waldiche Keep.”
“The devil he does!”
“Exactly so.” Delia was back to her usual animated self, he noted in passing, all her consciousness vanished. “Aunt Gertrude suggested he might offer to split the prize.”
“How?”
“I could not see it either, but she thought he might say you could claim the title while he kept the house and lands. And he might well think he could do that, for he reminded me possession is nine points of the law.”
Giff turned the notion over. “Well, it’s better than shipping me off to the Americas, I suppose.”
Delia showed him a shocked face. “Giff, you’re not going to let him get away with it, are you?”
“Devil a bit!” He recalled his first intention at the outset of handing over the lot, if only Piers had proved worthy. Odd to think he’d ever considered it. “He’s getting away with nothing of mine, I’ve said it before. But we don’t know what this proposition is, do we?”
“No, and I don’t believe he has any proposition at all, if you want the truth. It must be a ruse to get you into his power.”
Giff nodded, but absently. If he could get into the Keep, he might find opportunity to search the place. Though whether there was anything useful to find remained a question.
“I asked him why he could not just meet you here. At your lodging or his. But he said he prefers to meet you on his own ground.”
Giff cursed. “It’s not his ground.”
“So I told him. That’s when he said about possession. Then he walked off before I could ask anything else.”
“Damn the man! I’ll have to go.”
“You can’t! No, Giff, it’s too dangerous!”
He shrugged. “He doesn’t leave me much choice.”
Delia leaned a little towards him, eagerness in her tone. “I’ve been thinking about it. Why don’t you pre-empt him? Go to his lodging. Demand to know what he wants.”
“If I knew where he’s lodging.”
“Doesn’t Sattar know?”