Page 5 of Captive in His Castle (The Martinelli Wedding #1)
Dante grinned, the grin widening when Callie caught his eye to throw her death stare at him. If he’d had this woman as a teacher, he would have sat at the front of the classroom rather than skulk in the back. He might even have paid attention.
For his part, Bernard didn’t bat an eyelash. “I’m afraid there are no telephones available for you, but I do have a variety of teas in stock unless you would prefer a coffee or something more refreshing?”
Folding her arms, Callie shook her head and laughed disbelievingly. “You do know that your boss has kidnapped me, right?”
The butler smiled. “I’m afraid I’m paid to follow instructions, not to ask questions.”
“But you do know that kidnapping is illegal, right?”
“Of course.”
“Then you must know that not helping me or helping me to help myself means you’re in on it? And when I get released – if I get released, coz for all I know, your boss might have plans in place to bury me in one of the fields – I’ll be sure to point the finger at you too.”
His smile was sympathetic but unyielding. “I can assure you that if Signor Coscarelli has plans to bury you in one of the vineyards, he has not shared those plans with me.”
Callie looked from the two bodyguards who’d walked behind them with Callie’s carry-on case from the helicopter to the butler and then to Dante himself, and was astounded at the sheer nonchalance. All four men were acting as if kidnap was a perfectly normal thing.
Rounding on Dante, she said, “How many other women have you hidden away here? What number am I? ”
He brought his handsome face down to hers, dark eyes glittering. “You are number one, my little spitfire. I don’t usually find it necessary to kidnap women to bend them to my will.”
“It’s amazing what a butt tonne of money can do to induce compliance. Still, at least it means you’re not reliant on your personality – you wouldn’t get anywhere with women then.”
Straightening back to his impossibly tall height, amusement flared. “You think you know me?”
“I don’t want to know you,” she spat.
“The feeling is not in the least mutual.” She barely had time to take in what he’d just said before his eyes flashed with another gleam, and he added, “But seeing as you have no wish to know me, you will be delighted to learn that I am returning to Accardiano first thing in the morning. You will be able to enjoy all the amenities the castle has to offer all by yourself.”
And with that, he strode away, past the enormous maze that had captured her attention, whistling a tune that carried through the still air, his henchmen trailing in his wake.
Cheeks burning, although she didn’t know what they were burning for, it took a moment for Callie to realise Bernard was waiting patiently for her.
“Shall we?” he asked.
“Do I have a choice?”
“But of course. You are a guest of the Castello, not a prisoner.”
“And how does that work if I’m not allowed to leave?”
“Our instructions are only that we must not facilitate you leaving, not that we must use means to prevent you from doing so.”
“Oh.”
Well that put a slightly different complexion of things. She’d had half an idea that Dante’s idea of treating her as a house guest would be to lock her in the castle dungeon. Did it even have a dungeon? Probably best not to ask. She didn’t want to give him ideas.
There was something wildly unpredictable about the wildly handsome Dante Coscarelli.
Something wild about him full stop, a wildness the impeccably groomed exterior barely disguised, and as she glanced at his retreating figure disappearing into the distance, a shiver that could almost be classed as excitement snaked up her spine.
Disgusted with herself for feeling anything other than loathing for that man, she set off alongside the butler, allowing only one thought to occupy her mind – escape. Knowing she wouldn’t be locked away would make it a piece of cake.
“How big is the estate?” she asked as they followed a footpath that snaked around the glorious lawned garden. She didn’t want to admire it. She didn’t want to admire anything associated with the kidnapping bastard who’d forced her here.
“In total? Close to four thousand hectares.”
“Is that a lot?”
“About forty square kilometres.”
Even Callie’s non-maths-inclined brain knew that was a lot. Oh well. It didn’t matter. She would gladly walk any distance to escape this place and get herself to Accardiano before it was too late.
“Is the entire estate guarded?”
“All the entry points are.”
She thought of the smaller tracks dividing the quadrant of crops she’d seen coming off the encircling driveway.
The end of those tracks had to be the entry points.
Which had to mean there were lots of unguarded areas.
Lots and lots of unguarded areas. If she could make her way to the main entry of the actual driveway, she’d be reasonably close to the road she’d spotted.
She could slip through the cypress trees onto that road, throw herself in front of the first passing car and voila .
Help would be just a shortish drive away.
“But the entire perimeter is impenetrable,” Bernard warned, clearly guessing the direction of her thoughts. “There has been only one intrusion since Signor Coscarelli bought the estate.”
If history had taught Callie anything, it was that nothing was impenetrable. And she wasn’t going to try getting into the grounds.
Almost at the door Bernard was leading her to, a clear plan had revealed itself.
The second Dante flew back to Accardiano in the morning, she would go for a walk.
She would walk for as long as it took to escape this prison, find help, and find her way to Niccolo.
And then she would make Dante Coscarelli rue the day he’d decided it was perfectly okay to indulge in a spot of kidnap to help out an old friend.