Moonflower Madness (3 page)

She sank into the fragrant water.

What else could the
tête-à-tête
be about? Two letters had arrived from Henry on the same day, and since their arrival her aunt's eyes had held an unmistakable gleam. Wedding bells were in the air, and they certainly were not for herself. All the young men she had met so far had seemed far more attracted to Serena's fair, English-rose prettinesss than they were to her own dark vibrancy.

So … Henry had asked for Serena's hand in marriage and, because he was his father's sole heir, her aunt and uncle had been only too happy to give his request their blessing.

Gianetta wriggled her toes moodily in the water. Why, oh why, hadn't her Italian grandparents become reconciled with her mother? If they had done so, her own position would be far different. She would in all likelihood be living with them in Italy, not facing a future as a permanent house guest of Serena's or a lonely existence in a cold, draughty house in the Lincolnshire fens. She towelled herself dry, hoping vehemently that Serena would have more sense than to accept Henry Plaxtol's proposal, and knowing that a quiet-spoken vicar with ample independent means was exactly the kind of husband Serena would choose.

By the time she had dressed and re-done her hair she knew that she was late. Not late for dinner, that would be a
faux pas
even she would not dare to commit, but late for pre-dinner drinks with her uncle and aunt and their guests in the main drawing-room.

The Chinese boy her aunt had trained as a footman and who wore a striking livery of her own design, opened the drawing-room doors for her and she stepped inside, registering with immediate alarm her aunt's rare good humour.

‘Ah, there you are, Gianetta. Please allow me to introduce Lord Rendlesham to you.' She turned to the compactly built gentleman standing behind her, half-obliterated from view by her Junoesque proportions. ‘Lord Rendlesham, my niece, Miss Gianetta Hollis. Gianetta, Lord Rendlesham, a very
distinguished
member of the Royal Geographical Society
and
the Royal Botanical Society, Kew.'

Gianetta accepted his proffered hand, her eyes wide with shock. He was in his middle thirties, with thickly curling auburn hair and a smile that was easy and engaging.

‘I'm delighted to meet you, Miss Hollis,' he said. There was a hint of suppressed amusement in his voice, as if he were aware that he was not at all what she had expected.

‘Mr Cartwright has been unavoidably detained,' her aunt was saying to her. ‘Some difficulty with the transport of equipment from the riverside to the Residency. We are delaying dinner until his arrival.

Gianetta's amazement increased. To delay dinner was unprecedented. Lord Rendlesham and his companion were obviously far more important than she had imagined.

‘Lady Hollis tells me that Serena and yourself are having lessons in Chinese flower painting,' Lord Rendlesham was saying to her. ‘As a botanist, I wish I had a little more talent myself in that direction.'

Gianetta made a polite answering remark but her attention was focused on Serena, who was standing a few feet away from them, next to her father and the Chinese Viceroy. Was she imagining it, or was Serena glowing with an inner radiance? If only she could catch her eye then she would know if her suspicions were correct, but Serena infuriatingly kept her gaze upon her father, who was explaining to her the difference between a botanist and a naturalist.

‘I had a very pretty collection of dried flowers when I was a girl,' her aunt was saying. ‘Such an
edifying
occupation, I always think.'

‘Yes, I am sure it must have been, Lady Hollis,' Lord Rendlesham murmured. Seeing the good humour in his voice and the laughter in his eyes, Gianetta decided that she liked him very much. The evening was not going to be boring, after all.

‘And what is to be your final destination?' her uncle asked, turning towards Lord Rendlesham. ‘It might just be possible to travel further west by junk to Luchow, but the junk would have to be manually hauled from the river bank, as they have to be through the Ichang gorges.'

‘We are going north, Sir Arthur, not west,' Lord Rendlesham said, and her uncle's eyebrows flew high in surprise.

‘Impossible,' he said decisively. ‘There are no more consulates to offer protection, and the area is for the most part uncharted.'

‘Nevertheless, that is the direction we intend to take,' Lord Rendlesham said easily. ‘We hope to reach the northern province of Kansu and to search for plants along the western border with Tibet.'

If he had said he intended searching for plants on the surface of the moon, Gianetta's uncle could not have looked more astonished.

‘But my good man!' he protested apoplectically, ‘Such a journey is physically impossible! You surely haven't forgotten what happened to Margery when he made a similar attempt?'

‘No, indeed I haven't,' Lord Rendlesham said, unruffled. ‘But that was nearly thirty years ago and I don't anticipate that we shall meet with the same fate.'

‘Who was Margery?' Serena asked her mother in a whisper.

‘A gentleman directly responsible for
our
being in Chung King,' her mother said, her voice low so that she would not be overheard by the Viceroy. ‘He attempted to cross into one of China's more remote provinces from Burma. He was most cruelly murdered by the local people, and the British government insisted on an agreement with the Chinese that such a thing would not happen again. It is for that reason that Papa is in Chung King, to ensure that the agreement is kept and that British travellers are not molested.'

‘But how on earth can Papa ensure such a thing?' Serena asked in bewilderment. ‘He never travels out into the countryside …'

‘Serena!' The tone of her mother's voice silenced Serena instantly.

Lady Hollis turned to her guest and forced a smile. ‘I think I have just heard someone entering by the main door. Mr Cartwright must have arrived.'

Gianetta was aware that Serena's remark had vastly entertained Lord Rendlesham and wondered if his friend, now audibly approaching, was equally good-humoured.

‘I was very sorry to hear of your father's death,' Lady Hollis was now saying to him. ‘I knew him very well, as you know, and always thought him a most remarkable person.'

Lord Rendlesham accepted her condolences, and as he did so the drawing-room doors were flung open to admit a tall, broad shouldered young man.

‘Mr Ca't'ight, Ma'am,' the Chinese footman said, but he went unheard. Mr Cartwright was already making his own introductions.

Even though she was no longer expecting to see an old man, Gianetta felt a slam of shock at Mr Cartwright's youth. He was even younger than Lord Rendlesham, no more than twenty-six or twenty-seven. Dazedly, she wondered how such a young man could have earned himself such a prestigious professional reputation. He was shaking hands with Lady Hollis and turning towards Serena, and Gianetta's second realization was how excessively good looking he was.

His colouring was as dark as her own. Blue-black hair tumbled low over strongly marked brows. His nose was straight, his jaw firm, his mouth finely chiselled, and when he moved, he did so with the ease and grace of an athlete.

Her uncle was introducing him. ‘Mr Cartwright, my niece, Miss Gianetta Hollis.'

The eyes beneath the demonically winged brows were as dark as she had expected them to be, the deep brown irises flecked with gold. His well-shaped mouth was not softened by laughterlines as Lord Rendlesham's was. Instead there was an abrasive, uncompromising look to his handsome features that indicated he was not a man it would be wise to trifle with.

His eyes were preoccupied as they were introduced and then his attention returned immediately to Serena. Gianetta knew, with amusement, that Serena's fairytale blonde beauty had worked its magic yet again.

‘Let us go in to dinner,' her aunt said, determined that it should be delayed no longer. ‘Lord Rendlesham, would you be so kind as to escort Serena? And Mr Cartwright, if you would escort Gianetta. We are only a small party but I'm sure you will find the Viceroy's comments on your proposed expedition extremely interesting.'

The Viceroy had already made it known that he had given permission for Lord Rendlesham and his companion to journey through his province. Gianetta had a shrewd idea that, even if he had refused, it would have made no difference to Mr Cartwright. He was a man who would not take no for an answer, even from a Viceroy.

Conversation at dinner, as Lord Rendlesham explained to his host exactly what it was he and Mr Cartwright hoped to achieve on their expedition, was so fascinating that Gianetta forgot about her fear that Serena had become engaged to Henry Plaxtol.

It transpired that Lord Rendlesham had never been to China before but that Zachary Cartwright had previously travelled in Western Hupeh. There he had heard rumours of blue Moonflowers growing in the more northerly province of Kansu.

‘Oh!' Serena breathed. ‘How romantic! Is that why you are in China, Mr Cartwright? To find a blue Moonflower?'

Zachary Cartwright had taken little part in the conversation so far, allowing Lord Rendlesham to answer most of his host's questions. Now, as Serena fixed her gaze wonderingly upon him, he leaned forward slightly, saying with a depth of feeling that sent a tingle down Gianetta's spine, ‘To find the blue Moonflower and to find hundreds of other plants that are, as yet, unknown in Europe.'

‘But why do you do it?' Serena's father asked in bewilderment. ‘What sense is there in risking life and limb, and suffering untold hardship, all for the sake of a flower?'

Zachary Cartwright's eyes blazed. ‘I do it because my search takes me into country where no Englishman has ever ventured. I do it because the beauty and majesty of the mountains and valleys that I explore have not yet been violated by civilisation. I do it because I can imagine nothing more wonderful than discovering an unknown flower and bringing the seed of that flower back to England, enabling hundreds of thousands of people to enjoy its beauty.'

Sir Arthur cleared his throat, embarrassed by his guest's intensity. ‘Yes, I can see that that might be a jolly fine thing to do,' he said, quite obviously not seeing at all.

Gianetta's fingers curled into her palms. It was
not
a jolly fine thing to do. It was a
wonderful
thing to do. A magical thing to do. To search for flowers that no European had ever seen! To journey into valleys into which no European had ever ventured! The blood pounded in her temples at the very thought.

Lady Hollis was rising to her feet, indicating that the gentlemen should be left with their port. Gianetta and Serena followed her out of the dining-room and into the lamp-lit drawing-room.

‘And now, Gianetta,' her aunt said with unconcealed satisfaction as the footman closed the
portières
behind them. ‘I have news which I am sure will please you as much as it does me.'

Gianetta's eyes flew from her aunt's to Serena's. Serena smiled radiantly and slipped her hand into hers.

‘Henry has written to Papa, requesting permission to ask for my hand in marriage,' she said happily, ‘and Mama and Papa have given his request their blessing.'

Gianetta knew that instead of looking overjoyed at the news, she looked horrified. She struggled to alter the expression on her face, saying, in a strangled voice, ‘I hope you will be very happy, Serena.'

‘Of course, this means that Serena will be returning to England,' her aunt said, her eyes carefully avoiding Gianetta's. ‘I'm sure you will agree that it would be impractical for you to stay on in China in those circumstances, Gianetta, and so I will make arrangements for you to travel home with Serena and Henry.'

‘I want you to live with us,' Serena said, lovingly squeezing her cousin's hand. ‘I know that Henry will not mind. He is so very kind, and he would hate the idea of you living alone at Sutton Hall as much as I do.'

Gianetta tried to speak and couldn't. It was as if the floor were shelving away beneath her feet. No doubt Henry Plaxtol
was
kind, but she didn't want his kindness. She didn't want to live with him and Serena. She certainly didn't want to live in Lincolnshire again. She wanted to live life her own way, as Lord Rendlesham and Zachary Cartwright lived theirs. She wanted to travel out into the wilds of unexplored China. She wanted to see scenes no English girl had ever seen before. She wanted to find blue Moonflowers.

‘The wedding will take place here, of course,' her aunt was saying. ‘As soon as Henry arrives. I shall get in touch with the shipping office in Shanghai and make the necessary bookings for you aboard the
Eastern Queen
. It will be something to look forward to, will it not?'

‘Yes, Aunt Honoria,' Gianetta said dutifully, but she wasn't thinking of the
Eastern Queen
or the long sea journey back to England. She was thinking of the mountains and valleys of Kansu. Of the journey she intended to take, alone, in the wake of Lord Rendlesham and Zachary Cartwright.

When her uncle and his guests rejoined them in the drawing-room, Gianetta found it hard not to betray her rising excitement. Where Lord Rendlesham and Mr Cartwright were going, she was also going. The knowledge made her head swim and the blood sing along her veins. As the conversation returned to the expedition and the reasons for it, her mind whirled feverishly, busy making plans.

‘The general object of our mission is to collect seeds and plants of an ornamental and useful kind,' Lord Rendlesham was saying, in the easy manner which she found so appealing. ‘They must, of course, be plants that are not already in cultivation in England. We also hope to obtain, for the Royal Horticultural Society, information on the methods of Chinese gardening and agriculture.'

As she listened to him, Gianetta knew that she would feel perfectly safe with him, no matter how lonely and wild the surroundings in which they found themselves. She cast a covert look across at Zachary Cartwright. She certainly wouldn't feel quite so comfortable with Mr Cartwright. He really had a most forbidding manner. The conversation at the dinner table had obviously bored him and, apart from the time when he had responded to Serena's questions, he had taken almost no part in it at all. Even now he was not sitting with his friend and the Viceroy, but was moving restlessly around the room, inspecting the books on the shelves, his open indifference to his host and hostess bordering almost on insolence.