Chapter Twenty-Four
Aster was dozing off when she heard muttered voices from the cubicle next to her and she woke with a start. Despite the airline bed offering every level of comfort, she was finding it difficult to properly relax. The attendant seemed to ask Edward something and then left. Checking her phone, Aster could see it was still only ten. Not late at all. She was about to settle down again when a new man’s voice began talking to Edward. His voice was oily and overfamiliar. Aster listened in, grinning. She hated when people talked to her using that voice and wondered how Edward would respond.
‘Lord Peveril, can I just say what a pleasure it is to be travelling with you this week?’
‘Thank you, Charles. How can I help? The attendant said you needed a word?’
Aster smiled that he hadn’t told him to call him Edward. Did that mean he stood on his title, or was he just not letting this Charles person get overly chummy? In the past when she had asked people to simply call her Aster, on the whole, it went well but every so often there was a certain type that seemed to think this imbued them with special privileges. The idea of anyone thinking they were close to Aster was bad enough, that they thought they were even closer to her was abhorrent. This Charles struck her as one of those types.
‘I just wanted to say that I’m pretty much an old hand at trade in India. Anything you need a hand with, let me know.’
‘I think I’ll be okay.’
Aster almost sniggered out loud as Edward then spoke in fluent Urdu, thanking Charles for his kind offer. There was a moment of silence and then Charles chortled loudly.
‘Ah, I see you have the lingo. Well, good for you. Very clever. Yes. Very clever indeed. Lady Aster-’
Charles had raised his voice and then yelped suddenly. The next voice she heard was Edward’s, dark and angry.
‘Lady Aster is not to be disturbed.’
‘No, of course. Not. Forgive me. Maybe you could let go of my hand?’
Had he been about to slide open her privacy partition? Aster was appalled at his nerve. Thank God Edward had the wit to stop the oaf. If he hadn’t, Aster would have been forced to engage with the newcomer and her engagement would not have been welcoming.
‘Hello. Is everything okay?’ The alert voice of an attendant had now joined the discussion and Aster slunk even further under her sheets. She wanted the ground to open up and swallow her. Though if it did, she’d need a parachute. She tried to smother a giggle, this was ridiculous. Any time in Edward’s company and she reacted like an idiot, either snottily or giggling or just basically running away. She knew it was all tied to her initial drugging and wondered when she would learn to come to terms with it. Basically, he had saved her and she couldn’t handle being beholden to him. But his voice just then had given her chills, he sounded furious with the other man. Now he was back chatting to the attendant in his normal tone.
‘Everything is fine. Mr Brown was just returning to his seat.’
Aster listened as Charles Brown and the attendant headed away. A soporific silence descended once more over first-class and Aster settled back down again.
‘Sleep well, Aster,’ Edward spoke softly, careful not to wake her just in case she was sleeping. ‘No one will disturb you.’
For the first time since the incident, Aster slept peacefully for eight hours.
Waking up to the voice of the pilot informing them they would be arriving in Mumbai in an hour, Aster began to get ready for the day ahead. She had an hour between connecting flights and then a four-hour flight to Kolkata. This time, she was travelling economy as there was no other option, but she didn’t care. At least she wouldn’t be bothered by the delegates. Feeling oddly shy, she mumbled a quick ‘Morning’, and smiled to herself when she heard Edward echo it. She was reluctant to refer to last night’s incident and instead got dressed and called for a breakfast.
‘Would you like a game of cards before we land?’
‘Cards?’
‘Yes. I thought you might be a card player. Ignore me. I like playing cards.’
‘Go on, then. What games do you know?’
‘Shall I slide back my partition?’
Grinning, she slid hers back at the same time. Beating Edward at cards seemed like an excellent way to kill the final hour. One hour later, Aster was wondering just how she had managed to lose so much money.
With each loss, Edward’s grin had become ever deeper and she found herself warming to his delight, even if it was her expense.
‘You clearly had a misspent youth?’ remarked Aster tartly.
‘I have had some lucky cards.’
‘True. But even then, you made the very most of them.’
‘I suspect if you had had them, you’d have maybe beaten me instead.’
‘Beaten you?’ said Aster, raising an eyebrow. ‘I’d have thrashed you.’
As the plane touched down, Aster picked up her bag.
‘At some point, we’ll have to have a rematch and I’ll win my money back.’
‘I’ll hold you to that.’ He laughed at some inside joke. Aster frowned and hastened to her connecting flight. An hour later, she was happily ensconced in a window seat on the front row. Nick had done well, she had loads of space and so far, no one was sitting next to her. Of course, that wouldn’t last, but until then she would enjoy the peace and quiet. Mumbai Airport had been manic, barely hinting at the chaos in the city beyond and she knew Kolkata would be no better and possibly worse. Still, Nick had assured her she had booked her a driver who would meet her at the airport and drive her out to the village.
‘Round two?’
Aster turned away from the window and stared at Edward in astonishment.
‘What the hell are you doing here?’
‘Seemed the easiest way to get to Kolkata.’
‘But you’re with the Mumbai Trade Delegation.’
‘No, I’m with the India Trade Delegation. And like yourself, I’m heading on to Kolkata.’
‘And when you get there, where are you going next?’
He laughed loudly and caused several people to stare at him as she narrowed her eyes. Was this man following her? He sat down in the aisle seat and grinned across at her as he dug around in his carry-on bag.
‘I’ll be stopping in Kolkata, I assure you. Are you travelling on?’
‘Yes.’
She was determined not to get dragged into a conversation. The passenger for the middle seat would arrive shortly and remove any further conversation.
‘Well then, let’s make the most of our time together.’
Pulling out a pack of cards, he began to deal, laying the cards down on the seat between them.
‘What are you doing? Someone will be sitting there!’
‘I bought both seats,’ he said as he carried on dealing giving her a quick wink.
Aster slowly closed her mouth. The confidence in that wink, who the hell did he think he was?
‘You booked both seats?’
‘Yes. Pick up your cards.’
‘That just happened to be next to me?’
‘That’s right. Your cards.’
‘And when did you book these seats?’
‘Must have been around the same time I booked the Mumbai seat. Come on.’ He picked up his own cards and started looking through them.
‘And when exactly did you book those seats?’
‘I think that was when I was asked to pop over to investigate a few things. Now look, I have some pretty decent cards. I think you might struggle to beat me. Again.’
Aster pursed her lips.
‘Exactly what is your job, that the British government asks some dilettante lord of the manor to help them out with? Etiquette issues at the governor’s high table?’
He looked across at her, chuckling.
‘Now, now. Don’t believe all the gossip you read. Although I am surprised that you looked me up.’
‘Surprised? I ended up in a stranger’s house, who then also tried to fleece some nuns out of a priceless painting. Of course I was going to investigate you.’
‘Was I trying to fleece them?’
Aster shrugged. ‘As it happens, no. But at the time, I didn’t know that, nor could I tell from the ham-fisted way you went about it that your intentions were honourable.’
He scrunched his face up. ‘That’s true. I didn’t handle that well. I suppose that explains your sloppy investigation.’
Her eyelids shot open.
‘I beg your pardon?’ Not once in her life had she been accused of being sloppy.
‘Your investigation into me. Dilettante lord of the manor , that’s an epitaph worthy of a tabloid, but not you, Lady Aster. Now what about your cards?’
Aster snatched at her cards. How dare he accuse her of having the investigative skills of a tabloid hack? But she was mostly furious because she knew he was right. She had only listened to Nick’s brief summation of him and Aster had extrapolated his entire character without doing any proper investigation. He had got under her skin from day one and it had clouded her reasoning. The minute she was off this plane, she was going to spend some serious time checking His Grace out.
She was just about to hand the cards back to him when she had a quick glance. Two aces, plus a running jack that she could develop and a useful eight. She paused. Maybe beating him would make her feel better. She laid her first card down.
By the time the attendants were bringing around the snacks, Aster had won back all her money and was now up on the deal. By the time they landed, she was openly laughing along with Edward as he groaned about her achievements.