Diana, however, met Heinrik’s gaze and smiled, polite yet somehow steely. “Mr. Heinrik, what brings you and your lovely… wife, is it—to be traveling this way?”
Heinrik stiffened, and Toby whipped his gaze back to his old foe’s face. What he read in the suddenly wary lines made him blink, then almost smile. He knew why Heinrik was there, but who was the lady, and why was she on Heinrik’s arm? She certainly wasn’t his wife; had Heinrik married, Toby would have heard.
Heinrik shot Toby a tight-lipped glance. Heinrik was caught; he wanted to leave without answering, but couldn’t risk causing a scene.
Apparently aware of that, when Heinrik didn’t speak, Diana leant to the side and looked at the lady inquiringly.
To Toby’s delight, the lady responded by shifting around Heinrik and extending her hand to Diana. “I am Eva Graf, Mrs.…?”
Diana smiled and shook the offered hand. “Caldwell. Diana Caldwell.”
Heinrik promptly bowed. “Heinrik Maier, Mrs. Caldwell. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He gestured to the youngsters. “And these are your children, yes?”
Diana noted the quick quirk of a brow Heinrik directed at Toby. “Indeed,” she affirmed, then pointedly looked past Heinrik at the waiter hovering behind him. “But if you wish to dine, we shouldn’t keep you.”
Heinrik glanced around, saw the waiter, and nodded. “Of course.” With a smile and a nod to Toby and Diana, he added, “No doubt we’ll catch up with you later.”
With that, Heinrik gripped Eva’s arm and urged her on.
With a last smiling look at Diana, Eva went, and Heinrik followed.
Diana glanced around and saw the elegant couple being shown to an empty two-person banquette.
She returned her gaze to Toby, then looked at the children.
All three were regarding her and Toby with round, serious eyes.
Roland asked, “Are those not nice people?”
Surprised at the question, Toby exchanged a swift glance with Diana. Obviously, the children had sensed the tension in the air and interpreted it more or less accurately.
After a second’s thought, he offered, “It’s not that they’re not nice, but—and please do remember this—they, both of them, are not people it would be wise to trust.”
Diana was regarding the three assessingly. When Toby glanced her way, she met his gaze and said, “I think”—she looked at the children—“that we should make a rule that none of you three should go anywhere without either Papa or me with you.”
Toby nodded in agreement. “That’s a very sensible idea.” He looked at the children. “All right?”
Without the slightest hesitation, all three heads nodded, and judging by their expressions, their agreement was more like a promise.
* * *
When,a mile or so short of Verona, the train halted to allow the passengers a decent night’s rest, Toby was far too much on edge to find sleep.
He was exceedingly grateful that he’d had the foresight—and experience—to book the last compartments at the end of the train. Wreathed in shadows, he could lounge with his back against the rear door with his gaze trained up the narrow corridor, keeping watch on the approach to their compartments while the others slept.
He’d been there for more than half an hour, revisiting the incident in the dining car, when the door to the nearer compartment, the one Diana, Helga, and Evelyn were sharing, quietly opened.
Diana looked out and spotted him in the shadows. After a second of studying him, she stepped out and carefully, silently closed the door. Then, head rising, she walked toward him.
As Diana neared the tall figure shrouded by the night, she murmured, “They’re all asleep.”
He remained propped against the door as she halted before him. A certain fine tension seemed to infuse his long frame. After a second, his voice low and deep, he said, “You should get what sleep you can, too.” He glanced past her, along the corridor. “When you go back inside, pile some bags behind the door so no one can open it easily or quietly. I’ll do the same in the other compartment when I go in.”
She arched a skeptical brow. “And when will that be?”
His lips quirked in what she thought was a faint smile. “I’m not sure. Closer to dawn, at any rate.”
She folded her arms as if that would somehow shield her from the flaring compulsion to move closer to him. “If I recall correctly, Heinrik Maier is the Austrian you hoped wouldn’t be sent after us.”
