A Princess Prays by Barbara Cartland Page B

I believe it and thus I am at your service and of course you have taken on a very big responsibility!”
    He was joking and yet Attila felt there was some truth behind what he was saying.
    â€œNow you are making me feel apprehensive, but at the same time I am very glad I was able to save you.”
    â€œWith an unbelievable brilliance! No other woman would have thought so quickly or found the right answer to such a dangerous situation?”
    â€œWould those men really have killed you?”
    â€œIt was because I found out what they were trying to do that I ran away,” answered the stranger.
    â€œUnless it upsets you, I am of course very curious to know what happened.”
    â€œThen I will tell you. The man who came to look at me is my cousin. He wants me dead so that he can inherit what I possess and take my place in the family.”
    â€œAnd he is prepared to kill you to do so?” asked Attila, thinking it was incredible.
    â€œHe thought out a very clever plot. I have this new horse of which I am very proud. He told me he had found a jump on my land which he thought would make a perfect challenge in the race we usually arrange every year. It is an occasion which has been handed down for generations.”
    â€œSo you took your horse to the jump.”
    â€œI went riding with the other men you saw just now who are all friends of my cousin. I had a look at the jumps and my cousin had improved them considerably since last year. He had raised them and he had also constructed some new jumps which I had not seen previously.”
    Attila was listening wide-eyed.
    More food was provided by Lamos while they were talking, but Attila was so interested that she ate it without really tasting what she was putting into her mouth.
    â€œI took my horse, which is called Zeus, over two of the jumps and then, as if I was being prompted by someone unseen, I rode to look at the last jump before I took Zeus over it.”
    â€œAnd what did you see?” enquired Attila.
    â€œAs I was looking at the jump, I realised that one of my cousin’s friends was on the other side of it and the way he was holding something under his arm made me feel suspicious.”
    â€œAnd what was he holding?”
    â€œI suspected, and I was right, that what he intended to do was to shoot at my horse when we took the jump. He would fall down bringing me with him and if I was not dead after I had fallen, I would certainly have been suffocated before I was taken back to the house.”
    â€œI cannot believe it!” exclaimed Attila breathlessly.
    â€œI found it hard to believe myself, but I realised the only thing I could do was to run away.”
    He drew in his breath as if he was remembering how frightened he had been as he resumed his story.
    â€œBefore they realised what had happened I galloped as fast as I could away from the jumps and into the woods. When I heard them following me, I knew that if they caught me, I would not go home alive.”
    â€œI have never heard of anything so horrible, so beastly and so cruel,” cried Attila.
    â€œWhen men are greedy – they will stop at nothing,” the stranger told her philosophically.
    â€œBut if you go back, will he not try again?”
    â€œMy cousin may try, but now I am so alerted to his devilry, I am certain that when I do return, he will realise that it would be a mistake for us ever to meet again.”
    â€œYou cannot be too sure that he will feel like that.”
    â€œI will make certain, but now I am forewarned and thanks to you I am still alive.”
    â€œI am frightened by what you have just experienced,” murmured Attila. “And if he does try again, he might be successful.”
    â€œThen, as I am now your responsibility,” he smiled, “you will have to protect me.”
    He was speaking lightly.
    But his blue eyes gave Attila a most strange feeling in her breasts that she had never known before.
    She only