A Murderous Masquerade (16 page)

Lily put down her sewing.

“Tha’ would be lovely, and I think that Geoffrey would be relieved to not have to search your brother’s room again.”

Charlotte came back from the window, suddenly interested again.

“Searching it for what? Is there anything left there that could free Giles?” She glanced between the two women.

Lily stood up and placed her hands in the small of her back to stretch.

“Not tha’ we know of, which is why Geoff is searching again, but I suspec’ he will be gla’ of the break. He’s been tappin’ the walls and twisting every scrap of wood in the place to no avail.”

Charlotte looked at Lily curiously.

“What’s he been doing that for? Does the castle have termites?”

Anne smiled, glanced about the room as if looking for eves-droppers and then whispered from behind her hands.

“No, but it does have secret passageways.”

Charlotte let out an excited gasp.

“No! How exciting! I don’t think that we have anything like that at home. Neither John or father ever mentioned anything, but Caithwell isn’t as old as Ormond so maybe the designer never even thought about adding such an exciting feature.” She began to bounce on her slippered feet. “Does my room here have one? If not, I want to move. I would love a secret passageway. I demand that I have one right now!”

Lily laughed loudly at Charlotte’s excitement, while Anne considered the arrangements for the next day.

“Calm yourself. As Geoffrey has found nothing so far, I can only assume that there isn’t one. He was only checking that there was no other way out of Edward’s room. Now, let us think about that ride. Why don’t I ride Pegasus while you take Lightning? Geoffrey could drive Lily in the wagon and we could all take a ride along the shoreline. We can take a picnic and try to have a pleasant day while we ascertain that Edward didn’t make his escape from the beach.”

Charlotte raised an eyebrow and looked Anne up and down carefully.

“Can you ride Pegasus? My cousin says he a demon to control.”

Anne gave Charlotte a quick smile.

“He just needs a little persuasion to do the right thing. Like most men, I find.”

Lily snorted loudly and let out her donkey’s bray of a laugh.

“You jus’ wait an’ see. Anne is an expert rider. She puts me to shame. I am only glad that I can use this baby as an excuse not to ride anymore.” She sat forwards and pressed her hands into the small of her back. She winced slightly as her babe kicked inside her and placed her hand over her stomach to rub a gentle, circular motion over the hard lump. As soon as the kicking stopped she shuffled forwards to the edge of the chaise. “Who would have thought tha’ a stomach would be so inconvenient when so large. It’s a wonder that some men allow themselves to become so full bellied, what with it being so awkward.” She puffed out a breath and took Anne’s proffered arm as she hoisted herself up from the chaise. “I will just go and ask cook to prepare us picnic for tomorrow and then I will go up and le’ Geoffrey know of wha’ we have decided to do on the morrow.” She stifled a yawn. “I think these lars’ few days have taken more toll on me than I realized. I have been lying about all day doing virtually nothing, ye’ I am so fatigued I feel as though I could sleep for a week. I think I would like to lie down for half an hour before I change for dinner.”

Anne walked the few steps to the door with Lily.

“You should be resting. Let Charlotte go and put Geoffrey out of his misery. She can tell him about our excursion tomorrow, as well.” She inclined her head towards Charlotte. “You won’t mind asking Geoffrey, will you?”

Charlotte shook her head.

“Of course not. I’ll go and let him know right now.” She brushed past the two women, a small, curious frown developing on her brow as she saw them both smile conspiratorially at one another. They were clearly attempting to keep her busy so that she wouldn’t ask to see her cousin again, but their ploy wouldn’t work. She ran up the wide staircase and down the long corridor towards the bedroom where Lord Ellesworth had vanished from. She hid her own smile as she heard a man grumbling from behind the closed door. Geoffrey was the perfect answer. He would be able help her see Giles. He already felt guilty about leaving her to the mercies of Ellesworth and his cronies; he wouldn’t refuse her if she asked for help with her cousin.

She turned the door knob gently and quickly slipped inside the room.

Chapter Ten

If Geoffrey had attempted to turn one carved grape, he had tried to turn a thousand. His broad shoulders slumped in resignation as he twisted yet another berry. Nothing happened. Exactly like the other thousand he had twisted, and he hadn’t even begun on the leaves, or the bees or the strange little lizards that festooned every nook and cranny of the bedroom, yet!

Whoever would have thought of carving wood so intricately? His eyes had long since glazed over, making his task even more difficult. He put his finger on an overlarge grape at the bottom of a bunch and stood a little taller, though not to his full height, to ease the cramped muscles in his aching back.

Someone of over six feet in height shouldn’t be bending double for hours on end, he thought ruefully, though he had no thought to not finishing his task. Giles needed his help and he was going to give it. If young Edward had taken leave of this room via that damaged ivy, he would eat his own hat. He just had to discover how the little twerp had managed to escape with himself sat right outside his door.

He swivelled his neck, unlocking the kinks in the top of his spine and nearly forgot to keep his fingertip on the last grape when he went to stretch his arm up above his head. He remembered just in time and stretched his other arm first before fixing the finger of that hand to the grape and doing the same stretches all over again with his other arm. He almost wished that he hadn’t bothered when his back gave a deep twinge of pain right above his left buttock. His leg felt as though it was about to give way until he managed to twist enough to release the nerve that had become trapped.

“God damn! Now what have I done. It’s all the fault of that prick. I’m going to kill the bloody little swine when I eventually find him.” He raised his voice and spoke into the wood of the mantelpiece. “Did you hear that Ellesworth! You had better stay hidden well because if I find you, I really am going to throw you to Jenkins’ blasted pigs!”

“Now, now Geoffrey, swearing and shouting at the woodwork, won’t help at all.” The lilting voice came from right behind him and he leapt round in shock.

“Bloody hell, woman! You nearly made me shi...er, you surprised me! What are you doing up here? I thought you were with Anne and Lily.” His heart pounded in his chest at the surprise she had given him.

Charlotte walked into the room and plopped on the bed amid a waft of silk skits and heady scent. She stared up at Geoffrey who was rubbing a spot on his back and twisting gently from side to side.

“I was with them, but Lily wants to rest before dinner. I think she wants to talk to Alexander too. He arrived home about half an hour ago though he hadn’t appeared to have found out much. He’s taking a bath. All that riding, well, you know how hot it can make you and he has been out on Midnight, all day.”

Geoffrey just stared at the vision of beauty who sat twirling a lock of blonde hair around her finger as she spoke. He hadn’t ridden a damn thing in months and seeing Charlotte looking as if she were some kind of goddess was making him very hot indeed. He tried to ignore the beautiful fragrance that wafted about at her every move and swallowed hard as he looked away from her.

Giles would have his hide if he even looked at the girl. If the man knew the direction his thoughts travelled in several times every hour, he would probably dump him over a cliff. Geoffrey kept reminding himself that she was way out of his reach; Charlotte was too young, too noble, too witty, too headstrong, too beautiful, too caring, and too bloody perfect! He huffed out a frustrated breath and stared at the grapes again, only then realizing that he had taken his fingertip from the last one he had twisted.

“Damn! Damn, damn, damn!” He glanced back as he heard wild giggles coming from the bed and nearly fell to his knees as he saw her sparkling eyes dancing in merriment. “It’s not funny. I don’t have a clue which one I had my finger on,” he ground out the words as his frustration grew and he added ‘too delightful’ and ‘too mesmerizing’ to his list of her main faults.

She slipped from the bed and walked towards him. She bent and put her fingertip to a fat grape near the bottom of the motif and he added ‘too alluring’ as he tried very hard not to look at the shape of her perfect peach of a bottom as it rounded out the material of her dress.

“This one, I think. It has a sweaty finger mark upon it and I thought you had your finger on a fat grape as I came in. This is the only one that stands out.” She smiled daintily up at him.

He raised an eyebrow as he remembered that the last grape had indeed been plumper than the rest.

“Thank you. For a moment I thought I was going to have to begin again.”

Charlotte peered at the woodwork.

“Anne says that the room might conceal a secret passage and that you are looking for the entrance. I wish that there was one in my room. So exciting!” She gave a gentle thrill of a shiver. “I can help you look for the mechanism while I tell you the idea that we had.” She concentrated on the woodwork in front of her. “If the weather holds, we have decided we would like to do something different tomorrow.”

Geoffrey suddenly came back to his senses. He didn’t like it when women had sudden ideas. It nearly always ended up with him performing some ridiculous act on their behalf. He especially didn’t like it when Alexander’s wife, Lily was involved. He recalled in horrifically vivid detail, every agonizingly, embarrassing moment of when she had pretended to be a bride and had forced him to dress up as a flower girl, compelling him to parade down the ‘aisle’ behind her with a posy of daisies in his hands and buttercups wrapped around his head. He had been only five at the time, but he would remember the humiliation to the end of his days, though Alexander always complained that he should be the one most aggrieved. He had been obliged to play the groom in Lily’s little game, and with his older brother, Phillip taking his role of the vicar so solemnly, Alexander had been seriously worried that he had indeed become a married man at the tender age of ten.

“What idea?” He asked suspiciously as she busied herself pulling and twisting at the shapes on the wooden fire surround. Her bottom wriggled in front of him and he quickly averted his eyes.

“Anne and I would like to go riding, but Lily cannot be left on her own at this stage in her pregnancy. We wondered if you would be so kind as to drive her in the carriage while Anne and I take Pegasus and Lightning for a gallop along the beach. We could check for Anne’s brother’s escape while taking the air and having a picnic luncheon. Giles has forbidden us to visit him in the gaol and there is nothing much we can do to help unless we have either Alexander or yourself in attendance. Grady would offer, I know, but with Lily in her condition, Alexander wouldn’t feel that she was safe unless you took care of the driving.” She stood up quickly as she finished turning the last of the grapes down near the floor. “What do you think?” She asked brightly as she blinked her huge cerulean blue eyes up at him.

‘Too trusting,’ he bit down the surge of lust that gripped him, and ‘too full of ideas’ Geoffrey added to his ever growing list of her ‘faults’, but he could see merit in the plan. They could search the beach for signs of anyone staying nearby and Geoffrey could check the secret passage that lead up to Ormond from the beach.

The hidden passage was still open from the castle end, but dangerous in places. Ellesworth would have to be mad to have used it, what with the fallen stone giving proof of its disrepair, but Geoffrey privately thought that Edward was cracked in the head anyway so wouldn’t put it past him. It seemed an unlikely scenario though. Edward would have had to have found his way to Alexander’s own room to have discovered the entrance; still, he may have just walked to the beach and be hiding out in the tunnel. What with Gates arresting Giles so suddenly and Alexander riding to speak to Rookwood and Latham, they hadn’t had the time to search yet.

“I’ll have to check that Alex doesn’t want me to do anything else that may be more important first. If he is fine with me spending the day escorting you ladies, I cannot find fault in the plan. None of the horses, except Midnight, have been exercised properly since the day of the ball and I am sure that they would enjoy the stretch. I’ll ask Alexander if he has any other plans for me, during dinner tonight.” He leaned forwards and tweaked a tempting looking wooden bee that sat on a vine leaf, but nothing happened.

Charlotte pressed her lips together and studied the fireplace as a whole.

“What makes you think there is a passage leading from here anyway? This all looks pretty solid to me.”

Geoffrey had to agree. He’d been looking for signs that there was an entrance for nearly two whole days, to no avail. The only hint had been an intermittent draft that had wafted the bell pull and the curtains at the bed, but now he wondered if that wasn’t just a draft coming up through the floorboards. He was beginning to think that however unlikely it seemed, Edward must have climbed down the ivy after all.

“You saw how overweight he was. I can’t see him being very athletic. It’s not easy climbing ivy. One missed footing or maybe the ivy pulls away in your hand and you could find yourself flat on your back in cook’s herb garden. I just don’t think that he would have risked getting caught doing something untoward again, but there appears to be no other way out of the room apart from the door and I kept that locked and sat right outside in the corridor for the rest of the night. He didn’t get out that way.”

A frown marred Charlotte’s flawless brow.

“But if he was in a passage in the castle, wouldn’t it have had to lead somewhere; another room or out of the castle entirely? No one has seen him leave so either the tunnel comes out a good distance away, or...You don’t think he’s still in the castle, do you? Is that why you were yelling when I came in?” She blinked innocently up at Geoffrey who flushed to the roots of his hair as he remembered how he had been swearing at the time.

He gave a small cough.

“I’m sorry that you heard that, Lady Charlotte. I had just twisted the nerve in my back and was feeling a touch aggrieved to be virtually on my hands and knees, searching for young Edward when I know that he’s set this whole thing up. I’ll remember to mind my manners in the future, my Lady.” He made to dip his head in a short bow, where-upon she reached up and touched his shoulder to stop him.

“Good heavens, Geoffrey! Whoever told you to speak to me so formally? Surely you can call me Charlotte just as everyone else does. We are all friends here, after all.” Her lips curled upwards at the corners and she gave him a gentle smile.

Geoffrey felt heat flood his face and blood flood somewhere lower. Dear God! If he didn’t get away from her heady thrall, the burning fire that she incited in him was going to burst from his breeches and scare the young woman half to death.

He cleared his throat as he attempted to clear his brain of the thoughts that had clouded his vision since the moment he had first set eyes on her.

“Charlotte, you shouldn’t be here alone with me. It’s not seemly.” His voice sounded as though he had swallowed sand. Gritty and harsh, and his heart lurched at the confused look that crossed Charlotte’s features.

“But I am only helping you while delivering a message. What possible harm could there be in that? And who would know that I am here alone with you anyway?” She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth.

Geoffrey closed his eyes against the new temptation and drew in a deep breath.

“I know. I know that you are here alone with me. You should leave,” he ground out from between clenched teeth. “I’ve all but finished here and will see you at dinner. We can discuss your plans with Alexander then.” He walked towards the window to keep a goodly distance between them. He gripped the window frame and pretended to look out towards the damaged ivy. Though he could hear every single one of her shallow breaths, he couldn’t turn back towards her. He didn’t trust himself not to reach out, haul her into his arms and kiss her senseless.

Charlotte dipped her eyebrows in momentary confusion. Standing with his back towards her, he looked as though he was fighting some kind of inward battle with himself, but she couldn’t think why. Tension radiated from his powerful shoulders and his knuckles whitened as he gripped the window frame.

A horrible thought came to her as she thought about his words. She had been whisked out of the ballroom and onto the terrace by Lord Rookwood. It had happened so quickly that she hadn’t given any thought to what it could have looked like to those who had discovered her, but perhaps Geoffrey thought that she had been a willing participant until the other men became involved. Perhaps he thought her a silly fool for trusting men in general. He was annoyed because her suggestion of going to the beach could have waited until the dinner hour when Alexander would be in attendance to lend his own opinion to the idea. She felt the heat of shame flush her cheeks as she stepped away from the mantelpiece and back towards the door.

“I’m sorry. You are perfectly right, of course. I shouldn’t have come here. This could have waited, but it was Anne’s suggestion so that Lily could go and rest. I’ll leave you to carry on your investigations.” She turned without further ado and fled the room.

Geoffrey listened to her hurried footsteps as she ran from the room. He pressed his forehead onto the cooling glass of the window and tried to calm his pounding heart. Never had he been so affected by a woman. He swallowed hard and considered putting his fist through the glass that cooled his forehead.