Beastly Beautiful (3 page)

“But what about the part where I get my five hundred dollars?” she asked, as he moved to the elevator and punched the down button. “If you’re not here when I leave tonight and you’re still gone in the morning, how are you going to pay me?”

The doors opened and he stepped onto the elevator. “You’ll know when the time comes,” he said. And then he was gone, the doors shutting in front of him. The last glimpse Teagan caught of his face revealed a pained, distorted expression, as if he’d already dismissed her and turned his thoughts to whatever unpleasant occasion lay ahead of him.

Chapter 4

Left to herself, Teagan returned to the room he had referred to as the den and sat, much as he had instructed her to, before the pendulum clock atop the mantel, waiting for it to chime the half hour. This was the oddest night she’d ever experienced.

When the appointed time arrived, she moved to the desk and slipped the brass key out from beneath the silver box. She hesitated over the box for the space of a breath, trying to muster the nerve to disobey his command and lift the lid. He had said he would know, but how could he? Surely it was a bluff.

All the same, she let the box be and moved into the living room. Again, she was assailed by temptation as she slipped the key into the lock of the study door. She felt a strong desire to crack the door a little and see what was so special it needed these strange precautions. Surely he would never know if she took the briefest of glances into the room.

Pausing, she rested an ear against the thick wood. No sound stirred from within. But then, why should it, she asked herself. It was a study. The room probably just contained a lot of shelves of books and a desk full of papers. She thought fleetingly that if there was anything of value inside she might be able to make away with it in Sir’s absence. Yet she seemed to hear his voice again, ringing in her ears.
I will know
. The coldness of his tone made it hard to doubt his sincerity, even as impossible as his claim seemed. Again, she resisted temptation and left the door closed.

She next followed his instructions on starting the stereo. At once, the heavy strains of a piece of classical music blared from the twin speakers. The music was so deafening she was tempted to turn the volume down several notches but on second thought, recalling his order against readjusting anything, didn’t. Let his neighbors complain and get him evicted. It wouldn’t be her problem.

She moved on to the kitchen. Here she found herself confronted once more by the full refrigerator and no one in sight to see what she did. Under the weakness of her aching belly, she told herself surely he would never notice the difference if one or two small things went missing from there. He had more food than he could eat before it spoiled anyway. She slipped a couple pieces of fruit and a slice of bread out of the back of the refrigerator and tucked them inside her sweater. Then she returned to her tasks.

This was probably the weirdest—even eeriest—part of the evening. She felt very uneasy, filling a crystal goblet with the rich colored wine and arranging the glass alongside pieces of fine china across the low kitchen table. With the frantic notes of an angry sounding musical piece crashing in the background, Teagan felt like she was performing some sort of strange ritual as she laid out the single place setting on the empty table. She wondered whom it was for. Sir? Some mystery guest who had yet to arrive?

She tried to shake both the questions and the anxious feeling from her mind as she wound up the last part of her task. Replacing the brass key where she’d found it, Teagan hesitated one last time in the center of the room. Looking around her, she felt as if the stage had been set tonight for some frightening invisible drama that had yet to play out. All of her tasks—each of the simple acts she had carried out exactly as he ordered—appeared innocent enough on their own and yet together, she couldn’t shake the feeling they spelled something very wrong. She wondered fleetingly if Sir might not be a little unbalanced in the head. The notion made her eager to leave.

Her hands were trembling as she pressed the down button on the elevator. As she stepped between the doors, she almost wished she’d never agreed to this whole bizarre bargain. Maybe she wouldn’t come back in the morning to finish up after all. Maybe she would let him keep his money.

* * * *

Back in her cardboard box in the shadowy alley, she devoured her bread and fruit with a speed born of long hunger. She shivered in the cold wind. It was at times like this she almost regretted her decision to avoid the homeless shelters. Unfortunately those were just the sorts of places her family might look for her. And being found wasn’t on her agenda. Not even if hiding on the streets meant starving.

All she needed was the chance to find her feet, she promised herself for the thousandth time. A job was sure to turn up soon, and then she’d be able to get her life in shape. And she didn’t care what the work was. She’d waitress, she’d wash dishes, anything. But until then…

She curled up in her bed of rags, shuddering beneath the onslaught of the cutting wind, but at least knowing the comfort of a full belly for the first time in days. Trying to work a little warmth into her freezing fingers and toes, she lay awake and remembered the soothing heat of the fireplace in Sir’s den and the softness of the thick carpet beneath her feet. Then she thought of the stocked refrigerator and cursed herself for not having taken more food.

She couldn’t sleep that night. Cold and fear for the future kept her awake. By the time the blackness of the sky was beginning to give way to a pale gray in the east, she knew her decision was made. She was going back. She had already done most of the work last night. It would be foolish not to return and claim her reward.

It was a short walk to Sir’s apartment house. It took her so little time to reach her destination that the moon was still up and a bare scattering of stars twinkled in the lightening sky when she arrived. She had warmed herself a little with the exercise, but unfortunately had worked up a raging hunger as well. Last night’s snack was just a torturous memory now. Maybe it would have been better if she hadn’t eaten at all.

She didn’t give any thought to how she was to get into the building until she found herself standing before the doorman. The neatness of his uniform and the skeptical expression on his face when he saw she intended to enter reminded Teagan that last night she’d had Sir here to gain her admittance. But there was one stroke of luck in her favor. This was the same man who had held the door for them last night.

She gave a sketchy explanation of having done some work for the gentleman in the penthouse the night before, and how he had told her to come back again in the morning. To her relief, he accepted the explanation without question. Was Sir always doing things this eccentric? Then again, maybe the doorman was just used to a parade of female visitors on their way up to the penthouse. She wouldn’t be surprised. Sir was good looking, rich…a magnet for certain kinds of women.

She passed quickly through the fancy lobby, feeling uncomfortably out of place as she stepped into the glass elevator. She was getting used to the view down, or at least she was no longer sickened by it, as the elevator shot upward to the top floor.

She found the penthouse just as she’d left it. The unsettling piece of music was still crashing over the sound system. The table setting rested where she had left it, to all appearances, having remained untouched throughout the night. Even the goblet of wine was still full. Maybe Sir’s mystery visitor had never arrived. Certainly Sir, himself, didn’t seem to have returned yet.

Glancing around at the empty apartment, Teagan felt her nerve rise enough she contemplated raiding the refrigerator again. She could remember a time when she had drawn the line at stealing. That was a long time ago however. Her brief stint on the street was already teaching her she could do a number of things for food she had never thought herself capable of before. Besides, it wasn’t as if a man like Sir would miss just one or two items from his overflowing kitchen.

She wrestled with all of these thoughts as she cleared away the spotless dishes, replacing them in the cabinet. Casting a surreptitious glance around her, she threw her head back and emptied the wine glass. No use dumping it down the drain. She hesitated over the dirty glass, and then left it in the sink. She wasn’t being paid for housekeeping. Besides, the spotless state of the rooms evidenced a capable housekeeping staff was frequently on hand.

It was a relief to turn off the blaring music. After so much noise, the silence descending suddenly over the room was unnerving. Teagan remembered the eerie feeling of the night before, but did her best to set it from her mind. She wouldn’t be frightened away—not before she received her money. As she entered the den, a glance at the pendulum clock told her it was still a few minutes until six—the hour she had been instructed to return and fulfill her tasks. The sky, visible through the long living room window, was still almost black.

Never mind, she told herself. There could be no harm in her having gotten an early start. She removed the key from its hiding place under the silver box and retraced her steps to unlock the red door to the study. She didn’t hesitate this time to put her ear against the door. After last night’s weird scenario with the table setting and the untouched wine, locking a simple room now seemed the most unremarkable part of her routine.

Returning to the den, she slipped the brass key back into its hiding place. Her task was complete. Now she was left with the question of what to do with herself until Sir returned. She had no intention of leaving without those five hundred dollars firmly in hand. Briefly, she contemplated stocking her pockets again from the refrigerator.

But what if he should somehow find out? Would the fact she had been stealing from him somehow preclude their arrangement? He had said she would receive no payment unless she followed his instructions to the very letter, and swiping food from his kitchen had certainly not been a part of his instructions. Besides, she reminded herself as her stomach grumbled in rebellion, a short while longer and she would have enough cash in her pockets to walk into any restaurant in town and fill her face with all she could eat.

No, more stealing was definitely out. To kill the time, she found herself pacing before the fireplace, listening to the tick-tock of the pendulum clock. She remembered how disturbed Sir had been by that clock last night. The memory of his dark expression unnerved her so much she sought distraction. Her gaze fell on the little silver box.

Almost furtively, she crossed the room until she stood before the desk. Even though she knew there was no one home, she nevertheless found herself casting a wary glance over her shoulder as she reached a curious hand to hover over the lid.

I will know
.

She shook her head. He was bluffing. How could he possibly know?

Quickly, before she could lose her nerve, she threw open the lid. It was a musical box. A cheery tune began to play the moment the top was opened. Teagan leaned forward to peer inside. The inside of the box was red-lined…and empty. Teagan frowned. She didn’t know what she had expected—jewelry maybe, or a secret stash of cash. But why on earth would he have made such a fuss over the opening of a box, if it stood empty? Unless…

Unless it had been some kind of test to see how well she followed orders.
I will know
. No. He couldn’t know. And yet Teagan found herself stepping back nervously, retreating from the little silver box as its tune wound to an end. In the ensuing silence, it struck her. He would know because he had wound the box. He knew in what place the tune should begin again the next time he opened the lid. It was rather a genius test actually, she admitted to herself. Too bad it wasn’t genius enough. She too had an ear for music, and she remembered where the tune had begun. All she had to do was rewind the box until the song started in the exact same place.

Reaching for the box, she heard a soft footfall behind her.

Chapter 5

Who was it, come to catch her red-handed? Sir? Or his mystery guest of last night? Whirling, Teagan slammed into a solid chest. A pair of strong hands gripped her roughly by the forearms, their hold painfully tight. Teagan couldn’t have stifled a muffled squeal even if she’d thought to try. Steely dark eyes gazed down on her from a face contorted by rage.

Teagan almost didn’t recognize Sir from last night, so changed was his appearance. His hair was wildly mussed and hung down in black strands before his face. His clothing was ripped and blood smeared. There was no knowing whether the crimson stains came from his own flesh or someone else’s.

“What are you doing?” he growled, reddened face twisted in anger. An evil, unreasonable fury drove him, Teagan thought frantically. She trembled to find it directed at her. Looking down she saw the large hands clamped around her arms were smudged with blood still oozing from his torn fingertips. The source of his bloodied shirt?

The pulse pounded in her forehead so she thought she might faint. “I—I just wanted to open—I was going to put it back like it was,” she stumbled over herself, trying to explain. His blazing eyes registered no understanding of the words.

“It’s not dawn!” he shouted in her face. “I told you not until six o’clock!”

Teagan was having difficulty standing, so weak had her legs suddenly became beneath her. “I—I’m sorry,” she gasped out, fear paralyzing her mind too fully to let her think of anything else to say. Whoever or whatever had suffered his wrath before, drawing the streaks of blood smearing his clothes and hands, she didn’t want to share their fate.

“Sorry?” he grated, his voice sounding for a moment more animal than human. Something bestial flashed within the depths of his black eyes and Teagan had the wild, terrifying notion there was no longer a man lurking behind those eyes, but a rabid animal. Something indefinable in him had changed. Sir was no longer in control of this body.