Eloisa's Adventure (18 page)

Simeon
sucked in a breath and stared at the change in her. She looked so
damned luscious that he was momentarily lost for words. Now that
the awful skirts were gone, she seemed infinitely more fragile and
downright sensual.

“Let’s
go, shall we?” she prompted when he continued to stare at her
without moving. She knew she must look a fright but, really, what
on earth was he staring at?

The next
hour was taken up searching the study for any hidden doorways. The
wooden panelling to one side of the hearth was the only part of the
room that sounded suspicious. The hollow sound warned them both
that they were onto something – if only they could find a way to
get behind the panelling to get in.

“Found
it,” Eloisa declared triumphantly after several moments of
searching. She tipped the clock on the mantle toward her to
demonstrate what she had found. A resultant click released the
catch on the hidden door located beside the fireplace. They both
turned to watch it swing silently open.

Eloisa
shivered when the temperature within the room dropped by several
degrees and stared awkwardly at the black void that opened up to
them.

“Good
Lord,” Simeon whispered. His voice was laden with approval and he
gave her a delighted smile that made her stomach flip. “You have
found it.”

“Here,”
Eloisa said, and handed him a large candelabra.

“I need
the candles lit first,” Simeon said as he eyed the heavy object she
handed him.

“I was
thinking more along the lines of it being something you could hit
him with if he challenges you,” she suggested pertly.

His eyes
grew wide, and he grinned at her as he tested its
weight.

“I still
need a light though.” He stared at her when she lifted a smaller
candlestick, complete with candle.

“We can
light these and then go and see –”

“Wait! What do you mean
we
can see,” Simeon challenged. “You are not going
in there.”

“Yes, I
am,” Eloisa said firmly. “I am not going to sit here and wait for
you. Heaven only knows what might happen to me. You need someone to
help you if you get challenged by him. After all, there are two of
us and only one of him.”

To make
herself feel better, she lifted a poker out of the pot beside the
fire and tested its weight.

“What
are you going to do with that?” Simeon demanded as he studied the
brass stick in horror.

“Use it
if he comes at me.”

His
stared at her nonplussed for a moment, then heaved a sigh and
quickly lit the candles. They could argue about her taking it but
he rather suspected that he would be the one to lose. If holding
the poker made her feel braver, then that was fine by him so long
as she didn’t use it on him. If he was honest, her having something
to hand she could use to defend herself made him feel a little
easier too.

Once
they were ready, they put a piece of parchment over the lock and
disappeared into the first of the hidden corridors.

It
wasn’t as dark as she had thought it would be inside the narrow
space. Unfortunately, it was liberally covered with cobwebs, which
had been there for centuries if the thick layer of dust that
covered them was any indication. She shuddered and turned her
thoughts away from what little creepy crawlies might be lurking
within them. She kept her gaze locked on Simeon’s broad back
instead. To her horror, he was already several feet ahead of her,
and she quickened her pace before he was swallowed up by the
darkness.

After
several moments of tense silence, she peered over his shoulder, and
gulped at what she saw. She was amazed that anyone could find their
way around because one corridor looked very much like the other. It
was incredible that Simeon was managing to retain any sense of
direction whatsoever.

“Where
are we?” She whispered when Simeon stopped and peered into one of
the rooms.

“It’s
the dining room,” Simeon replied. “So far, we have passed the
morning room back there. Now we are at the dining room next
door.”

They
lapsed into silence while they turned a corner into yet another
endless corridor.

“These
corridors do prove one thing,” Simeon whispered after several
moments of shuffling along in silence.

“What’s
that?” Eloisa breathed.

“Whoever
our intruder is, he has used these corridors a lot.” He bent down
to show Eloisa the tracks on the dusty floor beneath their
feet.

“Recently too,” Eloisa whispered. She lifted her candle and
pointed to several damaged cobwebs which hung in thick, useless
clumps against the wall. Her heart lurched when something unusual
further down the corridor caught her eye.

“What’s
that down there?” She whispered as she pointed to a faint beam of
light up ahead.

“Keep
quiet,” he warned. “Stay close.” He didn’t wait for her to reply
and tip-toed quietly down the corridor in the direction of the soft
thumps that were coming from inside one of the rooms. Thankfully,
Eloisa didn’t seem inclined to let him venture far without her. He
didn’t need to stop, or slow down, to know that she was directly
behind him. Her fingers were clutching the back of his shirt so
tightly that he was positive the material was going to rip any time
now.

“Which
room is it?” She breathed into his ear when he stopped and peered
into the room.

“It is
the corridor to the servants’ quarters,” Simeon replied.

He
desperately tried to ignore the feel of her against his back. Every
dip and hollow was pressed lovingly against him so temptingly that
he almost groaned as his body shivered with awareness. When he
eased the door open, he watched and waited but couldn’t initially
see anyone. Moments later, his patience was rewarded when a
solitary figure appeared in the hallway.

Dressed
from head to foot in black, the man who emerged from the side room
was a macabre sight indeed. The intruder had his back to Simeon,
which prevented him from seeing any distinguishing features, but
his stature was vaguely familiar.

“Do you
see him?”

Simeon’s
gaze remained on his quarry. He held a hand up to warn her to be
quiet and watched as the intruder wrestled with a huge painting.
Although he couldn’t see which painting it was, he suspected it was
the one that was missing out of the dining room. He watched as it
disappeared into a small storage room that the servants used to
use. A cold wave of anger swept through him as the intruder locked
the door and pocketed the key. He turned to look at Eloisa but
noticed that the intruder was heading toward them.

“Quick,
put the candles out,” he blew hard, and ignored Eloisa’s
instinctive protest when they were immediately encased in
blackness.

He
cursed his foolishness when he realised that they had no way of
seeing anything now. They were going to struggle to find a way out
of the corridor now, and would have to rely on the intruder’s
candle to be able to get back into the main building.
Unfortunately, it was too late to do anything about it now, because
the door in front of them started to open.

Simeon
bit back a curse, and only just managed to shuffle Eloisa out of
the way before the intruder appeared ahead of them. The urge to
lunge at him was so strong that Simeon looked down at the poker
Eloisa still held. It was only the need to protect her that kept
his fingers tight on the handle of the candlestick
instead.

He
contemplated what to do. The corridor was deathly quiet. Not even
the winds outside could be heard through the thick stone walls. It
was going to be impossible to follow the man without drawing his
attention to their presence. Everything within him was screaming at
him to get out of the corridor and make sure that Eloisa was safe,
but he just couldn’t leave his quarry now that he had him in
sight.

Unless
they wanted to be left in the hidden corridor, in the dark, with no
way out, they had no choice but to follow the man. Simeon’s blood
boiled as he watched the intruder contemplate the door that led to
the study. He didn’t even bother to check behind him before he
released a catch on the wall beside the door, placed his candle
carefully on the floor, and disappeared into the room. Thankfully,
he didn’t close the door behind him, and there was enough of a gap
for Simeon to be able to watch the odious sneak-thief take a seat
behind the desk. He began to rifle through the contents of the
drawers so confidently that it was clear he had no qualms about
being caught. Or was arrogant enough to assume that he could handle
any challenge Simeon or Eloisa might pose easily.

“What’s
he doing?” Eloisa gasped when she couldn’t stand the suspense a
moment longer.

“Rifling
through my papers,” Simeon growled. The urge to stomp into the room
was so strong that he actually teetered on the balls of his
feet.

“What’s
he looking for?”

Rather
than answer her, Simeon took advantage of the opportunity to study
the man sitting facing him. He scowled at the features behind the
big, bushy beard. The jagged scar down the right side of the man’s
face distorted his features somewhat but he was definitely
familiar. The stitching of the scarred flesh had been done
haphazardly to say the very least and had left a wound that was
pock-marked and uneven. The black patch the man wore undoubtedly
covered the empty eye socked and, when combined with the scraggly
hair and unkempt beard, gave him a vagabond look that was
completely at odds with the rather arrogant way he carried
himself.

He was
the type of man who could sit in the street as an old war hero, and
beg for scraps to live for another day, and nobody would pay any
particular attention to him. Simeon couldn’t help but wonder if
that was why the image had been cultivated; so he could blend in
and not be noticed.

One
thing he did know for definite now was that the intruder was most
not one of Uncle George’s staff.

So, who
was he then? What did he want? Was he an opportunist thief who had
fallen upon hard times and was taking advantage of the unoccupied
castle to furnish his empty purse? That possibility was looking
more and more likely. Simeon would have believed it too, if the man
hadn’t looked up and given him a flash of his now deceased
uncle.

“It
can’t be,” Simeon whispered. Stunned disbelief warred with
confusion as he stared at the familiar face.

“What
can’t be?” Eloisa’s voice, although still a whisper, was filled
with impatience. “Who is it?”

Simeon
realised then that she was still waiting for him to
speak.

“We need
to wait and see if he takes any papers. Then we need to follow him.
I want to know where he is keeping the things he is
stealing.”

At the
moment, the intruder’s head was lowered over one of the drawers in
the desk, and Simeon was prevented from taking another good look at
his face. What he had seen though had shocked him to the core. He
shook his head in disbelief and studied that bent head while he
tried to work out dates, times, places. He wracked his memory for
details of the letters he had received from his uncle, but still
couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing. When he turned to speak
to her, a sudden rustling noise from within the room drew his
attention. He cursed when he saw the man circle the desk and hurry
toward them.

“Move
back,” he whispered, and dragged her into the darkness, only to
find that they were already at the end of the corridor. There was
nowhere else they could go except back down the long corridor,
which had no place to hide in.

The door
was pushed open before either of them could move.

Simeon
planted himself firmly in front of Eloisa and braced
himself.

“Well,
well, well,” he growled as he launched into the room, the poker
held aloft threateningly. He almost slammed into the intruder, who
was already in the doorway, but didn’t need to see him
again.

“Simeon,” the intruder gasped. His eyes widened and he backed
warily into the room as Simeon advanced on him.

Simeon
knew, as soon as he heard that voice, exactly who his intruder was,
but still couldn’t quite believe it. His eyes met the intruder’s
for several stunned moments. Both men hesitated as a wealth of
understanding swept through them. The intruder knew that he had
been seen, and his scheme was now ruined beyond redemption, however
wasn’t prepared to give up without a fight. Before Simeon could
speak, the man spun around and raced for the door.

“Come
back here,” Simeon shouted as he chased after him. “You can’t hide
from me now.”

He
didn’t bother to glance back or wait for Eloisa to catch up, and
was only vaguely aware of the quiet click of the door behind him as
he raced after his quarry.

Eloisa
watched the door start to swing closed. She clawed at it with
desperate fingers but it was too heavy for her to hold. Within
seconds she was encased in darkness.

“Simeon?” she cried, as she pushed at the panels on the door
desperately. “Simeon?”