Lord Melvedere's Ghost (32 page)

“
But Melvedere is his house,” Cecily reasoned. “He has a right
to eat all of his food and drink all of the brandy. He works hard
enough for it.”

“
Work! Ha! You have no idea of what it means to work for a
living; you, with your soft young hands, and dresses bought by your
lover. You are nothing more than a common whore.”

Cecily
lapsed into silence. When she thought about it, she really couldn’t
argue. By sleeping with Jamie, that is what she had turned herself
into: a common whore.

“
But Jamie owns the books you have been stealing. Did you not
realise that one day he would notice? He may not spend much time in
here but at some point the books would have run out, and then
what?”

“
Do you really think that I would be stupid enough to spend the
rest of my days in this place? Stuck in this pit of paper and ink?”
Miss Emstridge stood rigidly before her, thumping her chest with
arrogant defiance. “We were very nearly at our target. We had it
working well until you showed up with your lover boy.”

“
We,” Cecily replied solemnly. Disappointment warred with hurt
for Jamie at the realisation that someone in the house had betrayed
his trust. He had considered everyone family, and ostensibly they
had been. But someone had clearly decided that they preferred to
set out on their own and create a new future for themselves, and
used Jamie’s belongings to do it.

“
Potter and I have been at it for years. He told me I was a
fool for waiting around for Michael to notice me, and he was right.
Together we hatched a plan to get our own back. Potter hates the
family too. They think it is alright to work us from dawn to dusk
and pay us pittance in return. Potter likes the beer, but cannot
afford to pay for it on the ridiculous amount of money he gets
paid. So he started to help himself.”

“
You have been helping yourselves to the ornaments, silverware,
books and pottery to furnish your new lives somewhere else,” Cecily
sighed wondering what the mess with the books all around her was
about.

“
He can afford it,” Miss Emstridge snapped, her voice calm.
“Unfortunately for Mister Fancy Breeches, we are clever. It is best
not to do things like that on your own doorstep. Potter makes a
very good burglar, when he is sober.”

Cecily
lapsed into silence and realised then that Potter had been the one
who had been stealing from the houses in the area and hiding the
goods in the secret room.

“
So it was Potter who found the door to the secret passages.”
Cecily wondered how Jamie would take the news that his groundsman
had been the one who had betrayed him.

“
Of course. Potter works in the gardens, and was working around
the trellis one day and saw the handle. Why do you think the
trellis was put in front of the doorway?”

Cecily
shook her head. It was something she had never considered before.
The roses on the trellis had been pruned recently and someone had
put the trellis there. The door behind the trellis was wooden. It
made sense that the gardener, or whoever pruned the rose bushes,
would notice the doorway and investigate.

She
mentally cursed herself for not having realised that earlier. She
wondered how long they had been steadily stealing from the locals
and amassing their fortune. Taking a breath to ask she froze, her
eyes growing round at the sight of the lit spill in Miss
Emstridge’s hand.

“
Time to go,” the older woman announced flatly.

Cecily
screamed, as long and as loudly as she could. She watched in frozen
horror as the older woman walked steadily toward the chair, and
knew that any moment now she was going be brutally
murdered.

Jamie
was walking back across the lawns with Hugo when he heard the awful
scream coming from the house. He didn’t need to hear it again to
know that it came from Cecily.

“
Jesus,” he whispered and took off at a run. He didn’t stop to
look, but knew from the heavy pounding behind him that Hugo was
right behind. Simon appeared around the side of the house at the
same time. He paused at the sight of Hugo and Jamie, then doubled
back and disappeared around the front of the house.

“
Wait!” Hugo gasped, staring at the movement of shadows from
inside the room.

“
Not likely,” Jamie snarled, his fists curled into tight balls
of fury. Hugo knew that Jamie’s reasoning had gone.

The
closed door to the library was no barrier to Jamie. One booted foot
made the door burst inward with a resounding bang. Glass shattered
everywhere but that was of little consequence to him. His eyes
landed on the chair positioned in the middle of the room, and the
glossy, if once again dusty, head of Cecily visible over the back.
His eyes flew to Miss Emstridge who stood beside her with a lit
spill in her hand.

Miss
Emstridge paused and glared at him. The spite in her eyes was clear
and Jamie knew without speaking to her that the woman had lost her
grip on reality. Her eyes were wild, almost feral. Jamie froze, his
gaze flicking to the area around the chair. Books and parchment lay
everywhere. If Miss Emstridge lit the spill, the parchment would
catch alight. With as old, dry and dusty as the books were, the
whole place would go up within minutes, and that included Cecily,
who was sitting in the middle of what appeared to be the contents
of three of the shelves.

“
Put it down, Emstridge.” Jamie struggled to keep his voice
calm and reasonable when he really wanted to knock the stupid woman
off her feet, and pound her to within an inch of her life. He had
been brought up to treat a woman with respect and gentility, but
this person before him was no woman. This – person – was beneath
contempt.

Jamie
didn’t even blink at the sight of Simon slowly creeping into the
room from the main body of the house, and hoped that Cecily would
have the sense to ignore him too.

He was
desperate to catch a glimpse of Cecily’s face and at least make eye
contact once. He slowly moved around the chair, aware that Hugo had
moved to block the door leading to the gardens.

Although
Jamie’s face remained calm and impassive, he silently cursed the
sight of the blood covering half of Cecily’s face again. He could
tell from the slightly dazed look in her eyes that she wasn’t
completely aware of what was going on, and for that he could only
be entirely grateful. He glanced warningly at Simon who had raised
his gun to take aim. If Miss Emstridge dropped that spill, they
would all be in trouble.

“
So what do you want to do now, Miss Emstridge?” Jamie sighed
reasonably. The cool disinterest in his voice was in stark contrast
to the raging emotions churning through him. Sweat popped out on
his brow with the effort it took not to lash out. “You have the
woman I love tied and bound to a chair so I can only assume that
your quarrel is with me, not her.”

Cecily
heard his words, and turned her desperate gaze toward him. The
sheer weight of relief that swept through her at the sight of him,
standing tall and solid before her was wonderfully reassuring. Her
stomach clenched at his choice of words. Her heart squeezed
painfully in his chest. She wished he meant them, she really did.
If only she could get out of this situation alive, she would find
out for definite if he had any feelings toward her whatsoever. If
not, then she could teach him to love her, couldn’t she?

One
thing was for certain, if she had any days left in her life, she
wanted to spend them with him. Her eyes met and held his for
several long moments. She was astonished at the reassuring wink he
gave her. She was facing death, and here he was giving her a
nonchalant wink as though there was nothing untoward happening. She
wanted to bat his ears. Did he not realise the significance of her
current situation? Her disgust began to build until she took a
closer study of his eyes. She had seen that look before.

He was
angry.

Very,
very angry, but was putting on a front.

She
tried hard not to look at the tall, dark gentleman who had quietly
crept into the room and was now standing silently next to the book
case.

“
Ha! You have been such a fool. We have been using this house
for years and you just haven’t known it. You call yourself
master
of the house? You
are master of nothing. You are nothing. For all of your money and
titles, you have no clue how to run your estate. Potter, stupid
drunkard that he is, has outwitted you for years and you didn’t
know it.”

“
She has been waiting for you to notice her,” Cecily added
quietly, turning her gaze to an astonished looking
Jamie.

Jamie
stared down at the woman whose life was in precarious balance.
“Notice her? You mean as in -” He stared aghast at the older woman
and felt his skin crawl.

“
Shut up!” Miss Emstridge snarled, staring at
Cecily.

Cecily
knew that if Jamie hadn’t been here, she would have had another
slap around the face. Instead, Miss Emstridge’s cheeks turned a
mottled red as her rage built. The man beside the book case edged
closer.

Jamie
physically trembled with suppressed fury. “You couldn’t even begin
to compete,” he sighed as though bored. “Look at her!” he waved a
hand toward Cecily. “Even with a head wound, dazed and frightened,
she is far more beautiful than you could ever be. She is clever,
quick witted, stubbornly strong minded to the point that you want
to shake her, but she is adorable. Moreover, she is honest, caring
and the gentlest human being I could ever possibly hope to meet. Do
you seriously consider that any man with a woman like this by his
side would think twice about anyone else, let alone a cold blooded
thief like you?”

Cecily
closed her eyes and began to pray. Although Jamie’s words made her
heart turn warm, she wondered if he had just made matters
considerably more difficult.

“
I am not interested in you, Mister Fancy Breeches,” Miss
Emstridge snarled. “I am talking about your father.”

“
He didn’t like you, and would have gotten rid of you if he
hadn’t died,” Jamie replied, trying not to shout.

He was
aware that the longer he kept Miss Emstridge talking, the smaller
the spill was getting. By the time it had burned down completely,
it would do no more than singe her fingers. The last embers
wouldn’t be enough to do any damage that they couldn’t put out.
Only a few more minutes to go, and then they could put an end to
this charade once and for all.

“
We were close, far closer than you realise, until you turned
up. Within weeks after you leaving, he was dead, but what did you
do? Rather than showing any interest in the house, the library,
like your father wanted, you just cleared off again, you bloody
fool.” Miss Emstridge turned her full fury on him, but as far as
Jamie was concerned, rather him than Cecily.

“
It was perfect. Potter was a drunkard who could barely afford
to fuel his habit. We both wanted to leave but couldn’t. I caught
Potter thieving from your study, right from under your nose. Given
that I was getting considerably less money than him, I decided to
do a bit of bargaining. He was already using the storage room and
agreed to store the books with his stolen goods.”

“
We will get them back,” Jamie sighed, shaking his head at
her.

“
We know which ones they are. They are the rarest and most
expensive in here,” Cecily added, thinking of the rolled up
parchment in Jamie’s desk. If the place was to burn down, there was
every chance that the list of stolen books would
survive.

“
Of course they are you stupid woman. Do you seriously consider
that anyone would want any of this old rubbish? The rarest have a
sale value that is far more than you realise. People are prepared
to pay good money for them, and are so selfish and greedy that they
choose not to ask too many questions.”

Jamie
had heard enough. The look Cecily gave him told him that she knew
more than she was letting on and he was glad that despite
everything, she had the common sense and wisdom to keep the matter
quiet for now.

Jamie
looked down at the spill and knew that there was still too much on
it. He was close enough to Cecily now though to ensure that she
wouldn’t be harmed, and he could afford to lose some books. Simon
had manoeuvred himself into position and Hugo was by the door. It
was all Jamie needed.

“
I am afraid your time at Melvedere has come to an end.
However, you needn’t worry about ever having to work for you keep
again because His Majesty will be keeping you from now on,” Jamie
declared matter of factly.

“
Oh, well, in that case, if there really is no choice,” Miss
Emstridge’s almost conversational tone belied the lethal smile she
gave him.

Jamie
watched in slow motion as the spill left her fingers. He lunged
toward it at the same time that Simon threw himself at Miss
Emstridge, tackling her with such force that they landed in the
doorway at Hugo’s feet.

Jamie
thumped the ground, sagging with relief when the dying embers left
no more damage behind than small patches of singed carpet and small
streaks of soot on his fingers. Pushing the books away from the
chair, he glanced toward the door. The sudden flurry of movement
heralded the arrival of Warren.