“No one, swear.” She yawned. “I am really tired though, can we talk tomorrow?”
Cross folded her arms. “Okay.” She turned and went back down the hall.
Shea stepped into the hall and waited until Cross had gone in and shut the door before turning back. Before she’d gone in, she heard the unmistakable sounds of heavy furniture being pushed and then thudded against Cross’s door. Great, Cross was scared, and she’d just made her leave. She closed her door behind her and went to the bathroom, flinging the door open.
“Way to keep quiet, Romeo. She heard you.”
He sat on the edge of the tub, his sock draped on it, his foot up on his knee. “I stepped on a piece of glass.” He held a piece of toilet paper to the cut.
She dropped in front of him. “Oh no.” She pulled the toilet paper away. It was a little red and raw, but she couldn’t see any more glass in there. “Leftover piece from the break in. Looks like the glass is all out.”
“Yeah, it wasn’t a big piece.”
Shea bet it still hurt like crazy. Thankfully it wasn’t bleeding anymore. “You should wash it out, just to be safe. You don’t want an infection.”
He nodded and spun his legs into the bathtub. Her shampoo and conditioner were at the bottom of it. Well, that’s where the banging noise came from. He turned the tub to a drip, and she went into her room while he washed it. A few minutes later he came out, favoring his wounded foot.
“Has it been like this the entire time you’ve been here?” he asked.
She nodded. “Worse.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Shea stood outside the front door and on the bottom step before the gravel drive, staring down the road. Sometime during the night, the rain had stopped. Yay! And now only a few soft white clouds, floated in the clear morning sky. There was still mud everywhere; even the gravel drive had somehow been taken over by it. When Lee had set off forty-five minutes ago in his hunting boots, she’d resented her little slipper-like ballet flats.
He knocked on her door that morning to let her know he was off before anyone was awake, and she’d gotten ready. Well, as best she could on her own without the help of a maid. Instead of waiting for Jessica to pin her hair up like she had every day, she’d braided it.
She paced back and forth, constantly peering off in the distance. Anytime now.
The front door opened, and Asher dashed down the steps and past her, almost knocking into her as he went. “Where’s the fire?” she called after him, but he didn’t answer, and soon, he’d disappeared off on the trail that led in the general direction of the little chapel Hamilton had shown her. Was that yesterday? Did it matter anymore? Not really.
Turning back to the road, she looked for Lee again. In training, they’d always done a mile in seven minutes. Well, she was a little faster, but she’d been a competitive runner since high school when she ran on the track team. That was irrelevant though. It was three miles there and back and given the clothes he had on and the condition of the road she guessed he’d be coming over that hill any moment.
The door squeaked open behind her, followed by what sounded like a relieved sigh. She didn’t look. She didn’t care.
“Elizabeth,” Daley said padding down to her, “there you are. I thought you’d gone.”
Gone? She only wished. She forced a smile. For the sake of her cover, she had to keep pretending. “Nope, still here.” She signaled out to the mud. “Where would I have gone?”
“You’re resourceful,” he said then went quiet.
Where, oh where was Lee? She could really use him as a distraction right now.
When several moments later, Daley still hadn’t spoken again, she glanced up at him. The sun was just rising over the hill, and its rays made his hair shine like honey. He hadn’t shaved yet, and the hair on his chin sparkled gold. He wasn’t entirely dressed yet; no vest, no cravat. The top two buttons of his shirt were undone, and his sleeves were rolled to his elbows. He was incredibly handsome, but now she just thought he used it as a weapon against women.
She pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes.
He turned to her. “Elizabeth, there’s something I need to tell you, and after last night in the hall…”
“Okay, shoot.”
“I think you may have the wrong idea about me.”
She dropped her hand from her nose and stared at him. “Oh really?”
“Yes,” his greenish blue eyes sparkled, “but I’ll get to that in a minute.”
“To your character?” She placed her hands on her hips and turned to him. “That’s what you’ll get to in a minute?”
He narrowed his eyes a little, but his lips quirked up on one side. He didn’t answer her question though. “Almost from the first day you arrived here I had you pegged. Or, at least I thought I had you pegged. I couldn’t help but to tease and rile you. I’ve always had a thing for poking a hornet’s nest.”
Her jaw dropped. Had he just called her a hornet’s nest?
“And you were particularly amusing, but you soon had me convinced I was wrong. Sure, my initial, surface impressions of you were right: you’re controlling, anal, and have a wicked temper. You can be outrageously ridiculous in your attempts to be perfect.” He laughed and she simmered under the surface. “But you’re also cunning, loyal and protective, and funny. What I’m saying is… I like you. When our time here is over, I’d like, I’d love to take—”
She held up her hand. “Whoa,” she paused to think about this. Was he declaring himself? “I’m sorry, you…uh, ‘like’ me?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
Like a pot that had been left to simmer too long, she lost all her steam. “What is it with this place?” She stared heavenward, then pointed a finger at his chest. “Three things. I’m done with these stupid, petty, pathetic games. Second, you don’t like me. If you liked me you wouldn’t be off sucking face and doing whatever else it was you were doing with Miss Gray.”
“Now, wait a minute.” He stepped forward and into her finger. “I told you I kicked her out.”
“That’s not what Hamilton said.”
His hands clenched into fists at his sides. “What does he have to do with this?”
She shoved at his chest, then stepped back when he didn’t budge. “He told me what your little fight was about yesterday. Of course, it made more sense when I realized he was also after her. It must have been complete agony for you both, flirting with me, when the woman you wanted was Miss Gray.”
The muscles in his jaw clenched.
“Which, by the way, brings me to point number three. If you like a woman, you don’t tell her all the things you dislike about her, before half-heartedly telling her you like her.” She moved back in, getting right in his face. “You are a horrible actor!”
His face fell, his eyes widening. It was several moments before he spoke again. “It seems I’ve made an excellent impression on you.”
She rolled her eyes. It could only be his pride keeping him from dropping the charade. “An impression you certainly made.”
He stepped back. “I wouldn’t want to continue to offend you with my presence. Excuse me.” He bowed and ran back into the house.
Someone cleared their throat.
Shea spun, her hand going to her chest.
Lee stood ten feet away. “Bad time?”
“No, no. Just tell me you have good news.” She shook.
He walked up to her. “If we had a truck, we could make it over that bridge, but the water’s running too fast to attempt it with a wagon and horses.”
Stepping off the last step, she kicked the biggest wad of rocks and mud she could find, sending pebbles flying everywhere. “Damn it, damn it, damn it!”
Lee grabbed her shoulders. “Shea?”
“What?” Her voice shook, and she hated herself for it. “I’m fine. It’s just this place. It’s getting to me.”
He pulled her to him and wrapped her in a hug. She didn’t fight it, though it w
as only the second time in the two years they’d worked together that they’d hugged. The first time was a month into their partnership. They’d done a drug bust in the suburbs and found a dead crack whore at the back of the house. They’d later found out she wasn’t even sixteen-years-old. It was the first time either of them had seen a body, seen the wide eyes, gray tinge around the lips and on the fingers, the exploded veins on her arms. She couldn’t remember who’d initiated that hug anymore.
He rubbed her head, and after a moment she was breathing normally again.
“When we get out of here, Brown owes me big time,” she said.
He stepped back. “Yeah, he does.”
The door opened again, and out came Smith and Cross. Cross’s eyes widened in surprise when she saw them as she followed Smith, who was walking at a fast gate, down the steps.
“Hey,” she said.
Lee bowed.
Smith passed them.
“Hi,” Cross said, then ran to catch up with Smith.
Shea sighed and looked at Lee. “I’ll meet you inside in a minute, and we can figure out our next step.” She hiked up her dress and chased after Smith and Cross, who were now already to the field, taking the same path Asher had gone on.
“Wait up.” She sprinted after them. “What’s going on?”
Cross huffed. “One of the maids told Smith that Bayliss wanted to ask Smith out on a date and that Asher found out and is going to fight him for her hand. Bayliss went to the church this morning, and apparently as soon as Asher heard he ran off.”
Shea stopped. “You have got to be kidding me!” Her voice echoed through the valley, was so loud that both Smith and Cross stopped and faced her. “What is it about this place that it can make smart women act like total fools?”
Cross and Smith stared at her.
Shea went to Smith. “You know what? Bayliss is a wanker. His wandering gaze has been all over you and me and Cross and Gray and probably half of the maids. He flirts with you and pays you compliments because you paid him too. Even worse, he’s an actor! Granted, Asher seems like a nice guy, but he supposed to.” She grabbed her dress. “This isn’t real. None of this is real. They don’t like us. They flirt with us, and pay us compliments because they’re paid too!”
“Then why was Lee in your room last night?” Cross asked.
Shea whipped her gaze to Cross. Oh crap. Crappity crap crap. She groaned.
“I’m warning you, Bayliss,” Asher’s voice boomed from the woods, making them all turn, “if you lay one finger on her.”
They came round a bend. “I’ll do more than that,” Bayliss said. “The whore is just asking for it.”
Smith shrunk back. “Yuck.”
And then Asher tackled him.
She clenched her fists and shook them in front of her face. Was nothing going to go right today? Was everyone going to lose their ever-loving minds? She took a step forward with the intention of stopping them. Cross burst into tears and tore off back toward the house.
She turned to go after her, but Smith grabbed her arm. “You have to stop them.”
The men were throwing punches, hard ones, and Asher was bleeding from his temple. The two men were equally matched, but Smith was right. She did need to stop them. She looked after Cross who was getting farther and farther away. Then Asher hit the ground, barely managing to get up again as Bayliss kicked him.
Why? She didn’t have time for this. Hiking up her skirt, she ran at Bayliss and barreled into his side. He fell chest down into the muddy grass with an “oof” as the air was knocked out of him. Before he could get his senses back, she knelt in the middle of his back and yanked his arm up behind him.
“Get off me, you b—”
She twisted his arm further up, and he yelped in pain. “I’m sorry, what was that?”
“Nothing, nothing!” He squirmed.
Smith ran up to Asher. “Are you okay?”
“Did you see that?” Asher laughed. “It was like, bam! Out of nowhere and down he goes. She’s half his size.”
Shea leaned closer to Bayliss and whispered so only he could hear. “Listen carefully, Captain. I suspected you were a loser from the start, but now I know it and more importantly so does Smith. If you come near my friends again, I’ll have you fired. Got it?”
He nodded.
She shoved him down again, jumped up, and tore off after Cross.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Cross beat Shea to the house by seconds and slammed the door in her face. Shea pulled it open and stepped inside before Cross could lock it. Cross stepped back and calmly started unbuttoning her coat.
The doorman stared ahead, but try as he might to look apathetic, she could see the slight grin on his lips and in his eyes. Even more so when Cross finally managed to get her coat off and flung it at her.
Shea caught the thing right before it hit her in the face. “What the hell? There are big buttons on this thing. That could have hurt.”
“One can only hope.”
Shea stepped forward. “Why are you mad at me?”
“What, Hamilton and Daley aren’t enough for you, you have to take the one guy that I was actually interested in too?”
“Who? Lee?”
“Don’t play coy!”
Oh, this is so weird. “I did not take him. You’ve got this all wrong.”
“I heard him. I heard him in your room last night!” Cross jabbed her finger at Shea. “I thought we were friends.”
Shea dodged the finger. “We are.”
The doorman laughed then tried to cover it with a cough.
“And you were hugging when we came out of the house,” Cross accused.
“It’s not what you think. There’s reasonable explanation for this, I swear.”
Cross stopped glowering, and lowered her finger, but when she spoke her tone was cool as ice. “Fine, explain?”
Her eyes darted to the doorman and back. She couldn’t. She couldn’t blow her cover yet. They still didn’t have a way out. “I can’t, not now, but if you could just trust me. I will tell you.”
“Shea, is that you?” Lee called from the stairs. He turned into the hall and stopped when he saw them. “Miss Cross, are you all right?”
Behind Lee, Hamilton peeked out of the sitting room, running a hand through his salt and pepper hair.
Cross narrowed her eyes at Shea. “A reasonable, explanation, huh?” She turned and ran down the hall, passing Daley and Rafferty as they emerged from the office.
Shea shook her head and marched over to Lee.
“What was that all about?” Lee said, showing a slight hint of concern.
She signaled for him to lower his voice as Daley came down the hall and shoved past Hamilton going into the sitting room. He didn’t look at her.
She lowered her voice. “What did you do to her? She knows you were in my room last night and the way she was going on; you’d think she was in love.”
His eyes widened, and he stared at his shoes.
“What? Tell me?”
“I might have… kissed her when we were in that secret room last night. Well, actually she kissed me—”
Shea ran a hand over her hair, pulling a twig from it. “I don’t think it matters who kissed who. She’s hurt. That must have been some kiss.”
“I’ll talk to her.”
“Do it soon, if she doesn’t trust us…”
Lee breathed deeply.
“You like her, don’t you?”
Lee crossed his arms. “Neither one of us goes on a date in two years then we come here, and both find people we’re interested in.”
She thought back to Brown’s office when Lee had seen Cross’s picture. He’d probably liked her then too. Then what he said hit her. “Wait, I don’t like anyone here. They’re all a bunch of actors.” She said the word actor like it was the filthiest of curse words.
Lee crossed his arms. “Savannah’s an actor.”
Oh, right. She was. “I… I didn’t mean it lik
e that.”
“How’d you mean it?”
“She’s not that kind of actor.” She signaled toward Hamilton, who still watched them from the sitting room. “She’s not paid to kiss you.”
Lee glanced at Hamilton. “That guy kissed you?”
“Ugh,” she put her hand over her eyes, “let’s not talk about it.”
“That guy’s a doofus,” Lee said, “If he were in our interrogation room, I’d crack him like a walnut. I wouldn’t touch him with a ten-foot pole if I were you. But Daley…”
She dropped her hand, twisted her face up in confusion. “He’s paid to—”
Lee shook his head. “Nah, he likes you. He was supposed to be paired with Miss Gray, right?”
“I thought so, but after this morning…”
Lee lifted a hand. “I don’t know what happened between you two this morning, but last night during the game, he went out of his way to get you back to the drawing room before Gray could tag you. I was in the hall when Gray tripped, remember? I saw the whole thing. If he’s supposed to be paired with Gray, then making her trip to save you is a poor judgment call. He likes you. Trust me.”
Hamilton took a step in their direction. “Shea, can I have a word?”
She glanced over at him. “Not now.” She turned back to Lee. “What are we going to do?”
“We need to talk somewhere more private.” Lee’s gaze traveled from Hamilton to Mrs. Rafferty. Shea hadn’t realized she was still watching.
“Miss Shea, what on earth has happened to you?” Mrs. Rafferty asked in a high falsetto.
Lee clenched his jaw. “Is she really mad?”
It took Shea a moment to figure out he wasn’t talking about Mrs. Rafferty. “Cross? You saw her, what do you think?
Lee glanced down the hall in the direction Cross had run. Mrs. Rafferty was ambling their way, deep creases present around her mouth—accentuating her frown.
Hamilton came closer and stopped. “Miss Shea, a word? It’s important.”
“I bet it is,” she grumbled.
Then Mrs. Rafferty cut in, glaring at Mr. Hamilton. “I’m sorry, Mr. Hamilton, but you’ll have to speak with Miss Shea later, and I need to have a word with her now.”
Regencyland- The Bristle Park Murders Page 17
