“What do we do now?” Arrabella whispered solemnly.
“Think logically,” he replied matter-of-factly. “We need to use the candle light we have left to see if we can find something we can use to keep the light going.”
They both made their way carefully down the narrow steps and found the short stub of Harper’s candle, but the wick had been snapped off. A quick search of the narrow space revealed half of a candle located on a table beneath the stairs, but that was it.
“We have to keep this for when yours runs out,” Harper declared firmly, and lifted it out of her reach when she tried to light it.
“What?”
He studied her eyes for a minute and was confident that she was keeping control of her panic reasonably well, but hated to tell her anyway. “We have no idea how long we are going to be here, Arrabella, so we have to preserve the light we have left. We don’t need two lights going at the same time.”
Arrabella sniffed and tried to ignore the tears in her eyes. She wanted to argue with him but, in all honesty, she couldn’t because she knew he was right. “How can you be so calm about this?” she whispered.
“Because I spend a lot of time in the dark and have grown accustomed to it,” he replied dryly.
“How? I mean, what do you do that requires you to be in the dark so much?”
“I work for a government organisation called the Star Elite. I was drafted into it when I left the army and have been working for them ever since,” he sighed.
He watched Arrabella gather her skirts around her and perch carefully on the edge of one of the steps. As soon as she was settled, he took a seat beside her.
“You are a spy?”
Harper smiled and heaved a sigh. He wanted to say no but in reality he probably was; he certainly spent a lot of time watching people and gathering information on their activities. “It is one of many things I do, but spying on people to gather information is one of them. Unfortunately, the people I spy on do most of their misdeeds under the cover of darkness so I seem to have spent most of the last several years working in the night and sleeping during the day.”
So many questions tumbled through her that she wasn’t sure where to start.
“Can I ask you something?” Harper asked gently before she could say anything else.
“Of course.”
“Can I hold you? I am really not cold, but you are shivering.” He ran a hand down the cold bare flesh of her arm closest to him. “You will freeze down here with just that shawl.”
Arrabella wasn’t quite sure what to do. She wanted him to but then she didn’t want to encourage him or lead him to believe that he could take whatever advantages of her he wanted now that they were confined in the crypt.
“I am perfectly respectable, I promise,” he assured her. He made no attempt to touch her while he waited for her agreement but, as soon as she nodded, he eased sideways on the step and drew her against his chest. She sighed and settled against him when his warmth encased her.
“I don’t like the dark,” she whispered several moments later when the fragile flame on the candle began to waver and die.
He immediately bent down and lit the last candle.
“How long do you think we are going to be down here for?” Although she was quite happy to spend the next several hours wrapped in his arms, she was horribly aware that the cleaning ladies weren’t due in until lunchtime tomorrow. The prospect of spending all that time in the dark was something that she hated to even contemplate, even with Harper right beside her.
“I don’t know,” he sighed. “Do you know of any tunnels like the ones that are reported to be in Hambley Wood church?”
Arrabella peered around the rows of crypts that lined each wall and shook her head. “I don’t think so, not here. The old vicarage is further away, you see, and the graveyard goes all the way around the church.”
“So there is only the one doorway,” Harper sighed. “To get out, we are going to have to break it down because the hinges are on the outside.” He mentally ran through the contents of the chests they had searched through earlier for anything they could use to try to break the lock, but they hadn’t contained anything other than books and papers.
“We may as well use the rest of the light to try to get out,” she whispered but made no attempt to move and was grateful that he didn’t try to get up either.
“Arrabella,” Harper whispered and waited until she tipped her head back to look up at him. “I am sorry I got you into this mess.”
She lifted her head and turned to frown at him. “This is more my fault than yours. I should have left a note on the door or something, or even locked the main door to the church behind us so that nobody could get in.”
When she didn’t immediately settle back down against him, he tightened his arms and waited patiently until she relaxed and rested her head on his shoulder. It was second nature for him to place a tender kiss on her forehead and rest his cheek against the silken curls on the top of her head.
He couldn’t see through the darkness but she closed her eyes and savoured the tender gesture. Something warm around her heart began to blossom and unfurl and, in that moment, she knew that something deep inside her had changed forever. It didn’t frighten her or weaken her in any way, it made her considerably stronger and braver than ever before. The stoic calmness about his man; his compassion; his gentleness and consideration toward her was something she knew was second nature to him. He might work with the War Office and fight heaven only knew who, but it wasn’t who he was, it was what he did. She didn’t know how she knew that she would always be safe with him, she just did.
A warning voice reminded her that she had known him less than a day and shouldn’t make assumptions about his character, but she quickly blanked it out. The fact that he had taken care of her, and saved her from a nasty fall down the stairs, was more than enough of a reason for her not to question his respectability.
Respectability. She felt a cold wave of dread settle over her as the word registered on her conscience. Until now, she hadn’t really stopped to consider what she was doing.
“What’s wrong?” He felt her tense and wondered if she had seen a spider or something. He tipped his head so that he could look into her face. “What is it? What’s wrong?” He demanded when she didn’t answer him.
She couldn’t tell him; but then she couldn’t keep it from him either. When he continued to stare down at her, she knew that she had to tell him. “The ladies who clean the church are due in mid-morning tomorrow.”
“Please tell me that they will go into the ante room.”
“Yes, they will,” Arrabella sighed. “But that isn’t the problem.”
Harper lifted his brows and waited. When she tried to push away from his chest he merely tightened his arms and held her still. She had finally stopped shivering and had relaxed completely against him. Unless someone opened the door at the top of the stairs, neither of them were going to move anywhere for the time being.
“The cleaning ladies won’t let us out?” He murmured teasingly with a wry smile. Right at that moment he didn’t care if they didn’t.
“Yes they will, but they are going to get a shock when they open the door, aren’t they? Not only at finding us down here, where there should only be dead people, but upon learning that we have been down here all night in the dark, alone, together.”
Harper grasped the direction of her thoughts and nodded wisely. If he was honest he was not bothered one iota what the cleaning ladies, or anyone else for that matter, thought. “Alone,” he added carefully when she didn’t say anything else.
“God, I am never going to live the scandal down,” she grumbled but didn’t attempt to push away from him again. “I am not telling you because I expect anything from you. You know, by way of a declaration or anything. I hope you know that,” she added after several moments of silence.
This time Harper grinned openly. “Let’s face it when we get to it,” Harper whispered. “
We may have died of frostbite by then anyway.” He sighed and sensed that she wasn’t convinced. He didn’t know how he knew she wasn’t reassured, he just did. That thought made him frown and he studied the stonework opposite for several long moments.
How was it that he had gone all of his life and never really felt all that close to another person, yet within a matter of a few hours of having met Arrabella, he felt as though he had known her all of his life? So well in fact that he was confident that he knew what she was thinking when she was thinking it. He usually found most women irritating after a while and couldn’t wait to take his leave of them. With Arrabella, however, he knew that he could spend the rest of his life with her and still want to talk to her some more.
“What’s your earliest memory?”
“Pardon?”
“What’s your earliest memory?” He peered down at her. “Mine is of hauling Joseph out of the pond at the end of the garden. It hadn’t been touched for several years and was green and disgusting. He came out covered in gunge and stank to high heaven. Mother wouldn’t let him into the house and he had to suffer the indignity of standing over a bucket in the yard while mother threw cloths at him.”
He savoured her melodic laugh. It was such a joyous sound, and so infectious that he immediately began to regale her with tales of his youthful exploits that had her in fits of laughter and left him smiling in fond remembrance.
When the laughter faded, he sighed and kissed the top of her head again. “I don’t care what the ladies think in the morning,” he murmured softly. “If any of them criticise you for what has happened they shall have me to answer to.”
He wasn’t sure whether she had heard him and listened to her steady breathing for a moment. Her soft sigh confirmed what he suspected; she had fallen asleep. Although the hour must still be early, fear and anxiety had clearly gotten the better of her overwrought emotions.
With nothing else to do, and nobody to talk to now, he rested his head against the wall behind him and closed his eyes.
CHAPTER FIVE
He must have fallen asleep too because he was stiff and sore when the cold draught that tickled his cheeks eventually woke him up. He opened his eyes and cursed at the darkness that encased them, only to frown when he noticed the thin sliver of light that lit the steps above them. The small hairs on the back of his neck stood on end when he realised that something was wrong – seriously wrong. He slowly turned his head, and wished that he had remembered to bring his gun when he realised that the door was now open.
“Harper?”
He glanced down at her and almost groaned at the sight of her slumberous blue eyes. It took a lot of effort not to dip his head and kiss her but, right now, he had to keep his mind on the job and get them out of there while they had the chance.
He nodded toward the door. “Something odd is going on,” he kept his voice low for fear of frightening her. “It appears that we are free.”
He couldn’t believe that he had left them vulnerable by actually falling asleep, but it was evident that while they had been dozing, someone had unlocked the door. Whether they had known Harper and Arrabella were down in the crypt or not had yet to be discovered. He strongly suspected that their entrapment was not a mistake, but had been a deliberate move by somebody only why they chose to release them again several hours later heaven only knew.
“What?” Arrabella snapped out of the wonderfully contented feeling that enfolded her and stared at the shaft of light above their heads with a mixture of horror and relief. “Who? When?”
He couldn’t lie to her. “I have no idea,” he growled. “But I am damned sure that I am going to find out.”
Arrabella pushed awkwardly to her feet and waited for Harper to stand up. “Why didn’t they call down to us, Harper?”
He glanced at her and shook his head. His years of experience with the Star Elite immediately kicked in and he began to assess their situation. It was evident that he was at a disadvantage on two counts because not only did he have Arrabella with him, but he was also unarmed. If they wanted to get out of the crypt, they had to enter the ante room where anyone could be lying in wait to greet them.
With a shake of his head, he mentally cursed his own stupidity. He gave her a warning look and put his finger to his lips.
“Let me go first,” he whispered. “Stay right where you are. I am going to go into the ante room to see if anyone is there.”
Arrabella fought the urge to roll her eyes. “Is all of this subterfuge really necessary?” She couldn’t see the problem with just opening the door and walking into the room. Why was he being so cautious? What did he know that she didn’t?
“We don’t know who locked that door, or why, but if someone locked it by accident, why would they have come back to open it again several hours later? Think about it Arrabella, if someone had opened the door intending to come down into the crypt, why didn’t they wake us up?”
Arrabella frowned at that and studied his back as he squatted down and peered cautiously into the room. She couldn’t quite work out what, or rather who, he expected to see in the ante room but was unsurprised when, seconds later, he eased the door slowly open and vanished into the room and found it empty. Arrabella realised that she was all alone in the dark and, in spite of his orders, lurched toward the warmth and safety of the room. She didn’t bother to look behind her to see if anyone was standing on the steps. She daren’t, just in case someone was there. Instead, she hurried into the room and slammed the door closed behind her. The click of the locks turning beneath the iron key she twisted was a boon to her ears and she slumped against the door with a sigh of relief.
“What?” She demanded when Harper sighed loudly. Her defiant look challenged him to scold her for her haste, and he did.
“Anyone who is lurking in the church has just been alerted to the fact that we have left the crypt,” he replied dryly.
“I don’t care,” Arrabella declared firmly. “I am cold. It is late, and time to go home.”
He couldn’t argue with that. His suspicion that the church was also empty was confirmed when he completed a quick, yet thorough, search. Minutes later, he escorted her outside and was relieved to find the horse and curricle exactly where he had left them and he wasted no time escorting Arrabella over to the waiting transportation.
“Can I have those?” He nodded to the heavy keys that hung from Arrabella’s hand and took them off her before he handed her into the conveyance.
“What do you want them for?” She glanced at him and read the look on his face. “Please tell me that you do not intend to come back here later,” she muttered when he settled down onto the seat beside her.
She was more than a little unnerved by the fact that darkness had fallen outside while they had been trapped. Was she ever going to see light again? She jumped when the gentle touch of his hand on her waist drew her closer to his warmth and she settled against him with a grateful smile that was dimmed a little by his sudden evasiveness.
He wished that he had thought to bring a blanket or something but as they had headed out in the morning, when the sun had been shining brightly, he hadn’t considered that one would be necessary.
He smiled wryly and gave her a strange look before he dropped his head to hers and whispered in her ear. “I need to make sure that we didn’t lock someone in the crypt, that’s all.”
Her eyes grew wide and she stared at him in horror before she turned to look behind them at the dark shadow of the church door. “You are going back in there alone?”
“Why? Do you want to come with me?” He was only half-joking. He had done far worse during his time in the Star Elite, and rather relished the challenge of coming face to face with the idiot who was playing silly devils with doors and scaring Arrabella. Still, he didn’t actually go so far as to say so to Arrabella.
“Not likely. If I were you, I would wait until morning. Leave them in there for a few hours. They won’t think being locked in there is such a good idea if t
hey experience it for themselves for a bit.” Her cold statement was accompanied by a large shudder that ran through her when a cool evening breeze chilled her flesh in spite of his warmth.
“Come on, let’s get you home. Then I will decide whether to come straight back here or leave it until morning.”
She glanced across at his now familiar chiselled features and smiled at him when he glanced down at her with one brow lifted in silent enquiry. “What do you want to do about the records?”
“Well, I think that we have to go back. But –,” he lifted a hand when she took a breath to object, “- I don’t mind going back there alone to finish searching those boxes if you really object to going back down there.”
Arrabella thought about that for a moment. “I have no objection to going back down, but don’t mind admitting that it would be immensely reassuring to know that someone was holding the door open for us.”
Harper sighed. He didn’t like the thought of them going back into the crypt without a third person to keep watch at the top of the stairs either, if he was honest. “Would you come with me again tomorrow? It means that we have to go back down into the crypt, but we will make sure that we go armed with a lot of candles and have the cleaning ladies stay behind to hold the door open for us.”
Relief swept through her but she couldn’t make out if it was because he still wanted her to help him, or whether she had a very good excuse to see him again.
“I think that is an excellent idea,” she replied with a firm nod of approval.
The amiable silence that settled over them as they rode through the night lasted all the way to the vicarage. A wave of disappointment swept through her when he handed her down from the curricle but immediately released her and stepped back. She didn’t know what she had been expecting, and tried to keep her disappointment hidden behind a smile while took his pro-offered elbow and allowed him to lead her to the front door of the vicarage.
Lord Cavendish Returns Page 8
