by Lani Lenore
She was on the verge of desperation, and heard a short sob escape her throat, but she did not cry, and she did not linger in the hallway. Feeling frightened, alone, and confused, she turned and ran down the corridor, sliding to a halt only when she came to the door that she knew to be Adam’s. She fumbled with the set of keys, trying one after another with shaking hands, growing more apprehensive with every moment that she was outside it, as if the waves of darkness were going to drown her.
A small click brought on relief, and she flung the door open the moment she was able. Celia pulled herself safely into Adam’s room and shut the door behind her. Beyond the walls of the manor, it started to rain again.
Chapter Eight
Adam was awake, sitting upright on the bed when he heard the jangling of the keys outside the door. He stood slowly, noticing that the sound was frantic and clumsy, and while Celia had been gone for several minutes longer than he’d expected, he wondered if it was her at his door—or someone else.
Taking gradual steps, he crept forward, ready to take on whoever might burst inside. Then a small click was heard, and the door flew open, letting in the panic-stricken Celia. He was relieved to see her and to have his door unlocked, but he didn’t like how she appeared. What had scared the girl so terribly? Had she seen some ghost?
Celia slammed the door shut and forced the key back into the lock, securing it from inside. Then, in a similar dizzying motion, she spun around, dropped the keys onto the floor, and flung herself into his arms. He couldn’t help but to hold her. It was what he was supposed to do. He could also not help but to feel her body trembling as she breathed. She was terrified.
“What happened?” he asked her, hoping to sound calm for her sake. Unfortunately, he was afraid he hadn’t hid his impatience.
She released a breath that did not quite form words, clenching the back of his shirt until it pulled tightly in her hands.
“Did you look into the room?” he asked. “What did you see?”
“I…” She paused, releasing shaky breath, “…didn’t get that far.”
Had someone found her in the halls and halted her progress to the door? She had been successful enough to get the keys. Had she been hurt? He wanted to make inquiries, but knew that he would have to settle her first in order to get her attention. Turning her slightly, he urged her to walk to the bed and sit. He seated himself beside her, watching her breathe for a short while before she eventually raised her eyes to his. There looked to be tears in them, but none were falling.
“Tell me what happened,” he said carefully, making sure to be firm.
Celia closed her eyes briefly. She gathered a breath as the rain struck the window outside.
“I was on my way to the room, but before I could get there, I saw one of the maids coming down the hall. She went inside there. I saw the shadows again, and I—I panicked.”
Adam listened, and he felt relief to hear that this was what had shaken her.
“Did she see you? The maid, I mean.”
“No, I don’t think so,” Celia said, reflecting, but she seemed to have trouble remembering. “But that isn’t everything.”
There was something else after all? He waited.
“While I was retrieving the keys, I came across Maynard and Irving having an argument. It was about me.”
About you? Adam struggled to keep his head cool. “What did they say?”
“Odd things,” she said, clenching her eyes shut once again. “Maynard told Irving he’d made a wrong decision by telling me that I was in an accident. He said they should’ve told me that I lived here, because then I would believe I belonged and wouldn’t want to leave with you.”
Adam’s brow creased as he tried to wrap his mind around this. His brain was working, but he didn’t think he could fully understand until he’d heard it all.
“Was there anything else?” he asked quietly.
“He said we don’t know the truth, but are able to be suspicious. There was mention of separate intentions between the two men.” Celia struggled to remember. “Irving accused Maynard of having feelings for me, and then told him that since he knew where I came from, it was disgraceful.”
“So they do know where we come from then,” Adam blurted, forgetting the girl’s emotional plight. “I was right. They’re trying to keep us here.”
Celia sobbed once, but gained control of herself quickly. Nevertheless, it drew Adam back to her, and he forced himself to dismiss his wandering thoughts for now and concern himself with comforting her. He slid his arm around her shoulders and then took her hand.
“What if they lied to us completely?” she asked, her eyes suddenly wide and frantic. “What if we weren’t in an accident, like they said? What if we don’t know each other at all and they’re telling us that we do?”
Why would they do that? That was his first thought. But why anything that had happened? Why didn’t either of them remember? Why were the LaCroixs working to keep them here? Why were those two maids completely stiff, hardly like humans at all? In the midst of all this, something had to be real. He needed something to cling to, and he wanted it to be this girl before him. She was the only thing that seemed right.
“It has to be true,” he said finally.
“How do you know? How do either of us know?”
“Because I need it to be,” he said with finality. He stood up from the end of the bed then, reaching into his pocket and withdrawing the gold watch. He offered it to her, wanting her to see his reason for believing as strongly as he did.
She stood to take it, staring down at it a moment, a bit unsure, but then she opened it wide and saw the inscription within.
“To my dearest Adam. Love, Celia,” she read aloud.
She met his eyes once again, looking at him expectantly. Adam felt very comfortable with her then, knowing that she needed him as much as he needed her. He raised his hand to brush bronze-colored hair from her face, letting his fingers linger across her cheek.
“If there is one thing that is real, it is you and I,” he said firmly, and though it was not some gentle profession of love, she seemed to recognize it. “I feel something familiar when I look at you now. Perhaps that’s just because of what they told me, but I care for you. You’re my main concern here.”
Her eyes softened even more. “There was a letter by my bed when I woke up,” she said. “It was with the necklace. It wasn’t signed, but I guessed that you had written it. It must have been on my person when they…if they…”
Celia seemed unsure of how to finish that thought, and Adam didn’t make her. Even though she did not know the truth, the important thing was that she did not recoil from him.
“I’m afraid,” she whispered, as if embarrassed to admit it, “of this house and these people.”
Knowing that she was asking for comfort, he slid his arms around her and drew her nearer to him, feeling the warmth of her closeness that he’d been forced to desert just hours before. She put her hands on his arms, locking his position as if he’d try to escape abruptly. Her eyes studied his, and he lowered his face to let his nose brush alongside hers.
“I’m not going to let anything terrible happen to you,” he promised. “Do you believe me?”
He knew her answer. Whether or not she truly believed it, she wanted to put her faith in him. He looked at her eyes—at her waiting mouth. Everything about her was so perfect to him. If he had been able to create a woman as his ideal, he wouldn’t have done a better job if he’d handpicked every aspect. Perhaps that might have surprised him, but it passed. He’d had enough waiting.
“Yes,” the girl said, letting her answer drift into the dimness of the room around them. A moment of gently throbbing anticipation passed, and then his lips were against hers.
The touch of her mouth, the sensation of his hands traveling slowly over the back of her gown sent waves of desire coursing throughout him. Her body was loose beneath the thin gown, her breasts unrestrained, her skin uncommonly warm as she p
ressed against him. It set him on fire. Were these familiar sensations from a forgotten past? Had she ever once been in his arms? Adam didn’t know. Everything was new, but it was ripe—ready. Every kiss from her lips was inviting him, each hoping to entice him enough that he would touch her in sensitive places, undress her and have her fully. He knew these things somehow, though he couldn’t say if they were learned or natural. What were society’s rules? He knew them though he couldn’t remember being exposed. He disregarded them.
He took slow steps forward, pressing her back, holding her kiss until she was stopped by the glass of the window. He felt her shiver as her warm skin was shocked by the cold, feeling her body lurch against his. Despite a short gasp, she did not try to escape, even though she was frightened by this house and made nervous by his touch. Adam could not say that he recalled experience, but he understood her desire each time she returned his kiss. She held him to her instead of pushing him away. All uncertainties were easily neglected within her arms. It may have been the only place where he knew what choices to make.
Adam pressed her gently against the window, letting his lips trail to her cheek, her neck, acting on the one truth he had. This girl was meant for him, and he aimed to claim her.
Celia had felt her back press against the cold glass, which was cooled by the water running down it. It chilled her as well, but the warmth of Adam’s body against hers was enough to make her forget it. She believed his promise more strongly each time he kissed her. He would protect her, and because of him, she would be safe from all that was devious and wretched.
Her heart pounded forcefully, but she was not afraid of him, only nervous for the sensations of excitement he aroused within her. She felt something akin to what the hidden letter had stirred. His words had been much like his lips, dancing across her, and yet this was so much more.
Her fingers trailed down the edge of his jaw, passing down the skin of his neck until the cloth of his buttoned shirt kept her from experiencing the thrill beyond. She knew lust in that moment—as if she had never known it before—and the buttons of his shirt were suddenly a nuisance, keeping her from her desire to have his skin against hers. One by one, she began to pull them away. His lips moved from hers and trailed gently down her neck, whispering near her ear.
Her eyes fluttered for the sheer ecstasy—and it was only because they were slightly open that she noticed the thick shadow within the hole in the wall.
Her eyes widened as she peered at it, made suddenly cold and unaware that Adam was touching her still. The shadow hadn’t been there before, for the hole had previously shown her a bit of light from the fire in her own room, but now that light was fully blocked out. Someone was standing in the way of the hole from Adam’s room to hers, watching her, seeing her kiss him and hating her for it. She gasped sharply for her fear, and was somehow able to notice when Adam broke away from her.
“Hey!” Adam yelled toward the shadow, and the abruptness startled her. She shrank back when he released her and huddled near the window, clutching her hands together at her chest. Adam stepped nearer to the hole—as if it should matter—and the shadow moved. It retreated. There was a crashing sound that came from within her room, and then there was silence all around them.
Celia did not move for several moments, disturbed that someone had been watching them, but even more by the fact that Adam had been right. The intruder had returned to her room tonight, and if she’d not decided to go and steal the keys, she might have been in there with him.
Since he had the nerve to come back, he may not have retreated as readily as he did last night. The thought made her shudder.
Taking deep breaths to calm herself, she was able to focus on Adam, who was watching his own door intently, as if whoever had just left her room would dare to come and burst through it. Minutes passed, and the house remained silent. After he must have judged that it was safe, Adam turned to her. Needing to feel secure again, she moved carefully into his arms, but her lust for him had faded.
Celia buried her face in Adam’s shoulder, and he did not try to soothe her with words or say anything else that was on his mind. They both knew what had happened, and perhaps there was no reason to talk it over now. She was safe, but they had to find a way to escape this place.
“You should try to sleep,” Adam said finally, stroking her hair. “I’ll stay awake and make sure nothing else happens.”
She trusted those words, though she merely hoped she could believe that there would be no other disturbances. Celia closed her eyes as she clung to him, but could not help imagining numerous shadowy hands reaching for her through the dark behind her eyelids.
Chapter Nine
Staying awake through the night was not as difficult as Adam had expected. Even as the dawn crept on and Celia slept soundly beside him, he did not feel drowsy or weary. He was agitated, aware, and paranoid. He felt that he could spring up and run if he had to, or fight his way through a resisting mob. He blamed it on nerves, sure that once he was free of this place, he would collapse from mental and physical exhaustion—but not until then.
After he’d persuaded Celia to lie down to rest, she had fallen asleep quickly, and though he may have wanted completion of their caresses before the incident, he’d lost hope for it and let it slip to the back of his mind. The hours of the night had passed slowly, and all there had been to do was think as he listened to the rain that continued to fall in the darkness outside—as Irving had promised. A compellation of his thoughts had allowed him to come to a decision about their situation. Irving was not willing to help them leave as he’d claimed, and even though there had been a promise of horses, Adam was sure that he would have to find his own way down the mountain; however, he could not in good conscience drag Celia down the cliff side on foot and into the unknown. He wanted to be sure of where they were headed and how they would go about leaving. The amnesia was hindering him as much as the family was, but he vowed to have a plan by the day’s end.
Still in his clothes from the day before, Adam pulled himself up carefully from the bed, moving easily so that he would not wake Celia. She shifted a bit, but went right back to sleeping soundly, unaware that he had risen. He needed to bathe, but that could wait until later. The keys Celia had taken from Irving’s study were on the table beside the bed, and Adam took them up carefully, slipping them into his pocket. Suddenly thinking of it, he touched at his other pocket, aiming to feel the hard crown of the gold watch, but it was not there. After a moment of quiet searching, he saw it resting on the floor beside the bed, reflecting the low firelight. He bent to wrap his fingers around it, lifting it up to examine it a moment before slipping it into his pocket. It was odd how the simple object comforted him, but as his only belonging, he felt the need to carry it like some sort of charm.
He looked over Celia once again before he was prepared to leave, and seeing that her breathing was steady and restful, he moved himself toward the door. Opening it cautiously, he peered out to assure that he would be alone in the corridor—though he didn’t expect anyone to be about at the crack of dawn save for those strange maids. Assuring himself that it was safe to venture out unseen, he came from the room and pushed the door back as silently as possible, then twisted the key in the lock. If Celia woke, she would be locked in, but he felt that it might be for her own good. She wouldn’t go wandering in search of him and get herself into trouble.
Adam passed many doors and hallways along the third floor, even disregarding the locked room that Celia had taken such an interest in. He didn’t care much for searching the house further just yet. What Adam was most interested in was looking around outside and seeing what he could make of the terrain. The roads may not have been as bad as he was led to believe, and somewhere in the distance, he wondered if he could see a town to set as their destination.
His thoughts swept back to Celia as he descended quietly to the second floor. He didn’t believe himself to be a soft or tolerant man, but his feelings for the girl seemed to contra
dict that impression of himself. He was somewhat reluctant to leave her alone, but he thought it might mean a sign of good faith to the household. If anyone had happened to notice that he was missing, surely they would understand that he would come back, since he’d left Celia here. He believed she would be safe. No one seemed in a hurry to burn or dismember them.
Though he couldn’t understand how only two maids cared for this enormous place, he was grateful that the structure was not crawling with servants. They would have been up by the dawn, preparing things so that the sensitive eyes of their masters would not fall upon dust. He could only assume that at this hour, both maids were in the kitchen preparing breakfast, and therefore were out of his way.
Adam paid attention to the sounds around him as he passed along the second floor, conscious of all the open rooms and of the possibility that someone might have been inside to see him pass. He paused before darting across openings, peeking around corners so as not to be caught off guard. After careful maneuvering, he made it to the stairs and took himself down to the landing on the first floor.
The stairway led him into a hallway near the dining room, which was certainly convenient for his hosts, for he and Celia had been led to dinner often, but not many other places. Adam had only seen the large entrance hall once. Celia had shown it to him in passing, but one of the maids had been cleaning there, so they’d not approached the exit. Adam believed the maid’s placement was to deter them from the front door as they’d roamed the house freely. In fact, he was starting to believe that everything that had happened was devised to keep them here. If he’d believed that this family had the power to make it rain, he may have blamed the weather on them as well. He knew the LaCroixs were trying to keep them from leaving, but he didn’t know why—unless it had to do with the carnal reason someone had slipped into Celia’s room on both nights they’d slept here. Adam swore he would not let them touch her.
