“Is this a tower?” Shanna whispered, fearing if she spoke too loud the building might collapse. “It doesn’t look very safe, Niall. Should we try another room?”
“No,” he replied as he stepped into the stone chamber, glancing at the peak. “Something beckoned us in here.”
“Maybe we heard bats.” Yikes. “Those things are as creepy as ghosts.” She grinned sheepishly. “Sorry.”
Shaking his head, he grabbed her hand and pulled her close. A lopsided, mischievous smirk contorted his lips. “No offense.”
“What are we looking for?” she asked, slipping her thumb through an empty belt loop on the back of his pants.
“I don’t know, but Sir Henry wouldn’t lead you up here by accident.”
The up here looked pretty vacant except for large cinderblocks stacked four feet high on the northwestern side. Cobwebs clung to those closest to the floor and stretched to the ceiling. If the amount of webs indicated the size of the spiders living in the room, she and Niall were in danger. “Can we please go?” She tugged his belt loop as a child might, vying for a parent’s attention. “It’s empty.”
“I suppose you’re right. We’ll start at the end of the hall and work our way back.”
“Why don’t we return to the lobby and ask Áine? If she knows Sir Henry is sending us on a wild goose chase, I’m sure she knows what we’re looking for.”
“I’m afraid Áine isn’t that simple. She’ll assist a guest in discovering their purpose but she’ll never willingly disclose what that purpose is. It’s how she keeps mystery and intrigue within the castle walls. She turns the ordinary into the extraordinary and will stop at nothing to uphold the castle reputation.”
“Well, I don’t like being messed with.”
Niall grinned. “You’re not alone, love. Other patrons here today are on some type of personal mission. And I guarantee Áine is remaining tight-lipped.”
Why didn’t that surprise her? Nodding, Shanna fell into step beside him, but just as he pushed the door open and she stepped into the narrow hallway, something crashed to the floor in the octagonal room. Shanna jumped. Holy shit. Is the building tumbling to the ground?
She spun around, expecting to see a gaping hole in the ceiling, but it remained fully intact. She scrutinized the entire area, eyeing every inch of open space. Then she noticed a cinderblock had fallen off the stack. It lay broken in half on the floor with particles of concrete and dust surrounding it. Strands of dirty cobwebs swayed along the top row where the block had broken through the thick webbing.
“Stay right here, love,” Niall said then trotted to the disrupted stack.
As he separated the webs, they clung to his fingers. He shook them off, laid the flashlight down and began removing the blocks one by one, setting them aside. Shanna bit down on her thumbnail and inched closer. He didn’t appear overexerted in the least, but the muscles along his back and shoulders bulged each time he lifted a block and placed it on the ground.
“Do you see anything yet?”
“Spiders.”
She halted. Her gaze hit the floor. If any eight-legged creatures scurried around her feet, she was out the door.
She made a maddened visual sweep of the ground before she took a step closer to Niall. Just then a black spider ran across his back.
Ahhh. Its body was at least an inch in diameter. She’d hate to see that thing’s mother.
Trembling, she ran forward to knock it off, but it skittered away a split second before she slapped Niall’s shoulder. He jumped. A block dropped from his hands and crashed to the floor. “Shanna!”
“Sorry. A spider was on your back.”
“And you were going to smash it? It would’ve bitten you.” He shook his head while shoving the broken brick aside with his foot. “They’re harmless until threatened. They fear you more than you fear them.”
“I don’t think so,” she grumbled, fixing her eyes along his breastbone. Wow, he was, wow, how utterly sexy. And knowing he loved her was pretty amazing. Impossible, but still amazing nonetheless.
Mmm, she’d love to rub her hands all over his body. Watching his flexed muscles contract and relax filled her insides with tingly warmth. She so craved to lie him down and fuck him like crazy.
He squatted and continued moving the cinderblocks aside. And regardless of how hard she fought the passion whirling inside her, she couldn’t refrain from kneeling behind him, where she wrapped her arms around his waist and placed her lips on his back.
He stiffened then relaxed. And as she ran the tip of her tongue along his spine to the base of his neck, he sucked in a breath and shuddered. “I wouldn’t do that, love, unless you plan on searching the attic alone while I vanish to rest.”
She instantly sucked in her tongue. Alone? In the attic? Oooh, he took the fun out of the seduction. “I suppose I can wait until we return to my room.”
She pushed away from his back and stood, crossing her arms. Another spider skittered past her foot toward the exit and dropped inside a crack in the floor to the left side of the doorframe.
Focusing on the exact spot, she walked across the room and bent down. Dust and particles of mortar lay in the grooves between the concrete blocks along with a hole the spider crawled into. She blew the dirt aside then brushed her fingers along the seams. Some dust whisked away but most sank inside the grooves. Placing her finger on a brick, she moved it back and forth. “Niall, these blocks aren’t mortared together. They’re shifting.”
“Can you lift them?”
“I don’t know. They’re pretty close together,” she said, trying to slide one sideways to free a corner. She slid her finger inside the groove but quickly retracted it when she remembered the spider. The concrete scratched her finger but not enough to draw blood. “I’m afraid to try.”
Within seconds he was kneeling beside her with the light and he began wiggling the block. “It sounds hollow under there.”
She drew a breath and scanned the area, looking for solid ground. “What if the floor caves in?”
“It won’t. These blocks are resting on something. I feel it when I press down. Try to grab the corner when I maneuver it high enough.”
She nodded while he tugged and pried on the brick. As he pushed on a back corner a front one popped a quarter of an inch above the surface.
She stuck her fingers in the opening and tried prying it higher. It wouldn’t budge. She lodged them deeper for momentum but that also failed. The only thing she’d accomplished—getting her finger stuck. “Ouch. Stop pressing. Stop. Stop. Stop.”
“If I let go now this block is going to smash your finger. Can you pull it out?”
Biting her bottom lip, she nudged her shoulders. If she couldn’t that spider would have a very large meal. Eek! Shivers raced up her spine. She yanked her hand hard. The skin around her nail tore but she was set free. Blood bubbled on her cuticle and as she looked for something to wipe it off with, Nail lifted her hand and stuck the injured finger into his mouth. The tingly sensation from his tongue and the slight suction flowed straight to her pussy.
Oh wow. It wouldn’t take much sucking to reach an orgasm. And to her finger of all things. She really was a horny disaster when near Niall. “Please stop,” she said on the end of a sigh. “Or I will end up alone in here.”
He smiled while removing her finger, adding a twirl around the tip with his tongue as a final touch. “Did you seriously need to do that, Niall?”
“Yeah.” He smirked. “I did.”
She snatched her hand from his grip and lowered it to her side. As the air touched her finger, it cooled and gooseflesh rose on both arms. “What do you suggest we do next?”
“We need to open this floor. There’s something under there.”
“More spiders,” she mumbled. “How do you suppose we do that? I’m obviously no help.” If she would’ve worn her boots they could’ve used the spiked heels as tools.
He strolled to the broken brick and returned with a huge chunk. �
�Stand back,” he ordered as he began pounding it against the floor. Little by little, pieces of the block he focused on chipped away. When he’d gouged an area large enough on either side to fit his fingers, he gripped the edges and lifted the brick straight up.
Shanna glanced into the hole but her shadow hindered her from seeing inside. As Niall set the block down a few feet away she stepped back, allowing natural light to illuminate the floor. It wasn’t very bright but she saw something wooden tucked under the opening. Whether a crate or chest, or, holy shit! A coffin! They did not just disturb a dead body! What if they had? And what if they’d pissed it off?
She backed away from the hole. “Niall, I… I don’t think this was such a good idea.”
“Why?” he asked as he approached the hole, flicked on the flashlight and looked inside.
“There’s a wooden something in there. What if it’s Sir Henry’s coffin?”
“There’s only one way to find out.”
She gulped and shuffled backward to the door as he started removing blocks and setting them aside.
Niall wiped his brow with his arm then brushed his dusty hands off on his thighs. “I need help with this, love. Grab that end.”
She glanced at the six-foot-by-three-foot pit. Perfect size for a body. “You’re kidding, right?” She felt more secure by the door in case she needed to make a quick exit. “Can you remove the lid first to see what’s inside?”
His expression of disbelief branded her. She cringed. “Okay. Okay. Fine.” She stomped to the opposite side of the hole. “If Sir Henry’s in there, I’m not responsible for my actions.”
“It’s too small, Shanna.”
She leaned forward and peeked. A trunk three feet in length lay inside. “He could be cut up.” What a morbid thought.
“You need to step in so we can hoist it.”
“In there?” She gulped, pointing inside the floor. “What about spiders?”
“I’m sure I scared them away.” He climbed into the hole and laid the flashlight on the floor. “Go on. Get on the other end.”
Stiffening her spine, she stepped in, and she swore when her feet hit the ground creepy crawlers infested her slippers. “Hurry, Niall.” She lifted her end. Surprisingly it wasn’t as heavy as she’d anticipated. And the instant they set it on the floor she jumped out of the hole, whipped off her booty slippers and brushed off her feet.
Oh the mind knew how to play awful tricks—there wasn’t an insect on her. “Wait until I get by the door before you open it,” she said, flipping her slippers upside down and shaking them as he climbed out of the hole beside her.
He smiled and shook his head while grasping the lip of the trunk lid. Slowly he pried it open and grabbed the flashlight to light up the inside. “No cut up limbs, love. It looks pretty harmless.”
A musty smell whacked her in the face. It wasn’t offensive and in a way it reminded her of the distinctive scent of a cedar chest. She leaned forward to look at the contents. Not much lay inside, just a bunch of torn and folded sheets of paper in multiple sizes, old photos, a set of brass candlestick holders and a strand of beige rope, which looked like a curtain tieback.
Niall removed two papers and set them on the ground. “They’re handwritten notes.”
“What do they say?”
He lifted a torn corner piece and held it in the light. “She was my daughter, that she was, but she deserved to die.”
“Wow, no love lost there. Does it say who wrote it?”
“No,” he replied as he set it down and grabbed the second paper. “I will roam the halls of Tullamore, that I will do, until he is joined with true love once again. It is my obligation to reinstate him with what has been wrongfully stolen.”
“Sounds as if someone is trying to make good on a bad situation,” Shanna said while brushing particles of dust off the bottom of her feet and putting on her slippers.
A crash of thunder rattled the overhead windows, followed by a flash of lightning.
Niall glanced at the window peak then reached inside the trunk. “We’d better speed things up.”
Shanna looked at the sky as dark, angry clouds whooshed by. She shuddered and stepped closer to Niall.
He grabbed a stack of pictures. Beneath them lay a small wooden box. He dropped the photos and lifted the box. As he opened the lid, music began to play and a ceramic figure of a lady in a Victorian gown began to dance.
What a beautiful artifact, but what caught Shanna’s attention was a folded sheet of paper and a picture of Niall lying on the red satin lining. In the photo he stood with an arm around a young lady. Her head had been cut out of the picture and another women’s had been glued in its place. Long strands of brown, tangled hair covered half of her face. A dark, deeply embedded eye glared as if spitting daggers into whoever took the picture. She had a round face, large nostrils and full, cracked lips.
Niall removed it and studied it closely. His brows crumpled as if in thought and he appeared either dumbstruck or shocked. “It’s Bridget Chichester.” He shook his head. “I thought she was envious of Abigail’s beauty all this time. I had no idea she felt this way.” He closed the box, reached inside the trunk and grabbed a handful of photographs. “Let’s go through these in your room,” he said, handing them and the music box to Shanna.
She gripped them in both hands. “Isn’t this stealing? Sir Henry will not be happy.”
“We’ll return them later, but we’d better get out of here before the storm disables the lift.”
They’d be stuck in the attic? “Hurry, give me some more.”
He gave her another handful, stacked the five or so papers in his hands then closed the trunk.
The moment they stepped into the lift, Niall wrapped Shanna’s trembling body in his arms and held her against the wall. It lessened the impact when it jerked into action but she felt every grated movement of the cables along her back. She held her breath and counted every labored second of the decline. Then suddenly the lift lurched to a dead stop before reaching the lobby. Her legs buckled and Niall’s arms tightened around her. “Oh no!” A wave of panic flooded her chest and her heartbeat exploded.
The walls appeared to be closing in on them and a lack of oxygen grew prominent in her lungs. Visions of the demon claws from her past raced through her mind. She dug her nails into the music box and photos as the gears clanked and clattered and she fought to breathe.
“Shanna?”
Get me off this thing! We’re going to die. Please, God, get us out of here!
“Shanna!”
Niall shook her by the shoulders hard. The slight jar must have rattled the lift, because it kicked into full throttle and dropped. Well, she’d like to think that’s what’d happened.
Despite the quick speed they fled, the lift landed with barely a bump. Not waiting on Niall, she threw the gate and outer door open and flew into the lobby, sucking air into her burning lungs.
Niall was beside her within seconds, rubbing her back. “Are you all right?”
“No more… Never… That’s it,” she stammered between breaths.
“Pull yourself together, love. We have work to do.”
Chapter Nine
“Damn it. I forgot my key,” Shanna blurted as she and Niall stepped off the lift on to the third floor and sauntered to her room. She flattened her back against the hallway wall and banged her head once. “How can I be so forgetful?” she added, staring at the doorknob.
“Allow me, love. I have experience in this,” Niall said, displaying a full-blown smirk. He handed Shanna the pile of papers and flashlight then disappeared through the door.
That’s something she’d never get used to. But she had to admit, the ghost thing came in pretty handy.
The lock clicked and door opened. Niall waved her inside. “Welcome.”
“Don’t get cocky.” She marched straight to the bed, juggling the articles in her hands, and laid them on the bedspread. “What’s first?”
“Let’s sort
through the photos,” he replied, taking a seat on the edge of the mattress. One by one he flipped through the pictures. Those seemingly unfamiliar to him were laid facedown. The others he set aside face up.
Shanna sat beside him, rested her hand on his upper thigh and waited impatiently. Laying her hand on his leg wasn’t a brilliant idea because every underlying muscle worked like magic to heat her insides. Before long, warmth traveled from her fingertips to her tummy and lower to her pussy where it initiated a desperate need.
How long could it possible take to organize a few photographs?
“This is a Chichester family portrait,” Niall said, angling it for her to see.
Finally! She smiled for reasons other than the completion of his task and glanced at the picture in his hand.
Lordy, Niall had the most masculine hands she’d ever seen on a man.
He pointed at a gentleman. “This is Sir Henry. The woman sitting in a wheelchair beside him is his invalid wife Mary.” He skimmed his finger to the left.
Ah, all the places he could put his fingers.
“What happened to Mary?”
“Another jealous rage of Bridget’s. She used to be such a daddy’s girl and she couldn’t withstand the amount of attention Mary received from Sir Henry during a short illness.”
“But that’s her mother.”
Niall agreed with a nod. “Mary swore Bridget tripped her down the tower stairs, but Sir Henry refused to believe it at that time. The fall broke Mary’s back and she never fully recovered.
“Bridget is the eldest daughter,” he continued, tapping the picture. “And this is Evelyn, her younger sister. Sadly, Sir Henry passed within a year of Mary’s death. They say he perished of a broken heart.”
How could he expect her to concentrate with those fingertips gliding over other women? And across a photo of all things. “Was Evelyn evil too?”
“Mean and indifferent, but not as vicious as Bridget.”
He laid the photograph in the facedown pile and picked up another. A subtle smile played over his lips and his face brightened. “And this is Abigail.”
Phantom Mischief Page 13
