Annie's Song (19 page)

Still uneasy despite the Trimbles’ reassurances, Alex searched the woods before heading home. It was like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. Open country stretched in all directions, and he knew Annie could be almost anywhere. In the end, he had no choice but to return to Montgomery Hall and wait. If she hadn’t shown up by dusk, he would organize a search party.

As far as he was concerned, evening couldn’t come quickly enough. Until Annie was home again, he wouldn’t draw an easy breath. True, she’d been roaming the hills for most of her life. But that had been before her condition had become so delicate. He couldn’t quite credit her mother’s indifference. All manner of accidents could befall a pregnant woman, especially someone like Annie who didn’t comprehend the dangers. Just the thought of her getting hurt made him feel panicky. Annie, with her tangled dark hair and big blue eyes. In an amazingly short time, she had wormed her way into his heart and become more important to him than he cared to admit.

Expecting Maddy to still be in a stew, Alex didn’t tarry when he reached the stables. Quickly dismounting, he turned his horse over to a stableboy and went directly to the house. As he entered the hall, Maddy leaned over the upstairs balustrade and called down to him.

“She’s back. Safe and sound.”

Relief made Alex’s legs feel weak. Needing a moment to regain his composure, he leaned against the carved entrance doors, his gaze uplifted to Maddy’s beaming face. “Where was she?”

The housekeeper lifted her hands in a bewildered shrug. “I’ve no idea. We were searching the house,
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and suddenly, there she was. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she oozed out from under a mopboard.”

Alex frowned. Recalling the unlatched parlor window, he said, “More likely, she came back in the way she went out.”

Annie suddenly appeared on the landing. Giving her a once-over, Alex was quick to note the telltale dirt smudges on her pale blue frock and white stockings. Her dark hair in its usual tangle of curls, she gazed down at him with those gigantic blue eyes, her expression unaccountably solemn. Alex guessed that she realized, however vaguely, that she’d done something wrong and might be in trouble. So she would know he wasn’t angry, he made it a point to smile and wink at her. As nasty a scare as she’d given all of them, she couldn’t really be blamed; holding her accountable was out of the question.

The way to handle this, he assured himself, was to take extra precautions so it wouldn’t happen again.

He looked at Maddy. “Have you a minute or two you might spare? I think we need to set down some new rules around here, not just for the household staff, but also for ourselves. We can’t have her slipping outdoors again. Until the baby’s born, it isn’t safe. If she got injured while away from the house, she could very well bleed to death before anyone found her.”

At the suggestion, Maddy went as pale as whitewashed pickets. “I’ll be right down.”

Minutes later, Alex and his housekeeper met in his study. Between the two of them, they outlined some safeguards they could enforce that would discourage, if not prevent, Annie from sneaking outside again, the most important being that, henceforth, all the exterior doors would be kept locked from the inside, day and night, and only Alex or Maddy would have the keys. The first floor windows, equipped with interior latches instead of locks, presented a bit more of a problem. It was decided, however, that if they were all kept closed and latched, Annie’s use of one of them as an escape route would be easy to detect.

Once outside, the girl would be unable to relatch the window she’d used, and they would know for certain she had left the house. In that event, Alex could initiate an immediate search of the surrounding woods for her.

Comfortable with the preventive measures they were taking, Alex drifted off to sleep that night, confident that Annie was safe. Beginning tomorrow, he promised himself, he would set aside an hour or two every afternoon so he could spend some time with her. Doing what, he wasn’t certain. How did one entertain a feebleminded girl?

Ah well... Maddy seemed to think it was important that he and Annie become better acquainted, and to that end, Alex would happily sacrifice a bit of his time. Not that it would be easy. He usually spent his mornings doing paperwork in his study, and during the afternoons, he saw to the care of his thoroughbreds and the farm, or went to the rock quarry. As it was, he sometimes felt he was burning his candle at both ends, especially during the summer.

Nonetheless, the last thing he wanted was for Annie to feel frightened in her new home. If he could assuage her fears by spending an hour or so with her each day, it would be well worth the effort.

Alex’s plan proved to be a little more difficult to execute than he hoped. He juggled his schedule to make time for her the next day, but when he arrived at the house, Annie was nowhere to be found.

“What do you mean, she’s disappeared?” he demanded of Maddy.

“Well...” The housekeeper’s green eyes sparkled with unshed tears. “It’s just like yesterday, Master Alex. One minute she was there, and the next she wasn’t. Frederick was just leaving to go tell you.”

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Spinning on his heel, Alex asked, “Have you checked the windows?”

“Yes. We checked ‘em all. Nary a one is unfastened.”

The housekeeper’s response brought Alex to a quick halt. He turned to regard her. “None of them? Are you absolutely sure?”

“Nary a one.”

“Then she has to be in the house somewhere.”

“So one would think. Only she isn’t. We’ve looked everywhere, Master Alex. It’s like as if—” She broke off and hugged her waist. “It’s like as if she disappeared into thin air.”

Alex had seen that expression on his housekeeper’s face before and knew it boded ill. “Now, Maddy.

Don’t let your Irish imagination get the best of you. The girl is flesh and blood. She can’t disappear into thin air any more than you or I.”

“Are ye sure?” she whispered. “There’s no denyin’ she’s a bit fey. Like that business of her searchin’

her beddin’. Did it again this mornin’, she did. Beyond peculiar, if ye ask me, a body searchin’ fer somethin’ she hasn’t lost.” She shivered slightly. “I know fer a fact that fey folks aren’t like the rest of us.

Sometimes they see things we can’t, and they got talents that border on magic. Ye’ve heard the stories about how she tames the wild animals in the woods. That isn’t normal, and ye can’t argue it is.”

“I’m not saying she’s normal. I’m just saying that, for all her differences, she’s still very much human, Maddy, and thereby limited in what she can do. Disappearing into thin air? That’s silly. She’s either found herself a hidey-hole somewhere in the house, or she’s exiting by an upstairs window.”

“An upstairs window?” Maddy gasped and crossed herself. “Dear Lord, if she fell, she’d break her fool little neck!”

“Exactly.” Alex headed for the stairs. “From now on, all the windows on the second and third floors must be kept fastened, too. We’ll attend to that right now. Then I’ll gather up some men to help me comb the woods. She’s probably wandering around out there, happy as a clam and completely oblivious to the panic she’s causing us.”

* * *

Ten minutes later, Alex was checking window latches in the ballroom, situated on the third floor, when he sensed a presence behind him. Skin prickling, he looked over his shoulder to see Annie standing in the open doorway. As had been the case yesterday, her shapeless frock was smeared with dirt, and there were smudges of dust on her cheeks. Since Alex knew she couldn’t possibly have gotten so dirty inside the house, he could only surmise she’d done as he suspected and climbed out a second- or third-floor window.

Just the thought made his pulse skitter. While doing roof repairs in the recent past, he had learned the hard way how treacherous some sections of that slate could be. One false step was all it might take. In most places, there was nothing to break a person’s fall. He had a good mind to drive nails through all the bottom window rails.

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“Annie,” he said weakly. “Honey, where have you been?”

At the question, she retreated a step.

“Don’t be afraid. I’m not angry with you. Just concerned. I know you’ve been outside somewhere, and if you went out through one of these windows, you might have fallen.”

She backed up another step.

Moving slowly, Alex tried to close the distance between them. He had covered only a few feet when she bolted. “Annie! Come back here. I won’t hurt you.”

His words fell on empty air. Alex heaved a disheartened sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. So he was supposed to spend time with her, was he? And how, exactly, was he going to accomplish that? By tying her to a chair, perhaps?

He followed the third-floor corridor to the landing. Grasping a newel post, he swung his weight onto the stairs and took the descent three steps at a time. Once on the second level, he headed directly for the nursery. Maddy, who was busy scolding Annie and checking her for injuries, didn’t notice when he entered the room.

“Oh, lass, ye can’t be takin’ off like this!” the housekeeper cried. “Me old heart won’t take it, ye understand? What did ye do? Go out an upstairs window? Lord help us! Ye could’ve broke yer silly neck. Don’t ye realize that?”

Alex made his way to the table where Annie was sitting. Hunkering in front of her chair, he gazed solemnly into her eyes. The emotions he read there baffled him. She was afraid of being punished, that much was clear. But she also looked confused and a little self-righteous, as if she were being unjustly accused.

Alex gave her a thorough inspection, starting with her hair, which had bits of what appeared to be cobwebs clinging to the tendrils, and ending with her white stockings, which were smudged with dirt.

Grayish colored dirt. Not red. Most of the soil thereabouts was a rust-red clay.

“Maddy, is there anyplace inside the house—say a closet or a storage room?—that might be filled with cobwebs and dust?”

Maddy sputtered at the suggestion. “Only the attic, and ye know very well it’s always kept locked. I have the only key, and I haven’t let it out to anyone since ye bought the new safe after Douglas left.”

Alex frowned. “You’re sure it’s locked?”

“Positive. With all those spiders and mice thereabouts?” She shuddered. “It’s always kept locked.”

“Someplace else then?” Alex pointed out the smudges on Annie’s clothing. “If she’d been outside, the dirt on her frock would be reddish.” He touched a smudge on her knee. “This looks more like dust to me.”

“Dust?” The housekeeper glared at him. “I’ll have ye know that every crack and cranny of this house gets a thorough and regular cleanin’, no exceptions. I’d never allow any room, closet or otherwise, to get so filthy.”

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Alex knew that to be so. But he still couldn’t put his suspicions to rest. Had Annie found a hidey-hole somewhere that Maddy had overlooked? “Tomorrow, I want you to keep a closer eye on her,” he instructed the housekeeper. “If you have to, enlist the help of a maid or two. When she slips away again, I want to know which direction she takes.”

Maddy’s Irish brogue became more pronounced with her building indignation. “She went out! Just look at her, all covered with dirt. She couldna get so soiled inside me house!”

Alex pushed to his feet and patted the older woman’s shoulder. “I’m sure she couldn’t, Maddy. But all the same, do as I ask, hmm? I’d really appreciate it. And meanwhile, when I’m up at the stables working, I’ll keep an eye on the exterior of the house to see if I can spot her sneaking out a window.”

Returning his gaze to his wife, Alex considered the situation and possible solutions. Because the girl had been allowed to wander at will when she lived at home, she probably found her existence at Montgomery Hall pretty confining in comparison, and he couldn’t really fault her for that. Arrangements needed to be made so she might have daily outings. Maddy didn’t really have time to accompany her. For that matter, neither did Alex.

He sighed with resignation. Annie was ultimately his responsibility and no one else’s. If she needed to be taken for daily walks, which she obviously did, then he was the likely candidate. Now that he’d decided to make her a permanent resident at Montgomery Hall, he couldn’t avoid being thrust into situations where he would be alone with her. Not indefinitely. To even try would be ludicrous. A marriage in name only or not, they were still married, and though his role as such would be limited, he was her husband.

A little self-control was in order, he thought determinedly. If he didn’t have a good measure of that at his disposal already, then he’d damned well better acquire some.

Chapter Eleven

When Alex suddenly grasped Annie’s hand and drew her up from the chair, she couldn’t have been more surprised. On the heels of her surprise came dread. He meant to take her somewhere? It didn’t require a great deal of thought to guess his intentions. Both he and Maddy mistakenly believed she had sneaked outdoors and were upset with her. To ensure she wouldn’t break the rules again, Alex obviously meant to punish her.

In the past, Annie had endured her share of lickings, most of them meted out by her father in his study, all with his razor strop. From experience, she knew that the sting only lasted for a short while and that the bruises would go away within a few days. But that had been when her papa punished her. Alex Montgomery was twice his size and far stronger.

For the space of a heartbeat, she seriously considered running from him. But before she could act on the urge, she remembered the baby she was supposedly carrying. If, as she suspected, it was enclosed in a fragile egg, she couldn’t take any chances. Trying to run from Alex Montgomery would definitely pose a risk. His legs were long and powerfully muscled. In a footrace against him, she wouldn’t have a prayer.