Eloisa's Adventure (10 page)

It
bothered Simeon that there was no proper guardian to protect her
reputation, or worry about her safety. Someone like Eloisa should
have a person of status to look after her on a daily basis. After
all, he could have been a profligate womaniser who could have used
the time alone with her to try to ruin her completely.

Although
he would never remind her of such, she was completely at his mercy.
It was a good thing he was a gentleman. Although, given some of his
thoughts right now, he started to doubt his credibility on that
score as well.

“Right,
well, seeing as there isn’t likely to be a guardian out looking for
you just yet, I think that it is down to us to try to get ourselves
out of here. Given that we have the food, I think we should try to
keep it. Let’s put what’s here in the baskets. We can take them
with us. Whoever locked us in here can keep the quince jelly and
the jam. We will take the rest.”

With
that, he began to put the bread and cheeses into one of the
baskets.

“Wait!”
she gasped. She frowned and strained her ears to listen. For a
moment there she thought she had heard a footstep outside the door.
She beckoned to him only to gasp in alarm when her elbow smacked
him in the middle of his chest – his very wide, heavily muscled
chest.

She
stared at the small patch of dark hair that protruded from the
folds of his white shirt and sighed when her body began to grow
warm. Every fibre of her being felt alert, watchful, and faintly
yearning, and it was a little disconcerting. Before she could say
anything, the soft scuff of what sounded like footfall came again,
this time right outside the door.

“Someone
is moving about,” she mouthed into his ear. She felt him nod, but
he didn’t speak. He motioned to her to be quiet.

When the
atmosphere within the pantry became sensually charged, she tried to
ease away from him only to find that there was nowhere she could
go. Her bottom was pushed against a dresser beside the wall, and he
was standing directly in front of her, but to one side. The only
direction she could go was sideways, but that would put her
directly in front of the door. That was the very last place she
wanted, or needed, to be so she remained still.

He was
so close that she could feel the warmth of his breath sweep gently
across her cheek. Everything within her urged her not to look at
him. She knew that if she remained where she was, he would
eventually move away. However, an invisible cord of temptation drew
her head around until she was looking at him anyway.

Time
hung suspended when their eyes met and held. The world dimmed to
nothingness. In that one precious moment there was no howling wind
outside; no unseen hand that had locked them in the pantry; no dark
and sinister storm threatening to wreak havoc for hours. There was
nothing but the two of them, confined securely in a small square
space where nobody could disturb them.

Simeon
studied the gentle sweep of her curved lips which glistening
teasingly in the candle-light. Her eyes seemed to beckon him closer
although she had yet to speak. He could feel the soft sweep of her
breath against his chin. It would folly to kiss her; he would have
to dip his head to do so, and they didn’t really know each other.
It was foolish to consider that they could be attracted to one
another in such a small space of time. She might have some awful
personal traits that would drive him scatty within a fortnight.
Somehow though, he doubted that anyone as beautiful, intelligent,
and bold as Eloisa, could really be annoying in any way. He found
her anything but.

“Eloisa.” The soft growl of his voice made her shiver, but
seemed to beckon her toward his warmth rather than warn her to stay
away.

Her
heart thundered heavily as she watched his head dip slowly toward
hers. She wasn’t sure what to do. What she should say? Her stomach
dipped. She wanted to move away, to stop this before it went any
further, but curiosity kept her in place. After all, it was one
kiss.

His lips
settled over hers and robbed her off all thought before she could
decide on the wisdom of moving away. He stole her breath, and
captured her senses with that single, tender caress and she knew
that her life would never be the same.

Simeon
felt his body leap to life and was stunned by the ferocity of the
need that raged through him. He only kissed her once; briefly, yet
his body ached with a fierce hunger that refused to subside. Nobody
should have the power to bring about raw need of this magnitude
within him. He had certainly never felt it for a woman before. Why
now? Why her?

He
leaned back and looked down at her and felt as stunned as she
looked. He tried to move back a little more but became aware that
her delicate hands were clutching the folds of his shirt. While he
knew it would be best for both of them if he put some distance
between them, he couldn’t bring himself to move away. Instead, he
placed his hands over hers as he looked deeply into her
eyes.

“I am
not going to apologise for kissing you,” he whispered.

Eloisa’s
stomach dipped. “I didn’t ask you to,” she replied.

Her
senses were reeling. She had never had anything like this happen to
her before and wasn’t quite sure how to handle the situation. He
had not pressed her for anything she hadn’t wanted to give so she
couldn’t chastise him for taking liberties. He was close, but not
pressing himself against her in a way that might leave her
uncomfortable or feeling threatened. What was she supposed to
say?

When he
felt himself drawn toward her once more, Simeon sucked in a deep
breath and forced himself to take a couple of steps back. He looked
down when he felt the tug of her fingers on his shirt. Although she
released him, he was a little perturbed to wonder what would happen
if she tugged him back toward her again. Determined to turn his
thoughts to more practical matters, he gave himself a mental shake
and moved to stand beside the table.

“Let’s
see if we can get out of here, shall we?” he murmured in a voice
that was husky with desire.

Eloisa
watched him run a hand through his hair. It seemed to be something
he habitually did whenever he was stressed or worried about
something. To her, it made him look endearing, not least because
his hair never really settled back into place afterward. She eyed
the silken strands that touched the collar of his shirt and
wondered if it really was as soft as it looked.

“How
though?” she asked when he didn’t seem inclined to move or
speak.

“I don’t
know,” he murmured and threw the door to the cellar a dark
frown.

Eloisa
knew what he was thinking and swallowed in alarm. She couldn’t help
it; she had to check for herself just in case, and lifted a
trembling hand to the latch on the door beside her.

CHAPTER
SIX

To her
stunned disbelief, the latch lifted and the door swung silently
open.

“Simeon,” she whispered.

She
heard his deep sigh behind her and knew that he was mentally
cursing whoever was playing tricks on them. Whoever it was, Eloisa
couldn’t really find any anger toward them. After all, if she
hadn’t been locked in the pantry with her handsome host, she would
never have been able to experience her first kiss.

“Right,”
Simeon said as he stared at the door somewhat nonplussed. “Well,
let’s get out of here then shall we?”

“Let’s
take these with us though,” Eloisa suggested, and picked up one of
the baskets.

Simeon
hefted the other one and followed her out of the door. “Stay close
to me,” Simeon ordered.

Inside
the kitchen, the fire still roared heartily in the grate. As far as
he could tell, everything was as they had left it. The only thing
that appeared to have been moved was his cloak. Eloisa had draped
it carefully over a chair to dry, but it now lay abandoned in the
middle of the table instead.

“I put
that in front of the fire,” Eloisa declared worriedly having
followed his gaze and realised what he was staring at.

“I
know,” Simeon replied. He threw her a warning look. “It’s all right
though. They must have just been searching through the
pockets.”

“Who?
What are they looking for?”

“I don’t
know,” Simeon growled. “But I am going to find out.”

Just as soon as I can get you out of here,
he thought.

“Let’s
secure down here,” he said aloud. “Then I think we had better go
and see if we can find beds for the night.”

After
the events of the last hour, he wasn’t sure who posed more of a
risk to Eloisa – himself or his intruder. A part of him wanted
Eloisa to stay on the opposite side of the house where she would be
well away from temptation. However, the protective side of him
wanted her right next to him.

The only
part of the house that could accommodate both of them without them
having to share a bed was the old Dowager’s suite. She used to have
a bedroom with a connecting dressing room that was large enough to
double up as a comfortable sitting room. The last time he had
looked in it there had been nothing there apart from the bed and a
rather dusty old chaise, but it would do for them for one night. He
had slept in worse places, and it would give him a perfect view of
the bedroom so he could keep an eye on Eloisa.

Now that
they had the kitchen candles to light their way, they extinguished
the pantry candles and placed them carefully with the baskets of
food. They each took a candle from the kitchen and made their way
into the main body of the house.

“It’s
freezing in here,” she whispered as she followed him into the main
body of the house. She watched her breath fog out in front of her
face and wished now she had brought the cloak with her. Even wet,
it would be better than nothing.

“I know.
Nobody is supposed to have been here for weeks though,” Simeon
replied quietly.

Eloisa
followed him through one gloomy corridor after another. She
struggled not to look back over her shoulder. She was fairly
certain that someone was behind her and, while her instincts urged
her to check to make sure, she just couldn’t find the courage to do
so. Instead, she hurried up and stayed as close to Simeon as it was
possible to get without actually wearing his breeches with him.
When he stopped suddenly at the bottom of the main flight of
stairs, she ran smack into the middle of his back.

“Sorry,”
she mumbled. She quickly blocked out the thought of how wonderfully
solid he was, and coughed uncomfortably when he rolled his
eyes.

Simeon
was grateful he had the baskets in his hands; otherwise he would
have done something foolish – like kiss her again. While walking
the corridors, he had been painfully aware of her every breath; her
every movement behind him, and it had bothered him to distraction.
He rather suspected that someone would be able to walk right up to
them, and he wouldn’t notice unless they interfered with
Eloisa.

Was it
just sexual attraction? Or was the awareness there because of the
situation they faced?

He
looked at her and realised that she was waiting for him to speak.
It was then that he also realised that he had suddenly stopped, for
no reason, and was now looking her.

She must think you are a damned fool,
he chastised himself.

“We have
to go up the first flight of stairs. At the top, go to the
right.”

“Where
are you going?” she gasped. Her eyes widened in horror at the
thought of him leaving her again.

“Nowhere; I am coming too. I am just telling you where we are
going because the hallway is huge and difficult to light. Just keep
your eyes on your feet. These steps are steep and narrow. If you
fall down them you are going to be severely injured, and we won’t
be able to get help. Just be careful.”

He
wished he could see the top of the stairs. They needed to get up
there though so had no choice but to hope that there wasn’t anyone
up there waiting for them.

“Do you
really think that all of this subterfuge is necessary?” Eloisa
asked reasonably as she trudged up the stairs behind him. “I mean,
if someone is taking refuge here, and had locked us in the pantry,
at least they had the good grace to let us back out again. If they
really meant us any harm, they would have left us there, wouldn’t
they?”

Simeon
snorted. “We have the food, don’t forget. Now, I like quince jelly
as much as the next man but I don’t want to eat it morning, noon
and night. Unless the preserves in the other jars offer anything
more appetising, our intruder’s diet is going to get incredibly
boring, very, very, quickly.”

Eloisa
felt a little guilty at the thought of the intruder being hungry
while they gorged themselves. After all, the baskets were heavily
laden. They contained more food than all of them could eat in a
week. It didn’t seem right that they should leave the unknown
person hungry, even though they shouldn’t be there.

“How do
we know that the latch on the pantry just didn’t get stuck?” she
asked reasonably when they neared the top of the stairs.