Eloisa's Adventure (5 page)

“What
the hell?” he muttered.

He
pulled Humphrey to a halt and stared at the haunting sight just a
few feet ahead of him. Was his imagination playing tricks? If it
wasn’t for the rainwater trickling down the side of his face, he
would have thought it was some incredible dream. Had he conjured
her up out of boredom from the endless riding? Or had the continual
deluge of water softened his brain and turned it to
mush?

Unless
he had gone decidedly loopy, there was a woman, all alone, walking
toward Mitchelham. Not only that, but the woman wore what appeared
to be a ball gown. It wasn’t just any old ball gown though. Her
ball gown would have been fashionable about twenty years
ago.

Who was
she? Where could she have come from? She looked like one of his
ancestors from a bygone age whose portrait hung in the entrance
hall at home.

He
turned in the saddle and glanced around them but couldn’t see
anyone else. There was no broken down carriage on the road, and
nobody else for miles around. Why she was walking toward Mitchelham
as slowly as if she was out for an afternoon stroll? Was she not
aware of the weather?

“Whoever
she is, she has no business being near that damned place,” he
groused and threw a glare at Mitchelham.

Indeed,
he knew she would be considerably better off if she turned around
and headed in the opposite direction. Even being out in the thunder
storm was better than spending a night in the dark and dangerous
confines of Mitchelham. He was the unfortunate owner of the place,
yet even he would be lucky to be alive come morning. If Uncle
George had been poisoned, there was no way of knowing where the
poison was stored, in which container, and on what surface. The
thought of allowing anyone else inside those stone walls to risk
their lives left him with a deep sense of foreboding that made him
want to usher her away from the danger.

“Heaven
save me from troublesome females,” he mumbled.

He eased
his hold on the reins and didn’t need to nudge Humphrey before the
horse began to plod toward Mitchelham, and Simeon’s unfortunate
guest.

Eloisa
winced when she stepped on another pebble. Now that she came to
think about it more carefully, maybe walking across the field
hadn’t been such a good idea after all. She was soaked, frozen to
her bones, and absolutely exhausted. Not only that but she was
miserably disappointed that she had been denied the chance to
attend the ball.

She felt
the sharp sting of tears when she looked at her ruined gown.
Unfortunately that was the least of her troubles right now. A deep
sense of foreboding had settled over her as soon as she had entered
the field. It had continued to grow the closer she got to the
rather dubious sanctuary that awaited her. Her worry had now become
so bad that she seriously considered taking her chances in the
storm and walking straight past the horrible looking
building.

The
sudden jangle of what sounded like a harness snapped her out of her
melancholy musings. She frowned at the ground beneath her feet and
looked at the field ahead of her. The landscape was as empty as it
had been when she had first stepped into a field. Although she
tried to hear something – anything - the wind snatched all other
sound. It made her feel more isolated than ever.

“You do
know that you are trespassing on private property?” Simeon drawled
as he reined his horse into a slow walk beside the beautiful
stranger.

Eloisa
whirled around and stared up at him in shock. Her squeal was
swallowed by the wind but it didn’t erase the horror that swept
through her as she studied the huge black beast of a horse. His
soulless brown eyes glared at her through the darkness, but that
was nothing compared to the sinister sight of his master. Her gaze
travelled along the horse’s long mane and came to rest upon the man
who rode the animal.

She
immediately took a step back.

Good Lord, he is huge,
she gulped.
Who was he? Where had he come from? How long had he been behind
her?

“I said,
you are on private property,” he repeated when she didn’t appear to
have heard him. Given how strong the winds were he shouldn’t really
be surprised.

Eloisa
jerked when she realised he was waiting for her to answer him. She
glanced around blankly before she remembered her mission. Her hand
trembled when she lifted a finger to point at the
castle.

“I am on
my way there,” she replied shakily.

She
didn’t want to look at him again, but was compelled to anyway. Was
he real? She was sure that highwaymen had stopped operating in this
county many years ago. However, from his appearance, she wasn’t
sure whether to put her hands up, or hand him her jewellery. He was
huge and, dressed entirely in black as he was, incredibly
sinister.

“Why?”
The grunt was barely audible in the wind.

“Pardon?”

Simeon
dug deep for his patience. “Why are you going to the castle?” he
called.

Eloisa
sniffed, then wished that she hadn’t when she realised how
inelegant she was by doing so. She looked at her soiled skirts and
reminded herself that manners didn’t really matter given the state
she was in. It was doubtful that he had heard her over the howling
winds anyway.

Simeon
saw her lips move, and strained to hear what she had to say. The
sight of those pink tinged lips moving almost silently was
hypnotic. He found himself almost willing her to keep talking so he
could watch them some more.

“I had
an accident on the road and need to get out of the storm for a
while. Once it has eased I can find my way home.”

Simeon
studied her. He couldn’t quite make his mind up if she was going to
cry, or start screaming like a banshee at him. One moment she
looked lost and forlorn, and the next there was a flash of temper
in her eyes. He found himself watching her chin tip skyward with
such fierce determination that he mentally applauded her fortitude.
His gaze ran the length of her.

Fortitude or not, she is going to be ill wearing a dress like
that
, he mused silently. The pale oval of
her face was far whiter than it ought to be, and her shivers had
increased threefold in the few scant minutes they had been talking.
He wondered if she had been out for a walk and had gotten
lost.

“Where
is home?” he asked with a frown.

“Hollywell,” she replied, and watched his brows
lift.

“Where
in Hollywell?”

“The
Rectory,” she snapped. She glanced around them pointedly, silently
reminding him that this was hardly the place for a chat.

Simeon
glanced at the empty field they were in. “That’s miles away. Have
you walked all that way?”

Eloisa
shook her head.

“What’s
your name?”

She
studied him for a moment as though trying to decide if he was
trustworthy enough to confide in. Given their circumstances though,
it was difficult not to keep talking. It helped to stop her teeth
from chattering.

“Eloisa
Delaney.”

“Well,
Miss Eloisa Delaney, you have got yourself into a fine pickle,
haven’t you?”

She
sighed and rolled her eyes. “Talk about state the obvious,” she
muttered bleakly. It didn’t take a genius to work that one out
given their current circumstances.

“What
was that?” he called. He bit his lip to stop his smile from
spreading. He knew exactly what she had said, and admired her
spirit, and her ingenuity with the English language.

“Nothing.”

They
both glanced up at the flash of lightning that lit the sky. She
clutched her elbows in an attempt to keep them still when another
gust of wind made her shiver.

Simeon
studied her bare shoulders and cursed his luck. It appeared that he
now had a damsel in distress to contend with. Although she didn’t
know it, the only place of refuge had more dangers within the stone
confines than the thunderstorm had lightning bolts. Still, his
conscience wouldn’t allow him to leave her out in the storm and
there really was nowhere else he could take her to.

“How did
you get here?” he demanded almost conversationally, partly just to
see that spark of annoyance back in her eyes again.

Eloisa
sighed impatiently and glared at him. If she didn’t know better she
would suspect that he was delaying her arrival at the castle on
purpose. She was soaked and going to catch influenza if she didn’t
get out of this wind soon. Either that or they were going to get
struck by lightning which, from the look of the man beside her, was
something that would most probably not affect him. Dressed from
head to foot in a long black cloak, seated astride an equally black
horse, he looked like the devil incarnate. It was difficult not to
step back and keep on going.

His
entire face was cast in shadow. She couldn’t even see his chin move
because it was hidden in the shadows of his wide brimmed hat. She
tried to reassure herself that he posed no threat to her. That he
was just curious, that was all, but knew she would only be fooling
herself. She was, after all, single, unchaperoned, and in the
middle of nowhere. To cap it all, she was now also in the presence
of a dark and dangerous stranger.

“Do you
not have a chaperone?” He asked somewhat chidingly.

Eloisa
glanced about the field then lifted her brows at him. “Damn, I knew
I had forgotten something,” she snapped.

“How did
you get here?” He really liked the fire in her stunning whisky
coloured eyes. When her temper was piqued, they flashed at him so
fiercely that he was curious to know how deeply that passion lay
beneath the surface.

“I came
by carriage,” she declared waspishly. Her initial instinct had been
to ignore him, but she wanted to get out of the rain. She eyed his
horse in disgust. “As nice as this chat might be, I need to be
going now.”

While
they had been talking, she had gone off the idea of going to the
castle. With one last glare at him, she turned her back and made
her way along the line of trees that ran alongside a
driveway.

“No you
don’t,” Simeon challenged and moved Humphrey around to stand in
front of her. He nodded to Mitchelham over her shoulder. “I
wouldn’t be going there, if I were you.”

“Well,
you are not me, are you?” she huffed. Deciding he was no gentleman,
she moved around him and resumed her journey.

Simeon
watched her for a couple of minutes and he sighed deeply. A part of
him wanted to let her make her way to the castle, knock on the door
and then realise that nobody was home. Unfortunately, that would
mean he had to remain outside and wait for her to leave. If he was
honest, he quite liked her. The thought of leaving her to her own
devices in the storm didn’t sit well with him. He wanted to know
she would be alright and, to his disgust, he knew that the safest
place she could be was with him.

“Jesus,”
he snorted in disgust. He wanted to leave her outside; he really
did, but couldn’t run the risk that she would stumble upon
something – or someone – who wouldn’t want her to leave
again.

“Come
on,” he grunted when he pulled up alongside her again.

“What?”
Eloisa snapped. “I am not going to that castle now, so go away,”
she threw him a scowl. “Whoever you are.”

Simeon’s
lips quirked, but he made no apology for his appearance. At least
he had the common sense to dress for the weather. He eyed her bare
shoulders and shook his head in disgust.

“Get
on,” he ordered. When she continued to stare at him, he sighed.
“Did you hear me? I said, get on.”

“I know
you did,” Eloisa said as she stared at the horse in horror. “No.
Thank you, but no.”

“Do you
prefer to drown instead?” he challenged. “Maybe get struck by
lightning?”

“Of
course not, but I am not –” The rest of her sentence was cut off by
her loud squeak when he suddenly leaned sideways in the saddle.
Before she could protest, one long arm swept around her waist and
she was swung off her feet. She was sitting sideways on the horse
before she could blink. Her mouth opened, but only a squeak came
out when he nudged the horse into a walk.

Simeon
rolled his eyes when she immediately began to slide off the saddle.
He had no choice but to grab a hold of her so she didn’t fall off.
When her gentle curves settled against him, the ready response of
his body was so swift, so fierce, that he was momentarily
speechless.

What the
hell? Nobody had ever affected him like this - ever. Why her? Why
now? God, what was it about her that attracted him so?

Eloisa
gulped when the horse stumbled and she began to slide the other way
off the saddle.

“God,
could you wear anything more slippery than this?” he grumbled as he
grabbed her and held her against him a little tighter this time. He
tried to ignore her delicate curves beneath his fingers, but his
body responded anyway. Even through the thick folds of his cloak,
and the several yards of silk and frothy material she wore, he was
aware of every feminine curve with painful clarity.