Lord Cavendish Returns (10 page)

“
The steps here go down to the old crypt where the boxes of
old things are kept,” she pointed to a door that lay against the
far wall. “I can only assume that the records are down there
somewhere.”

“
Would they not be in the cupboard over there?” Harper pointed
to the bureau against the far wall which was very similar to the
one at Hambley Wood church and groaned when Arrabella shook her
head.

“
I am afraid not,” she replied sympathetically. “I cleared out
the cupboards in here last summer. They only contain the last two
registers and the bible.”

As she
spoke she opened the door to the crypt and paused at the top of the
stairs. It was really highly inappropriate of her to spend any time
alone with him, even in a church crypt, but there was really very
little she could do about it. She could hardly just hand him the
church keys and wait outside in the sunshine while he scoured the
murky crypt all by himself. Not only did it seem incredibly unfair,
but she was really rather enjoying spending time with him. As the
unofficial verger for the church, it was surely down to her to help
anyone who sought information from the old parish records, wasn’t
it?

Mental
argument fought and won, she took a deep breath and accepted the
candle he handed her with a grateful smile.

“
Wait,” he murmured quietly and placed a hand on her elbow. “I
will go first. Just in case the steps are slippery, or there are
cobwebs or something.”

She
couldn’t hide her horror at the mention of cobwebs and he bit back
a smile as she immediately stepped back to allow him to
pass.

It was
darker than he had expected, and the candle he held did little to
penetrate the inky blackness they descended into. He paused only
briefly to make sure that Arrabella was behind him before he began
to edge his way down the stone steps.

“
Are you alright?”

“
I am fine,” she assured him. “Let’s go and see what we can
find, shall we?”

Arrabella’s hand trembled a little, but she was fairly
certain that it had nothing to do with her attraction to the man
before her, or the threat of eight legged creatures that she was
sure lurked in the corners. She hated the dark with a passion and,
if it hadn’t been for the calm, reassuring presence of Harper, she
wouldn’t have gone near the place.

The last
time someone had needed something that was stored down there, she
had sent her father to go and fetch it. This time though, with
Harper, things were different. She wanted to enjoy this adventure
with him, and be the one to help him find the information he
needed.

“
Which way?” Harper asked when they reached the bottom of the
stairs. He lifted his candle a little higher and wished he hadn’t.
Rows upon rows of plaques marked the final resting places of some
of the village’s old residents. Although the crypt appeared to be
blessedly intact, there was a watchful stillness to the place that
did little to leave him any peace whatsoever.

“
This way,” Arrabella skirted around him and shuffled forward.
She didn’t know whether to lift her candle higher and look for
cobwebs, or lower it so she could keep an eye out for bumps on the
floor. The last thing she wanted was to fall flat on her face and
embarrass herself. In the end, she held her candle in front of her
waist and hoped she was going in the right direction. “It has been
a long time since I came down here. The last time we needed
anything I sent my father down, but he is in York, as you know, and
won’t be back until the end of the week.”

“
What are we looking for?” Harper’ voice came from just above
her left ear. It felt intimate to turn her head and look up at him
standing right over her shoulder, but the broad expanse of his
chest at her back settled her jittery nerves and she took a deeply
fortifying breath. It was considerably easier to keep her mind
focused on their job and off the thick layer of cobwebs that
covered practically everywhere now that he was beside her. She just
hoped he didn’t move away.

“
I think they are stored in several packing trunks. There are
several volumes all together but I cannot remember if they are in
one trunk or two.”

“
Is it a wooden trunk or a leather trunk?”

“
Wooden. Like those over there,” she pointed and realised then
just how much work they faced. When she lifted her candle to light
the area, Harper did groan at the sight of the twenty or so
identical trunks that lined the far wall of the farthest part of
the crypt.

“
Oh, no,” Arrabella whispered in consternation. “We are going
to be here forever.”

“
I don’t mind doing this by myself if you want to go out into
the sunshine,” Harper offered. It was really difficult to think
with her right next to him, but he couldn’t bring himself to move
away. She didn’t seem to realise that he had placed a comforting
hand on her waist. To him it seemed the most natural thing to do to
offer her comfort and reassurance. It wasn’t the hold he wanted to
give her, but it would have to suffice for now. The fact that she
hadn’t moved away was enough to assure him that she didn’t mind the
intimacy one bit and, given their circumstances, might even be glad
of it.

“
No, I am going to help,” Arrabella declared firmly, although
made no move to approach the boxes. She eyed the floor beneath her
feet and wondered if rats could claw their way through stonework.
With a shudder she quickly closed that thought out and glanced up
at him; and immediately wished she hadn’t.

His once
handsome features were now encased in shadows that made him look
macabre and dangerous. The darkness played tricks with her and made
his beautiful green eyes look like black voices of malicious
intent. She tried desperately to remind herself that she was being
ridiculous, but just couldn’t keep the fear off her face. When he
smiled down at her and revealed a row of teeth that looked as
though they were going to bite into her neck at any moment she
couldn’t help it, she moved away.

“
Let’s start at this box here,” she gasped and hurriedly
looked around in search of somewhere to put her candle.

“
Put it up here, look,” Harper suggested softly. He tried to
keep his movements slow and non-threatening, but his voice sounded
loud in the stillness of the chamber and made her jump anyway. He
lifted his own candle and placed it carefully into the wall mount.
It did little to light the darker corners of the large space, but
at least he had his hands free and was able to pull the first of
the packing boxes away from the wall so that they could lift the
lid and peer into the contents.

Harper
leaned down and began to rummage through the assorted loose papers.
When it was clear that there were no registers, he sighed,
repositioned the lid and pushed the box back against the wall. The
second box was heavier but revealed nothing more exciting than old,
battered copies of hymn books that had long since gone out of
fashion.

Arrabella sighed when Harper began to shove the heavy crate
back into position and eyed the long row of boxes that awaited
them. If they were lucky, one of the next few they searched would
contain what they were looking for and they could leave. If not, it
was going to be a very long day indeed.

The
third and fourth crates were equally as heavy, and revealed nothing
more than unwanted items the church no longer had a use for, but
for some reason nobody had seen fit to get rid of.

“
Is it me, or does it seem darker in here to you?” Arrabella
murmured several hours later. She eyed her candle warily and judged
that they had no more than another hour left before they needed to
either fetch more candles, or go in search of food. As if to
support her theory, her stomach rumbled loudly. “Sorry,” she
apologised. She was glad that the crypt was dark so that he
couldn’t see the blush that coloured her cheeks.

Harper
grinned and eyed the long dark smudge across her cheek. “Now that
you come to mention it, it does seem darker in here.” He studied
the darkness around them with a frown. The candle on the wall was
still lit, but the thin shaft of light that pointed the way to the
stairs was no longer there.

“
Did you prop the door open?” Harper asked as he lifted the
candle off the wall and carried it to the stairs.

“
I wedged the old iron shoe scrape against the door, if you
remember?” Arrabella replied as she hurried after him.

In all
honesty Harper couldn’t remember because his attention had been
firmly focused on her. Unfortunately, the reason for the increased
darkness became evident when they reached the top of the stairs and
found that the door was not only closed, but had apparently been
locked as well.

“
Do you have the key?” He demanded and pushed at the door to
see how sturdy it was. It was thick and heavy, and going to be
damned near impossible to break through. The space at the top of
the stairs was narrow so he couldn’t even have a run at it to try
to charge it with his shoulder. He mentally swore but, in deference
to Arrabella’s delicate sensibilities, kept his mouth
closed.

“
I left it in the door,” Arrabella whispered. “I didn’t want
to lose it down here and thought that if someone saw the door open,
and the key in the door, they would know that we were down here.
There shouldn’t be anyone in the church anyway. There is no service
today and the cleaning ladies aren’t due in until
tomorrow.”

“
Well, I am sorry to say that someone has locked it from the
outside.” He bent down and lifted his candle so that he could peer
through the keyhole. Whoever had locked them in had left the key in
the door. He really did swear aloud this time because he now
couldn’t try to jimmy the lock with the key still in it.

“
I am sorry, I didn’t think that anyone would do such a
thing,” Arrabella whispered and glanced back in horror at the gloom
behind her.

“
Did you tell anyone we were coming here?”

Arrabella gulped and slowly shook her head. “My father is
away in York, like I said, and isn’t due back until the end of the
week. My mother is not well at the moment and left yesterday to
visit a cousin in Margate. She won’t be back for several weeks at
least, and Mrs Able has gone to market today. She won’t be back
until late this afternoon.”

Harper
frowned and stared hard at her. “So they left you all alone in the
house?”

“
I have our housekeeper, Mrs Able. She lives next door,” she
replied defiantly. “Besides, I am four and twenty, and perfectly
capable of looking after myself.”

To
emphasise her point she took a step back only for her booted foot
to fall upon empty air. She immediately began to topple backward
but luckily, was snatched by Harper, who dropped his candle and
yanked her hard against his chest. They both watched in dismay as
what was left of Harper’s light bumped down the stairs out of sight
and left them with the rather timid flame Arrabella
held.

She
didn’t know which was worse, his belief that she couldn’t be left
alone, or the fact that they were now entombed in a church crypt
with only the light of one candle to guide them.

Harper
tried to ignore the feel of her rounded curves so close but his
wayward body began to respond anyway. He could only be glad that it
was dark and she couldn’t see the effect that she had on him, or it
wouldn’t be the darkness that she would be afraid of. With a shake
of his head he glanced down the steps in consternation and tried
desperately to keep his mind on trying to find a way to get them
out of there. To kiss her now may throw her into hysteria. Getting
stuck in a church crypt with a hysterical female who believed he
wanted her body was the last thing he needed right now, even if she
was right.

He was
used to being in the dark. It never bothered him, and he could work
without light as comfortably as he could in it but clearly
Arrabella was unnerved. She kept glancing over her shoulder as
though the dead were going to appear at the bottom of the steps
and, if she edged any closer to him, he may as well hand her his
shirt to wear and be done with it.

“
There is nothing to worry about,” Harper murmured gently, but
was unable to see through the gloom well enough to be certain
whether she had even heard him. “Do you know if there are any spare
candles around?”

He hated
to admit it but he rather quite liked the way she clung to him.
There was something about her small hands clutching at his shirt
laces that made him feel inordinately strong; as though he could
take on any challenge and win. She didn’t squeal or make silly
feminine noises designed to drive a man insane. Instead she
remained watchful and silent and allowed him to take the lead while
she clung to him with an innocent trust that made him feel strong
and capable of handling anything.

Harper
placed a finger beneath her chin and drew her head around until she
broke her gaze away from the crypt and looked at him. “We will get
out of here, Arrabella, I promise. Now, let’s see if we can find
another candle.”

He hated
to tell her what they would have to do if they couldn’t find one.
The candle he had carried had been considerably smaller than hers
and, even if they could re-light it, they would only get about a
quarter of an hour of light before it was rendered useless. Assured
that she was now a safe distance away from the top of the stairs,
he patted the top of the door frame and shook his head when he came
up empty-handed.