Lord Melvedere's Ghost (18 page)

He stood
meekly to one side while she began to fumble through the rosebush,
ignoring the scratches that began to score her arms. After several
minutes of her rather frantic rummaging, Jamie placed his hands on
her shoulders and eased her to one side.

“
My turn,” he said gently, placing a kiss on her flushed cheek.
To his stunned surprise, his fingers found the cold metal of a
small circular latch hidden behind the trellis. Turning to study
Cecily with newfound respect, he twisted the latch and watched in
amazement as the door opened silently before them to reveal the
dark rectangle of an unlit corridor.

It was
only about three feet wide, but enough for a person to use,
frequently, if the sight of the disturbed dust on the floor was any
indication. Scanning the area just inside the doorway carefully, it
looked as though someone had used this corridor a lot in recent
months. The stone floor was practically clear of the cobwebs and
dust that littered the walls and ceilings.

“
Good God,” Jamie muttered, grabbing hold of Cecily’s wrist as
he peered inside. “Where did you get in again?”

“
Upstairs, at the end of the corridor near to my room,” Cecily
replied, pulling back when Jamie moved to stand just inside the
corridor.

“
Please, I don’t want to go back in there again,” she shivered
in the cold air of the dark corridor and tried to pull free of
Jamie’s hold.

“
It’s alright darling, we are not going to go in, I just want
to pull the door closed a little so nobody sees us,” he whispered,
watching her hesitantly ease into the confined space to stand
beside him.

He saw
the fear in her eyes, and drew her closer to him. He tried not to
smile when she immediately hugged his side like a barnacle. He
quite liked her clinging to him. Now, however, he wanted to
investigate and get the answers that were starting to build. It was
suddenly imperative that he knew everything about the mysterious
passageways, and not stop until every inch had been thoroughly
explored.

“
I never knew,” Jamie sighed, studying the doorway carefully.
It looked as though it had been constructed when the house had been
built. It certainly was part of the structure, and not a later
add-on. But who would put one in? Why? “God Cecily, how can I not
know about this?” he whispered, looking down at her in
appreciation.

“
It is how I got this,” Cecily whispered back, pointing at her
head even through the shadowy darkness. “I hit my head on something
on the wall. I am not sure if was a wall sconce, or something else,
but it was sticking out of the wall at about head height. In the
darkness I didn’t see it until I hit my head against
it.”

“
How did you find your way out?”

Cecily
froze. She wanted to tell him, she really did, but knew she
couldn’t. “I just kept walking and walking. I followed a cold
draft, and it brought me down here,” she replied weakly, relieved
when Jamie seemed to accept her simple explanation without
question.

“
Show me where you fell into this corridor,” he suggested,
feeling the shiver that wracked her. It was cold inside the
passage, but he had no doubt that her trembling was more down to
the memories of her ordeal in the darkness than any intrinsic
danger she may have been in. At least he could now be assured that
nobody had been trying to abduct her, or had meant her any
harm.

Cecily
nodded, glad to be able to get out of the darkness, and eagerly
preceded him out into the fresh air. She studied the gardens while
Jamie carefully closed the door. He looked like a small boy caught
with his hand in the biscuit jar, and Cecily knew that he would be
searching it thoroughly at the first available opportunity. Glad
that she wouldn’t be with him, Cecily smiled weakly and took his
arm as he led her back toward the house.

He knew
now why she had insisted on secrecy, and was very proud of her for
her foresight. With no idea how far the secret passageways ran, or
past which room, it was entirely possible that someone standing in
the corridor would have a clear view, or be able to hear anything,
that went on in the library.

“
You are going back in there, aren’t you?” Cecily knew from the
look in his eye and the muscle ticking in his jaw that he was, and
shook her head chidingly at his unrepentant grin. “Tell me when. If
you aren’t back by dawn, I will send Jonathan after
you.”

Jamie
smiled at her and shook his head. “I am afraid my dear lady, that
you are going to have to come with me.”

Cecily
gasped and turned wide, frightened eyes on him.

Jamie
drew her to a halt and stared tenderly down at her. “I am not going
to let anything happen to you, but I need you to show me which
route you took last night. I need to know what you hit your head
on, and roughly where. We will go armed with candles. This time you
will be able to see everything.”

Cecily
didn’t know if that prospect was much worse. At least in the
darkness she couldn’t actually see the spiders that had made the
huge, heavily dusted cobwebs. Candlelight might just make the
shadows even more sinister. Her thoughts turned to the man who had
shown her the way out yesterday, and she shuddered at the thought
of seeing him again. Although he had smiled kindly at her, the
knowledge that he had died several years ago was alarming. She had
no intention of meeting him again. However, she didn’t seem to be
able to avoid him standing at the end of her bed in the middle of
the night.

With a
shiver she glanced warily up at Jamie again. She didn’t want him
going in there alone, and there really was nothing sinister about
it. After all, her head injury had been entirely her fault,
certainly nothing that anyone else had inflicted upon her. What
harm could there be? At least if she went with Jamie, she would
know which rooms were affected by the secret passageways, and it
would give her a better chance of finding her way out if she was
ever silly enough to find herself falling into another hidden
corridor.

“
I promise you that everything will be perfectly safe,” Jamie
tried to reassure her. He didn’t add that he wanted her to know
where the tunnels were in order to protect herself, if the need
ever arose.

If she
knew where the passages were, and how to get into them, if the
house was ever besieged by French guards, she would be able to hide
effectively until he came to rescue her. It was perfect. Far better
than anything he could have hoped for and, despite her gash to the
head, he was fervently grateful for the additional protection for
her. It wouldn’t hurt for Jonathan to know about the passages
either.

Jamie
studied Cecily, who was clearly unnerved at the prospect of going
back in. Although he hated pushing her into doing anything that
would make her uncomfortable, he also knew that if she had any hope
of living in the house comfortably, she had to vanquish that fear.
He could see no other way of helping her overcome her concerns
without going back in and seeing for herself that they were not
that bad.

He would
personally make sure that sufficient candles were left in the
passages, with spills, to give anyone who happened to fall into one
again, the ability to light their way. Making a mental list to
check the doors over and make sure all of the latches were in good
working order, and the hinges oiled, Jamie led her back toward the
study.

Cecily
wished she could argue with him, but had to admit that she was
curious to see for herself where the passages led. She knew she
needed Jamie’s help to discover how she managed to get into the
passage in the first place.

She
sighed deeply, aware of Jamie’s curious gaze on her. “If I have
to,” she replied morosely, looking up to find Jamie’s lips
twitching. “I am glad you find this so funny, I nearly knocked
myself out last night.”

“
I know, darling, and I will make sure that all of the sconces
are removed and the passages have adequate lighting, should anyone
have the need to use them. I just thought that after your ordeal
last night, you might find it useful to take another
look.”

“
I don’t want to, but I suppose that I must. I don’t relish
going back in there, but I have to admit I want to see where the
other passages lead to.”

“
Then let’s go and take a look,” Jamie declared opening the
door for her.

“
Now?” Cecily gasped, her stomach flipping
nervously.

“
No time like the present,” Jamie urged, motioning her up the
huge flight of stairs. “Now, show me where you fell in.”

CHAPTER NINE

Within
minutes Jamie was pushing at the panelling much the same way as
Cecily had hours earlier. He stood back and frowned at the wood in
consternation. He knew she was telling the truth. Holding his hand
against one rectangle of the panelling, he could just feel the
faint flutter of cold air across the back of his hand. Tapping the
panelling told him exactly where the doorway was, he just didn’t
know how to get into it.

“
Do you want to get changed back into your breeches? It is
dirty in there,” Jamie frowned down at her pretty day dress. It was
different to yesterday’s dress. This one had delicate rose buds all
over it and accentuated the beautiful sky blue colouring of her
eyes. She was so breathtaking that he suddenly had second thoughts
about getting one smudge of dirt on her. If it wasn’t for the stark
white of the bandage against the jet black of her hair, he would
have relented and sent her back to her room to wait for him, but he
wanted her to spend the rest of her days at Melvedere fearing
absolutely nothing, and that included the passages.

“
I won’t be a minute,” Cecily whispered, glad she had had the
foresight to tie ribbon around the doorknob of the bedroom that was
hers. It saved her looking foolish with Jamie watching.

Jamie
smiled and understood her confusion. Melvedere was big, with many
rooms and corridors that all looked the same to the untrained eye.
In his youth, when guests stayed, the staff had often been sent to
simply stand in the corridors and help confused guests down the
stairs.

She
reappeared after only a few brief minutes, tucking the now cleanly
pressed shirt into the top of her freshly washed breeches. He
groaned at the sight of the clean material of her breeches clinging
to the curvy length of her legs, and forced himself to keep his
mind on the task at hand instead of what he really wanted to do.
With so many bedrooms surrounding them, the temptation was great.
Mentally chastising himself for his lechery, Jamie followed her
back downstairs.

“
Are you alright?” Cecily asked, pausing beside him with a
frown.

“
Yes, why?”

“
Oh, I thought I heard a growl that’s all,” Cecily muttered,
giving him a cautious look.

Jamie
fought hard to keep his face bland and waved her before
him.

“
Ready?” he asked once they were standing beside the rose
trellis. Cecily was holding two lit candles and standing behind him
nervously.

Shaking
her head, she looked into the darkened passage and swallowed as
though she was staring into the mouth of a hungry lion.

“
Stay close,” Jamie warned, knowing without hesitation that she
would do just that.

He was
looking forward to getting inside and exploring. She was terrified
of the darkness that seemed to be waiting to engulf her once
more.

As the
door closed behind her, she wondered if she would be sane by the
time they managed to find daylight again. Her hand shook as she
lifted the brightly flickering candle and, taking a deeply
fortifying breath, she shuffled after Jamie.

The
passage really was as bad as she had remembered. Although this time
she had the comforting bulk of Jamie’s broad back in front of her,
and the flickering candle in her hand, the sight of the endless
blackness framed by low hanging cobwebs was still blatantly
sinister.

“
Jamie, I don’t want to do this.” Cecily’s voice quivered with
fear.

Jamie
turned back toward her and grasped hold of her hand in a firm grip.
“I need you to tell me which way you came down here. You were
standing on the other side of the trellis when I saw you, so you
must have used this corridor. You are perfectly safe, darling, I
promise you. This is my house and there is nothing sinister here.
It is just a few cobwebs in a disused passage.”

Cecily
knew she should have told him about the man who had shown her the
way out. Maybe then he would understand, but she wasn’t at all sure
she understood it herself yet. She didn’t know what to make of any
of it except that she really didn’t like being in dark, enclosed
spaces. Still, the reassuring warmth of Jamie’s large hand
enfolding hers did go a long way toward settling her and she edged
a little closer.

“
There is only one way,” she replied weakly, staring at the
darkness further ahead.

“
Then let us go and see if we can find the doorway you fell
through. I don’t know about you but I don’t want any other guests,
or the staff, to fall through any more. You were lucky, and
sensible enough to find your way out. Someone else may not be so
lucky.”