The Ravencliff Bride (30 page)

“Let me pass,” she scolded. “I shall have to fetch something to tether you with. You cannot stay here. The day has begun. Some of the servants are already at their chores. You’re going back to that room, whether you like it or not. Don’t you know I’m trying to help you, Nero? You aren’t safe here now.”

Inching along, she eased her way into the bedchamber. Shaking moisture from his shaggy coat, the beast followed her as far as the threshold then sat, his penetrating eyes watching her every move as she backed toward the wardrobe.

“How did you get so wet?” she asked. “You’ve been out on the strand again, haven’t you?”

The animal made no response, but when she reached inside the wardrobe, he got to his feet, his hackles raised, and his lips began to curl. It was a silent snarl this time, but there was no mistaking its warning.

“It’s no use,” she snapped. “You may as well behave. I’m not going to let them kill you.”

The words were scarcely out, when a knock at the foyer door wrenched a loud, guttural snarl from those curled-back lips, and when the door came open, the wolf sprang and leaped through it, driving Mills down as it fled.

Sara’s scream, Mills’s outcry as he hit the floor, and the thunderous crack of his pistol shot rang out in rapid succession. Sara reached him before he could stand scanning the hallway for some sign of the animal, but it was vacant.

“You’ve killed him!” she shrilled at the valet sprawled below.

“No, my lady, I missed,” he gritted, soothing his bony elbow, which had taken the brunt of the impact. “The fall spoiled my aim, more’s the pity.”

Dr. Breeden came running at the pace of a man half his age, and knelt beside the fallen valet.

“Are you all right, Mills?” he panted. “H-he didn’t bite you?”

“No, he did not,” the valet said, allowing the doctor to help him to his feet. “Just knocked the wind out of me making his escape.”

“Come. Let me have a look at your arm.”

“No, not just yet,” said the valet. “The others are going to be up here any moment. “If you would help, go down and tell them to stay below stairs until further notice—all of them. I would have a word with her ladyship before I join you again.” He turned to Sara, sweeping his good arm toward her sitting room. “My lady,” he said. “We must talk.”

Sara took her seat on the lounge, and bade the valet be seated also.

“Are you really all right, Mills?” she said. “You don’t look it.”

“I will be fine, my lady,” he said. “Where have you been? We have been beside ourselves searching for you after what occurred here last night.”

“I have been looking for his lordship,” she snapped, “who doesn’t seem to have a care that someone has been killed here!”

“My lady, you cannot wander about here now unattended. It simply isn’t safe until these matters are resolved.”

“Aren’t you presuming too much authority here, Mills?” she said. He was only a valet, after all. He had forgotten his place.

“No, my lady, I am not,” he responded, getting to his feet. “The master would have my head if you were to come to harm in his absence. He has left you in my charge.”

“And where is he off to this time, your master?” she insisted.

“He stepped out for a walk on the strand last night,” said the valet, “before the tragedy . . . as I told you.”

“And, he’s been gone all night?” she queried.

“He sometimes spends the night on the strand in fine weather, my lady. We are so often deprived here, what with the prevailing winds that never cease, and the currents on this coast that make short work of fine weather more often than not at this time of the year.”

“You’re lying,” she said flatly, surging to her feet.

“I beg your pardon, madam?” the valet breathed.

“I said, you are lying, Mills,” she repeated. “He went for no walk on the strand last night. He was with me in the green suite until Nell’s scream parted us. He ran out to see what had occurred, and he never returned. Now will you tell me what has become of your master?”

“With
you
, my lady?” the valet murmured.

“With me.”

“Praise God!” he murmured in an undertone.

“I’m waiting, Mills. Where is my husband?”

The valet’s posture collapsed. “I do not know, my lady, and I did not want to overset you.”

“Well, I am overset, Mills,” Sara said. “Nero did not harm Nell. I will never believe it. You tried to
shoot
him just now.”

“My lady, you must leave such matters to us,” he said, “but if you would be of service to this house, there is an urgent matter that needs your immediate attention.”

“And, what might that be?” She was verging upon being rude, but there was nothing for it. If he could not give her an honest answer, he hardly deserved civility. What did they all know that she did not, and why wouldn’t they tell her? If she were in such danger, as they all professed, why would no one tell her from whom, or from what?

“Nell has not died . . . of natural causes, my lady,” he said.
“The guards must be called in. In the absence of his lordship, the authority for that falls to yourself. The body cannot be removed and prepared for burial until they’ve come and gone.”

Sara sank back down on the lounge. Finally, something for her to command as mistress of Ravencliff, and she would have given anything to designate it to someone else. Tears welled in her eyes. Of course the guards must be called in. The poor girl had lain all night where she’d fallen. Of course Sara must be the one to give the order, and in so doing, she would seal Nero’s fate. Where was Nicholas? Her heart was breaking.

“I’m sorry, my lady,” said Mills. “There is no other way.”

“Of course,” said Sara. “Send someone to fetch the guards at once.”

“It would be best that you keep to your apartments until they’ve come and gone, my lady,” said the valet. “I do not know if you are aware, but they have already been out here once over tales that were told in the village. This will be difficult now because of that. You had best leave the guards to me. It would stand to reason that you would be in a taking after such an event. If they insist upon questioning you, it would be best that you actually
be
in a taking, if you follow my meaning, and offer as little by way of explanation as possible. If you will permit me, you were asleep when the scream woke you, and by time you exited your suite, the servants had gathered ‘round the . . . body, and you were so overset Mrs. Bromley saw you back to your rooms, and stayed to quiet you.”

“You have it all sorted out, don’t you?” Sara said.

“Yes, my lady.”

“What of his lordship? Where was he when all this was taking place?”

“His lordship has been called away on urgent estate business. He left Ravencliff before the tragedy. I helped him pack, and saw him off.” 242

“Yes, of course,” Sara replied. “Why doesn’t that surprise me? The last time his lordship was ‘called away’ on urgent business, I found him in his rooms recuperating from a pistol shot. You were trying not to overset me on that occasion, too, as I recall. What would I find if I stormed the bastion up there now, Mills?”

“N-nothing, my lady,” said the valet. “He is not there, I assure you.”

“Then you shan’t object if I see for myself.”

“I would rather you not, my lady,” said the valet. Why did he look as though he was about to expire? He’d suddenly gone as white as the morning mist drifting past the window. Indeed, the mist had more color. “I shall send Mrs. Bromley up with an herbal draught to calm you, and she will remain closeted with you in your suite until the guards have come and gone.”

“After I’ve visited the master suite,” Sara returned, storming out through the foyer door.

Mills’s spindly legs were no match for her long, agile ones. She reached the third floor before he negotiated the landing, and burst into the empty master suite sitting room.

“Nicholas?” she cried, moving on to the bedchamber, but that was empty as well, except for Dr. Breeden, whom she found on his knees brushing up wood splinters with the hearth broom.

Sara skittered to a halt and gasped. “What on earth has happened here?” she murmured, staring at the gaping hole in the dressing room door.

“Nothing to cause you concern, my lady,” said Mills from behind, clutching his elbow. His breath was coming short, and his color had not been restored, for all the blood-pumping experience of chasing her down two corridors and up a wicked flight of stairs. “‘Tis just a little . . . architectural mishap.”

“It looks rather like something more,” she replied, arms akimbo.

“Well, I assure you, it’s being addressed,” said the valet. “And now, my lady, as you can see, his lordship is not here, and I really must insist that you return to your suite and lock yourself in. I shall see you there, and have Mrs. Bromley attend you straightaway. I shall need you to draft a missive to summon the guards?”

“Yes, of course,” said Sara, her eyes still following the doctor’s movements. He had pried some of the splintered wood away from the lower door as if it were something he did as a daily occurrence, and was stacking it neatly against the dressing room wall.

“Very good,” said Mills. “Once I have it in hand, I shall have the stableman fetch them at once.”

“I will do that,” said the doctor, “and I will accompany her ladyship to her rooms, and remain with her until Mrs. Bromley arrives. Meanwhile, you will sit and calm yourself, Mills, or by the look of you, the guards will have two corpses to deal with when they arrive.”

Sara moved through the hours that followed like an automaton, with no more life than the little mechanical poppets sold at the fairs. Watts, the head stableman, brought the guards. They arrived at the noon hour, on the heels of a blustery squall that chased the morning mist with howling winds and torrents of horizontal rain. It couldn’t have been more ill timed. They were too few in number to do a thorough search of Ravencliff, only a brief walk-through of the most-used chambers, and Nero’s favorite haunts, pointed out by the staff.

A complete search of the house couldn’t be conducted without more men, and a search of the grounds could not be managed in such a gale even if they were more in number. Despite Mills’s account that he had fired on the animal that had killed Nell, and driven it from the house, the matter could not be laid to rest until every corner of the house and grounds had been searched and the animal responsible caught and killed before it attacked again. What this meant to Sara was that as soon as the gale subsided, they would be coming back. She had to find Nero, and hide him away in
the alcove room again. It was the one place in the house where he would be safe from the guards. With any luck, they wouldn’t even find the secret passageway, but if they did, the entrance to that hidey-hole was virtually invisible. She would be more careful in locking the panel this time. That was the plan, and it saw her through those hours, with only one thing left unsettled. Where was Nicholas?

The guards found no fault with Mills’s explanation of Nicholas’s absence. They did question Sara, as she knew they would, but she followed the valet’s direction to the letter—even to feigning a swoon when the interrogation became awkward—and they contented themselves with the accounts of Mills and Smythe and Dr. Breeden, whose medical report and corroboration of the servants’ accounts went a long way toward satisfying the investigators.

Permission was given to remove the body for burial. The nearest undertaker was brought from Padstow, and with Mrs. Bromley’s help, he prepared Nell and placed her body on a bier in the morning room, where she would remain until the storm passed over. The coffin, illuminated head and foot with candle branches, was closed, which was a mercy. The little abigail had been brutally savaged.

Sara refused to believe that Nero had done such a thing, but if he had not, who could have committed such a heinous assault? All signs pointed to Nero—the manner in which Nell was killed left little room for argument. Nell didn’t like the animal, and lately, when he was out of sorts, she’d feared him. Dogs were known to attack humans in whom they sensed fear, and Nicholas said Nero was part
wolf
. Who knew what that combination bred? Had the feral instinct in him surfaced? Had Nell become a victim of it? Sara thought of the times she’d felt fear in Nero’s presence, and, yes, it had emboldened him on all occasions. No! Not her Nero. She would never believe it. There must be another explanation.

She decided to take her meals in her rooms. She was perfectly fit to go down to the dining hall, but it would be
harder for her to collect food for Nero from there, and get it back to her suite without the footmen or Dr. Breeden noticing. It was a much better plan to play the overset mistress in earnest. She did, however, spend her time in between by keeping vigil in the morning room. It was the least she could do for the little maid who had been such a faithful servant.

One by one, the staff members filed in as their time allowed. All the while, Sara’s eyes were trained on the morning room door in anticipation of Nicholas striding through, but he never appeared. The candles were nearly burned to their sockets, when Mrs. Bromley came to replace them.

“Fie, my lady, are ya still down here, then?” she scolded. “It’s half-eleven. Do ya mean ta tell me nobody came ta see ya upstairs?”

“I put them off,” said Sara, rising. Her limbs were stiff. She couldn’t imagine from what. Sheer tension, she supposed, and she soothed the back of her neck, and stretched.

“Nobody can be spared to replace her,” said the housekeeper, laying a hand on the coffin. “You’ll have to be content with me, comin’ as my duties allow, till the master returns and we can bring another maid from the village ta attend ya. This has always been a man’s house, my lady. Menservants is what we’ve got mostly, but for a few chambermaids and scullions, none o’ which is fit ta offer ya.”

“Don’t worry about me, Mrs. Bromley,” said Sara. “I’m well accustomed to managing on my own. I’ll be fine.” This was good news. She needed no witnesses to what she was planning. “Has the master returned?” she asked.

“No, my lady, neither Mills nor Smythe knows when he’s expected, neither. Why, Smythe didn’t even know he’d gone off—none o’ us did, only Mills. It must’ve been somethin’ what come up suddenlike.”