Zach crawled out after her, feeling a twinge of regret that their intimate ride was over. Confined quarters in total darkness did have its advantages.
His eyes quickly adjusted to shadows in the kitchen and found the storage closet Fatima had spoken of. Locating the brick wall, he leaned his weight against it. It slowly moved aside.
"An escape tunnel for the members of the club," she exclaimed. "I wonder how many times they've had to use it." Including Jerrold? she thought.
"Evidently not all the members were informed about it," he dryly remarked of the half-naked gentlemen left scurrying about upstairs.
"Where does it lead?" Elyse poked her head inside, sniffing air that was oddly dry. There wasn't a trace of the damp coolness she'd expected.
"Hopefully a safe distance away." Zach turned to her. "By the way, do you usually prefer men's clothes?"
"Only when it suits me," she replied. "Actually, I find it's a great advantage when I want to move about unnoticed."
"In disguise," he added with that hint of humor.
"Exactly." When she tried to move past him, Zach reached out and snatched the wig from her head. Her hair tumbled past her shoulders.
"Impostor!" he accused, a devilish smile curving his lips as he moved past her into the passage.
Elyse followed, and he moved the wall back into place behind them. She abruptly came right up behind St. James in the darkness. A hand reached for hers. She took it and hoped that he knew where they were going. He moved quickly through the narrow passage, taking her with him.
"You're very good at this," she remarked, her words spoken into his back as he came to an abrupt halt. "This is not exactly the sort of skill a nobleman would come by in his usual activities. I'd almost think you've done this before."
"Or a proper English lady for that matter?" he replied. "And be quiet. I'm listening."
"For what?" Her response was immediately muffled by a hand across her mouth. She jerked it away.
"I can't breathe!"
Zach smiled. "I think I found it."
"What?"
"A door. This passage has to lead somewhere." His hand closed over hers in alarm.
"What was that?"
Elyse swallowed back her own panic at the grating sound. "It came from behind us!"
He released her and felt along the end wall for some sort of release mechanism. His fingers eventually brushed a metal handle. He pulled it and the wall opened into a chamber in another building. Elyse quickly scrambled after him, blinking uncertainly in the meager light.
"Come along," he told her. "It's time to get out of here." He swung the stout door back into place and shoved a thick bolt into place. Whoever was behind them wouldn't be able to follow from this end, but it might be only a matter of time before the constables entered this building and searched it. He seized her by the arm and headed toward a wooden stairway.
"Wait!" Elyse hissed frantically, pulling back on his hand.
"What the devil?" Zach demanded.
"I'm caught!" Her pants, a little too big for her slender build, were caught fast in the bolted door.
"There's no time," Zach told her as she frantically tried to free the woolen fabric. He pulled on the back of her pants.
"You're not going to leave me?" she demanded.
Their eyes met. There was something in the words that slipped inside him, and for just a moment... Just as quickly as it came, the moment was gone amid the sounds of their pursuers on the other side of the door.
"You'll have to take them off," he told her.
"I beg your pardon?"
