Sure enough, his room was comfortably warm from the fire crackling in the hearth. Even though the end of summer, Edinburgh’s air was still damp enough to carry a chill. The scent of sunshine and lye soap filled the room, and he inhaled deeply. The fresh smell of laundry was vastly different here than his home in London. Never did the sheets fully become fresh from the clean air as they did here, and he breathed greatly, anticipating the delightful sensation of his bed that evening. Tugging on his cravat, he loosened the offensive garment and shrugged out of his coat. Twisting his neck, he tugged on his shirtsleeves and loosened his top button. Far more relaxed, he took the few steps to the window that overlooked the back of his property. Just as when he was a lad, he traced the correct path of the maze with his gaze, but as he reached the end, he paused.
Someone was in the maze.
He took a step closer to the window to inspect. Sure enough, a young lady—the governess, he suspected—wove through the path with expert ease, taking each turn correctly till she emerged on the other side of the puzzle. She walked toward the hills then, abandoning the maze and disappearing behind a hedgerow. His gaze darted ahead to where she’d emerge in the break between the hedges. It took only a few seconds and he saw her once again. The slight breeze was teasing her bonnet ribbons, and he saw her reach up to their drifting ends before disappearing behind the row once more.
He glanced to the next separation and grinned when he noted the absence of her bonnet. Perhaps the governess wasn’t quite as prim as she pretended.
He found he liked that idea.
Dismissing it, he was about to turn away when he saw her disappear once again. Out of habit, he glanced ahead to the next row, but after several seconds, she didn’t appear.
Curious, he waited a few moments longer.
Nothing.
Now confused, he placed his hands on his hips and studied the courtyard. She hadn’t turned back either.
Odd.
He waited a few moments more, and when she still didn’t appear, he disregarded the wayward woman and turned his back to the window.
But he wasn’t able to dispel his curiosity.
It was both his greatest asset and his greatest fault.
He changed his shirt, then turned to the window.
He washed his face, then turned to the window again.
He looked to the door, then to the window.
“Blast it all,” he muttered before opening his door and all but stalking out.
He moved down the hall and then opened the door to the servant’s stairway; it would be the quickest way to the back of the estate. He took the stone steps two at a time, then paused on the landing below. The wooden door creaked loudly as he opened it, spilling sunshine in over the gray stone. The call of a dove was the only sound above the gentle stirring of the wind. He took the path that led away from the house and toward the maze, then took a smaller fork in the path to where the hedgerow started its division of the property. Rather than follow the path the governess had taken, he opted for a more relaxed route, deciding to at least appear as if it were happenstance.
No need for the lady to think he was watching her.
He was simply curious.
It was innocent enough, yet how long had it been since anything he’d done could be considered innocent?
He glanced to the hills as he walked along the outside of the hedgerow, his hand tracing the lower hedge beside it, brushing the bright green leaves with his fingertips. When he reached the place he assumed the lady to be pausing, he gentled his steps and listened.
Nothing.
As he made it to the next break in the hedgerow, he turned, expecting to startle the young lady.
But the there was no young lady.
Unaccustomed to being surprised, Heathcliff frowned, then glanced around, scanning the property. It was entirely likely she had moved while he was traveling between his room and the staircase, but wouldn’t he have seen her then?
And why in the bloody hell did it even matter? He didn’t need to chase a skirt; hell, skirts chased him.
In droves.
But it was something of a thrill, however small, to solve the mystery. He didn’t have any pressing plans for the afternoon.
And surely it wouldn’t take long.
