Cecily squirmed. “As much as I love how this feels,” she said with a gasp, “I cannot breathe.”
Stephen slid onto the bed and cuddled her next to him. “Is that better?” he asked, more than a little shaken by what they had done.
“Oh, it was perfect,” she said. “I consider myself… obliterated.” And then with a little mewling sound, she said, “Thank you.”
A couple of minutes after that, he heard her breathing evenly. Her breaths gradually deepened into some very feminine, sweet and soft, gentle snores. Stephen kissed her on the forehead and attempted to let the sounds of her beside him lull him into his own dreams.
CHAPTER TEN
Later that night,Stephen still lay awake, angry that any person had found such easy access to Cecily’s room, and with a snake no less! The more the thought taunted him the more restless he became, until finally he gave up on sleep completely and climbed out of bed.
Cecily didn’t stir as Stephen lit a candle, pulled on his breeches, and located his shirt. Having already decided he needed to make a quick check of Cecily’s room, he dressed quickly, not bothering to button his shirt nor don any shoes. He must eventually return her to her chamber, but he did not want any more surprises left there for her.
He realized the mistake he’d made the moment he pushed open the door to her suite. He’d wanted to erase the gruesome carnage that had taken place there but realized now that any evidence the intruder may have left was very likely not only disturbed, but obliterated.
The word jolted him momentarily.
Shaking it off, he checked the windows and made a note to himself that there hadn’t been any forced entry there. None of the locks on any of the doors accessing Cecily’s chambers had been disturbed either. His first instinct was most probably right. Whoever had left the snake had been given legitimate access to the house.
He walked around the bed, still astonished at what Cecily had done to the snake; his eyes sought anything out of the ordinary. As though nothing untoward had occurred a few hours earlier, the saber was once again safely displayed above the fireplace. The floor was cleaned and polished. Finally, as he knelt down and looked under the bed, something caught his attention.
A burlap sack was stuffed behind one of the chairs. Examining it thoughtfully, he was quite certain that this most likely was what had been used to transport the snake. There were a few pieces of straw… and…
Three long strands of ebony hair.
“The snake’s body has been cleared away?”
Cecily stood in the doorway, holding her own candle. She had donned her nightgown again, but her hair tumbled about her shoulders. Her toes barely peeked out from beneath the white gown.
Stephen set down his own candle and the burlap bag before walking across the room to wrap her in his arms. It was as though she were his touchstone. He took a strange sort of comfort from the mere act of holding her. “I didn’t want to wake you,” he said, kissing the top of her head. “I merely thought to take a look around and see if I could find any clues that might lead us to whoever brought in the adder.”
Cecily squirmed a little and pulled away. “I don’t think they disturbed anything but the bed when they released the snake.” She said after eyeing the area.
“So, the snake was under the coverlet? Had the maid not pulled it back for you?”
Tilting her head and narrowing her eyes in thought, Cecily walked over to the bed. “Chadwick was agitated by the bed. He knew something was amiss.” Smoothing down the counterpane with one hand tentatively, Cecily peered back at him. “The coverlethadbeen pulled back. The snake was under thesheet. It all happened very quickly, and Chadwick was making a horrible ruckus. The sheet did not come off easily. It had been tucked under the mattress nice and snug. Would it not have been difficult for one person to get a snake under the sheet and then make the bed up tightly? Would the snake have cooperated in such a way that this would be a simple task?”
“I’m not sure… but definitely worth considering.” Stephen reached out and pulled both the sheet and coverlet down all the way. “No more snakes, sweetheart. Will you be able to sleep in here?”
Hugging her arms to herself and rubbing her elbows nervously, Cecily looked about the room. “Did you look in the closets? Under the furniture?”
Feeling somewhat useful, Stephen methodically checked every crevice or nook where something devious might have been left until Cecily indicated that she felt safe.
In a quieter voice, Cecily asked, “Do you know if Flavion ever returned?”
Shrugging, Stephen went to the door of their adjoining rooms and disappeared for a moment. He returned quickly, shaking his head. “He’s not in there. I’m surprised, what with his injuries from earlier this morning — yesterdaymorning,” he corrected himself, glancing at the clock.
Cecily had climbed up onto the bed and was looking somewhat reluctant to put herself under the covers.
“Shall I stay a while longer?” He could hold her until she fell asleep and then return to his own room and call Hamilton to dress for the day. It was not yet dawn, but he didn’t think he could sleep. He would use these early hours to study the estate documents and reports and then later, consider who might have left the snake for Cecily to find.
Cecily nodded, and he climbed back onto the bed.Sheapparently had less noble thoughts, however, as she reached down and drew her nightgown up over her head before curling up next to him.
Stephen did not make it back to his own room as quickly as he’d planned.
Cecily had a way of doing that…obliteratinghis plans, that was…
When Cecily awoke,she did not feel as gloriously wonderful as she had thought that she would. In fact, she felt downright horrible. She felt tired, achy, and a little bilious. In addition to those complaints, her left hand was slightly swollen. Making a fist and turning it side to side, she surmised that she must have strained some muscles while slamming the saber into the hard floor.
