Nancy nodded earnestly, then scurried off.
By the time Stephen reached the hallway outside, the little girl was nearly out of sight. He hurried after her, anxiety bubbling up in his chest. He tried not to think of his grandmother lying prone on the floor. At her age, even a simple fall could be dangerous.
By the time he reached the ground floor, his anxiety had peaked into real concern. He broke into a sprint, hurrying toward Letitia’s rooms. There was no sign of Nancy, but that hardly mattered now.
The door was barely ajar, and he threw it open, his heart hammering.
“Grandmother?” he burst out. “Are you…”
He stopped dead. There was no sign of Letitia in the parlor. Instead, Amelia stood by the window, looking out. She flinched at his dramatic entrance and eyed him warily.
“Letitia isn’t here,” she said.
Stephen frowned. Could Nancy have meant that his grandmother had fallen in her room? He walked over to the door that led into her chambers and tried the door. It was locked.
“Letitia told me to come here,” Amelia said quickly. “I was supposed to look at some fabrics with her, but there aren’tany fabrics here.”
Stephen froze, his eyes widening.
Oh, dear.
Outside, footsteps scurried in the hall, and a small voice barely suppressed a giggle. Then the door slammed shut.
Stephen leaped across the room, grabbing the handle, but as he’d guessed, it was locked already.
“Nancy!” he shouted, rattling the door handle.
There was no point in bracing his shoulder and trying to force the door open, for it opened inward. He would have to smashthe doorframe itself, and these doors were old and exceptionally sturdy.
A giggle came from outside, and he rattled the handle once more.
“Nancy, you will be in a great deal of trouble if you don’t open the door,” he warned, clenching his jaw.
In a flash, Amelia was at his side, pale-faced.
“Nancy?” she called. “If you are the one who did this, you had better unlock the door at once. Are you listening to me?”
Only silence greeted them.
Stephen’s heart sank into his stomach. “Oh, hell,” he muttered, giving the handle one last rattle and stepping back. “It seems we are my grandmother’s prisoners.”
“Letitia? But you said that Nancy…”
“I doubt that my grandmother would have been quick enough to lock us in here. She’s gotten Nancy to do her dirty work for her, I think.”
Amelia eyed him warily, drawing her lower lip between her teeth. She let it slip free almost immediately, her lip red and slick from her tongue.
A wave of desire, almost impossible to ignore, rushed through Stephen. He cleared his throat and strode over to the windows, pretending to rattle them.
There was no sense in doing that. The parlor windows were always drafty, so they had been painted shut decades ago. There’d be no escape that way. He briefly considered using a chair or something to break the glass, but that would only make a mess and potentially hurt someone.
Besides, they wouldn’t be in here for toolong.
“I’m sorry, I am confused,” Amelia said. “I don’t understand what’s happening. Why have we been locked in here? Is it Nancy or Letitia behind this?”
“Grandmother, certainly,” Stephen snapped. He turned, lowering himself onto the window seat, and heaved a tired sigh. “I swear, that woman is going to drive me crazy. Perhaps she already has. That would explain a good deal about me.”
“I do not understand.”
