He’d never heard Eliza so quiet, tame even.
“I assume, for the moment, that he is still too timid to face you directly.” Lucian stepped into the parlor. “Or it is his intention to terrify you. Either way, we cannot risk him returning or finally gaining the nerve to approach you directly.” Or heaven forbid, sneak into her bedchamber while the household slept. “It is not safe here. I will escort you to Wyndhill Park while Stella and Saul pack your belongings and theirs.”
When Eliza looked up, her silver eyes wide, Lucian saw fear in them for the very first time and it was all he could do not to approach and pull her into his arms.
“Thank you, Lord Garretson.” Then she frowned. “How did he even get in? Saul locked every window and every door.”
“The house was locked up when I arrived or I would have come inside and had a brandy while I waited for your return.”
“Could he still be in here?” she whispered.
A chill ran up Lucian’s spine because he had not thought to search the house.
Lucian stepped out onto the terrace and waved to a gardener. “I need every gardener to search this house.” He then marched to the corridor and yelled up to Saul to come down. “You stand outside the front and I will be outside in the back. I have men coming over to search the cottage.” Though, if someone had been in the house, they could have exited the front without anyone seeing.
He watched as Saul unlocked the door, which meant the man had gotten in by other means.
Saul exited as Lucian returned to the women and took them out onto the terrace. “Are there any other doors?”
“Only to the kitchen.” Stella pointed to one that led to a small kitchen garden. Lucian marched over and tested it, but it too was locked. Besides, had the man entered by that means, he would have been seen by his gardeners.
With any luck, the culprit was stuck inside and his gardeners would discover him.
Another disturbing thought was that the man may have a key, which was all the more reason to vacate the premises.
It was not long before the groundskeeper reported that nobody could be found inside. Lucian then asked if they could determine how anyone could get into a locked house. He would have searched and tried to determine this himself, but Stella was still shaking, Eliza was pale, and he did not want to leave them alone and unprotected after what had happened.
“It was the earth cellar,” another gardener announced.
“This cottage does not have an earth cellar,” Stella insisted.
“This way.” The gardener led them to the side of the cottage and hidden behind overgrown bushes and three steps down was another door. Lucian turned the handle and stepped inside where another gardener waited. At the side was another set of stairs. It was Stella who climbed them and pushed open the door. “This was here the entire time,” she gasped.
“Where does it lead?” Eliza asked.
“To the back of the pantry. There are shelves on the other side of the door and I had never noticed the handle before.”
At least they now knew how he had gotten in and out of the cottage. Goosepimples emerged on his arms as Lucian realized just how vulnerable they’d been. There was nothing on this side of the house, no neighbors, just more trees. No wonder his gardeners hadn’t seen anything.
As soon asshe learned that the lock was broken on the door leading to the earth cellar and that there was no lock on the door at the back of the pantry, Eliza quickly agreed to vacate Greenhaven Cottage. In fact, she couldn’t leave quickly enough and only paused to gather the novel she was working on and the other documents she needed, pencils, quill, and the inkpot. Her servants could bring everything else, but she wasn’t leaving behind her most important possessions.
How many times had he been inside without them knowing, or had he discovered the entry today?
It didn’t matter. They were too vulnerable here.
Thank goodness Garretson insisted on keeping watch, not that it did any good, but he was there and offering his home and protection, which she would gladly take.
“Come along, Eliza. I will send footmen and maids over to help your servants and the gardeners will keep watch, but you need to be away from here.” He glanced at her trunk. “I will have that brought over with your other things.”
“It stays with me,” she insisted.
He frowned. “Is it truly necessary?” he asked.
“Yes!”
“Very well.” Garretson then called for a gardener to carry the trunk and follow them back to Wyndhill Park.
Eliza shivered with awareness of being watched and glanced around her and back to the wooded area. Was he there now watching and waiting?
