Chapter Ten
It took awhile for Jenny to settle Barbara; the child kept getting out of bed to check on the kitten which was curled up in the basket on the floor. Finally, both children dropped off to sleep, and Jenny retired to her bed leaving the nursery door ajar.
She must have fallen asleep. She and the duke were waltzing, he with the precision and grace of movement she’d come to expect, along with the strength and self-command which was inherently him. Suddenly, a dark shadow loomed over them. They broke apart, and Jenny, heart beating hard, backed away from some unknown terror.
A wail brought her awake. Jenny leapt out of bed and stumbled into the nursery. Barbara sat up in bed. “Carrot’s run away.”
“He can’t have gone far, sweetheart.” The candle lit, she turned to search the room. No sign of Carrot. In the far corner, William’s bed was empty, the covers thrown back. With a sense of panic she discovered the door to the corridor stood open.
“William’s gone to get him,” Barbara said.
“He’ll be searching the corridor.” Jenny peered out into the shadowy hallway and called his name. Her voice echoed eerily back at her. She came back to the anxious little girl. “I’ll fetch William and Carrot. You must stay in your bed, Barbara, until the footman comes. Promise me?”
Barbara sniffed and nodded. “You’ll bring Carrot back?”
“Don’t worry. Carrot won’t have gone far.” Jenny pulled the bell then ran into her bedroom and snatched up her dressing gown. She pushed her feet into her slippers.
She closed the nursery door behind her. “William?” Her slippers tapped hollowly down the dim corridor bathed in shadows. She should have taken time to light the lantern, but fortunately, enough moonlight shone in to light her way.
There was no sign of William as she walked along the corridor. Her calls were met with silence. She had come to the end of the corridor. The door leading down was locked. There was nowhere to go except up the stairs to the round tower unless he’d gone in the other direction and down the main stairs. In that case, he would safely return soon. But if he’d followed the kitten up… Jenny didn’t hesitate. She entered the narrow stairs and began to climb as the wooden steps creaked and echoed emptily. At the floor above, the door was locked. She gathered what was left of her breath to call again. She should go back, but found she couldn’t ignore the risk that he might be up there.
She entered the empty round chamber at the top of the stairs, and gasped for breath, her heart banging against her ribs. She hated heights and had never been tempted to come up to the tower. The door to the roof stood open, moonlight flooding inside. Surely William wouldn’t go out onto the parapet? Why then was the door left open? Jenny stepped outside into a moaning wind, while praying that Carrot had led William down to the floors below, and he was now safely back in his bed in the nursery. The blast of cold air hit her, making her blink, and carrying with it a faint sound. Was it William? She yelled, but the wind snatched her voice away. Behind the battlements the narrow walkway led around the tower. There were wide gaps at intervals in the masonry. Up here the moonlight looked ghostly, but it did help her find her way. She tried not to look beyond the battlements to the inky blackness below. She called again, her voice hoarse. Was she being foolish? Should she turn back?
“I’m here.” William’s faint voice carried on the wind.
“Where?” She almost choked on a cry of relief as she moved along crab-like, leaning into the sloping roof and away from the dreadful drop, one stumble and… “Where are you, William?”
On the moonlit side it was easy to make her way, but when she moved back into shadow away from the moon, her steps became frustratingly slow. She’d almost circumnavigated the tower when she found him. Shock and panic gripped her, pulling her up. William was above her on the sloping roof, squashed into a narrow space beneath the finial. Carrot struggled and mewed piteously in his arms. If he slipped, he would tumble…
“I’m here now, William.” She positioned herself beneath him and held up her arms. He had begun to climb down but there was still several feet between them. “I’ll take the cat.”
William’s face looked as pale as the moon. He edged sideways down the slope. When he reached where Jenny had anchored herself, legs spread, ready to help him, he balked. The last bit required him to leave the roof and step down onto the parapet. It frightened her as much as he. “First, give me Carrot,” she said, forcing calm authority into her voice.
He gasped. “I… I can’t. The cat will fall.”
“Cats are nimble. They have nine lives, didn’t you know? I won’t let him go. You can do it.” She sucked in a breath as William leaned toward her, the kitten protesting. “That’s right, now…” Jenny reached up and grabbed the kitten by the scruff of the neck. While Carrot wriggled and yowled, Jenny locked a vice-like grip on William’s arm with her free hand as he dropped down. “That’s right. Good boy!”
As pale as marble he stood beside her. Shaking, he struggled to speak. “I was afraid, Miss… Jenny.”
“Of course you were, William. So was I! But you are so very brave. And it’s all right now,” she said briskly. “Hang onto me and we’ll edge our way around to the door. Be sure not to look down.”
Minutes later, they ducked their heads and almost fell into the tower room. William sank to the floor. Jenny’s heart pounded loud in her ears as she shut the door. She dropped down close beside him and gave his arm a squeeze and then settled the cat more comfortably in her arms. The purring animal had decided not to put up any more resistance. “How did Carrot manage to get up here?”
“Carrot was on the bottom step,” William said. “I snatched him and ran up here. I didn’t want him to be hurt.”
“Why did you think he would be hurt?”
“Because someone was in the corridor, Jenny. Something woke me. The nursery door was open, and Carrot wasn’t in his basket, so I went out looking for him. When I found him on the stairs, I thought I heard a noise. Something moved in the shadows behind me, so I picked up Carrot and came up here. The door to the roof was open and Carrot escaped. I had to go after him.”
Jenny dragged in ragged breaths to still her anxiety and calm her voice. “William, tell me exactly what you saw and heard.”
“I thought I heard footsteps,” he said. “But then you called out. Whoever it was, must have run away.”
“But wouldn’t I have seen them? They would have to pass by me in the corridor.”
“I don’t know, Jenny…” His voice broke. “I couldn’t have imagined it, could I?”
“I’m not sure, William. The shadows can look like that sometimes. You didn’t see who it was?”
