Graeme knew that for these reasons it would be best if he could persuade her to return to England, where she would be safe. Perhaps he wouldn’t even take her to London, but rather one of his country estates, where she would be away from danger. He wondered if there was something he could offer her, making a bargain to persuade her to leave. But even as the thought hit him, he knew it would not work. Vanessa was smart. She would not be bribed into obedience by pretty baubles.
He hadn’t wanted a wife, but that mattered not now, regardless of how much trouble she’d get into. And that inquisitive nature of hers was likely what had fueled the intense passion he discovered last night.
He kept moving and entered a spot where the tunnel narrowed. He hunkered down to fit his too-large frame in the smaller area and kept going. Pain radiated up his arm as he clutched it tightly to his body to fit through the tunnel. His light flickered, and he knew there was more air up ahead. Encouraged by the new source of airflow, he increased his pace.
“Vanessa,” he called.
There was no response. Hell. He might have gone completely in the wrong direction. But he kept going. Finally, the tunnel opened up, and he found himself in the spot where Vanessa had been standing earlier—the open gorge to his left and a partially crumbled wall directly in front of him.
“Vanessa?” he called again. Where the hell had she gone?
* * *
Vanessa stared at the skeleton at her feet, wondering what precisely had caused his or her demise. She saw no obvious sign of death, such as a sword or any such weapon protruding from the body. Had the person been shot, she wouldn’t be able to tell now, as the flesh had been eaten away. Now all that was left were bones wearing clothes that appeared too large for them, like a young girl playing in her mother’s dress—something Vanessa had never done, but both her sisters had. Perhaps this unsuspecting soul had been lost and simply lay down, gave up hope, and starved to death.
She knelt and searched around the skeleton but found nothing of interest, so she simply stepped around him and moved forward. The tunnel continued to narrow.
Her body practically hummed with excitement, though she knew fear contributed partly to that. She’d never before seen a dead body, and she couldn’t help but shiver a bit every time she envisioned its hollow eyes. She was thankful that only bones were left.
Up ahead, Vanessa could see stone formations, and she held out her candle for a better view. Rough grooves ran down the wall and floor, as if water had sliced into the rock and left scars in its wake. Stalagmites stood from the cavern floor like old men in drab robes, and stalactites hung from the ceiling in a haphazard, jagged pattern.
This certainly appeared to be an older part of the cavern. Water trickled through a small crevice at her feet, and the sound of it had a musical quality. Vanessa stepped deeper into the cavern, careful of each placement of her feet. The sharp stalactites clumped together, making some areas look nearly impossible to traverse. When coupled with some of the massive formations sculpted from the ground, the cavern became a veritable maze.
Unable to resist the temptation, she reached out and ran her fingers across one of the lumpy stalagmites to her right. It was cold and damp and quite solid, feeling almost like a roughly carved statue.
“Vanessa!”
She turned at the sound of the voice echoing far behind her.
“Vanessa!” That certainly sounded like Graeme.
Had Graeme discovered a way to save her? That was indeed good news. But what should she do about her discovery here?
“Where are you?” he asked.
“Just a moment,” she said. She eyed her surroundings once more, knowing she must return to investigate. A cavern this old promised wonderful finds. This was a prime fossil-hunting ground.
“Vanessa, now!” he bellowed.
“Graeme?” Her voice came from far off in the distance.
“Where are you?” he asked.
“Just a moment,” she said casually, as if she were doing nothing more than entertaining friends in her parlor.
Just a moment for what? Damned if her curiosity hadn’t lured her in another direction. But with the instability caused by the explosion, Graeme couldn’t allow her to simply explore these caves on her own.
“Vanessa, now!” he demanded again. He stood over the partially crumbled wall, noting the tidy pile of rocks where she’d removed them to make the space large enough. She had evidently crawled over this and made her way down that tunnel. But she hadn’t removed enough rocks to make way for him to crawl through, and he didn’t dare remove any additional stones lest he permanently trap Vanessa on that side.
She came out of the tunnel with her skirt and boots damp and cobwebs hanging off her hair. Her eyes widened with exasperation.
“What is the emergency?” she asked.
CHAPTER 9
Niall climbed the hill up to his home, his heart beating fast. He merely needed to bide his time and allow The Raven to sit there, trapped, for a while until he was ready to negotiate. Niall threw open his front door, then made his way to his study. It was far earlier than he would normally seek out a stiff drink, but today he needed one. He believed that he had some scotch lying around from his previous visit.
He couldn’t wait to confront the bastard. Demand to know where his family was, and then and only then would he consider releasing The Raven from his trap. The dynamite would have created a blast large enough to strand the man in a desolate part of the cave with no discernible way out. It was a perfect plan.
