“Here!” she replied, as loudly as she could manage. “Here, beneath the floorboards!”
“My God, what have you done this time?” She heard Justin’s voice and tears leaked down the sides of her cheeks in relief. He’d found her.
She could see the outline of his tall frame behind the wood slats. “Is Portia okay?” she asked.
“Portia rode all the way to the house with a dislocated shoulder. She’s currently resting and waiting for the doctor. You…”’ he began, sighing deeply, “are you very hurt?”
“I can move everything except my ankle,” she replied. “I think I’ve caught it under some rubble.”
The whole abbey seemed to groan as a strong gust of wind blew more cold and rain through the ruins. “We need to get you out of here, and quickly,” Justin said. “There’s a danger of further collapse.”
Cordelia marveled at his calm, matter-of-fact manner. She herself was halfway to hysterics, but the strong vibrato in his voice seemed to settle her. “You seem quite confident,” she tried, and to her consternation, heard him laugh on the other side of the downed floorboards.
“Don’t jinx me, woman,” he replied. “I need time to think. Get comfortable for me, will you?”
Cordelia lay back down on the hard-packed earth, trying to ignore the fact that two coffins were deposited on either side of her trapped body. Slowly and with great care, Justin was picking the rubble out piece by piece, doing his best not to cause another collapse. Eventually, she could see his dark brow as he worked, using his shirt to wipe the sweat and water from it.
“After this ordeal is over,” Justin said, “I am ordering a moratorium on all treasure hunting.”
In spite of her sore ribs, Cordelia chuckled. “Well, that might not be necessary.”
“Oh?” he asked, removing a large part of the floorboard. She could now see that he was wearing no jacket, with the white sleeves of his shirt rolled up far past his elbows. The firm muscles of his arms tensed as he removed more rubble.
“Look,” she said, gesturing to the small wood box that was still perched on her stomach. “This is it,” she said.
“Just that?” he asked, continuing to work and seemingly not very impressed. “All of the Rothesay fortune?”
Cordelia balked.
“I’m joking,” Justin said, offering her a lopsided grin that resulted in a rush of heat from the top of her head to low in her belly. She quickly chastised herself. Surely an abandoned abbey where she was trapped under wreckage was hardly a place for lighthearted flirting.
“There we are,” Justin finally said, and he lifted up the heavy beam that had been resting on her ankle. The rain was coming down even harder.
“Does it look bad?” she asked, anxious.
“I won’t examine it here,” he replied. “We’ll need to get you back to the house.”
He offered her his hand and she took it, holding firm as he lifted her off the ground. She cried out as she tried putting weight on the foot, the hot shooting pain sluicing up her back. “Easy there,” Justin murmured, and wrapped an arm around her waist to support her weight.
Together they hobbled over to the wall. Most of the main floor had been destroyed after Portia and Cordelia located the small treasure box. A few pews had been taken with her into the basement. Cordelia saw where one had been dragged to the wall. That must have been where Portia had scrambled out.
“Clever girl, your sister,” Justin murmured. He nodded ahead. “You first.”
Portia’s long legs might have had more luck reaching the wall. “I… I’m not sure,” she said. The pain in her ankle was becoming a rhythmic throb and it was making it difficult for her to think properly.
“I’ll give you a boost,” Justin replied, his voice gentle.
A loud crack of thunder sounded above, booming right over their heads. It made her shrink down a little, tucking thecherrywood box under her arm as she tested the pew with her good leg. Her other arm was holding onto Justin’s shoulder. The rain was becoming progressively worse, falling over them in heavy sheets.
“Keep going,” Justin said, shouting over the sudden din. She slipped on the drenched wood. Before she could fall forward, she felt two large hands spanning the length of her waist, hoisting her up high. Easily, Cordelia gripped the edge of the abbey’s stone wall and pulled herself up. She could nearly kiss the wet grass as she fell upon it, soiling the front of her dress beyond repair.
Thank you, she thought, to no one in particular.Thank you.
She heard a grunt as Justin landed on the ground beside her. She looked over at him and was alarmed when his face had gone white. “What’s happened?” she asked.
“I didn’t want to… worry you,” he tried.
Cordelia hobbled over to him and saw that he was clutching his forearm, blood leaking out from between his clasped fingers. “I got it caught on something when I was freeing you. Didn’t realize,” he muttered.
