Page 63 of The Hidden Heart

Fear shot through her, and she stiffened. In the next instant she felt someone’s breath against her ear, and a low voice murmured, “It is I, Richard. Don’t scream.”

Jessica sagged against him in relief and nodded her head. He released her and took his hand from her mouth, and she turned to find him watching her with a wry expression. He was dressed all in black, his usual white shirt and ascot replaced now by a simple black shirt, collarless and open at the throat. Taking her by the hand, he pulled her back a few steps along the hall and into an alcove. There was a padded bench stretching across the width of the alcove, almost filling it, and above it in the wall was a narrow window set with the thick opaque glass popular in Tudor times. Moonlight filtered in through the glass, lighting the small recess dimly. Cleybourne gestured toward the bench, and Jessica sat down on it. He sat beside her and reached out to either side of the doorway in front of them and pulled two pocket doors out of the walls, closing them across the open doorway of the alcove. The doors were made of open woodwork, creating a grill through which one could see, but which kept the alcove hidden.

Jessica glanced around her in surprise. “I didn’t even know this was here,” she whispered. She had walked past the wooden grillwork many times but had not realized that anything lay behind it.

Richard nodded and leaned closer. “It was part of the castle’s defenses originally, a place for an archer to stand and fire out.” He indicated the narrow window above them. “Later they filled it in with glass and made this embrasure a place to sit. Later, some secretive soul put in the doors.”

Jessica nodded. She glanced at him; he was looking back at her. He raised his eyebrows questioningly. “Are you going to tell me what you were doing?”

Jessica sighed. “I was going to hide close to the stairs, by the potted plant, and keep watch.”

“For what?”

Jessica arched one eyebrow at him. “For the same thing you are watching for, I imagine. There is something strange going on, and I want to find out what it is.”

“I suppose there is no way I can convince you to go to your room and allow me to keep watch.”

Jessica could not hold back a grin as she shook her head. “I have something at stake here.”

He raised an eyebrow, saying, “And what might that be?”

Before she could answer, there was the sound of a door opening in the hall, and both Richard and Jessica leaned into the screen, gazing through its carved curlicues, first one way and then the other. Two doors down, a woman dressed in a dark dressing gown stepped out quietly into the hall and closed the door behind her. It was Leona Vesey, her tawny hair loose and curling invitingly over her shoulders.

She looked up and down the hall, then moved quietly along it, stopping at a door and tapping so softly that Jessica could not hear it, only see the movement of her hand. The door opened to reveal a man dressed in breeches and a shirt, the shirt open and hanging outside his pants. The man was the Reverend Radfield.

He reached out, smiling at Leona, and took her by the wrist and tugged her inside. Leona went willingly, with a little giggle, coming up against his chest. He closed the door behind her.

Jessica turned, astonished, to Cleybourne. He looked back at her, then shrugged. They returned their gazes to the hallway. For the next few minutes, nothing happened. Jessica, keeping her eyes straight ahead toward the doors, was very aware of Richard’s presence beside her. His large body filled the little room, his shoulder so close to hers they were almost touching. She could feel his warmth, smell the scent of shaving soap and male body that was uniquely his, hear the sound of his breath.

It occurred to her that being with him like this was hardly in keeping with the decision she had made to avoid him. Sitting here together in the darkness was far too intimate. Whenever he leaned closer to whisper in her ear, his breath brushed her hair and skin, sending little tendrils of desire snaking through her. She could not keep her mind from turning to his kisses of the other night and the delightful sensations that had flooded her at his touch. Jessica told herself that she should go back to her room; she was putting herself right in the path of danger.

A noise in the hall made her jump. She peered out and saw Lord Vesey close his door and saunter down the hall. He was moving toward Gaby’s room, and Jessica felt Richard tense beside her as Vesey stopped outside Gabriela’s door. He reached out, took the doorknob in his hand and turned it. Richard and Jessica rose to their feet, ready to burst through the door and down the hall.

The doorknob turned and stopped. It was locked. Jessica let out a sigh of relief and sank back to the bench as Vesey shrugged, letting go of the knob, and strolled back down the hall. He turned onto the stairs and disappeared down them.

“Where is he going?” Jessica whispered.

“I have no idea. Perhaps I should follow him. You could stay here to watch and—”

He broke off, for another door had opened. He and Jessica turned once again to look. This time it was Mrs. Woods who had left her room. She, like the others, glanced up and down the hallway, then started off.

“This is like a French farce,” Jessica muttered.

Mrs. Woods stopped in front of a door only two doors away from them. Because the door lay on the same side of the hallway, they could not see who opened it, but they heard the sound of it opening, and Mrs. Woods passed through it.

“Who was it?” Jessica asked.

“I don’t know. I couldn’t see him. But that door belongs to Kestwick’s room.”

“So Lady Vesey has an assignation with the minister, and Mrs. Woods is rendezvousing with Lord Kestwick. I wonder if Lord Vesey was meeting someone downstairs.”

“There is no one young enough for him except Gaby, and he already failed there.” Richard sighed. “Unfortunately, I cannot see how a few romantic assignations could have caused someone to break into the study. Which makes it more likely that it is Vesey.”

He glanced out into the hall. “I am half-afraid that if I go in pursuit of him, I shall run into someone, there has been so much traffic in the hall,” he said dryly, then stood up. “Well, I shall venture downstairs after him. You keep watch.”

Jessica nodded, and Richard slipped silently out the door. He was gone from sight in a moment. She waited, watching the dark corridor, but nothing happened. She wondered what Richard was doing, if he had found Vesey. Minutes inched by. Just as she was beginning to think of going after Richard, a dark shape appeared at the top of the stairs. Her heart began to pound violently, but then as it turned and made its way stealthily down the hall, Jessica recognized it as Richard.

He came down the hall toward her. There was the crack of a door opening. Richard whirled and looked over his shoulder, then quickly took a few more steps and ducked down between the potted plant and the table, where Jessica had originally intended to hide.