Emily stared blankly at the gleaming pile of gold, too stunned to think for many moments, too surprised to fend off the emotions that washed through her.
Gladness and relief should have been uppermost. Neither emotion was. Instead, a faint nausea washed over her and the depression she’d been firmly holding at bay all day flooded through her with a vengeance.
"He found my gold when he was putting the bed back together and brought it to me," she said aloud, feeling it on her tongue, questing for the relief she knew she should feel.
It evaded her. Instead, the uncomfortable sense of having been paid for services rendered crept into her mind.
Gritting her teeth, she stalked over to the table and stared down at the coins. "They’re mine," she said more loudly. "He merely acknowledged it by returning them to the rightful owner when he found them."
They blurred before her eyes. Her chin wobbled. Sniffing, she crossed the room and climbed into the center of the bed, thinking. After a few moments, she realized that she was carefully avoiding any thoughts at all about Nigel. She decided it was best to continue that way. She had better things to do, and far more important things to do, than to weep into her pillow like a lovelorn teenager.
Nigel was gone and he’d left the gold.
He might, or might not, be coming back. It was possible he’d left the gold as his way of saying he was giving up his claim to her castle.
That depressed her so much she had to struggle against the tears again. When she’d fought the urge to a standstill, she tried to consider it on the good side.
It was a good thing. It meant she wasn’t going to have to find a lawyer to help her slug it out in court. It meant she wouldn’t have to worry about spending her windfall on lawyers and court when she really needed it to set the place to rights.
It meant she didn’t have to worry about Nigel’s unwanted attentions anymore.
She did cry then until she finally fell asleep.
She woke the following morning feeling as if she’d been beat down. Somewhere in the rounds of feeling sorry for herself, however, she’d found her backbone and decided what to do.
It wasn’t safe to keep the coins in the castle. She was liable to get robbed, or worse. Fortunately, she’d fallen asleep a good bit earlier than usual the night before and, consequently, woke earlier, as well. By the time the workmen arrived, she’d managed to stow the gold in the trunk of the car.
"You’re off ta London too, then, Missus?"
Emily turned and stared at Sean in surprise, trying to think how she could respond to the remark without displaying the fact that this was the first inkling she’d had that that was where Nigel had gone. A poker face wasn’t something nature had seen fit to give her, however, and it took her too long to respond in any case. Sean reddened. "I was just thinkin’ if ye were off ta London ta stay with Mr. MacKissack tha’ you might na’ be needin’ us for a few days."
Emily felt faint color rise in her own cheeks. "No. Unless you need a few days off?"
"I’d as soon work. Can’t pay the creditors sittin’ around the flat."
Emily forced a smile. "Too true. I expect to be back later this evening, though. I might spend the night in the city, but, at the latest, I’ll be back tomorrow and I’d rather y’all kept at it now that things are finally starting to come together."
She hadn’t actually planned to drive all the way down to London, but once Sean had put it into her mind she decided that would be the best. Besides, an international city would give her more avenues for sale of the coins.
It was scary driving in London. She’d thought she’d grown accustomed to driving on the opposite side of the road, but she’d been driving for years in the U.S. and it was hard to grow accustomed to everything being exactly backwards. Besides, it was a strange city and driving in any large city that was unfamiliar was unnerving.
It had taken longer to make the trip than she’d expected and she was exhausted by the time she arrived.
The banks were all closed.
Since there was nothing else for it, Emily located a hotel for the night. The bellhop looked at her strangely when he hefted her bags, but she pointedly ignored the curious look he sent her way, leading the way to her room.
She couldn’t help but wonder if Nigel had indeed come to London and, if so, where he was staying, but she curbed the desire to search for him, spending a quiet evening in her room. The following morning, Emily rose early and had her bags brought down again, drove to the bank she’d chosen and rented a safety deposit box big enough to hold her coins. She felt better once she had them stored, at least in the sense that the fear of being robbed subsided. Keeping one of the coins, she left the bank and spent the next several hours checking with the shops for a likely buyer.
It was nearly noon by the time she managed to locate the last shop on her list and she was beginning to feel pressed for time. She supposed that was why she collided with the man in the shop. He grabbed her as she rebounded.
"Excuse me! I’m so sorry! I was in a hurry and not watching where I was going," Emily apologized, throwing a glance upward at the man whose hands lingered on her shoulders and then freezing in surprise.
"That’s quite all right."
The accent was British and yet surprisingly similar to the southern accent she was familiar with. As pleasant as that was, however, it wasn’t his accent that arrested her attention.
He was tall, nearly as tall as Nigel or perhaps even a little taller. It was difficult to tell, for his build was slighter. His face was handsome in a purely male sort of way, all harsh planes and angles.
His eyes, a shade of palest blue, sent a shiver skating down her spine and it was that that seemed to freeze her to the spot.
It was several moments before she realized that he was smiling
…. And he hadn’t released her.
To her surprise, he leaned toward her, sniffing deeply, as if inhaling the aroma of a flower.
Something glittered in his eyes, a look almost of satisfaction. "Your perfume is almost as enticing as your lovely face and accent."
Emily felt a blush rising, not the least because the only perfume she was wearing was from the bar of soap she’d showered with. "Thank you. I’m sorry I almost ran you over."
Almost reluctantly, he removed his hands at last, to Emily’s vast relief. "I’m afraid I can’t agree. Simon … Umphreys."
Emily blinked. It took her a moment to realize he’d introduced himself. She glanced around a little uneasily, wondering where the shopkeeper was. "Emily Hendrick," she said finally, extending her hand.
"Touring?"
"What?"
He lifted his brows. "Are you just visiting?"
"Oh. Actually, I moved. I bought a place … uh … north of here."
"How may I be of service today?"
"Excuse me?" Emily asked blankly.
He lifted his brows and stepped away from her at last, gesturing broadly around the shop.
"Oh. You’re the … uh … proprietor?"
He smiled faintly, almost seeming to shrug. "When one collects antiquities it becomes a necessity after a bit to buy a larger house or to set up shop."
Emily chuckled dutifully, but the story seemed a little farfetched to her. He just didn’t seem the type to have a pack rat tendency. She had no trouble picturing him as a collector, but something just didn’t seem to right quite right about the man as a shopkeeper. Inwardly, she shrugged. "Actually, I was looking to sell, not buy. I have a small collection of old coins."
He stood looking down at her for several moments. "May I see it?"
"Oh. Yes." Feeling strangely unnerved by the man’s gaze, Emily dug around in her pocketbook and finally produced the coin. Taking it from her hand, he moved behind the counter, looked around for several moments and finally produced a magnifying glass to study the coin. Ill at ease for no reason she could put her finger on, Emily wandered around the shop, trying to pretend an interest in the items in his store she didn�
�t feel.
"What’s this?" she asked finally, after staring at an odd looking leather and metal harness thingy for several minutes.
Simon glanced up, lifting his head to see what she was studying. He grinned. "A chastity belt."
Emily reddened all the way to her toes. "You’re kidding, right?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Joke?"
He grinned. "Seriously. It comes with a bit of history."
"I’ll bet it does," Emily muttered.
He chuckled at that, but Emily’s own sense of humor had vanished as she stared at the thing. An idea was forming in her mind.
An absolutely outrageously insane idea.
"How much is it?"
"Excuse me?"
"The chastity belt."
He studied her a long moment and finally gave her a price that sounded remarkably cheep, all things considered. To her relief, he didn’t ask why she was interested in it. "Do you have the key?"
"It’s attached to the belt."
"I’ll take it," Emily said decisively.
He looked at her curiously for several moments, but finally laid the coin down and moved around the counter. When he’d wrapped it up and took her money, he went back to his examination of the coin.
"It’s in good condition," he commented after a while.
Emily said nothing. The coin was in mint condition--didn’t look as if it had ever been in circulation at all. It was possible some of the coins had taken a little abuse in the leg of Nigel’s bed, but she certainly hadn’t noticed anything wrong with the coin. Most likely, she thought, he was trying to drive the price down.
"You have a collection you say? Of these? Or various coins?"
"Those."
He nodded, set the coin on the counter and began leafing through books.
Emily glanced at him surreptitiously from time to time. She began to have the feeling that he wasn’t carefully searching out the value of the coin so much as he was stalling for time. She didn’t know why she thought so. He didn’t appear nervous. He didn’t even appear to be all that excited about the coin.
"Quite valuable. A bit above my touch, actually. Have you considered selling them at auction?"
Emily looked at him doubtfully. "Actually, no. The outcome is really pretty unpredictable, isn’t it?"
He shrugged. "It can be. I suppose it depends upon the auction house, and then, of course, your starting bid. You might well end up with far more than you could get selling them in a shop. Auctions draw collectors."
Emily had moved back to the counter when he started talking. Smiling, she held out her hand for the coin. "I’ll give it some thought. I’m in no real rush."
He studied her intently for several moments when he placed the coin in her palm. "Have lunch with me?"
Surprise rendered Emily speechless for several moments. "I … uh … actually, I have to get back … but thank you for the offer."
His smile broadened. "You can’t simply dash off, Emily Hendrick. How will I get to know you?"
Emily blushed, feeling suddenly torn. He was an attractive man, and his interest was flattering, particularly after the way Nigel had treated her so off-handedly.
She didn’t know why she felt so uneasy about accepting.
"There’s a restaurant just around the corner with outdoor dining."
Relief flooded Emily. If they would be dining outside, there could surely be no harm in going with him. "I guess I don’t need to leave right away."
Chapter Sixteen
Simon Umphreys was charming. By the time they’d finished their luncheon, Emily was wondering why she’d felt uneasy about him at all.
"…. I expect that’s probably about the most miserably boring story you’ve ever heard, but that’s how I came to own the little shop around the corner."
Emily blinked, feeling as if she’d just woken from a daze. Color rose in her cheeks when she realized she couldn’t remember hearing the half of the ‘boring’ story he’d apparently been telling her. Had she been staring, she wondered? Gaping at him like an awed adolescent?
She frowned, thinking it over, but she didn’t know why she would have. He was handsome, and his accent fascinated her almost as much as the deep resonance of his voice, but she hadn’t been aware of being simply ‘fascinated’. She felt almost as if she’d just woken. With an effort, she smiled politely. "I didn’t think it was boring at all."
"So … what brings you to the UK … besides the sale of those coins?"
She didn’t want to tell him about the castle. She didn’t know why she didn’t, but something held her back. Instead, she shrugged. "I suppose I just felt like I wanted a change of scenery."
His brows rose questioningly. "You didn’t have to travel halfway around the world to find that, surely? The U.S. is a pretty big place, if I recall my geography."
It took an effort to smile that time. "It is. I considered moving to a different state, but when I went to the Realtor, I happened to see this brochure of … a place here and I just fell in love with it."
His gaze was assessing. "It wasn’t because of one of those excessively jealous and obsessive husbands one hears about, was it?"
The comment irritated Emily. She wasn’t certain if she’d taken it the wrong way or not, but it sounded like an insult. "The U.S. hasn’t cornered the market on nut cases. From what I can see everyone else still has their share … but, no," she responded tartly, and glanced at her watch. "I should be going."
Irritation flickered in his eyes briefly. "Not without giving me some way to get in touch with you again, I hope."
Emily sent a vague smile in his direction and focused on gathering her things.
"You will give some thought to the auction? If you’d like, I could make some inquiries for you … find the best sort of place to deal with."
Emily glanced at him indecisively, but the truth was, she really needed to turn the coins into cash and settle it in an account. "That’s really nice, but I wouldn’t want to impose on your good nature."
"Not at all! I’d be happy to. The truth is, I think I know of someone, but I do need to check before I go any further with this. I could ring you up when I know something for certain."
"Uh … I don’t have a phone yet."
"I’ll drop you a post card, then."
She couldn’t help it. She blushed to the roots of her hair. "Actually, I don’t remember my new address."
He chuckled. "That’s putting me in my place."
"No! I really don’t! You could email me," she added tentatively.
He frowned. "I thought you said you didn’t have a phone?"
"I don’t--yet. But I should have one in a few days. Anyway, I can check my email at any phone."
He took out two business cards while Emily scratched around in her purse for something to write on. "Use my card. And take the other with you. It has all of my contact information on it."
Emily had mixed feelings about the entire encounter. She was strangely drawn toward the man, and yet, at the same time, he made her feel very uneasy. She couldn’t quite decide why that was. Try though she might--and she did--going over and over in her mind the conversation they’d had, his expressions, his gestures--she couldn’t think of anything he’d said, or anything about his manner that had set off warning bells.
It was irrefutable that something had. She finally decided, though, that she was either suffering from paranoia or guilt.
She had no reason to feel guilty, of course.
She didn’t have a relationship with Nigel.
They were lovers, plain and simple, and she’d never even agreed to that much. Moreover, he’d certainly made it clear that, regardless of his nicey nasty attitude about calling a spade a spade, it was just sex. They hadn’t shared anything else, not really. He considered his business his own, and didn’t appear to have any interest in hers, either, so long as she was handy when he needed to ‘feed’ off her life force.
She glanced at the package on th
e seat beside her and grinned.
Boy was he in for a surprise!
* * * *
Nigel wasn’t home. Emily didn’t know whether the discovery irritated her or depressed her more. She’d convinced herself that he would’ve returned by the time she got back and he’d been really upset that she’d gone off without telling him.
Instead, it looked as if she was going to be sitting in the damned castle like a dutiful slave, awaiting his return!
She was mollified once she’d made her rounds to see what had been done in her absence. She had lights! She had a phone! Even her new range and refrigerator had been delivered and installed.
She had no one to call, of course. She toyed with the idea of calling Simon and giving him the phone number but discarded it after a little thought. She just wasn’t comfortable with the idea of him knowing where she was when she knew so little about him. Supposedly, he’d given her a good deal of background on himself while they had dined, but she couldn’t recall much of anything that he’d said. Even if she had, that didn’t mean a thing. Anyone could lie.
Finally, after a solitary meal, she dragged her notebook computer out and connected it to the phone line. Her mailbox was full--not much of a surprise. She hadn’t checked it in weeks. After deleting the junk mail, she discovered a couple of dozen messages from friends … and three from Simon.
A little thrill that was part excitement, part uneasiness went through her when she saw the emails with his name on them.
For all that, the messages weren’t actually anything to get too worked up about. After responding to the last one, which asked if she’d had a good trip back, she began reading and responding to those from friends back home.
A new message from Simon popped up while she was still online. Emily had a feeling she should simply ignore it, but found she couldn’t. Finally, she yielded to the urge to chat with him and they moved to a chat room.
The anonymity of it made her feel safe, soothed her sense of uneasiness and she found herself flirting back when the tone of his messages changed from purely business to a flirtation.
Chapter Seventeen
Eternity Page 10