Unleashed: A Hamilton Christmas Novella

by Donna Kauffman

  At least, that was her excuse for heading out to look for him. And she was sticking with it.

  She felt her way along the wainscoting on the hallway walls, pretty sure she was heading back toward the stairs. A minute later her sense of direction was, for once, proven to be correct when her hands hit the banister railing. She gingerly moved down the risers, wishing that even a sliver of moonlight was easing through the stained glass windows bordering the huge front door, down in the foyer below. No such luck. Her night vision, which had adjusted well with the firelight, was once again reduced to nothing. She paused at the foot of the stairs, keeping one hand on the newel post as she tried to figure out which way to launch herself with the least chance she’d crash into something extremely expensive, and extremely breakable.

  Just then an actual crash resounded from somewhere to her right, followed by a thump, a grunt, and a rather long string of curse words.

  “Trevor?” she called out, but got no response. Dear God, what if he’d gotten hurt? At least the curse words proved he’d survived whatever it was that had happened. “Where are you?”

  All she got back was a groan. Oh, no, he was in too much pain to shout and direct her to his whereabouts. The best she could do was to strike out blindly in the direction of the crash, and hope she didn’t end up in similar circumstances.

  “Did the batteries wear out already?” she called, more just to hear her own voice and help to stay steady, than because she really expected him to answer. Plus, if he could hear her, he’d know she was actively trying to find him. “You’ve been gone a long time. I was worried, so I came looking for you.” Her outstretched fingertips jabbed into a wall. A very hard wall. Now she was the one swallowing a string of swear words as she shook the life back into her fingers, then curled them into a protective ball for a moment, before reaching out more slowly, finding the wall, and spreading her palms wide on the smooth surface. She took one careful step at a time, not familiar with the hallway, or the objects that were probably lining it. If the rest of the house was any indication, Lionel liked to collect things, or hold on to things others in his family tree had collected. Either way, there was a better than average chance she was going to crash into something, and the last thing they needed was for both of them to be hurt.

  “I’m coming,” she called out. “I’m just not familiar with the floor plan, so I’m using the Braille method out here and it’s taking some time.”

  There was another thud, then the sound of something tumbling over, followed by another groan, a few more choice swear words, and, finally, Trevor’s voice. “I’m in Lionel’s personal study,” he said, sounding none too happy about the fact.

  “Excellent,” she called back. “And just where might that be?”

  “Third door—it’s a double door—on your right.”

  “Are you okay?” She kept skimming one hand lightly along the wall, trying to keep the rest of her body as close to the center of the hall as she could.

  “Considering I was very recently wearing a good portion of Lionel’s personal library, I suppose I could be worse.”

  “Oh, my God, what happened?” He sounded relatively close, like she was almost there, but there was no glow emanating into the hall. “You’re okay, though? I mean, nothing broken?”

  “Well, your flashlight didn’t fare too well. Sorry.”

  Her fingertips hit the molding around the doorframe and she paused in the open doorway, not that it did any good, because she couldn’t see a damn thing inside the room. “Trevor?”

  “Present and mostly accounted for,” came his disembodied voice, from somewhere in the far corner of the room.

  “What happened? Where are you? I mean, I know you’re in here, but can you direct me?”

  “Just stay in the doorway. There are books everywhere and the damn ladder landed somewhere.”

  “Ladder? What—never mind. Do you need help? Should I call 911?”

  “I’ll be okay, just as soon as I get”—he paused, and there was a loud grunting noise, then an odd grinding noise. “Well…I’ll be damned. That explains a lot.”

  “What explains a lot?” Emma asked, growing more frustrated by the moment. “Did you find any candles? Because it would help tremendously if I could see what’s what right now.”

  “You’re telling me. Yes, on the candles. No, however, on matches or a lighter. I don’t suppose you smoke?”

  “Ew.”

  “Ditto, but the match holder by the mantel in here was empty.”

  “We had matches upstairs in the parlor, remember? You could have just brought them up there. And how did you end up with Lionel’s library crashing down on your head, anyway? Do you need help getting unpinned? Assuming you’re pinned, but—”

  “You’re babbling.”

  “Stress. I’m an imperfect human. It happens.”

  She was surprised to hear him chuckle.

  “That was amusing?”

  “I’m an imperfect human, too. Quite, at the moment. I just—I like your style, Curls.”

  “Curls—” She stopped, not wanting to know why he felt compelled to give her a nickname, but mostly because she kind of liked it, and more mostly because, whereas to her it would be cute and a little romantic, to him it was probably something he called his kid sister. So why ruin the fantasy now? “Thanks. Now, direct me over there and—”

  “I really don’t need help, I just—”

  “Well, you’re going to get it, regardless, so stop whining and tell me where you are. And what was that ‘I’ll be damned’ comment about?”

  There was a pause. A longer pause than she felt the question warranted.

  “Trevor?”

  “I—why don’t you go back up with the dogs, they’re probably getting worried. I’ll be up shortly.”

  “Would that be kind of like ‘I’ll check back in with you’? Because you’ll have to pardon me if I don’t rush to buy into that.”

  “You get a little surly when you’re stressed.”

  And he sounded way too damn amused by that, too. “Which apparently brings out all that patronizing condescension in you.”

  He grunted, then there was a another sound of something tumbling, which she assumed was a pile of books. “Sorry,” he managed, his voice a bit tighter. “It wasn’t meant to come off that way. Like I said, I like your style.”

  “You mean surly and babbling? Silly me, why didn’t I think of trying that angle out more often with guys?”

  “You coming on to me, then, Curls?” he asked, not sounding remotely serious about the assumption, so she carefully made sure she didn’t take it as the flirtatious banter she found herself wishing it was.

  “Other guys,” she clarified, then hurried to add as he grunted and shoved at something—“Be careful! Why don’t you let me come help you?”

  “Because I’m not sure everything is done falling yet. Better you steer clear. I’m…digging myself out. It’ll just take me a few minutes, okay? I’m not hurt, the ladder sort of broke the fall of most of the books. I just don’t want to inadvertently trigger another avalanche and I’m as hampered by the lack of light as you are.”

  “Okay. I don’t guess you know where the candles you found ended up? Maybe I should go find one myself, and grab some parlor matches upstairs. Can you hold out that long? Then I could help unbury you.”

  “No, that’s—” He broke off, then sighed, and said, “Yeah, that might not be a bad idea. Start with the east rooms down the hall to the right at the top of the stairs, then travel back to the parlor we were in, which is on the west side—left—at the top of the stairs.”

  “I may not be a born mapmaker, but I do usually know that if east is to the right, then west is to the left. But thank you, because, knowing me I’d probably get lost anyway.”

  “Anytime,” he said, his voice sounding more tight than amused now.

  “You sure you’re okay?”

  “Fine, I’m fine.”

  “If I don’t find anyt
hing in the next ten or so minutes, I’ll come back and tell you.”

  There was another pause, then, “Just find one. I’m okay.”

  She paused, too, knowing there was something more going on here, but decided it was unlikely he’d tell her even if she asked. “I’ll try to hurry.”

  “Just be careful. And leave the dogs in the parlor. We don’t need to worry about tripping over them.”

  “No problem. Just…stay where you are.”

  There was a light chuckle, then, “Sure thing, Curls. I’ll do that.”

  Rather than respond, and mostly to block out the little warm fuzzy his nickname made her feel, she turned and moved slowly and carefully back down the hallway.

  It wasn’t until she was at the top of the stairs again, and starting down the wing to the right, that it occurred to her that he’d never told her what his “I’ll be damned” moment had been about.

  6

  T revor tried not to feel bad about sending Emma off on a wild goose chase. Lionel wasn’t one for perfumed-scented anything and, other than some long tapers that the housekeeper had probably stored away somewhere for the dinner parties Lionel never gave, Trevor was pretty certain there weren’t going to be any candles anywhere in the house. The one he’d found in here had been encrusted in some kind of antique brass family heirloom that was God knew how old.

  It had just been a convenient cover for his need to snoop around. He’d been a little surprised that there hadn’t been an industrial flashlight of some kind to be found in his cursory look in the kitchen earlier, but, if there was, he hadn’t found it. Possibly there was one in the garage, though there weren’t really any tools stored there. Or in Lionel’s specially designed, but never used, workshop. He’d had that built more for appearances than anything. He could build entire conglomerates, but Trevor was pretty sure he’d never seen his great-uncle with an actual tool in his hand, much less building something with them.

  However, the workshop was in a detached building, located down the hill from the house and, at the moment, out of reach while the ice storm continued to rage. And beyond that, he wasn’t really sure where else to look. So, instead, he’d used what there was of Emma’s flashlight, and searched for something else entirely.

  He shoved more books out of the way, trying to be careful not to crash the ladder the rest of the way down on his head. He’d been skimming the spines of all the books starting at the top of the tall cases, balanced on the attached rolling ladder while he searched. And he’d been doing just fine until he’d made it halfway down the ladder, halfway down the stacks, when the whole damn contraption derailed and sent him and the ladder sailing sideways. He’d tried to grab at the shelves, which were built into the wall, only they seemed to give, which had made no sense to him at the time but he’d been too busy protecting himself as he and an avalanche of books went cascading down to the floor to think much beyond it.

  Emma’s flashlight, which had been on it’s last dregs of power anyway, was presently buried in book rubble, leaving him to sift through things by touch, praying he wasn’t going to somehow bring the entire bookcase down on his head.

  Which, as it turned out, given the creaking sound of moments ago, was a rather valid concern.

  He carefully continued to shovel books to one side and the other as he made his way to the newly created opening in what had been a wall of bookcases. The opening had been revealed when the bookcase he’d been dangling from swung loose from the wall it was supposedly built into.

  Lionel wasn’t really a gadget kind of guy. Despite keeping his business sense on the cutting edge, privately he was more the old school type when it came to gizmos and new technology. However, his wife, Trevor’s favorite great-aunt, Trudy, had loved technology, and puzzles, and figuring out how things worked. Unsurprisingly, she was also a fan of mystery novels and could usually solve the riddle of the plot long before any of her contemporaries.

  Since this mountain retreat had been her sanctuary, especially during the latter years of her life when she’d been ill, and long hours spent reading her favorite novels had been the mainstay of her entertainment, Trevor could only suppose that Lionel had had the secret room built as some kind of treat for his wife to enjoy.

  Or, it could be where Lionel hid things he didn’t want anyone to find.

  Trevor usually thought of Lionel as an empire builder and stern patriarch. It was rare to think of him as a devoted, loving husband, though, from all accounts, he had been. Still, Trevor wasn’t entirely inclined to believe the secret room was simply a loving gesture, no matter how much Lionel had doted on his late wife.

  Wishing he had the flashlight, Trevor crawled into the opening, leaving the mass of fallen books in a wake behind him. He stopped just inside the gap, as the black void in front of him made the total lack of light in the study seem bright by comparison. He sighed in regret. He’d have to wait until morning, when at least some daylight would penetrate the big windows of the main room.

  And find some excuse to keep Emma away from this room, which meant keeping her out of the study altogether, since he had no idea how to put the wall and case back together. Which, with all the books on the floor, would take some time, even if he did. He scooted back out, shoving at books again, when a bright beam of light flashed into the room and skimmed over its contents, before pinning him to the spot as he shielded his eyes.

  “How very…Humpty Dumpty of you,” Emma said from her stance in the doorway.

  Great. Just great.

  “Hey,” he said, with feigned enthusiasm, “you found a flashlight.”

  She stepped just inside the door. “Bedside drawer in one of the guest rooms.” She patted the pocket of her fleece vest. “Extra batteries, too.”

  “Could you lower the beam a little?”

  “Oh, sorry.”

  Unfortunately, she both lowered it and shifted it slightly to the side. The side with the gaping doorway to the secret room.

  “Whoa. So that’s what that ‘I’ll be damned’ was all about.” She moved in closer, careful to pick her way over and around clumps of books. She stopped about ten feet away, when the tumble of books completely blocked her path. And his exit. “Did you know about the hidden room? Is the door what triggered the avalanche?”

  “No, and, sort of.” Sighing internally, he accepted his fate as gracefully as possible, and pushed himself to a stand. Fortunately, everything seemed to work and he didn’t feel any noticeable injury.

  She kept the beam of light on the open doorway, but the high-powered flashlight illuminated a fair amount of the room, making it easy for Trevor to pick his way through the books to her side, while also neatly blocking her view of the newly found hidey-hole. He had no idea what was in there, but no way was she going to search it before he did.

  “Why don’t we head back upstairs? I’ll tackle all this in the morning.”

  “You don’t want to see what’s in the room?”

  “Whatever it is, it’s been there for some time and certainly won’t be going anywhere before morning.”

  “But—”

  “I wouldn’t mind tracking down a bathroom with a medicine chest, preferably one stocked with some kind of pain reliever.” Which wasn’t entirely true, he felt fine, but it certainly sounded plausible enough. He paused behind her and shifted his body in a way that indicated she was supposed to turn in front of him and lead the way out. One thing he hadn’t counted on was all that curly hair, and that fresh scent that seemed to linger on her, combining to weaken his already vulnerable state.

  She held her ground, and he found himself unwilling to do anything more aggressive to move her. Well, he was having aggressive thoughts, but they had nothing to do with bodily removing her from the room. More like removing things from her body…Maybe he was wrong about needing something for his discomfort. He needed something much stronger than an aspirin, however. Preferably something shaken, not stirred. He was stirred up plenty already.

  “Emma, please, can
we just—”

  “Why were you looking for candles in a bookshelf?” she interrupted.

  A quick look at her face told him she wasn’t just making casual conversation. Her expression was more like Jack with a tasty piece of rawhide; determined and single-mindedly fixated. She wasn’t going to be easily misdirected.

  His respect for her grew, even as his brain worked quickly to find some way out of this latest round. She cut him off before he had a chance to figure out a solution.

  “What is it you don’t want me to see?” She quickly flashed the light past him toward the room.

  He had to curl his fingers in to keep from reflexively grabbing for the flashlight and thwarting her attempt at discovery.

  Then she was lowering the beam, and looking directly back at him. Any other time, he’d have been drawn in by the way her eyes got darker when she was serious, the way her lips pursed, making the bottom one look almost bee-stung. So at odds with her strong cheekbones and jawline. Which shouldn’t surprise him. Everything about her was at odds with him.

  “What are you really looking for?” she asked.

  He opened his mouth, but she cut him off, again.

  “And don’t try to talk me in circles, okay? You’re here looking for something. And it’s not an alternate light source. You wanted me out of the way when you left me upstairs earlier, you wanted me out of the way when you sent me candle hunting, and you want me out of the way right now. You’ve done a really good job. If the ladder hadn’t fallen earlier—”

  “I wouldn’t be wanting a pain reliever and a stiff shot of something strong,” he said. “But it did, so I’d really like—”

  “I’d really like some answers.”

  Why was it he was fighting a smile, when he should be frustrated as all hell? “You seem to have forgotten which one of us is the Hamilton here.”

  “I haven’t forgotten anything. You’re interfering with the job I was hired to do. And, inadvertently or not, you’re trashing the joint. A joint I’m responsible for maintaining. It’s bad enough the power is out and God knows what is spoiling or…or going bad because of it. Not to mention the heat going off, and things freezing outside, like pipes, or—or, whatever.”