His Wicked Ways

by Lorraine Beaumont

  Turning away from the empty bathroom she crossed the room to her bag and unzipped it. Digging inside she looked for the map, but it wasn’t there where she left it.

  “No. No. No.” She couldn’t bring her heart to admit what her mind already knew.

  “He took the damn map!”

  Torn between utter devastation and anger, she tried to wrap her mind around what must have happened. Scrubbing her hands over her face, she dropped them to her sides and paced the room.

  “Why wouldn’t he have at least left me a note?” Because he didn’t want you to know where he went, her inner voice screamed at her.

  “Was that it?” she asked despondently.

  “Was that why he left? Did he plan this all along?” she wondered out loud even though she already knew the answer—at least she thought she did.

  A knock sounded at the door and all the anger she was feeling evaporated, replaced by an overwhelming sense of relief.

  “Coming,” she yelled as she quickly grabbed her robe and tossed it back on.

  “He must have forgotten the key.” She tied the belt as she ran to the door.

  “There you are…” She jerked open the door and blinked stupidly.

  “Sorry, Miss,” a plain faced maid said, standing in front of her looking just as bewildered as she felt.

  “I was told to get the room ready. I didn’t realize you were still here.”

  “I’m sorry,” Molly mumbled, feeling once again like an idiot. “I will be out of here in few minutes. Can you come back?”

  “Of course, Miss.” She bobbed her head, and after giving Molly a curious look, she pushed her cart down to the next room.

  Mechanically, Molly shut the door and leaned back against it, feeling blessedly numb. However, that didn’t last long. The anger she was feeling earlier came back tenfold. Fuming, she gathered her things together, shoving them forcefully into her bag.

  “I’m such an idiot,” she railed as she gathered her belongings, and zipped her bag. Standing motionless in the room, her eyes drifted to the bed. The sheets were rumpled and the imprint of their heads still on the pillows. Memories of what she and Lucian had done on that very same bed entered her mind—wave after wave assailed her as she remembered stifling her screams of pleasure on that very same pillow.

  “How stupid am I?” she asked as an overwhelming sadness closed in on her. Hot tears burned her eyes but she sniffed them back. She would not cry.

  “I will not cry,” she told herself.

  What really got her the most was that Lucian had told her he was betrayed too, so he knew what it felt like. So why would he want to do that to her, too? Was he really that big of an asshole or was there another explanation for him leaving without telling her.

  ♣

  She didn’t know how long she stood there, but at some point, something gave. She wasn’t some naïve girl; she knew what men were about.

  “Who am I kidding?” Irritated more at herself then with Lucian at this point, she made her way to the bathroom and turned on the shower.

  Releasing the belt of the robe, she shirked out of it and climbed under the spray of water. She washed her hair, and her body, pushing the intimate images from her mind of what they did here too, as she washed away any remnants of their lovemaking. She stayed under the spray until the water turned cold.

  Shivering, she climbed out of the shower, dried off and then got dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Forgoing drying her hair, she tossed the mass up in a rubber band in a loose bun on top of her head. Walking back in the room, she pulled her makeup out of her duffle bag and put on some Tarte waterproof mascara and Bare Essentials lip-gloss. Normally she would have used some Too Faced candlelight powder and some Benefit dandelion blush but she just didn’t have the energy to even care at this point. Pulling on her socks and her sneakers, she stood back up and lifted her bag on her shoulder. Taking a breath, she pressed her shoulders back and walked out of the room without a backwards glance. She was going to go home, get a bottle of wine, drink away her woes, and probably have a good cry too—that was the plan, until she went to check out.

  ♣

  “What do you mean my keys are gone?”

  “We thought the gentleman was with you. We told him about your car and gave him your keys,” said the short balding manager.

  Molly gaped at him in disbelief.

  “You were with him, correct?”

  Molly felt her face turning five shades of red. “Yes. I was, with him.” Was, being the operative word. “Do you know where he went?”

  The manager looked at the woman behind the counter with a cross between bafflement and horror.

  “He did ask about the mine,” the young woman added quickly.

  “What about the mine?”

  “Um…” She shifted her eyes from the manager and then back to Molly. “He asked if it was open to the public but I told him it was closed for the season.”

  “And what did he do when you told him that?”

  “He thanked me and um, smiled.”

  “I just bet he did,” Molly mumbled in irritation.

  “Excuse me?” said the young woman.

  “Nothing.” Molly took a breath. “What do I owe you?”

  The young woman quickly slid the bill across the counter.

  Molly scanned it, noting how much it was and then pulled out her credit card. “Here you go.”

  Again, the young woman gave her a curious look as she charged her card. “Is there anything else you need?”

  “Yeah. I’m going to need to rent one of your golf carts for the day.”

  “That’s fifty dollars,” the young woman said.

  “Fine. Just charge it too.”

  The young woman frowned. “I can’t until you come back but I will need a deposit.”

  Molly gritted her teeth. “Fine.”

  After she paid, she left the hotel. It was a dismal day and it was spitting rain when she stepped outside. Her mind was reeling. If Lucian was really planning on leaving her, why on God’s green earth would he take her keys? She didn’t have the answer but she would. That was a certainty.

  Tossing her bag inside the golf cart, she climbed inside and started it up. The rain was coming down heavier now. Her phone bleated. She pulled it out of her pocket and read her text.

  It was from Rodrigo, her right-hand man at the lodge.

  Rodrigo: Are you coming back soon?

  Molly: Not till later, something came up.

  A few moments later her phone bleated again.

  Rodrigo: What do you want me to do about the finale?

  Molly: Just do it as we planned. I will try to make it back before it’s over.

  ♣

  She tossed her phone into her bag and put the golf cart in gear. Putting the pedal to the metal, the cart crawled out of the parking lot. The rain was really coming down now, making it hard to see but she persevered.

  Twenty minutes later, she pulled in front of the old clapboard building at the mine. It was even creepier looking than normal with the gray skies, low hanging clouds and the blustering wind picking up. Pulling her hoodie out of her bag, she tossed it on and climbed from the cart. She grabbed her bag and ran under the overhang on the porch, hoping like hell Lucian didn’t lock the door behind him when he went inside.

  The boards creaked under her feet as she made her way to the door. She was suddenly freezing and if she didn’t need her keys she would have turned right back around and went home, but that wasn’t an option at this point.

  Reaching out, she grabbed the handle to the door and was relieved it wasn’t cold. That boon didn’t dispel the uneasy feeling she had about being here which was weird since she had worked here for three straight summers with Peggy after her father acquired the property.

  She opened the door and stepped inside. It occurred to her suddenly that she didn’t know Lucian that well. Well…she amended, she knew him intimately but not his character as a person. For all she knew he coul
d be some whack job. And even if he wasn’t, which she hoped like hell he was not, what if he did find the emeralds, what then?

  The door swept shut and once again the closed-up smell assailed her. She shivered and rubbed her arms, making her way to the counter. Grabbing a flashlight from behind, she checked it to make sure it worked. It did. She couldn’t believe she didn’t even know Lucian’s phone number. “I am such an idiot,” she said out loud.

  “No, you are not,” a disembodied voice said from the darkened corner of the shop.

  Molly jumped about three feet in the air. “Who’s there?”

  “I’ve been waiting for you.”

  Her breathing slowed but her heart was still pounding out of her chest. “Lucian?”

  “Yes.” He stepped forward into the faint stream of gray light coming in from the windows.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?”

  “If it was obvious, I wouldn’t have asked,” she snapped not meaning to, but he scared the beejeebies out of her.

  “Didn’t you get my message?”

  “No. I didn’t get your message.” Even as she said it she felt a pathetic for the wave of relief that washed over her.

  “I told the girl at the front desk to tell you where I was and to meet me.”

  “You did?”

  He nodded but then his brows creased. “If she didn’t tell you to meet me, how did you know where I was?”

  “A lucky guess.”

  “I took my map back.”

  “I know.”

  “Are you mad?” He stepped forward.

  “No,” she lied, taking a reflexive step back.

  “I should have waited for you, but I was hoping to get a head start.”

  “So why are you here and not in the mine?” she asked warily.

  “Once I got here I realized I didn’t have any idea where to look.”

  “Oh.” What was she going to say to that?

  “I left you a note.”

  “Where?”

  “I put it in your bag.”

  Molly frowned not sure if she believed him. “In this bag?” She lifted her bag from her arm.

  “Yeah. I thought you would check there first.”

  “Well,” she said and then added, “I didn’t look because I didn’t know to look there.”

  “You can look now,” he said, stopping his advance.

  “Okay.” She pulled her bag off her shoulder and unzipped it. Inside there was a folded piece of paper. She took it out and read what was written.

  You were sleeping so peacefully I didn’t want to wake you. I’m getting a head start, meet me at the mine.

  Xo Lucian

  Molly let out a pent-up breath and looked over at him, feeling immeasurably better. “I thought you left me.”

  “But you still came.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, looking unsure suddenly.

  “You have my keys.”

  “Oh. I didn’t think about that. They gave them to me on my way out.”

  That made sense. But she still had an uneasy feeling about the entire situation. “Didn’t it occur to you that if you had my keys I wouldn’t be able to drive over here?”

  “Oh, right.” He frowned. “I didn’t think of that. How did you get here?”

  “I rented a golf cart.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Fingers of dread crept up her spine. “It’s okay,” she lied.

  “Well, you are here now.” He looked across the room towards the door that led to the mine.

  “Lucian, are you okay?”

  “Sure,” he said. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  Maybe because you are acting like a weirdo, she wanted to say. “No, reason.”

  “Good.” He smiled then. It wasn’t a normal smile either. It scared the beejeebies out of her and she had all she could do not to turn around and run out of the building.

  “So, uh, what do you want to do?”

  “Rebecca wants us to go to the mine.”

  Molly felt sick to her stomach. “She does,” she squeaked.

  “Yeah. I think she does.”

  “Can you see her?” Molly looked warily towards the door and was relieved when she didn’t see anything otherworldly staring back at her.

  “No.”

  Relief washed over her.

  “But she was here.”

  Oh shit! “Did she uh, talk to you?”

  “No. But I know what she wants us to do, or rather, what she wants me to do.”

  “Really?” She opened and closed her mouth. “What might that be?” she finally forced out.

  “To find the Emeralds, silly.”

  “Oh, he he,” she faked laughed. “Silly me.” What the eff was he talking about? He wasn’t acting like the Lucian she had come to care about or even start to fall for, no, he was acting like some crazy person. Was he? Or was she?

  He pulled his hand out of his pocket and held it out to her. “Come on.”

  “What?” She gaped at him.

  He frowned. “What’s the matter?”

  “Nothing.”

  “It doesn’t look like nothing.” His frown deepened.

  “You seem different.”

  She could say the same about him. “Just tired.”

  “Didn’t you sleep well?”

  “I did but…” What was she going to say to that? She slept really well, until she woke up to find him gone. “I guess I am still a bit uh, sleepy.”

  “Do you want to leave?”

  Hell yeah. “Not if you don’t want to. Do you?”

  “Only if you do.”

  Well that helped, not. “I don’t care.”

  “I think we should at least try, don’t you?”

  “Um, sure.”

  “Great.” He started walking towards the door.

  “It’s getting dark though, and we don’t have any lights,” she added quickly, stalling.

  “Can’t we use these?” He pointed to the wall of prospecting hats with lamps attached.

  “I guess.” Stupid hats.

  He lifted one up and tested the light.

  The beam blinded her.

  “Sorry,” he said and turned it back off. “At least it works.”

  “Yep. At least it works.”

  Lifting another hat, he handed it out to her.

  Molly tentatively took it from his outstretched hand and tried the lamp. It worked, too. Dang it.

  “What else do you think we need?”

  I have no idea, she wanted to say. ”Maybe we should bring the pick axes.”

  “Right.” He chuckled. “I guess those would help.”

  Would they? She didn’t have a clue. “I guess.”

  Lucian grabbed two large pickaxes from the bucket and tucked them under his arm. “We should at least try, right?”

  “Right.” She took a breath.

  Opening the door, Lucian stepped through, holding it for her.

  Molly shoved her hat under her arm and stepped under his arm, through the door. Once she was on the other side, she stopped and waited for him. “What does the map say?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know?”

  “I really haven’t looked at it much.”

  “What have you been doing this whole time?”

  “I was looking around a bit, reading the history and waiting for you.”

  She wanted to ask him if he was gawking at Rebecca’s picture again. “What if I didn’t come?”

  “I would have gone back to the hotel.”

  “But I wouldn’t have been there.”

  “I have your keys, remember?”

  “Oh, I remember.”

  “Come on.” He pressed his hand to her back and pushed her forward. “It’ll be fun.”

  Not bloody likely, she thought. “Yeah, fun,” she deadpanned.

  “Where’s your sense of adventure?”

  “Apparently, I left it back at the hotel.”

  H
e chuckled. “You have a great sense of humor.”

  “I wasn’t kidding,” she muttered despondently.

  He slung his arm around her shoulder. “You are a real crack up,” he said, still chuckling.

  “I’m something, all right,” she mumbled, stepping carefully down the stairs.

  Once they got down to the bottom of the stairs, Lucian walked over to the wall with the pictures and pulled out the map. He shined the light on it.

  “Look here,” he said, pointing to something that looked like a waterfall. “The cave is behind this.”

  “How are we supposed to get there?” Her eyes drifted over to the photo, the one of Rebecca with all the men drooling over her. It seemed like Rebecca was mocking her, saying “look at me, I can have any man I want and you can’t even get one.”

  “Wasn’t there a boat tied outside?” Lucian asked.

  Molly pulled her eyes from a familiar looking man in the photo. “I don’t know.”

  “Didn’t you see it at the wedding?”

  “I was pretty drunk,” she reminded him.

  “Well, I did. Come on.”

  “Of course, you did.” She made a face and followed him out the door.

  It was raining harder when they stepped outside under the protection of the overhang.

  “I am pretty sure those are the falls where the cave is.” He pointed across the clearing.

  “You think the cave is behind the Bon Ami Falls?”

  “Didn’t it look like that to you on the map?”

  “Sure,” she said even though she really had no idea.

  “Well…” He gave her a pointed look. “What are we waiting for?”

  “Um, nothing, I guess.”

  “Let’s go.” Lucian took off out into the rain towards the boat bobbing unsteadily in the water.

  “Crap. Crap. Crap.” The last thing Molly wanted to do was go in a cave, a very dark cave, and look for some emeralds that probably wouldn’t even be there. Undecided, she stood there.

  “It looks like it floats,” he called out to her.

  “Great.” Taking a breath, she ran out in the rain to the boat.

  “Let me help you,” he said, holding out his hand. His hair was wet and dripping in his eyes but he still managed to look pretty damn sexy.

  She put her hand in his.

  He surprised her by pulling her close and then he put his chin on the top of her head. “Thank you for doing this with me.”