by Jean Barrett
Chapter Nine
Jennifer hated to admit that she was scared, even to herself, but the complete darkness was damned eerie. Not to mention the awful silence.
It took her a few seconds, but she finally managed the courage to say fairly calmly, “If you’ve got an explanation for what just happened, this is the time to share it with me. Unless, of course, I’ve gone blind, and then I don’t want to hear it.”
“Generator has quit,” Leo said.
It was a reasonable assumption, she supposed, since there was no longer a thrum of machinery. “Oh, good, then I haven’t lost my sight. Well, maybe not so good, huh?”
“No, not so good. The whole castle must be out.”
She could have sworn he’d been close beside her when the power failed. Now his voice seemed to come from several yards away.
“Where are you?”
“Over here against the wall. If we’re going to feel our way out of here, we’ll need the wall to guide us.”
“Right. Stay put. I’ll find you.”
It was bad enough to no longer have the reassuring sound of the generator. She was not going to do without his comforting nearness as well, though she wasn’t about to admit that either.
“This way,” he said.
Hands out in front of her, Jennifer groped her way toward his voice. She sensed she was approaching the wall when someone brushed by her. At least she hoped it was a someone and not a something, though with a killer who might be prowling through the castle that was probably not the best hope for her to have.
Coming to a standstill, she called out to Leo. “Did you just move?”
“I haven’t stirred. I’m still here against the wall.”
“I was afraid of that. Leo, we’re not alone.”
“Didn’t hear anyone.”
“I didn’t either. But I felt it. I swear that someone went past me.”
“Maybe Geoffrey on his way back from wherever he was headed.”
“Or a cat,” she said hopefully, not wanting to imagine it was anything more ominous than either Geoffrey or a harmless feline. “I mean, with a place this big there’s probably the threat of mice, so they’d keep a cat. Wouldn’t they?”
“Makes sense.”
But she knew by the sharp edge in his voice that he didn’t think whoever or whatever had been here with them, and possibly still was, was either Geoffrey or a cat.
“Stay where you are,” he instructed her. “I’ll come to you.”
Her hands were still out in front of her, which was why when he reached her with the speed and accuracy of someone equipped with night-vision goggles, her fingers came in contact with him. Not just the safe leather of his coat either. What she felt was warm, firm flesh. Judging by the whorls of hair in the vicinity of a depression that had to be his navel, what her fingers had met was his naked waist exposed by the low-slung pajama bottoms and the gap in his coat.
“In any other situation,” he said, his voice so close she could feel his breath on her face, “I’d invite you to do a little exploring with those hands, but as it is…”
“Sorry,” she mumbled, quickly withdrawing her hands.
“Interesting.”
“What?” she asked, resisting the longing to connect with him again, so she kept her hands down at her sides.
“That the generator should quit when it did, with us just about to catch up with Geoffrey. And right after that someone rushes past you.”
“You think it was deliberate?”
“Could be. I’d like to have a look at it.”
“Uh, under the circumstances…”
“Yeah, no light, no look.”
“A flashlight would be useful about now. I don’t suppose…”
“Didn’t equip myself with one. But hold on, because maybe…”
She heard a rustling that indicated he was searching through the pockets of his coat.
“Ah,” he announced with satisfaction, “I do have one. A book of matches left over from the days when I smoked.”
There was the sound of a match being struck followed by a flare of light. Although it was only a glimmer, it provided a welcome glow to counter the total blackness. Leo raised the flame above his shoulder, permitting them a better look. Jennifer cast her gaze nervously and rapidly on all sides. There was no sign of anyone in the immediate area but themselves.
“Whoever it was,” she said, “he’s no longer hanging around.” I hope.
The match went out. Leo lit another. “We’d better move. This isn’t a full book, so these matches aren’t going to last.”
He had to burn several more of them and, if his muttered curse was any evidence, sear one of his fingers in the effort before they stopped at one of the doors.
“If my memory is worth anything,” he said, “this should be where all the throbbing was coming from.”
The door was closed, but it wasn’t locked when he tried it. And his memory proved correct once they were inside. Jennifer’s quick glance, before the current match burned down and had to be extinguished, revealed an enormous metal monster crouched on the floor and hooked up to fat cables. The generator, she presumed.
Leo lit a fresh match and hunkered down to inspect the thing. “Doesn’t look damaged.”
“Would you know?”
“Probably not. I’m not much of a mechanic. On the other hand, if someone did want to temporarily shut down the power, it would be much easier to…” His head lifted, his gaze searching the walls.
“What are you looking for?”
“The breaker panel. There should be one.”
“How about that box over there peeking through the stepladder?”
“That’s it.” He got to his feet and started for the panel fitted into the wall. Jennifer followed him.
When they arrived at the panel, it took a further match to enable Leo to reach behind the ladder and scrape its door open.
“Look,” he said once he was inside. “Main switch has been turned off.” His free hand closed over the switch. “Say a prayer that this is all it takes.”
He snapped the switch over to the on position. The generator rumbled back to life. Light streamed through the door they’d left open behind them as the sparsely spaced lamps in the gallery bloomed again.
“What do you know, it works.”
“Nice,” she said. Having the power restored was a relief. Except for one thing. “What isn’t so nice is knowing for sure now that someone was in here and did cut the power.”
“And if it wasn’t Geoffrey, then the question is still who and why.” Leo clicked the door shut on the panel and withdrew his arm from behind the ladder.
“Maybe Geoffrey himself can tell us that. Or could if we hadn’t lost him.”
There was no sign of either the novice or the phantom when they emerged from the generator room. Except for the two of them, the gallery was deserted.
“I guess we won’t be doing any more chasing after Geoffrey tonight,” Jennifer said, gazing toward the chapel where nothing stirred.
Leo, who was checking the other direction, responded with a matter-of-fact, “Seems like he’s just gone and saved us the trouble of that. Turn around and look.”
Wheeling, she saw the robed figure of the young novice. Having reappeared from around the far corner where he had earlier vanished, he was now gliding in their direction. He seemed in no way worried by their presence.
“Leo, it’s like you said before. He isn’t even aware of us.”
“Maybe because he’s too busy searching for something that he’s missing. But just what that could be…”
Geoffrey continued to advance on them with a slow, even gait. And then all at once it struck her. The explanation for her ghost, who had appeared to float like a wraith through the halls. Who had failed to hear them calling out to him. Who on neither occasion had been conscious of them.
Geoffrey was a somnambulist!
“I swear the kid’s in a trance,” Leo muttered as Geoffrey n
eared them. “He must be on drugs. Look at those glazed eyes staring at us.”
“He isn’t on drugs,” Jennifer corrected him. “And those glazed eyes aren’t seeing us at all. Don’t you understand? He’s sleepwalking.”
“Sleepwal— I’ll be damned, you’re right!” he said as Geoffrey drifted past them without a glance or a pause. “Then it’s time he wakes up and answers a few questions.”
Jennifer clutched Leo’s arm, holding him back as he started to reach for the novice. “Don’t! I’ve heard it can be dangerous to wake a sleepwalker. Anyway, if we took that chance, he’d probably be nothing but confused. He wouldn’t know where he’s at or what he’s been doing and why, if there even is a why.”
“Yeah,” Leo reluctantly agreed. “But there has to be a why. Whoever cut the power to stop us from following him must have thought so.”
It was a chilling reminder for her of the menace that gripped Warley Castle.
“Only this time he’s not around to keep us from tailing the kid,” Leo added. “Let’s go. I want to see where he’s headed now.”
“Back to his bed, I imagine,” Jennifer concluded a moment later when they caught up with Geoffrey in the chapel. He was just on his way through the entrance into the area of the monastery that was off-limits to anyone but the brothers.
“Looks like the show’s over for tonight,” Leo said regretfully as the door closed behind the novice.
“Leaving us with those questions you wanted to ask.”
“Come morning, I will ask them,” he promised.
But you won’t get the answers, Jennifer thought. Not from Geoffrey anyway. He’ll either be unable to answer them or unwilling. She wasn’t going to argue with Leo about that, though. Not when she was too tired now after their adventure to want anything but her bed.
Leo had something else in mind, however. He lost no time informing her of his intention when they got back to her room.
“You’re not spending another night in here.”
“I’m not, huh?”
“No, you aren’t. I don’t want you on your own again. Not after what just happened. Shouldn’t have left you alone in here even before that.”
“So, we’ll leave the connecting door wide open this time.”
“No, we won’t. You’re coming into my room with me.”
“I see. And, uh, I don’t get any vote in this decision. Is that it?”
“That’s about it, yeah.”
She nodded slowly. “You are remembering, aren’t you, that there’s just one bed in your room?”
“That’s no problem.”
“It isn’t?”
“No, because I’m going to take the mattress off your bed and put it on the floor next to my bed. You get my bed, and I get the mattress.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Why?”
Why? Because she was probably in more danger from Leo McKenzie than their unknown assailant. Because having him that close to her all night, even if they weren’t sharing the same bed, was a temptation she didn’t want to risk. After those sizzling kisses in the chapel and the alcove, she was in enough trouble with this compelling man as it was.
Jennifer couldn’t bring herself to tell him that, though. He already had more ego than he needed. All she could manage was a feeble “Why does it have to be your room? Why can’t we drag your mattress in here?” It was a silly argument, but the thought of sleeping in his bed…
“Because if our killer should try to get at you, he’ll come to your room. If he does, you won’t be here. That might not stop him, but the delay could be enough to warn us. Makes you less vulnerable, see.”
In the end, ammunition exhausted, she lost the battle. Ten minutes later, with her mattress deposited on his floor, the connecting door closed and her robe shed, she found herself crawling into his bed.
“We’ll leave the lamp burning,” he said from across the room where he was restoring the fire on the hearth. “It’s safer that way.”
No, she thought, the light wasn’t safe. Not safe at all.
The warmth of the fire must have been too much for Leo, because he had peeled off his coat and dropped it on a chair seat. He was naked now from the waist up. The slabs of smooth muscle on his well-defined chest and upper arms gleamed in the glow from the flames. Jennifer was mesmerized by all that bold masculinity.
Uh-uh, there was no safety for her in the sight of him like that. But then she wouldn’t have been any more secure without the lamp, not in this provocative situation when her treacherous imagination would have supplied what her vision couldn’t in the dark.
And wouldn’t you know he would look up at that instant and catch her staring at him.
“Something bothering you?”
Oh, he was bothering her all right. But she had no intention of letting him know that. She covered the awkward moment with what she hoped was a casual “Just wondering about the tattoo. Unusual.”
He glanced down at the salamander wrapped halfway around the biceps of his right arm, as if he’d forgotten it was there. “Yeah, well, my ex-wife had a thing about salamanders at the time. She had a lot of nutty passions, none of which lasted for very long. Including me.”
He had been married? “So the tattoo was something you did to please her?”
“Could be. I don’t remember much about it. Just that we were out on the town celebrating one night. Don’t ask me why. Kimberly was always ready to celebrate something. All I know is that after one round of drinks too many we ended up in this tattoo parlor.”
“And the result was the salamander.”
His broad shoulders lifted in a shrug. “People make mistakes.”
“You could have it removed.”
“Not the salamander. Kimberly was the mistake.”
“I’m sorry.”
“So was I. Trouble was, she craved excitement. I guess she thought she’d get plenty of excitement being married to a private investigator. She was wrong, because a P.I.’s work is mostly routine, dull stuff.”
His hand began to rub his chest in slow, lazy circles. She didn’t think he was aware of his action, but it was arousing just the same.
“Anyway,” he said, “I’ve got the salamander. I don’t have Kimberly. Last I heard she was keeping company with a politician. Now there’s excitement.”
Jennifer knew she’d be in trouble if she went on being fascinated by that sensual performance with his chest.
“Personally, I’ve had enough excitement for one night. Think I’ll try to get some sleep.”
She slid down flat under the covers, closing her eyes against the image of him. It didn’t work. Leo had slept in this bed, and though none of his warmth lingered, she could swear that the impression of his body was still here. That and faint traces of his musky scent.
She heard him kicking off his loafers, the rustle of the mattress as he stretched out on it, settling down for what remained of the night. How was she supposed to get to sleep when she was conscious of him being so close to her? When only inches separated them?
Aching for him was bad enough. Why did she have to go and make it worse by thinking about his ex-wife? From the tone of his voice, she’d been able to tell that Leo had been hurt by that marriage. Was he still hurting? And why should that possibility bother her so much?
LOCKED HANDS pillowing his head, Leo lay there on his back listening to the cry of the wind outside that told him the storm still had the moors in its fierce jaws. Another kind of storm raged inside his head.
Why had he let Jennifer know about his ex-wife? He never talked about Kimberly if he could help it. Too many bitter memories, he supposed.
Except—
What? What was different?
And then all at once, with a sense of wonder, he knew. He was no longer bitter. He had let the past go, and Kimberly along with it.
When had that gone and happened? Somewhere over the last twenty-four hours, he figured. But why now and not anytime during the months since his
divorce? Yeah, why was a much more relevant question. He knew the answer, didn’t he?
Because twenty-four hours ago you didn’t know Jennifer Rowan.
Oh, yes, Jennifer had something to do with it all right. In fact, a lot of somethings. And right now one of them had him painfully hard, with a longing to have her body under his. She was so close to him that he could smell her warm, womanly scent. A fragrance that was driving him wild. Hell, it was all he could do to resist the urge to reach out for her.
But resist it he did. He didn’t need any more mistakes like Kimberly.
Too late, though. Because on another level, one that wasn’t physical but was equally strong, he had already lost the struggle.
Somewhere in those same twenty-four hours his motive had undergone a change. He was less interested now in having her near him to observe her as a suspect in his brother’s death than in watching over her to keep her safe.
A man’s primal instinct to protect his woman. It was a powerful aphrodisiac.
Don’t fool yourself, McKenzie. Whatever Jennifer Rowan has come to mean to you, you’ve still got that last, little, niggling doubt about her innocence. And until you deal with that…
“CAN YOU EXPLAIN to me just what we’re doing?” Jennifer asked.
She watched Leo as he wrapped a napkin around an orange, a boiled egg, and a muffin from the breakfast buffet that the monks had laid out for their guests on the sideboard. His selections were all food that could be eaten on the run.
“I told you last night. I have questions about Geoffrey’s activities, and until we get some answers, this investigation is going nowhere. Come on, pick something for yourself. I want to get out of here before any of the others show up and delay us.”
They were alone in the dining parlor. The hour was very early, too early for Jennifer to have been roused out of bed by an eager Leo.
“Uh, wouldn’t it be simpler to wait here until Geoffrey arrives instead of trying to hunt him down? Not that he’s likely to have those answers for us when we do find him.”
“I know that. My questions aren’t for Geoffrey.”