Page 62 of His Wicked Charm

The maid stared. “I think your lady’s maid took it to the laundry room.”

Lilah shoved her foot back into the slipper and flew out of the room and down the back staircase. In the laundry room, the maid at the washtub gaped at her. No doubt she thought Lilah was even madder than the upstairs chambermaid did.

“I—I’m just looking for—there.” She pounced on her nightgown, lying atop a basket.

It was no wonder Cuddington had taken it to the laundry. Blades of grass clung to the dirty hem. Lilah stared at it blindly; she couldn’t breathe. It couldn’t be. This could not be happening again. Not after all these years. She was past that. Her life was neat. Calm. Orderly.

She dropped the gown and walked away, clenching her trembling hands in her skirts. What was she to do? Lilah fought down the panic in her chest. It was an aberration. Just a momentary relapse, brought on by being in the old surroundings. She had been tired last night, and there had been that tumultuous scene with Mr. Dearborn. That moment—no, that life-altering event—with Con at Carmoor.

It was no wonder she had let her guard down. Nor was there any reason to panic. She was no longer a child. She was in command of herself, and, now that she was aware of it, she would control it. Just as she would control that strange, wayward hunger for Con Moreland. She refused to be ruled by her clearly unhealthy instincts.

Hurrying back upstairs, she found Con loitering in the hall outside her chamber. “What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you.” Con glanced down the hallway from which she’d come, then at her feet. Lilah realized that she hadn’t changed her shoes. She tried to think of some excuse, some reason. For a wild moment, she even thought of blurting it all out to him.

But she managed to restrain herself. She had already revealed far too much to Con. She decided to simply ignore the inconsistencies. “Are you ready?”

“Yes.” Con swept his arm out for her to precede him. “We need to find two things, you know. The key and the door it opens.”

“To this sanctuary?” Thank goodness, Con had decided to ignore the situation, as well. There was something to be said for a man who was accustomed to eccentric behavior. “I can’t imagine where that could be—an old building on the estate? In town? It sounds religious, but I can’t imagine it being at a church.”

“No, I wouldn’t think a church—unless perhaps there is some old abandoned ruin of one somewhere near.” He raised his eyebrows in question.

Lilah shook her head. “I’ve never heard of one.”

“I think religious-sounding phrases are common in secret societies—it gives them weight. Dignity. All it has to be is a room, a hut, just a place where they conducted their...whatever it was they did.”

“What do secret societies do?” Lilah asked.

“I’ve never belonged to one. Aunt Vesta would think me a poor example of manhood. But from what I’ve heard, it seems mostly to involve solemn oaths, passwords and secret handshakes. Wearing silly hats.”

“That sounds like exactly your sort of activity. I’m surprised you haven’t joined one.” But Lilah smiled as she said it.

Inside her father’s bedchamber, Lilah pulled open the draperies, letting in a flood of sunlight. “His sitting room is through this door.”

Con trailed after her into the small enclosed room and went over to a large portrait of a young woman. “Is this your mother?”

“Yes. Her name was Eva.”

“She was beautiful.” He glanced back. “You look very much like her.”

“Thank you.” Lilah felt herself blushing and turned away. “Why don’t you go through his desk? I’ll, um, look in this cabinet.” It would be better to work at some distance from Con. Standing close to him was exactly how she’d gotten in trouble the other day.

She tried to concentrate on her task, but after a moment, she realized that she had stopped working and was watching Con instead. He had run his hands through his thick dark hair, leaving it sticking out everywhere in a way that was somehow endearing. Her fingers itched to reach out and brush it back into place. She remembered the feel of his hair between her fingers, soft as silk. She thought of his lips, reddened from kissing her, the hard line of his collarbone, the taut skin stretched across it.

And this was exactly what she needed to avoid. Lilah walked over to the window, staring out until her pulse settled down. Surely she could manage to control her lust. Con was not the only handsome man in the world. His was not the only man’s touch she would ever feel; someday she would marry. She tried to think of another man’s hand sliding over her naked skin, and the only feeling it evoked was repulsion.

It wouldn’t be that way, though. She would be in love with her future husband. He would be a man who loved and respected her. Who wanted to marry her. She would make love with him, and it wouldn’t be a mistake. The problem was that when she tried to picture such a man, he had black hair and green eyes and an engaging grin.

Con looked over at her, as if he had felt her gaze. His eyes darkened, and his hand stilled. For a heartbeat they gazed at each other. Con took a step, and Lilah whipped around to stare out the window again. Con stopped and returned to looking through the desk.

They worked their way through the office bit by bit. Con found one carved wooden box that proved to have a puzzle of sliding pieces, exciting their interest, but it proved to have nothing inside it but a woman’s glove and a curl of reddish-gold hair bound with a blue ribbon.

“Your mother’s, I presume,” Con said, touching the lock of hair, his face unaccustomedly sad. “He must have loved her very much.”

“He loved her more than anything. He wasted his life away, trying to call her back to him.” Lilah heard the touch of bitterness in her voice. “I’m sorry. It’s wrong of me, I know, to resent his abiding love, his grief.”

“No, it’s not.” Con set the box aside. “He should have been devoted to raising you, not chasing after her memory. I’m sorry he was obsessed.” His face hardened. “I despise the frauds who prey on the grief of those like him, the mediums who claim they can contact dead loved ones.”