The Perfect Bride (10 page)

More questions,
she thought with a grimace. Every time she found an answer, it only led to more puzzles. All she could do was keep moving forward and hope she eventually arrived at the ultimate answers she needed.

She passed the second floor, where the door to her room was still slightly ajar, and continued on. The stairwell spiraled downward
into the dark.

Another door finally appeared up ahead in the beam of her flashlight. It was on the inner wall of the stairwell. She figured that must mean it led to a room inside the tower. At the same time the stairs continued going downward beyond it.

She hadn’t been on this side of the house in the first floor, had no idea what room could be in the tower here. She needed to know,
though. Needed to learn what room this was to figure out how her attacker had most likely accessed the passageway to get to her.

Only one way to find out.

Loosening the latch, she opened the door, then began pushing it in. With any luck, this room would be empty, too.

Once she’d created a large enough gap, she straightened. She caught a glimpse of a wall full of books. From what
she could see, it was a library of some kind, maybe a study or office....

She took a couple steps in, then came to an abrupt stop.

It appeared her luck had run out.

Adam stood a few feet in front of her, eyes wide, his mouth open slightly. There was a desk behind him, and she realized in an instant she’d been right. This was an office.

His office.

He looked shocked—because
he really hadn’t known about the passageways, or just because of her sudden appearance from them?

“What the hell—?” He stared first at her, then at the gap she’d opened in the wall. “What are you doing in there?”

“Just exploring these secret passages. You know, the ones that don’t exist?”

“How—? What—?” Evidently unable to settle on the question he wanted to ask most, he finally
clamped his mouth shut and gave his head a hard shake. “Get out of there. I don’t know how you managed to find that, but I can’t have you wandering around in there. It might not be safe.”

“It’s fine,” she said patiently.

“You can’t know that for sure, and I certainly can’t. God only knows how long it’s been since anyone’s been in there, what kind of shape it’s in. If anything happened—”

Clearly arguing wasn’t going to get her anywhere, and she wasn’t about to let him stop her. Without listening to another word, she spun around and ducked back into the passage.

“Hey!”

His voice echoed from behind her, but she didn’t stop moving, continuing onward. She’d made it down half a dozen stairs when she felt him coming up behind her. She braced herself for him to grab her
and make her stop.

He didn’t, as he caught up and fell into step behind her. She sensed him glancing around them.

“You can barely see anything in here.”

“That’s what the flashlight is for,” she pointed out.

“And of course wandering around in a hidden passage you know nothing about with only a flashlight is perfectly safe.”

“I’m getting by well enough.”

“You know,
this
is
my house,” he said darkly.

“Well, then I’d think you’d like to get to know it better, because clearly there’s a lot you don’t know about it.”

There was a beat of silence, and she could practically hear him grinding his teeth. “Is this why you came here? Because you wanted to look for secret passages?”

“No, this is just something I thought of today,” she said truthfully.

“Uh-huh,” he said, his disbelief obvious. “And what were you hoping to find if you did locate these hidden pathways?”

“Isn’t that enough? Actual secret passages? They’re not exactly something you see every day. If anything, you should be thanking me for something that will draw a lot more interest to this place and that your guests will love to see.”

“That’s just what we need. People
wandering around inside the walls unsupervised. Never mind the possible safety hazard, there’s no telling where these passages even go.”

“All the more reason to explore them, don’t you think—?”

Her foot suddenly slipped, flying out from under her. She hurtled forward, the flashlight tumbling out of her hand, the ground rushing up to meet her—

Something caught her right arm, breaking
her fall, bringing her to an abrupt halt. She was whipped around, colliding with something hard and solid and immovable.

Breathless, she raised her head. It didn’t help. She couldn’t see anything, the flashlight and its faint glow somewhere on the floor behind her. It didn’t matter. She knew whose hand was on her arm, whose body she was pressed against, even as she processed what had happened.

She’d slipped. He’d caught her.

As she peered up, trying to catch even the faintest glimpse of his face, she sensed him looking down at her.

“Are you okay?” he asked. The low rumble of his voice rolled over her like a caress, making her shudder in response.

She immediately knew he’d felt it, his body tensing slightly. He didn’t say anything, and she realized he was probably
still waiting for her response.

She managed a nod, only realizing a heartbeat later that he couldn’t see it. “Yes, I’m fine.”

She waited, expecting him to release his hold on her.

He didn’t. His hand remained clasped around her arm, not too tight, but secure, and undeniably there. It wasn’t the tightness of his hold she felt. It was the heat of his fingers against her flesh, the
texture of his skin on hers, the coiled strength in his grip.

“Do you have your feet under you?” he asked, his voice even softer, and she nearly trembled again.

She flexed her feet, checking her bearings. The ground was solid beneath her. “Yes.”

His fingers instantly popped open, letting her go. The action was so abrupt she might have rocked back on her heels if he hadn’t let her
steady herself beforehand.

She felt him lean back slightly. “Like I said, it’s not safe in here.”

You might be right about that.
She turned away to retrieve the flashlight. It lay a few feet away, and she immediately realized why she’d stumbled. The stairs had ended, the ground leveling out. She’d been so distracted by their conversation she hadn’t even noticed. “I tripped. It happens.”

“Not in my secret passageways, you don’t. As I’m sure you remember, we’ve had some experience lately with women coming to Sutton Hall and...falling.”

Jillian could tell from the edge in his words that he was baiting her, all too accurately, as it was. At the moment, the reminder was a welcome one. She needed to get a grip and keep in mind exactly why she’d come here. She didn’t have time
to be distracted by anything.

Or anyone.

Picking up the flashlight, she turned back to face him, illuminating the space between them. “I guess your concern does make a certain amount of sense when you put it like that,” she conceded.

“Good. Let’s get out of here.”

“Do you want to go back up?” she asked, nodding toward the way they’d just come down.

“Let’s not risk the
stairs again. It’ll probably be faster just to find the nearest exit down here. I’m sure there has to be one.”

“I’m sure,” Jillian murmured. She suspected there were exits all over the place, the passages offering access to any number of rooms in the house.

She shined her flashlight ahead of them, revealing a long, straight corridor that stretched on beyond the reach of the beam. They
slowly moved down it. Contrary to their best guess, there didn’t appear to be any doors along it. The walls were bare and seemingly unending.

“Is this the basement?” she asked.

“It has to be, but I don’t recognize this hallway. We must still be within the walls.”

The longer they walked, the more those walls seemed to close in on them. Jillian swallowed hard, unsure if the hallway
was really narrowing or if it just felt that way. She was almost surprised he didn’t suggest they turn back after all, but maybe he felt they had to be closer to the exit than the stairs at this point. All the while, she was more aware than ever of his presence just behind her, an arm’s length away.

Finally, when it seemed as if the corridor truly would go on forever, another set of stairs
appeared at the end of the flashlight’s beam. The sight was so faint she couldn’t be sure she wasn’t imagining it at first. But the closer she came to them, the clearer it became that the stairs were real. They led up just one level to another door.

There was an exit after all. She felt Adam relax slightly behind her. Relief climbing in her throat, she started moving a little faster.

Reaching the steps, she took them two at a time. And then the door was there, right in front of her. She came to a stop, automatically reaching for the latch to release it.

“Let me—” Adam started to say.

“I’ve got it,” she said, pushing the door inward before he could try to take her place.

It took her a moment to recognize the room that greeted her. It was the kitchen. The panel
had opened into one of the side walls in Sutton Hall’s massive kitchen.

Stepping into the room, Jillian immediately saw it wasn’t empty, either. Rosie, Ed and Grace stood around the main island talking. None of them noticed her entrance at first. Only when Adam exited the passage behind her, his footsteps heavy on the hardwood floor, did they look up.

Ed’s eyebrows shot up. Rosie’s mouth
formed an O of surprise. But it was Grace’s face Jillian zeroed in on as the housekeeper took in their dusty, disheveled appearance with rapidly growing horror.

“Hello, Grace,” Adam said grimly. “I think we need to talk.”

Chapter Nine

Adam had to give Grace credit. By the time she stood in his office facing him and Meredith, she’d regained her composure, looking them straight in the eye as though she didn’t have anything to regret or hide.

“Why didn’t you tell us about the passages?” he asked bluntly.

“I didn’t know if you would want me to reveal such a thing to a guest and haven’t had
a chance to speak with either of you privately about it since then.”

“We’ve been here almost a year. You’ve had plenty of time to tell us about the passages.”

“I apologize for the oversight.”

Adam didn’t believe for a second it was simply something she’d neglected to tell them. No, she’d purposely chosen not to. He studied her closely. In the past year he’d come to know her as being
exceedingly competent and highly organized. But he realized he had never really gotten to know the woman herself, who she was, what made her tick.

Still, there was one thing he was fairly certain about at the moment. “You don’t like us being here, do you?”

Grace didn’t even blink. “It’s your property. That was what Jacob wanted.”

It wasn’t the first time she’d referred to the previous
owner of Sutton Hall by his first name. It had never struck Adam as unusual—everyone who’d been here for years called him Jacob—but for some reason, the way she said it sounded more personal to his ear. “But not what you wanted.”

“It wasn’t my decision to make.”

The way she was deliberately not answering was as telling as if she had. He decided a different tack was called for. “You know,”
he said carefully, “if you’re not comfortable working for us, you might be happier elsewhere.”

She bristled, her spine going ramrod straight. “This is my home.”

“I understand that. And I believe we made it clear when we came here that we’d like to be able to keep everyone on so you can remain here. But we can’t have people working for us we can’t trust. This business is too important
to both Meredith and me. I hope you understand that.”

“Of course,” she said stiffly.

“Good. Now, is there anything else you think Meredith and I should know about Sutton Hall that we don’t already?”

Grace paused for a brief moment as though seriously considering it, then finally said, “I don’t believe so.”

Did that mean there really wasn’t anything they should know, or that
Grace didn’t think they should know anything else? Still not in the mood to trust the woman, Adam wasn’t sure which possibility he was more inclined to believe.

Even so, from the woman’s body language he doubted pressing her would result in getting anything else from her at the moment. He’d have to be satisfied for now—and keep a closer eye on her.

“All right,” he said. “That will be
all, then. Thank you, Grace.”

With a tight nod, she pivoted on her heel and strode to the door.

When she was almost there, he called out. “Grace?”

She glanced back, a noticeable hint of nervousness on her face.

“Do you know why the passageways are there?”

“I believe they were intended to be used by the servants, to allow them to bring up food quickly from the kitchen without
having to travel through the whole house.”

That made sense given their location, Adam admitted. The rooms in the towers and the ones directly next to them were the biggest in the house and the most likely to be occupied by important people in the household, who would require the best service. With the kitchen near the center of the ground floor, a servant could easily pass through the servants’
hallways down there and up through the towers.

“And who else knows about the passages?”

“The rest of the staff, I believe.”

And not one of them thought to tell him and Meredith. Maybe they’d assumed that it was Grace’s job to do so and that she would, or maybe they’d simply been following her lead in keeping them secret. Either way, Adam didn’t think it said much about their loyalty
to him and Meredith.

“Thank you.”

When the door closed behind her, Adam glanced at Meredith, who hadn’t said a word during the meeting. “Do you think I was too hard on her?”

“No,” she said with a slight shake of her head. “She should have told us. You have to wonder what else she’s keeping from us.”

“Exactly what I was thinking,” he said. “Do you think we should fire her?”

“I’d hate to. Like she said, this is her home. She’s been here for so long. I don’t know where she’d go.”

“For all we know she has a million bucks stashed away and a thousand relatives she can go to.”

“Just another indication of how little we know her.”

“The question is, what should we do about the tunnels? I’m not really comfortable knowing there’s a series of passages within
the house that allow people access to so much of the house and apparently some of the rooms. At the very least, it could pose an issue for guest safety.”

The color drained from her face. “You think Jillian won’t want to stay?”

Adam grimaced. “No, I think she doesn’t intend to go anywhere. I’m more concerned with her wandering around in the walls and having the run of the place.”

“You’re right. That’s probably not a good idea. It might not be safe.”

For more than one reason,
Adam thought. Besides the obvious risk that she might be injured, he still didn’t trust why she’d gone searching for those tunnels in the first place or why she was so determined to explore them. The woman was up to something, and whatever it was he doubted it would be good for them.

Before
he and Grace had left the kitchen to find Meredith, he’d casually suggested to Rosie and Jillian that it might be a good time for them to go over the wedding menu. As expected, Rosie had jumped at the idea. He hadn’t missed the irritated look Jillian had shot him, making it clear she hadn’t liked being saddled with a babysitter. He’d almost pointed out that she should be happy talking about the
menus, since they were for her wedding. He would have enjoyed getting her response to that.

But the fact of the matter was, he couldn’t expect to keep her occupied and chaperoned the whole time she was here.

This could be exactly what he needed to force her to leave.

Except, as he’d said, he didn’t believe for a second she’d go that easily.

* * *

“N
OW
,
CHICKEN
IS
always
a good choice for an entrée,” Rosie declared. “It’s popular, just about anybody can eat it and there are so many ways I can prepare it....”

Seated at the kitchen island, Jillian fought her impatience with the situation—and her irritation with the man who’d put her in it. She hadn’t missed the small, smug smile Adam had tossed her as Rosie effectively trapped her in the kitchen to go over
the wedding menu. Just the thought of it—and him—brought back the frown she was trying to resist showing.

The man was diabolical.

She didn’t have time for this. She needed to get out of here.

Not really listening as Rosie went on, she waited for her first chance to escape. The only other thing standing in her way was Ed. He sat on the other side of the island, slowly drinking a
cup of coffee, giving no indication he was paying any attention to her or listening to anything his wife said.

Jillian studied him out of the corner of her eye. His head was bowed slightly, a small smile on his lips, his gaze focused on the counter in front of him, as though his thoughts were far away. Once again, she tried to get a sense of what the man was thinking, but his expression was
as carefully guarded as everyone else’s around here.

“On the other hand, I do know where I can get some good quality beef if that’s more what you have in mind....”

Rosie stepped into the pantry adjoining the kitchen, the rest of her comment drifting out into the room as she kept talking.

This was her chance. Jillian shot a glance at Ed.

And met his eyes.

She realized with
a jolt he hadn’t been as uninvolved as he’d appeared. He’d been waiting for Rosie to step out, too.

The smile on his face was friendly, pleasant. She saw immediately it didn’t reach his eyes. They were much more direct, almost pointed.

He jerked his head slightly to the left. “Door’s right over there,” he said mildly, almost under his breath, indicating the one that led outside.

She wondered briefly why he was helping her escape his wife. Rosie wouldn’t be happy Jillian was gone, and she seemed to have no trouble taking out her irritations on her husband. He was probably going to be berated as soon as Rosie found her missing.

Whatever the reason, she wasn’t going to turn down the help, especially not when Rosie could come out of the pantry at any moment. “Thank you,”
she murmured, quickly rising to her feet.

He didn’t respond, simply lowering his eyes and lifting his cup to his lips.

Without a glance back, Jillian hurried to the side door and ducked outside.

She did so without an ounce of regret. She didn’t have time to deal with her pretend wedding. She had more important things to think about.

Quickly moving along the side of the house,
she drew in a breath. It felt good to be outside after wandering around in the walls, and the fresh air might be just what she needed to clear her head and think.

Now that she knew about the passageway, it just left the question of who had actually used it last night to attack her. Grace had obviously known about it, and Jillian had to believe the rest of the staff did as well. Any one of
them could have used it. At least, any one of them with access to the house, she amended. She wondered briefly if that meant she could eliminate Ray and Zack. Unlike Grace, Rosie and Ed, they didn’t live within Sutton Hall. Then again, she wouldn’t be surprised if Ray or Zack had keys to the main house, or knew an alternate way in, which meant they were still as viable as suspects as anyone.

Noticing she’d nearly reached the gardens, she turned and studied the lush greenery up ahead. They weren’t far from the side door to the kitchen; she could have taken this route yesterday when she’d wanted to see the tower. Which meant that if Ray or Zack did have a key, it wouldn’t have been much trouble for either of them to get from the groundskeeper’s cottage to the kitchen and up to her
room.

She was standing there, considering the possibilities, when the sound of approaching footsteps reached her. She looked up just in time to see Ray coming around the corner. He came to an abrupt stop as soon as he saw her, his expression quickly souring.

As if realizing at the last moment that he had to be polite, he managed to work up a thoroughly unconvincing smile and nodded.
“Afternoon.”

“Hi there.”

Apparently satisfied the formalities had been dispensed with, he lowered his head and walked around her, continuing on his way.

She quickly moved to follow him, not about to lose this chance to talk to him. “It’s a beautiful day out.”

“Enjoy it while you can. Supposed to be a storm coming in tomorrow.”

“I noticed you don’t live in the house like
Grace and the Warrens. Do you have your own quarters?”

“There’s a groundkeeper’s cottage out back.”

“Is that where you raised Zack?”

“Yep.”

“Zack mentioned his mother took off when he was a child.”

“The boy talks too much,” he muttered.

“That must have been very hard on you.”

“It wasn’t the most fun day of my life, but we got by.”

“Did you ever hear from
her again?”

“Nope. And good riddance.”

“That didn’t worry you?”

He snorted. “No. Why would it?”

“Something could have happened to her. She might not even be alive anymore.”

“Not my concern.”

She frowned at the coldness in his voice. “She’s still the woman you married, still Zack’s mother.”

He came to an abrupt halt and whirled to face her. “And she didn’t want
to be either one. Some women aren’t cut out to be a wife or a mother. I only wish she would have figured that out beforehand and saved us all the trouble.”

She stared at him, fighting a shudder at the utter coldness on his face. “I—I’m sorry.”

“You ask a lot of questions.”

Jillian mustered a smile. “I’m curious about people.”

“No offense, ma’am, but you can go be curious somewhere
else. I have work to do.”

With that, he put his back to her and continued down the path, quickly vanishing behind the greenery. Jillian didn’t bother to try to follow him. She figured she’d gotten as much out of him as she was going to, and probably far more than she had any right to expect.

Considering his words, she made her way back to the entrance to the garden.

Her head lowered
in thought, she was nearly to the front of the house when she spotted something blocking the path in front of her. She jerked her head up.

Adam stood a few feet away, watching her. At the sight of him, the sunlight shining down upon him, her heart jumped. Out of surprise, she told herself, unwilling to admit it was from anything else. Like how good he looked in the sunlight.

The sunlight
that still couldn’t illuminate the darkness in his eyes.

“I’ve been looking for you,” he said.

She held her hands out, palms toward him. “Well, here I am.”

His eyes narrowed with suspicion. “What are you doing out here?”

“After wandering around in those tunnels I figured I could use the fresh air.”

The way his lips thinned, Jillian knew he didn’t exactly believe her. “That’s
actually why I was looking for you,” he said, his tone sending a prickle of warning down her spine. “Could I see you in my office?”

* * *

T
HEY
DIDN
’
T
SPEAK
as they made their way back into the house.

When they arrived back at his study, Adam held the door for Jillian to enter first before following her inside. As soon as the door was closed behind him, he strode past her toward
the desk.

“What’s this about?” she asked.

Adam stopped behind the desk and turned to face her. “Given this recent...discovery, I’m not sure we can allow you to stay here any longer.”