Page 81 of How to Fall for a Scoundrel
She took one last look around the treasure chamber, trying to fix the sight onto her memory so she’d be able to tell Daisy and Tess as many details about it as possible. She wanted to remember this night forever.
Swifte jangled his keys. “Mr. Fox, we’ll leave you to your work. Mr. Tombley will see you out when you’re done.”
Harry took one last, wistful glance at the jewels, and sent Ellie a wry smile. “Let’s be off, then.”
Chapter Forty-One
“Now for your research,” Swifte said as they stepped back into the cool night air. “The Beauchamp Tower’s not usually included in the tours we give to the general public, since most people prefer the menagerie and the armory, but the cells are very interesting.”
Harry caught Ellie’s arm and slowed their steps so they wouldn’t be overheard. “Do you have a clever plan to make him leave us alone?”
“Of course,” she whispered back, trying to ignore the tickle of his warm breath at her ear. “Doyou?”
“Of course,” he echoed, giving the tip of her nose a teasing flick. “But ladies first. I’ll follow your lead.”
They followed the walls around the back of the looming White Tower, and Swifte raised his lantern as he unlocked a door in the curtain wall. A rusting suit of armor loomed out of the darkness and Ellie jumped in alarm before it came fully into focus. Harry snorted in quiet amusement.
“The cells used for aristocratic prisoners are up here.”
A curving staircase led onto a narrow corridor with aseries of closed doors. Swifte pushed one open, and they stepped into a large, bow-fronted room that was clearly part of the rounded turret, with leaded-glass windows, and a fireplace large enough to roast an ox.
“This is the room with the most profuse carving, but there are smaller cells with names and dates too.”
It was much larger than Ellie had expected it to be, although it was still cold and unwelcoming. Her heels clicked on the bare floorboards and echoed strangely in the empty space.
The walls were covered in a profusion of scratched names, designs, and initials. She reached out and traced the name Iane, an older spelling of Jane, with her fingertips. Had it been carved by the seventeen-year-old Lady Jane before her untimely execution? The thought was depressing. Women had so often been at the mercy of more powerful men, mere pawns in the ruthless cut and thrust of history.
In the flickering lantern light, she found the name Thomas inscribed above a crudely carved bell with anAon the side, a cross, a shield, and even a lion and the date 1564.
“So many names!” she exclaimed. “It could take hours to read them all.”
Harry stepped forward and sent her a chiding look. “Where’s your usual optimism, Miss Law? I feel sure we’ll find what we’re looking for if we work together.”
He began prowling the room, tilting his head back to read the inscriptions that were higher up, while Ellie started by the window and methodically moved her way from left to right.
Swifte did his best to provide them both with sufficient illumination.
“Perhaps it would be better to come back when it’s daylight?” he suggested.
“Wait!” Ellie exclaimed in triumph. “Here it is! Arundel!”
Sure enough, the name had been carved in a slanted, flowing script, along with a longer inscription, next to a small tree.
She shot Swifte her most charming, pleading smile. “Oh, this is wonderful! My father will be so delighted. I don’t suppose you have a piece of paper and a pencil, or a charcoal stick, do you, Mr. Swifte? I’d justloveto take a rubbing of this, as proof.”
“I suppose there might be some paper down in the guardroom,” Swifte said reluctantly. “But we only have the one lantern. I wouldn’t want to leave the two of you up here in the dark. These rooms are said to be haunted, you know.”
Harry reached into the pocket of his coat. “As luck would have it, I have a candle with me. I once got locked in a cellar as a child—accidentally, of course—and now I have a dislike of the dark. I always carry one.”
Ellie had no idea if there was any truth to that statement, but her heart still squeezed at the thought of him alone and afraid in the darkness. Oh, the man had the ability to tie her up in knots.
He lit the candle from Swifte’s lantern and sent the other man a confident smile. “Don’t worry about us. Miss Law and I will stay right here until you return. I’m far too wary of encountering one of your infamous ghosts to go wandering about this place at night.” He sat himself down on the seat in the window embrasure, and gestured Swifte toward the door.
Poor Swifte clearly thought the request was anannoyance, but he obviously didn’t want to offend them by refusing. “Very well. I’ll be back shortly.”
Ellie waited until the sound of his boots disappeared down the stairs before she turned to Harry and lifted her brows. The single candle gave off far less light than Swifte’s lantern had done, and his face was uplit in its glow, giving his handsome features a wicked cast and making his dimples deeply shadowed.
“Brilliant girl!” He balanced the candle on the stone seat and strode over to her. “Your deviousness leaves me breathless.”