‘It’s running successfully without me for a few hours.’ He looked into the nearest box and poked through the contents. ‘It’s a test for the new employees.’
‘Really?’
He looked back to her. ‘No,’ he said bluntly.
The atmosphere thickened. Her heart thudded too quickly for comfort. She was too acutely aware of that raw look in his eyes that she didn’t understand. He looked as if he hadn’t slept well.
Don’t get curious. Don’t think you’re starting to care.
She tried to warn herself—her mother had fallen for a suave, charming swine and so had she in James. She didn’t need to make that mistake again. She didn’t need him coming home all intense and brooding and pulling her close only to then push away without a minute’s notice. But an impulse was rising—she wanted to see his smile again. She wanted him to tease again.
Alejandro’s gaze dropped and he sombrely studied the contents of the box nearest him.
‘I was thinking you’re right,’ he said slowly.
Kitty’s jaw dropped but before she could speak he flashed the quickest of grins.
‘That I should understand more about this house,’ he added, walking away from her, the smile gone again. ‘And I might as well do that while you’re here to explain it to me.’
She was wary of the intense energy emanating from him. Of this seemingly random request. What did he really want?
‘Where did you want to start?’ she asked as he restlessly prowled round the room, picking up small items and replacing them haphazardly and seeming to avoid looking at her directly.
He fiddled with a small wooden figurine on the table. ‘Show me your favourite things.’
She kept watching him steadily but he still didn’t meet her gaze.
‘I don’t have favourite things as much as I have favourite places,’ she said.
‘Such as the library?’
She wrinkled her nose. ‘I used to wait for my father here and it was always a disappointment. That’s why Teddy left notes for me in the hidden compartment in the bookcase—to cheer me up.’
He’d left notes because most of the time Teddy was out, supposedly at sports coaching when in fact he was at the local drama club.
‘So then it’s your bedroom?’ Alejandro guessed.
‘That came later,’ she corrected him. ‘My favourite place of all is the secret room.’
He spun towards her, his eyebrows high. ‘There’s a secret room?’
She laughed, pleased at the flash of interest in his face. ‘I know—it’s pretty cool.’
‘It wasn’t on the plans.’
‘If it was, it wouldn’t be secret!’ She rolled her eyes. ‘Come on—it’s downstairs. It’s not huge; it’s about the size of a lift compartment.’
‘And it exists because...?’
‘Because it was an extension of the butler’s pantry and its entrance got sealed and hidden because one of my ancestors was a scoundrel and needed to hide from the long arm of the law.’
He stared slack-jawed at her. ‘Seriously?’
He laughed as she nodded.
‘That sounds like one of your family. Good God!’ He walked to the door. ‘Show me.’
She overtook him on the stairs, unable to stop her small smile at the thought of sharing the house’s secret with him. She’d always loved this little room. ‘So, through the kitchen and then out to here.’
‘Where every kitchen appliance known to man is stored,’ he said dryly.
‘That’s right,’ she acknowledged ruefully. Her father had indulged their old chef back in the day before the money had dried up.
She walked into a corner of the pantry and pushed the old subtle knob that formed part of the decorated skirting board. There was a clunking noise and a part of the wall swung, revealing a narrow gap.
‘Oh, my—’
‘I know.’ She interrupted him. ‘Hardly anyone knows it’s here.’ She squeezed in the gap, her own excitement at being back in the small room rising. ‘It’s really cute.’ She glanced into the far corner where, as a girl, she’d set up a cosy hiding place. Slowly she turned, suddenly remembering. ‘But, whatever you do, don’t—’
She broke off as he shut the door behind him.
‘Don’t what?’ he asked.
The darkness was complete.
‘Oh,’ he said, quick to realise. ‘We’ll have to feel for the door handle?’
‘Actually, there’s a slight design flaw,’ she mumbled in embarrassment. ‘No lighting. No interior door handle.’
‘Why am I not surprised?’ he sighed. ‘Are we going to suffocate to death?’
‘No, there’s a vent.’
‘Thank heavens for small mercies. Do I need to break the door open?’
‘No, don’t damage it,’ she said quickly. That old mechanism was too historic and she’d hate its secret to be exposed. ‘Can’t you call one of your assistants to come and direct them how to open it?’
‘I don’t have my phone with me.’
Oh. ‘I don’t either,’ she realised. She’d left it on the table upstairs. ‘We’re stuck.’
Heat flooded her at the realisation. She was locked in, alone and in the dark, with one very sexually magnetic man who was the walking definition of unpredictable.
‘There’s really no way of opening it from this side?’ he asked, a thin vein of irritation in his voice.
‘No.’ She’d tried hard enough as a girl.
He was silent for a moment and she heard him stepping around, getting the feel for the space. ‘Paolo should be here in an hour or so to drive us to dinner. He’ll come in through the kitchen entrance; will we hear him arrive?’
‘Yes.’
‘And will he be able to hear us if we yell?’
‘Yes.’ She’d yelled when she was a child a few times.
‘Then...’ He paused. ‘I
guess we wait.’
For an hour or so. She leaned against the back wall and slid down into her old familiar corner, blocking her mind from sending her images of what they could do to pass the time. She was not going to be that easy for Alejandro.
‘You know this is dangerous,’ he said a bit roughly. ‘How did you get out of here when you were a kid?’
She cleared her throat. ‘I taped a ribbon over the edge so the door couldn’t quite lock into place, but it was almost shut so no one knew I was here.’ Or at least that’s what she’d pretended. The chef had always known and had always checked on her. Neither of her parents had.
‘What did you do in here all by yourself?’
‘Drew. Dreamed.’ She’d sat with her torch and sketched fanciful creatures—fairies goblins, elves. She smiled self-consciously at the memory—which was stupid, given he couldn’t see her. But it was that kind of place for her—secret and a little bit magic.
‘You couldn’t do that upstairs?’
‘When Mother was at home, my father stayed out very late.’ Her smile faded. She’d sat in the library and waited for him. ‘And when she was away he brought a lot of “guests” home. I preferred to stay out of their way when they were here.’
‘Female guests?’ Alejandro asked expressionlessly.
‘Naturally.’
There was a brief pause. She heard him moving nearer, then felt him sit down next to her.
‘Your mother travelled for work?’
She bit back a sad laugh. ‘No, she’d go on retreats to “find herself”.’ She paused. Her mother would routinely just check out of marriage and motherhood. ‘After the attic was renovated, I stopped coming down here.’ She’d hardly had to come downstairs at all. She could avoid her father’s affairs and absence in her own room.
‘And what happened to your mother?’ That roughness in his voice gave the question an edge.
‘Eventually she didn’t come back from one of her retreats. Last I heard, she’s in Australia. I guess she finally found herself. She gave Dad everything in the divorce—gave up all her material possessions and never came back.’ She’d given up her children too.