Page 7 of An Accidental Elopement

He ducked into the salon, opened the secret passage by turning a candlestick that was bolted to the wall, and then slipped into the dark space, soundlessly closing the door behind him.

The passage ran the length of the room but was not very wide. It enabled several people to hide in there and was a perfect place for hiding when playing hide and seek. Except of course that all of his siblings knew about it as well. Their father had a man in his employ whose sole purpose was to maintain the hidden passages. Not because he thought that he might need to hide from debt collectors or flee from angry peasants but simply because he enjoyed the history of it.

"Lord Archibald?" He heard the elder Miss Drummond call in the salon he had just exited.

Archie’s body tensed and he held his breath as he heard her walk around the room on the other side of the thin wall.

"How strange," he heard her mutter. "I could have sworn..."

After pacing the room, he heard the elder Miss Drummond leave the room. Archie wanted to wait at least a couple of minutes before he exited his hiding place.

He did not normally think himself a coward, but he needed a break from constantly having to fend off the elder Miss Drummond. He had never met a woman who would not have taken his hints by now - or perhaps she was simply so determined that she ignored them.

His thoughts went to another woman who did not seem to understand it when she was being ignored. Archie had gulped with a dry sound that morning at breakfast as Curtis, his parents’ butler, had handed out the letters at the morning table. Archie had recognized the atrocious handwriting straight away and had quickly snatched the letter from the silver salver that Curtis carried the letters on.

The letters on top of his had been to his mother but she had not started cooing about the deeds of her grandchildren yet, which meant that she had not opened the letters and could be an indicator that she was studying his face.

Even though she was a mild and sweet-tempered woman, she was also sharp, and it would certainly not have gone unnoticed that the letter underneath had been addressed to him and that the sender was certainly not a scholar. He supposed that it was impressive that Lavinia was even able to read and write. He knew little of her background but had understood that it had certainly not held the same privileges that his own had.

He had quickly placed the letter in his pocket, finished his meal without looking at his mother or giving any of the other guests an excuse to talk to him, and then risen quickly.

“Is everything alright, Darling?” his mother had asked in a low voice, which was only for him.

“Everything is fine, Mother,” he said in a voice that he hoped was reassuring and sent her a smile that he was quite certain was at least two parts charming. He did not care to think what she made of the last third.

“You look a little pale,” his mother went on in a low voice and reached for his hand as if she would be able to detect merely by touching him whether he was ill or not.

Archie let her hold his hand for a moment, then squeezed it gently before he let go.

“I’m fine, Mother,” he murmured close to her ear.

She sent him a small smile, but there was an uncertainty in her blue eyes that told him that she did not exactly believe him.

When he had left the room, he had found the nearest empty salon, hurriedly closed the door, and torn the letter open. Lavinia did not write much, only that she needed to see him. Archie had no intention of doing so. He would have his man of business give her money and then the affair would be officially over. He wanted into his parents’ good graces again and the fastest way was cutting all ties to Lavinia.

He was startled when he heard the elder Miss Drummond speak in the room on the other side of the secret passage.

“Oh, Miss Gaywood I had no idea that you were here,” he heard her say.

Archie raised his head and leaned a little closer to the wall. He had not seen Miss Gaywood since she injured her ankle two days ago and had assumed that she was on bed rest in her room.

“The duchess suggested that I use this room to recuperate. She thought that it might be more pleasant to be here rather than being cooped up in my room,” he heard Miss Gaywood answer.

She had a sweet, melodic voice. It reminded him of honey. They had several hives on the estate and as a child, he liked to watch when the honey was extracted. If it had a sound, it would be like Cecilia Gaywood’s voice.

“How very thoughtful of Her Grace,” the elder Miss Drummond said.

“Yes, indeed...” Miss Gaywood began.

“Have you seen Lord Archibald? I was certain that he entered the room next door...”

“Then shouldn't you be looking in there?” Now it was Miss Gaywood's turn to interrupt. An edge had come to her voice.

Archie almost laughed out loud. He would have given a rather substantial amount of money to be able to see the elder Miss Drummond's face. Too bad that this was not one of the passageways where you could look into the room through a peephole.

He liked that Miss Gaywood did not simply back down from the elder Miss Drummond’s interruption and curt tone. She might be sweet, but she had claws too. The idea immediately sent a rush of blood through his body towards his groin. Why couldn’t she be a widow instead of the betrothed of an earl? He was certain they could have an extraordinarily enjoyable affair.

“I did look in the other room, but it was empty. Then I thought that I might have been mistaken but I see now that I was not.”