Page 65 of An Unexpected Pleasure

Deirdre studied her sister’s face. “You wish he were not who he is, don’t you?”

“I wish he were anyone else!” Megan admitted, the words rushing out of her. She looked at Deirdre, her eyes filled with unhappiness. “If you could only talk to him, be around him—he is nothing like I thought he would be.”

“I’m sorry.” Deirdre laid her hand on her sister’s arm, gazing into her face with sympathy. “Perhaps there is some other way.”

“What?” Megan asked resignedly and shrugged her shoulders.

She cast a quick glance at the other occupants of the large room, who were standing chatting in the far corner beneath an array of Inca masks, then moved closer to her sister.

“What else can we do?” Megan whispered. “You are the one who has nightmares of Dennis. Can you countenance not doing anything to avenge his death?”

Deirdre frowned. “No. I—we are duty bound.”

Megan nodded. “I have to go ahead. The fact that he is…pleasant cannot matter in this.” Unconsciously, she squared her shoulders. “The sooner it’s done, the better. I need to speak to Julian Coffey.”

“Andrew introduced Mr. Coffey to me,” Deirdre told her. “He seemed a very nice man. I am sure he will help you in any way he can.”

“Look out and see if Theo is still there,” Megan told her, nodding toward the door.

Deirdre stepped into the doorway and looked down the hall, then turned back to Megan. “He is walking toward the stairs with that odd-looking old woman.” She turned back, keeping up a running commentary in a hushed tone. “They are going up the stairs. Almost gone…they are out of sight.”

She and Megan stepped out into the hall.

“I am going back to the ballroom to look for Mr. Coffey,” Megan told her. “I—it is probably best if we don’t spend any more time together.”

Deirdre nodded. “I will remain here for a little while.”

Megan nodded and moved off down the hall. It felt strange to leave her sister without a hug or even squeezing her hand. She glanced back at Deirdre, who smiled and turned away. Megan went on. Her sister would be fine, she told herself. She would find Mr. Barchester, and he would take care of her.

Of course, that was another worry. Was Deirdre falling in love with the Englishman? Mr. Barchester seemed an honorable, upstanding man, but still, Megan could not help but worry about Deirdre. She was such an innocent, and this was the first time that Megan had not been around to protect her. What if Deirdre fell in love with him? What would she do when it came time to go back to New York?

Megan walked around the edge of the crowded ballroom, searching for Coffey and hoping that she would not run into any of the Morelands. Just as she reached the middle of the room, she cast a glance over her shoulder and caught sight of the museum curator walking through the doorway into the hall.

Hurriedly she changed course and retraced her steps, weaving through the crowd, excusing herself. She reached the hallway and glanced first one way, then the other. A man was turning the corner into the back hallway. She caught only a glimpse of him, but she thought it was Coffey.

She followed him as rapidly as she could without causing comment and turned as he had done. A short hallway stretched in front of her, leading to a set of stairs. It must be the old servants’ staircase, she thought, and it provided an easier way to get to the next storey than the crowded staircase in the front.

Lifting her skirts to keep them from dragging, she went lightly down the hall to the stairs. Just as she started to go up the steps, she heard the distinct clatter of feet on the stairs below her. She looked down, surprised. Had Coffey gone down into the cellars?

It seemed odd, but she turned and started quietly down. She reached the bottom and paused, looking cautiously about her.

She was in another hallway, this one much less well lit than the one upstairs had been. Candles burned in infrequent sconces up and down the hall, casting a flickering light and leaving much of the hallway in shadow. Megan was tempted to turn around and go back upstairs, but then she saw a man emerge from a room down the hall and turn the other way. It was Mr. Barchester.

Her curiosity piqued, she started after him. What in the world was he doing down in the basement? she wondered. He should be upstairs, looking after Deirdre. Had it been he she had glimpsed turning the corner, instead of Coffey?

Far in front of her, Barchester turned left into another room and closed the door after him. Megan slipped down the hall and paused a little way from the door, wondering what to do. Her curiosity was fully aroused now. What was one of the guests at the party doing wandering about in the basement?

As she stood there, she heard a noise. She stiffened, listening. It sounded…it sounded almost like someone crying softly. Megan frowned, turning slowly. Was it coming from behind her? From one of the closed rooms she had passed?

She started down the hall, moving as quietly as she could, listening for the faint sound. With all her attention on the soft crying, the sudden scrape of a heel behind her made her jump, and she started to whirl around. But before she could do more than glimpse a flash of black at the corner of her vision, something thudded hard into the back of her head. Pain exploded inside her, and she crumpled to the floor.

CHAPTER 14

“Megan?”

The voice came from far away, and Megan turned her head, wanting to bury her face in her pillow. But the voice would not let her sleep.

“Megan? Can you hear me?”