Read Online Not Proper Enough (A Reforming the Scoundrels Romance) by Carolyn Jewel - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Carolyn Jewel
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looked no different from the others.
She moved in for a closer look. “It’s cleverly hidden. I don’t see anything at all.”
He made room for her, and she stood beside him while she examined the shelf. “As a boy, I often used this passage to confound my nurse regarding my whereabouts.” He lit a lantern on the table and picked it up. “I suspect now that she was humoring me. The longtime staff is aware of the location of all the secret rooms and passages.”
She touched a spot on the rim of the shelf that seemed to her to be a slightly lighter shade than the surrounding wood. Nothing happened. What he’d just said penetrated and she looked at him. “There’s more than one?”
“The house is riddled with them.” He pressed a carved spot on the other side from where she stood. There was a hollow click, and an entire section of shelf swung out. Their eyes met, and once again she had that odd impression of him as a stranger and someone familiar to her. He held the door and gestured. “Shall we explore?”
Not for the world would she refuse such an invitation. “Oh yes, let’s.”
Fenris closed the secret door after them. If not for the lantern, they would have been in pitch dark. As it was, she could see the walls were carved with columns intended to look like tree trunks. The floor was bare plank. The ceiling was carved with leaves and branches, and even birds and other small animals.
She stood in the passageway and turned in a circle. “You must have been in raptures as a boy, having such a hideaway as this.” She, as Fenris well knew, had been raised by a maternal aunt and uncle. On a farm her eldest brother had, until the lawyers found him, fully expected to take over oneday. The house she’d grown up in had a mere seven rooms, without a single inch of gilt wood and not even one single secret passage or hidden room.
“I was.”
“I wish I’d lived here when I was a girl.” She took a step forward and looked around again. “Think of all the adventures one could have in a house like this.”
He took her hand. “Come. I’ll show you the Turkish bath. It’s quite beautiful.”
“A Turkish bath?” She did not pull away from him. “Yes, I should like to see that. Nigel went to the Levant after he finished at Oxford. He wrote us the most wonderful letters of his adventures. Robert went, too, when he was young. I suppose you know that.”
“Yes.”
“He gave me his journals to read. Sometimes he’d read passages to me. They were wonderful. I feel as if I’ve been there myself.” She hesitated because it occurred to her that perhaps she ought not talk about Robert, and just when had she begun to care about his feelings? “Have you been to the Levant?”
“When I was a young man, yes. But my grandfather had the bath installed here after he visited Anatolia. Long before I was born.” Still holding her hand, he walked the corridor without hesitation. They passed three steep and narrow staircases leading higher and lower into the house. There were two branches of the corridor he ignored. At the end of the passageway, he took a set of stairs down and then a second until they reached a doorway that opened into a small wood-paneled cabinet. He closed the door after them. The opening vanished into the scrollwork that decorated the walls there.
He waited while she examined the area of the wall they’d just come through. “Here. This leaf here. Do you see?” He reached around her to press a spot on the wall. After the click, he pushed and the outline of the doorway appeared. “So you can make your escape if need be.”
Eugenia laughed. “What a grand adventure this is.”
“Onward then?”
“Yes.”She followed him out of the cabinet and into a corridor. From there, he opened a door that took them into a tiled room with a portal at the other side. The ceilings were high and arched, and everywhere she looked were beautiful Arabian patterns set in tile. The air here was warmer than
She moved in for a closer look. “It’s cleverly hidden. I don’t see anything at all.”
He made room for her, and she stood beside him while she examined the shelf. “As a boy, I often used this passage to confound my nurse regarding my whereabouts.” He lit a lantern on the table and picked it up. “I suspect now that she was humoring me. The longtime staff is aware of the location of all the secret rooms and passages.”
She touched a spot on the rim of the shelf that seemed to her to be a slightly lighter shade than the surrounding wood. Nothing happened. What he’d just said penetrated and she looked at him. “There’s more than one?”
“The house is riddled with them.” He pressed a carved spot on the other side from where she stood. There was a hollow click, and an entire section of shelf swung out. Their eyes met, and once again she had that odd impression of him as a stranger and someone familiar to her. He held the door and gestured. “Shall we explore?”
Not for the world would she refuse such an invitation. “Oh yes, let’s.”
Fenris closed the secret door after them. If not for the lantern, they would have been in pitch dark. As it was, she could see the walls were carved with columns intended to look like tree trunks. The floor was bare plank. The ceiling was carved with leaves and branches, and even birds and other small animals.
She stood in the passageway and turned in a circle. “You must have been in raptures as a boy, having such a hideaway as this.” She, as Fenris well knew, had been raised by a maternal aunt and uncle. On a farm her eldest brother had, until the lawyers found him, fully expected to take over oneday. The house she’d grown up in had a mere seven rooms, without a single inch of gilt wood and not even one single secret passage or hidden room.
“I was.”
“I wish I’d lived here when I was a girl.” She took a step forward and looked around again. “Think of all the adventures one could have in a house like this.”
He took her hand. “Come. I’ll show you the Turkish bath. It’s quite beautiful.”
“A Turkish bath?” She did not pull away from him. “Yes, I should like to see that. Nigel went to the Levant after he finished at Oxford. He wrote us the most wonderful letters of his adventures. Robert went, too, when he was young. I suppose you know that.”
“Yes.”
“He gave me his journals to read. Sometimes he’d read passages to me. They were wonderful. I feel as if I’ve been there myself.” She hesitated because it occurred to her that perhaps she ought not talk about Robert, and just when had she begun to care about his feelings? “Have you been to the Levant?”
“When I was a young man, yes. But my grandfather had the bath installed here after he visited Anatolia. Long before I was born.” Still holding her hand, he walked the corridor without hesitation. They passed three steep and narrow staircases leading higher and lower into the house. There were two branches of the corridor he ignored. At the end of the passageway, he took a set of stairs down and then a second until they reached a doorway that opened into a small wood-paneled cabinet. He closed the door after them. The opening vanished into the scrollwork that decorated the walls there.
He waited while she examined the area of the wall they’d just come through. “Here. This leaf here. Do you see?” He reached around her to press a spot on the wall. After the click, he pushed and the outline of the doorway appeared. “So you can make your escape if need be.”
Eugenia laughed. “What a grand adventure this is.”
“Onward then?”
“Yes.”She followed him out of the cabinet and into a corridor. From there, he opened a door that took them into a tiled room with a portal at the other side. The ceilings were high and arched, and everywhere she looked were beautiful Arabian patterns set in tile. The air here was warmer than
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