Chapter Twenty
Katherine
She could no longer feel her toes. It might have been from the cold. It might have been that Mr. Evans’s kiss had drawn all her attention to only the parts of her that pressed against him.
She felt her belly, tight against his hip, and the flutters that each stroke of his tongue created there. She felt her hands, held tightly in one of his own. And her lips…. Well, she definitely felt those.
She had been kissed by a couple of her beaus before, but it had never been like this. She never wanted it to end.
“Hallo?”
“Let me look, milady.” Footsteps padded on the earthen floor. Then a throat cleared. Loudly.
Mr. Evans stiffened. His lips pulled away. Katherine’s body chilled, reminding her that she was still in an ice house. Alone with a dead body and Mr. Evans.
And the footman who was staring at them. The light from the open door displayed his knowing smile all too well.
She jumped from the attorney’s arms and shook out her skirts.
“Thank you for attempting to keep me warm while we were trapped, Mr. Evans. It was most kind.” And without looking him in the eye, she fled, to the light, to warmth, and away from whatever that unsettling feeling was that only Mr. Evans seemed to elicit.
He followed her. As she blinked in the sunlight, he bent to whisper in her ear, “Attempting?”
She ignored that and turned to Lady Mary. “Thank goodness you came back.” She stomped her feet, trying to bring back some feeling. “The door was stuck.”
Lady Mary pushed her spectacles up her nose and frowned. “It wasn’t stuck. It was blocked.”
“What do you mean?” Mr. Evans asked, trotting back down the steps to examine the door.
The footman toed a thick plank. “I was heading to the stables when I saw Lady Mary trying to move this. It was wedged between the top step and the door. It is quite heavy, milady. You shouldn’t have tried to move it yourself.”
Lady Mary waved his comment away. “Did you hear anyone out here? Who might have done this?”
Katherine flushed. She hadn’t been hearing much of anything. Although they hadn’t been… doing what they’d been doing when the door had been blocked. They weren’t distracted then. She shook her head.
“Nothing,” Evans agreed. His face was grim. “So this was intentional. Why? What would killing me or Miss Smith accomplish?”
“Kill?” Katherine pressed her hand to her throat. “Surely no one wanted that.”
Mr. Evans planted his hands on his lean hips. “The human body can’t take such cold temperatures for long. If we hadn’t been found, we would have died.”
“But that would have taken several hours.” Lady Mary bent to peer into the ice house. “If I hadn’t come out here, someone else would have, looking for you. I don’t think this was a serious attempt. It feels more like mischief-making.”
“Mischief implies childlike fun.” Katherine shoved her hands inside the jacket’s pockets. “There was nothing innocent about this at all.”
“Fine. Evil mischief then.” Lady Mary rested her hand on the ice house’s door. “There isn’t very much space in there, is there?”
Katherine swallowed. “If I may, no one needs to inform my father of what occurred. I am unharmed, and no one need worry him.”
“Or tell him you were alone in an enclosed space with Mr. Evans.” Lady Mary gave her a shrewd look.
Katherine could feel said man tensing next to her. “Quite so. My father doesn’t need another reason to marry me off, leastways for supposed impropriety.” She didn’t want Mr. Evans to feel that she would use the situation to try to trap him in marriage.
Her stomach twisted. Or to think that he could trap her. There were more than a few men who would delight in forcing her into marriage, laying their hands on her father’s money. She didn’t think Mr. Evans was of that mold, but a hint of doubt gnawed at her still.
“Marriage as the solution for an unmarried man and woman being caught alone together is silly, regardless of whether or not impropriety occurred.” Lady Mary cocked her head. “Although it has been known to lead to a happy marriage or two.”
Katherine stared at her boots. She slipped out of Mr. Evans’s jacket, holding it out to him. She could pretend all she wanted that nothing untoward had happened when she and the attorney were trapped, but there were three other people who knew the truth.
A muscle ticced in Mr. Evans’s jaw. He tugged his jacket free from her hand and shrugged it on. “I would hate to be the source of a lifetime regret on Miss Smith’s part. I think we can all agree not to mention this incident.” He gave the footman a hard look.
The young man quickly nodded.
“Well?” Lady Mary jerked her head toward the ice house. “Did you find anything?”
Mr. Evans crossed his arms. “There is a bruise on Perrin’s face that raised sometime after his death, but I don’t think it tells us anything other than that his head hit the steps as he fell down them.
I don’t believe he was involved in any physical altercation prior to his being poisoned, shoved down the stairs, and stabbed. ”
Katherine narrowed her eyes. She hadn’t shoved him down the stairs, and Mr. Evans knew it. It wasn’t her fault that her concern over appearances had insulted his male pride.
Lady Mary ducked her head to go inside.
“There’s no need for you to look at Perrin’s body,” Mr. Evans said. His brows lowered. “I accurately described his appearance.”
“I’m sure you did.” Lady Mary lifted one shoulder. “That does not mean I don’t want to see for myself. Please stay out here and make sure no one comes along to lock me in there.” And she disappeared down into the ice house.
“What is it with you women needing to see everything for yourself?” Mr. Evans glared at her, as though Lady Mary’s action was in any way her fault.
“Perhaps it is because we women have learned from experience that not everything a man says can be trusted.” Katherine pinched her lips together.
Lady Mary emerged from the hut. She rubbed her arms and loosed a long breath. “You were right. I see nothing that changes any of our theories.”
Mr. Evans shot the footman a glance. “Thank you for your assistance. We don’t want to delay you any longer.”
The young man didn’t seem all that eager to return to his duties, but with a dutiful nod, he cut across the field toward the stables.
When he was no longer in earshot, Mr. Evans said, “I don’t think it wise to let too many people know that we have theories about the murder. It might lead to more attacks against us like this one.”
Lady Mary blew out a breath. “Do you think the other guests haven’t taken notice of the questions we’ve asked?”
Evans opened his mouth to respond, but Lady Mary held up her hand. “However,” she said, “I will be more discreet in future.”
“Good.” Evans looked to the house. “Has the constable left?”
“Not yet.” Lady Mary flicked at a bit of dust on her sleeve. “He’s decided to search the house for a possible source of the poison.”
Katherine’s chest tightened. She had nothing to hide, but still, the idea of a stranger looking through her belongings didn’t sit right. “He had this idea all on his own?”
Lady Mary whacked at a loose stone with the end of her walking stick. “It might have been suggested to him. I believe his choice was made, however, when Marie mentioned that she’d heard a noise in the attics above her room two nights past in the middle of the night.”
“She didn’t go to see what made the noise?” Katherine asked.
“That would hardly be sensible.” Evans extended his arm toward the house, and they began to trudge their way back. “What woman would be foolish enough to go investigate a strange noise in the middle of the night?”
Katherine and Lady Mary exchanged a look. What woman indeed?
Katherine’s shoulders drooped. The fear from being trapped, followed closely on its heels with the exhilaration of being in Mr. Evans’s arms, had left her feeling curiously drained. The backs of her eyes burned. She wanted nothing more than to be home, in her own rooms, safe.
She looked to the house, hoping Constable Adams would find something to uncover who had killed Perrin. Something to end this.
Movement in one of the windows caught her eye. A face pressed against the glass inside the ballroom.
She stopped, her breath catching. It was human, she was sure, but it looked wrong, distorted, as though the individual features had been sewn together incorrectly.
“Is something wrong?” Mr. Evans’s voice still held a bite of irritation, but there was a note of something else there, as well.
Katherine looked at him. The edges of his whiskey-colored eyes were crinkled in concern.
When she’d first met the man, she’d thought him pleasant but plain looking.
Now that she knew how strong that jaw felt in her palm, how comforting his arms felt wrapped around her, she couldn’t deny his appeal.
She raised her hand and pointed at the window.
But when they all looked to where she pointed, the face was gone.