Beyond a Doubt Read online

  When she turned her back to leave, the man called out, agreeing to her stated price. A smile of satisfaction flitted across her face as she added yet another item to Bryce's arms, already full of food.

  The shopping took longer than expected, and by the time they finished both of them were exhausted. Bryce offered to assist with the cooking and Lucy agreed.

  They worked alongside one another. The heat in the kitchen caused sweat to dot Lucy’s brow. Bryce found a rag and wet it. At first he thought to hand the piece over but as he watched Lucy, he realized he wanted to touch her.

  With a gentle hand, he pulled her close. He pressed the cool cloth to her flushed skin. A sigh of contentment rushed past her parted lips.

  Bryce favored each of her closed eyelids with a kiss. Feelings for Lucy swelled within him. Taking a step backward, he left a gap between them. He dropped his arms to his sides.

  Lucy’s eyelids fluttered open. A tear slipped down her cheek which she quickly swiped away. Seeming to ignore the moment they shared, Lucy stood over the fireplace and stirred the food in the hanging pot. Bryce followed suit and continued to chop vegetables.

  The food finished, they carried it to a large table in a richly decorated room. When they sat down for dinner each bowed their heads in silent prayer.

  Bryce made sounds of enjoyment, complimenting Lucy. Bite after bite brought an overwhelming sense of flavor to his mouth. The meal consumed, he offered to clean up but Lucy staunchly refused.

  “Nay. Go check on the horses. There should be some hay out back so you can feed them.”

  Bryce reluctantly complied. Perhaps the lass needed time alone after their encounter. In fact, he needed time alone as well, time to think through the shared kiss and what it all meant. Was it possible he’d set things in motion that could never be taken back? Part of him hoped so.

  First he piled hay within the stalls for the weary beasts. Then he rubbed down their shiny coats. Without the animals, travel would have taken forever. He offered a prayer of thanks for their existence.

  The animals secure and fed, he hastened back inside. Pots of steaming water hung above the fireplace.

  Humming came from the hallway, and Bryce followed the noise. Peering inside a tiny slit in a door that was opened a crack, Bryce saw Lucy. She had removed her gown and only her thin chemise remained. Her brown hair was pulled up and securely pinned upon her head, exposing the creamy top of one shoulder.

  With his body unconsciously moving toward her, Bryce bumped the door and caused a creaking sound. Alerted, Lucy looked up. A smile spread wide across her face. “Bryce, I’ve prepared us a bath.”

  The way the words tumbled from her mouth, her sense of sincerity, had him gawking like a fool. Lucy must have realized her mistake. Words bubbled from her throat incoherently as she struggled to correct herself.

  “I mean, well, I filled a tub for you in your room and a tub for me here, in my own room.”

  Bryce could feel the heat flood his face. Without comment he fled down the hall and barricaded himself in his suite of rooms.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Lucy lifted her jaw from her chest. Sometimes Bryce’s innocent behavior was surprising. Imagine him thinking she’d made a bath for them to share! That was a big jump from their intimate moment earlier. Her cheeks burned with remembrance.

  What if Bryce changed his mind and decided to come back? To be safe, Lucy secured her door before she finished disrobing. She slipped into the hot water, and her muscles slowly relaxed. She spent time working each tense area until she felt like butter melting in a pan.

  With her head leaned back and water up to her neck, she mentally worked to categorize the list she’d received. Activities written on the paper included a masked ball, a day at “the office”, and numerous days in the park. Most of these were commonplace and had been used before on multiple occasions. The challenge would be to take these recurrent themes and come up with something new. There had to be a different way to meet her contact and share the information she had.

  She sighed. There was one thing she knew for certain. Bryce would need a distraction. A simple mission for the man would never do. She tapped her finger against her chin. She needed something that would occupy him every day for the next week. A thought struck her and she sat up. Bryce didn’t need to stay. He’d more than fulfilled their initial agreement. Perhaps this was the solution she sought. Push him away, allow him to return to his home. Then she would have all the time she needed.

  Lucy pondered the thought as she finished her bath. In a daze, she climbed from the lukewarm water. When dried and clothed, she made her way to the library. The room remained, in large part, the way it had been at her father’s passing.

  Papers sat in neat piles upon the wooden desk. Books were liberally scattered upon tables. Dust touched everything.

  Lucy hadn’t been in the house for some time. The butler, Thomas, had been given charge as overseer. It seemed the man had been slacking somewhat in his responsibilities. The cupboard had been empty upon their arrival and the dust had threatened to take over their lungs. Ashes rested in the fireplace, perhaps from her last visit into the city.

  Shaking these thoughts from her head, Lucy became lost in memories.

  Upon her father’s untimely demise, Lucy had found herself in a bit of a sticky situation. Motherless and raised primarily by a doting father, Lucy thought no secrets had been kept between them. Then he passed, and Lucy discovered things she’d rather not have known.

  One night her father, a lawyer by trade, had been late in coming home for supper. Knowing the extent of her father’s business dealings, Lucy fretted until Thomas went out to search. When the butler returned empty-handed an hour later, Lucy’s worry had only increased.

  Lucy had begged Thomas to continue his search but he said she was acting ridiculously. She beseeched him. Reminder after reminder had been put his way, as she continued to insist that it was unlike Mr. Lombard to be late.

  Without thinking about the hour, the nip in the wind, or the dangers that awaited a lone woman on the streets of London, Lucy had finally rushed outside. Thick gray clouds had loomed overhead. Streaks of lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating her every step.

  First she had gone to her father’s office and banged on the door, causing a neighbor to come outside.

  “Afraid he’s left, missy. Can’t you see the lights are out? No one can work without a candle at this hour.”

  Lucy had backed away and decided to follow the most logical path for her father to use. The lightning had ceased and the sky darkened further. Fear had settled in her heart.

  Lucy still remembered the clop of horses, and men as they called boisterously to women of ill repute. Individuals hidden by the dark shadows had snaked out their hands, and Lucy had hastened away.

  She raced ahead, sending frequent glances over her shoulder. With a fervent hope her father had returned home, she had set her foot to that end.

  Although Lucy was deep in thought, a moan had caught her attention. She’d passed two brick buildings close together, parted only by a small alleyway. Deep within this area a man cried for help. She had stopped and placed a steadying hand on the brick wall. Lucy had wondered if she should go inside, and had decided she should, so as not to leave one stone unturned in the search.

  A tentative step forward, and she had been consumed in darkness. She had found herself sealed in between the two buildings, and if the man planned to trick her she had nowhere to run.

  With each step Lucy had taken, the noise of pain had grown louder.

  “Help…”

  The sound of the voice had urged her on. Impossible to see because of the height of the buildings, she’d grazed the bricks and shuffled her feet, kicking at debris, while trying to discover the creator of the mournful sound.

  A burst of lightning had rent the air; a dark-stained hand reached out toward her. She covered her mouth to stifle a scream. Something glinted in the light: the ring.

/>   “Father?”

  “Oh, Lucille. What are you doing here?”

  “Father?” she cried as she fell to her knees. “What happened to you?”

  “Lucille, this is no time for hysterics. Assist me to my feet.”

  The sound of pain had dissipated, replaced by his normal confidence. Regardless of the change in behavior, Lucy had known something was wrong.

  He had wrapped his arm around her shoulder, and pressed his hand tightly to his abdomen. The absence of light had left her vision restricted, hampering her ability to discern her father’s problem.

  As the house had loomed closer, he’d leaned more and more upon her. By then she’d dragged him. She had opened her mouth to cry out for help, but her father had ordered her to remain silent. With every muscle stretched to its limit, she had maneuvered him up the stairs. Once there, it had been all she could do to pull his dead weight across the threshold and inside the house.

  He collapsed. Thomas stood there, staring wide-eyed at them. No doubt he had been less than thrilled about the mess.

  “Thomas, I’ll help you clean later. Right now we must help Father. I believe he is injured.”

  Confusion had tugged at her already frazzled thoughts. Why hadn’t Thomas moved? She had wanted to scream at him. She had wanted to cry. “Don’t just stand there, we need to help him!”

  “But my lady—“

  “Thomas, please leave us.”

  Shocked, Lucy couldn’t believe that voice had come from her father. It had been raspy and gurgling, as if filled with fluid.

  Thomas had left, and her father had reached for her with his blood-stained hand. She had recoiled in horror. “Father! Lie still. I’ll send Thomas to fetch the doctor. Don’t you worry. I’ll take care of you.”

  A smile had rested upon his blue-tinged lips. “I’m sure you will.”

  “What happened?” she had asked.

  His voice had grown quiet as he said, “I believe someone took offense at my profession and shot me.”

  Blood soaked his chest. A large gaping hole showed in the fabric of his tunic. Lucy had attempted to pull free from his grasp, her sense of urgency increasing.

  The pressure from her father’s grip on her arm had tightened. “Lucille, it is too late.”

  “Nay!”

  “Listen. I haven’t much time. Just because I’m going away—“

  “I don’t want to hear this!”

  “Lucy, please,” he had said, the words strained. “The paper in the desk must reach its destination. And remember, never let them know your true identity.”

  Lucy had held her father in her arms, and listened to his whispered words until he took his dying breath. Louis Lombard was no more.

  The sound of wind howling beyond the library window brought her back to the present. Sitting behind the desk, she steepled her fingers and glanced outside.

  It was time to make a decision. Either she should let Bryce help her, or she needed to send him away. She knew what her mind said, but what did her heart say?

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Bryce fled from Lucy. The thought of intimacy with the lass caused his heart to thump madly and his palms to sweat.

  In his room, he lay across the large bed. The soft mattress conformed to every facet of his body. Memories of the day flitted through his mind. Aye, he’d touched the lass in the kitchen but that had seemed mild compared to this latest incident.

  A tub filled with hot water sat close to the fireplace, and the water cooled as he rested. Shedding his English clothing, he slipped into the tub. Unlike most tubs Bryce had had the pleasure of using, this one was extra long and accommodated him perfectly. He stretched his legs out to their full length. A stool sat nearby, covered with a bar of soap, a rag, and a towel.

  Bryce washed everything from toes to head. The water had turned a nasty gray color by the time he finished. He was embarrassed by how filthy he had been.

  Out of the tub and dressed in fresh clothes, Bryce searched the metal holder. How did a person drain the water from this thing? The tub was scooted quite close to the wall. A plugged tube attached to a hole inside the tub and ran to a slit in the floor. Bryce bent on one knee and studied the contraption.

  If he pulled the plug and the grubby water gushed from the tub into the kitchen, Bryce would be mortified.

  He needed to ask Lucy. The thought of seeing her again caused uncertainty to set in. Of course she hadn’t told him to leave, even when she’d made her comment. There had been no time because he’d run away like a scared chicken.

  What would Grant and the other Camerons think of his behavior? Bryce respected women, refrained from strong drink, and differed from his family in many ways. Perhaps they would laugh at him. Or perhaps they would wish to be more like him.

  Either way, the only thing to do was to ask Lucy. Otherwise he wouldn’t sleep. If he made a mistake and filled one of the other rooms with water, then he would spend all afternoon using a bucket to clean up the mess.

  Bryce found Lucy curled up in a leather chair, with tears streaming down her face. A knot twisted in his gut upon seeing her distress. All thoughts of embarrassment vanished. He pushed past the door and walked to her side. Kneeling before her, his hands rested on his thighs as he waited for her to acknowledge him.

  “Are you leaving me, too?” she asked, her head bowed.

  She hugged a pillow tightly to her chest while she asked the question. Sadness filled her tone, which threatened to rip his heart in two.

  Lucy did have a valid question, one he hadn’t even considered. They had just arrived in London that very day. With the market, the cooking, and the bath, there had been little time to think of his future.

  True, all the commitments he’d made had been fulfilled. He could leave and go back to Cameron lands guilt-free. The sheep, Crissy, and his family waited there for him. But when he opened his mouth to speak, he found himself saying, “Nay.”

  She studied him with her brown eyes. He sensed a lack of trust. Perhaps he should say more. “At least I won’t be leaving any time soon. I’m a bit tired from the constant travel. I thought I might rest awhile before I make my decision.”

  Lucy nodded. “Of course. That seems reasonable.”

  “I sense ye aren’t pleased with my answer.”

  Bryce didn’t expect a response, but he received one.

  “Of course I’m not happy with your answer. Do you see this place? It’s in complete disarray. It will take me forever to repair it on my own. You will stay and help me, right?”

  Bryce bristled with instant anger until he realized Lucy wasn’t saying what she really meant. True, the house needed some general repair. True, it would take longer to accomplish alone, but the fact remained, he believed this was her excuse to keep him around without admitting her real reason.

  “If ye need me, then I have no choice. Ye did save my life.”

  Relief seemed to flow over her as she sank into the chair and released a pent-up breath in a whoosh.

  “Good. Tomorrow you can work on the kitchen. I understand you are wonderful in the area of making cupboards. While you’re about your work I have a few errands to attend to.”

  She stood and tried to push past him, but Bryce stopped her. His hand rested upon her shoulder. “Will ye be safe on these errands alone? Perhaps I should accompany ye?”

  Her head bobbed and she slipped free, placing distance between them. “I’ll be all right. You forget, this is my homeland.”

  All his arguments flew out the window as Lucy left the room. He sat back on his haunches. Something was wrong; he could feel it.

  Then he remembered and sighed under his breath. How could he have forgotten to ask about the tub?

  ****

  Lucy ran away as fast as possible. The gentle touch and kind words had almost been her undoing. How long had she been without someone who truthfully cared for her? Longer than she wanted to admit.

  While sitting there, she had parted her lips and come close
to telling him everything. The only way to keep silent had been to run away.

  In her room with the door closed, her chest heaved as she struggled to get her rapid breathing under control. The place on her shoulder that Bryce had touched felt warm and tingly. Perhaps asking him to stay had been a mistake.

  Without much effort, Lucy could have discouraged Bryce. With a few unfriendly words from her, he would have mounted his horse and gone home immediately. Then she wouldn’t have had to make up projects to keep him busy. The man would be miles and miles away and she could go about her business in peace.

  But that was the last thing Lucy wanted. She wanted Bryce to stay forever. She wanted to tell him her most intimate secrets, to share every detail of her life. But to do so would place him in considerable danger. How would he feel if she told him the truth? Would he run away? Would she be all alone again? Why couldn’t life be easier? Why did life have to be full of so many doubts?

  Chapter Thirty

  Sunlight peeked through her bedroom window. The sound of banging rang in her ears. She placed her arm over her eyes and covered her head with a pillow to block out the annoying sound. All attempts to stifle the noise failed.

  Climbing to the side of the bed, Lucy placed her slippers on her feet. She padded down the hallway and pushed on the kitchen door. She gasped.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  Wooden panels and planks were scattered around the room. The disassembled cupboard lay in pieces. Bryce sat in the middle of the rubble. A smile rested innocently upon his face.

  “I’m building yer cupboard. That way I can go with ye to accomplish yer errands. That is, if ye can give me just a little while to finish up.”

  Awed, Lucy skirted the mess. Her foot caught the edge of a panel, which caused her leg to twist. She fell through the air. Bryce reached out and grabbed her.

  When she stopped moving, she was sitting on Bryce’s lap.