Lady Griffith's Second Chance

Chapter Thirteen

She peeked into Katharine's room first. Her daughter was asleep, one candle burning low, a book lying opened, pages-down on her chest. Regan slipped into the room on the balls of her feet, picked up the book and set it on the nightstand beside the bed. The candle sent up a thin ribbon of smoke after she blew it out. And then a kiss to her daughter's forehead, a small lump lodging in her throat when she remembered that it might be one of the last times she could glide in and tuck her in for the night.

The corridor outside was dim, but not completely dark. There was still a faint glow from the direction of the main staircase, the lamps and candles downstairs not yet put out for the night. Regan held her shawl tight around her shoulders, her fingers still fidgeting with its edges as she walked quickly towards the other side of the house, where the family had their rooms.

If she was caught, she would tell a lie. She could not think of an appropriate one, one that would not arouse suspicion, but she did not doubt something would occur to her presence in the other side of the house - only a few hours before dawn - was questioned. At the moment, all she could focus on was moving without making a sound, holding her breath to better listen for a footstep that would alert her to another person's approach.

She counted the doors as she tip-toed along the hall she knew would lead to Thomas's bedroom. The corner of the house, he had said, with a view of the fountain and the birds that came every morning to wake him up with their ablutions.

And there was the door. It looked no different from all the other doors along this side of the corridor, but it seemed to loom larger to her, an impenetrable bulwark between herself and...

Well.

She swallowed hard, her heart hammering so fast and so loud she worried it would be heard by every other person in the house. The wood of the door was cool beneath her fingertips. Her fingers curled into a loose fist. She knocked lightly, so light she doubted he would hear it. And then again. And she waited.

She would be caught. But she dared not look down the corridor, to see if anyone had followed her. With her chin lowered, nearly tucked against her chest, she forced herself to control her breathing.

He did not hear her. Or perhaps he had not even retired to his room for the night. He might still be in the library, asleep in one of the armchairs near the fire. She should leave. She almost said the words aloud, so strong was the thought in her head. She should leave. Scuttle back to her side of the house, to her room, to her bed. Alone and quiet. As she had spent all of her nights before this one. For too many years.

A door closed somewhere else in the house, far below her feet. She blew out a breath that carried a mild curse. The fringe of her shawl still twisted between her fingers, she turned away from the door and began her stealthy trek back to her own bedroom.

A click sounded behind her, along with a slight creak. She had been discovered. She froze in place, a dozen excuses for her being there tumbling around inside her head before there was a step and then a touch on her upper arm.

"Regan?"

He spoke in a low whisper, hardly more than a breath that stirred the loose strands of hair around her ears.

She turned, her heart still thumping madly from the vicinity of her throat. In the dark she could make out so little of him, his eyes, his mouth mere smudges on his face. But soft, warm light spilled out from his doorway, casting him in silhouette. He no longer wore his coat or his neckcloth, even his waistcoat was missing as well. His linen shirt was open at the throat, and there her gaze lingered, the line of his bare neck drawn in charcoal and shadow.

"I could not sleep." She had not planned what to say to him if he were to answer the door. All of her energy had been pinned on nothing beyond making her journey across the upper floors of the house unseen. But those four words seemed to be enough, and he nodded, as if he, too, had been unable to find rest.