Free Lord Melvedere's Ghost by Rebecca King

and
knew it like the back of his hand, but was aware that Cecily had no
idea where she was. For now, that suited his purposes perfectly.
“I’ll come and fetch you in the morning. I’ll send one of the maids
up to assist you with anything you may need later, when they are up
and about, and you have had some rest.”
    “ Wait!” Cecily gasped, staring at his rapidly retreating back
as it was swallowed up by the darkness. She was shocked and annoyed
when he made no attempt to wait, or even appear to have heard her.
“How rude,” she muttered when she heard the quiet click of a door
further down the hall. She could only assume it was his room
somewhere down there, but where exactly she wasn’t sure, and didn’t
want to know. She certainly wasn’t going after him.
    A cold
puff of air swept over her shoulder and she spun on her heel to
stare down the other end of the corridor in horror. There was
nothing but impenetrable blackness. With a shiver she scurried into
the room and closed the door, fumbling for several moments for a
key before realising that it wasn’t in the door.
    Inside
the room wasn’t as dark as the corridor. The moon left a hazy glow
in the huge, almost cavernous room, and was enough for her to
identify the box of beeswax candles on the small table, and a
spill, although there was no fire with which to light
it.
    Shaking
her head, she glanced over at the cold and empty grate, but in the
darkness couldn’t even see a basket of logs or kindling. Sighing
deeply, she stared at the fog of her breath for a moment while she
contemplated what to do.
    Clearly
Jamie had staff in residence but had no intention of waking them to
see to their guests’ needs. That was fine by Cecily. She was more
than capable of taking care of herself, but not in such unfamiliar
surroundings, and especially when she couldn’t see a thing.
Smothering a yawn, she had only one option.
    Climb
into bed, and get some sleep.
    With
another yawn, she moved toward the huge four-poster and sat down,
tugging her boots off with a sigh of relief. Wiggling her toes in
an attempt to get some warmth back into them, she braced one ankle
on her knee and began to rub.
    It took
a moment before she realised that there was something
wrong.
    Glancing
up, a scream lodged in her throat as she caught sight of the empty
space at the doorway. She knew she had closed the door. She could
remember hearing the quiet click as she closed it firmly behind
her. Of course she had, she had leaned against it while studying
the room. So how had it come open again, all by itself?
    Frowning, she slowly rose and moved cautiously toward the
blackness, a dark frown on her face. The inky blackness on the
other side of the doorway was forbidding and she hated the sight of
it, but she couldn’t go to sleep – wouldn’t go to sleep, with the
doorway open and that blackness there – waiting. She could
practically feel someone watching her.
    Don’t be such a nincompoop, she
chastised herself. Throwing her shoulders back, she stomped across
the room with her eyes locked firmly upon the door. She didn’t dare
study the darkness too closely and couldn’t bring herself to go out
into the corridor to see if anyone was there. Instead, she grabbed
hold of the cold, hard wood and slammed it shut with more force
than was necessary, pushing it with the flat of her hand to make
sure it was properly closed. To confirm to herself that she had
done the job properly this time, she grabbed hold of the handle and
pulled.
    To her
horror, she felt the cold brass of the smoothly polished knob begin
to turn against her palm. Immediately letting go, her eyes grew
round and she simply stood there, frozen in horror as she stared
through the gloom at the knob. It wasn’t bright enough to see
detailing within the room, but she could see the polished metal
turning in the darkness.
    Standing
back, she watched it pause. Sweat began to bead her brow, despite
the chill within the room, and she began to