The Lady By His Side(51)

The beams from their lanterns marked their progress, but between them, silence reigned. Until they met once more at the bottom of the cellar stairs.

Sebastian looked into Antonia’s eyes, steel gray in the lantern light. “Where else in a house are barrels found?”

She pulled a face. “No doubt there’ll be one or two in the storerooms around the kitchen, but unless we’re looking for just one barrel, I can’t think where more could be hidden above this level.”

He considered, then said, “I can’t imagine an amount smaller than several medium-sized barrels being threat enough for Ennis to have felt compelled to report it.”

“In that case”—Antonia raised her skirts and started up the stairs—“let’s check the kitchen storerooms just in case, then take a closer look at the house plan and see if there are any other places in which several medium-sized barrels might be concealed.”

With a grunt of agreement, Sebastian followed her up the stairs.

Antonia took the lead in examining the barrels in the various storerooms, but found nothing beyond two barrels of herrings, one of vinegar, and a large vat of cider. She was glad of the minutes of being in charge; the exercise demanded she keep her mind focused on their search, allowing her senses time to recover from the jolts she’d given them.

In deciding to batter through Sebastian’s armor-plated control, she hadn’t considered how such an endeavor would affect her. In truth, the thrill of those moments—the anticipation of when, exactly, he would break, and what would happen next—was distinctly addictive.

Deciding she needed a little more recovery time—and she needed to be careful he didn’t realize her actions were deliberate, so a longer period of perfectly innocent behavior on her part wouldn’t go astray—as they emerged through the green-baize-covered door into the front hall, and found it empty, she glanced at him. “There’s a morning room that no one seems to use.” She pointed to the closed door at the front of the hall, opposite the drawing room. “Why don’t we go there and study the house plans for anywhere else we should search?”

“Good idea.”

He walked at her shoulder down the front hall, reached past her and opened the door, then followed her inside and shut the door.

Although no one was using the room, the curtains had been opened and a small fire was burning. A well-padded sofa faced the fireplace with a low table before it. Antonia sat on the damask and spread the four sheets of her copy of the house plan on the table.

The cushion next to her depressed as Sebastian sat beside her. “I really can’t see anyone carting several medium-sized barrels upstairs.” He leaned forward to study the plan, then reached out and drew the sheet representing the ground floor closer. “Is there anywhere on this level that would make any sense as a place to store gunpowder?”

“The gun room?”

“Not for a whole barrel, let alone two or more.”

They pored over the relevant sheet. Antonia tapped her sketch of Cecilia’s recent addition; she’d found the plans for it stuck into the back of the tome of house plans. “What about Cecilia’s new conservatory?”

“Too humid.” He paused, then said, “But there might be a storage area underneath it—one accessible from outside.”

They asked Blanchard, only to be informed that the conservatory was built on a solid base that contained the latest type of heating pipes connected to the kitchen stoves. They retreated to the morning room and, standing before the low table, resurveyed the plan of the house.

Sebastian humphed. “Let’s agree that no one would have hidden barrels of gunpowder anywhere upstairs. Quite aside from the difficulties inherent in ferrying heavy barrels up and down either the main stairs or the servants’ stairs undetected, and subsequently, the very real risk of the barrels being discovered while here, it’s hard to see why, with the many alternatives apparently available”—he pointed to the outbuildings Antonia had marked on her plan—“our villains would have chosen to hide the gunpowder inside the house, let alone upstairs.”

“Agreed. So let’s start on the outbuildings.” All were at the rear of the house. Antonia gathered up her four sheets and refolded them. “Let’s try the stable first.”

They did and found nothing at ground level, but Antonia insisted on climbing the ladder to the extensive loft and searching there.

Sebastian gritted his teeth and followed her up the ladder. He gave up trying to keep his gaze from her trim ankles, lovingly encased in her leather half-boots; with her skirts held up, said tantalizing ankles were more or less directly in front of his eyes.