Torchlight by Malek Doreen Owens

Author:Malek, Doreen Owens [Malek, Doreen Owens]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Doreen Owens Malek
Published: 2011-09-25T18:30:00+00:00

* * * *

Maura tapped on Elizabeth's door. There was no response. She waited a long moment, then tapped again.

Silence. Elizabeth must still be sleeping. Well, she would have to be awakened. Her father wanted to see her at breakfast.

Maura opened the door and beheld her brother, naked to the waist, entwined on the bed with Elizabeth, who was wearing only a chemise and a pair of panties trimmed with lace. They were both fast asleep.

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph," Maura breathed, crossing herself. She slammed the door shut, locked it and then blocked it with her back.

"I knew it!" Maura said loudly. "I knew it all along."

Sean stirred, blinking, and then saw his sister. He leaped to his feet in confusion, dropping Elizabeth back onto the bed. She came awake in a rush, looking around wildly.

"You're lucky I was the first one in here," Maura said briskly to both of them, folding her arms like a stern headmistress who'd caught them in a prank.

"I forgot to lock the door," Elizabeth groaned.

"It's not the way it looks," Sean said quickly to his sister.

"Oh, indeed? And how is it?"

"Nothing happened. We just wanted to be together. It had to be in here, in secret, so no one would see us."

"And?"

"And then we fell asleep." He struck his forehead with the heel of his hand. "I slept right through the whistle at the change of shift."

"We both did," Elizabeth said, rising and retrieving her dressing gown from the floor.

"What time is it?" Sean demanded, looking around for his shirt. Elizabeth picked it up and handed it to him.

"Eight-thirty."

"I'm late for work," Sean said, buttoning his shirt.

"We've a worse problem than that," Maura said flatly. "How do you propose to get out of this house, with everyone abroad?"

Elizabeth and Sean exchanged glances.

"The old man is already downstairs in the dining room and he wants to see you, Elizabeth," Maura added darkly.

Elizabeth's heart sank.

"Mrs. Tamm is bustling back and forth like a freight train, and the maids are wiping and polishing. If you think we're going to hide something as big as Sean, you've got another thought coming."

Elizabeth ruminated desperately. "I'll just have to create a distraction," she announced.

They both looked at her.

She summoned up clues from every penny dreadful she'd ever read. "I'll go down, dressed like this, and tell my father I'm too ill to eat breakfast and that I'm going back to my room to rest."

"How does that get Sean out of the house?'' Maura asked, her eyes narrowed.

"Then I'll... I'll pretend to faint. Everyone will come running, you shut the dining room door behind me, and Sean can sneak out through the kitchen."

Brother and sister stared at her in astonishment as if she'd lost her mind.

"Well? Do you have any better ideas?" Elizabeth challenged them. "Someone else is bound to show up here any minute. We've got to do something fast."

Sean saw the wisdom in that and shrugged into his jacket, smoothing his hair back with his hands.

"Go," he said. "I'll listen and wait for my chance.

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