An Unexpected Pleasure (The Mad Morelands #4)(37)

“Does this sort of thing happen often here?” she teased.

The boys considered her statement seriously.

“I’m not sure how much ‘often’ would be,” Alex mused. “There were those murders near Reed’s house. Con and Anna and I discovered one of the bodies.” His face paled a little at the memory.

“And Olivia investigated those ghosts a few years ago,” Con added. “But we didn’t have anything to do with that. It all happened at Stephen’s house.”

Megan looked at the boys, not sure what to say. The Moreland family seemed to get into an inordinate number of scrapes.

Alex frowned a little. “I’m sorry. Perhaps we shouldn’t have told you.”

“You aren’t going to leave because of that, are you?” Con asked.

“No, I won’t leave because of that,” Megan promised, smiling at them. “However, I do think it is time we got back to our studies.”

Megan had to wait two days to break into the collection room, for both that evening and the next, several members of the family were out at social events of one sort or another. She had no idea at what time they would return, and it would not do to be caught rummaging around in a locked room when any of them came home. Some parties, she knew, lasted until the wee hours of the morning, and she would not be able to stay awake long enough to break in after all of them had come home.

The third evening, however, everyone spent quietly at home, with the exception of Theo, who had gone to dinner at a friend’s house. Megan, too nervous to spend her evening as she usually did, reading ahead in the twins’ texts, paced up and down in her room, going to the door frequently to open it a crack and listen for any sounds.

Gradually the house began to settle down. She heard the duchess’s voice as she went down the hallway to her room, accompanied by a lower murmur that Megan identified as the duke. Later, there was the sound of the servants as they went about their late evening chores of turning down beds and helping the ladies of the house out of their difficult garments. Megan was sure that Thisbe and her husband had long since gone to bed, as they were in the habit of retiring early. Finally, a great deal later, she heard the sound of a heavy tread.

Theo, she thought, returning from his evening. Hurrying to the door, she opened it a crack and peered out. The hall sconces had been turned down to their lowest, casting much of the corridor into shadow. She slipped out into the hallway and edged around the corner to look toward the family’s bedrooms. She was quick enough to catch a glimpse of Theo’s back as he went into his room and closed the door behind him.

She continued to wait. It was good that Theo was home; now she would not have to worry about him returning to the house while she was in the collection room. Megan resumed her seat in her chair, a book open and unread on her lap as she forced herself to be patient until the hands of the clock drew close to midnight.

Surely everyone was in bed now. The only ones whom she had not heard were Reed and Anna, but she thought that they must be in their chamber. As Anna had mentioned the other day, they were still accustomed to country hours. Megan had noticed that the couple was usually up when she and the twins ate breakfast.

Slipping out of her shoes, she walked in her stocking feet across the room and opened the door. She paused, listening for the faintest sound, and finally, when she heard none, she stepped out into the hallway. She slid around the corner and looked down the hallway. All the doors were closed, and no sound issued from any of the rooms. She looked the other direction. Everything was quiet and dark.

Taking a deep breath, she moved down the hallway to the servants’ staircase, which lay farther away from the occupied rooms. She was not worried about the servants hearing her, as they retired early and slept soundly after their labors, tucked away on the top floor.

Downstairs, she eased along the dimly lit hallway to the door of the duke’s study. The door was closed, and she turned the knob and pulled it open. It stuck for a moment, then came open with a pop. Megan froze, her heart in her throat.

The house was silent. No one on the floor above could have heard the sound of the door, she reminded herself. It had simply sounded inordinately loud to her ears. She pulled the door open and looked inside the dark room. In the faint stream of light from the hallway, she could make out the dark shapes of the furniture.

She had not been inside the duke’s study, and she looked around the door for a light. She found a wall sconce beside the door, and felt around it for the key-shaped handle that turned the gas light on. Finally she found it and turned it cautiously, bringing up a pale yellow glow.

Megan stopped when there was enough light to see her way across to the wide walnut desk. The twins had not said specifically where their father kept the key in his study, but the likeliest place was the desk, so she planned to start there. She moved quickly, sliding open the top right drawer. When she saw no keys, she moved to the left top drawer.

Several keys lay in a shallow tray in the drawer. Fortunately, there were tags attached to each, and she sorted through them quickly, discarding those that read Workroom or Cabinet.” She stopped at the tag that read C Room. Picking it up, she closed the drawer and straightened up.

Theo Moreland was standing in the doorway.

A shriek escaped Megan’s throat, quickly cut off as she clapped her hand over her mouth. She stared at Theo, her brain as frozen as her muscles.

How long had he been there? What had he seen?