Fairytale Beginnings (6 page)

M
illy stood
at the top of the newly found stairs waiting for Cameron to come back. She was glad she was standing in the darkness of the hidden room so Cameron wouldn’t see the blush on her cheeks when he came back. She couldn’t believe she had reacted like that. It was bad enough that she had been so freaked out over a skeleton, since she had found human remains in archaeological sites before and never been bothered by it, but to then find out it was only plastic, made her reaction all the more shameful. She had hugged Cameron. Well, clung to him would be a more accurate description. He had held her like a child, which was mortifying. She absently wished on her star bracelet that she hadn’t behaved like that although she knew it was useless.

There had been something about the way Cameron had stroked his hands down her back to soothe her that had been wonderful and incredibly hot. She just couldn’t understand her body’s reaction to him. There had been plenty of attractive guys over the years whom she had barely given a second glance because she wasn’t interested in a relationship at all. And now she had known Cameron for less than twenty-four hours and she had thrown all her reservations straight out the window. He was grumpy, rude, sweet, funny and sexy as hell. But there was more to their connection than that. She felt like she knew him, which was ridiculous because of course she didn’t. She knew nothing about him. But sometimes there was an ease between them that only came from knowing someone your whole life. But regardless of this spark, she wasn’t going to do anything about it, she couldn’t. She had a professionalism to maintain. Although she knew that was only part of it. Not wanting her heart broken again was probably the bigger part.

She took a deep breath and let it out. She wasn’t going to think about her humiliation any more. There was nothing she could do to change it so she would stop dwelling on it. She moved closer to the stairs. It was pitch black down the secret passageway and the limited light from the study just about lit up the first three or four stairs but beyond that she couldn’t see anything. She was desperate to explore it but it would be suicide to go down a very old staircase in the dark – half of the stairs could have crumbled away to nothing.

A slight breeze came from below and with it, just for a second, she could hear the faint sound of a child’s laughter.

She swallowed and stepped back, bumping into something hard that hadn’t been there before. She swung around to see Cameron standing there.

‘You ok?’

She nodded, unable to speak.

‘This place can creep you out,’ Cameron said, softly. ‘I hear footsteps, doors slamming, loud bangs, voices. I tell myself that it’s just the wind or loose floorboards or old pipes but … knowing what I’ve seen down in the dungeons …’ He trailed off. ‘I have locks on the inside of my kitchen, lounge and bedroom, which is silly as ghosts would just walk through the doors whether they’re locked or not but it makes me feel better when I sleep at night. I’ve felt a lot happier since you’ve arrived. Having someone here with me has been nice, otherwise it’s just me rattling around this big old house with all these bumps and bangs, it’s enough to send anyone mad.’

‘I’ll protect you,’ Milly said, with a grin.

‘Thank you. And who will protect you?’

‘I’m quite scrappy,’ she threw a few air punches, dodging about on her feet. She saw his smile grow as he watched her and she stopped dancing. ‘Are you laughing at me, Cameron Heartstone?’

‘Noooo I wouldn’t dream of it. I was just thinking I wouldn’t want to go against you in a fight. Shall we?’ He gestured to the stairs and she nodded. Without asking, he took her hand and strode into the darkness. That ease and familiarity spread through her again and she smiled, despite the promises she had made to herself a few moments before.

Milly could just make out the torch beam as it danced off the stone steps below. The steps were well worn, indicating that they had been used many times over the years. Cameron’s hulking frame was a comforting presence in front of her but she didn’t like to think about what lurked in the darkness behind her.

There didn’t seem to be any end to the stairs as they continued downwards. The study was two flights up from the ground floor and although it was very hard to tell in the darkness, it felt like they were going much deeper than that.

Eventually they reached the bottom and Cameron shone the torch down what appeared to be a very long, straight tunnel that forked into three separate tunnels at the end.

‘We need to be really careful; if that other tunnel caved in, this one could be unstable too,’ Cameron whispered, as if talking normally would cause it to collapse.

Milly nodded but as she stepped forward, Cameron was at her side, his hand in hers.

As Cameron continued to shine the torch, Milly could see wooden joints and beams holding the roof of the tunnel up at several intervals. The wood wasn’t rotting at all, it looked strong and capable of standing for another hundred years. She was desperate to do some tree ring tests on that wood to get an idea of when the tunnel was built, although if the joints had been replaced at some point it might be a bit harder to date the tunnels, but she suspected it was around the same era that mad Uncle Boris was Lord of the castle. The floor was made from stone which looked clean but again, well worn. It all looked very professional and certainly not done in a hurry.

They came to the fork and stopped.

‘What do you reckon?’ Cameron said, shining his torch over the three openings and the tunnels beyond.

The tunnels couldn’t have been more different. The one on the right sloped downwards very steeply, seemingly going into the very bowels of the earth. It was muddy and wet and it didn’t look safe at all. The middle tunnel carried straight on with its stone floor and wooden joists, it was probably the original tunnel and the two other forks were added later. In the limited light they could just see a ladder at the end, which seemed to go straight up. The left tunnel veered up and off to the left almost as if it was heading back towards the castle. There appeared to be a few brass lanterns on the walls, unlit of course, and at the very end, steps rising upwards into a bright shaft of sunlight. Moss lined the edges of the tunnel, but it looked almost magical as the sunlight sparkled off the green walls.

‘I know which one you want to explore first,’ Cameron said.

She looked up at him. ‘You do?’

He took her hand and walked down the slightly sinister looking right tunnel.

She laughed. ‘How did you know?’

‘I’ve come to realise that with you, I have to expect the unexpected.’

The tunnel zigzagged and twisted and turned until Milly had no idea which direction the castle was, they seemed to be going further and further down. The smooth dirt walls were soon replaced with jagged rock walls, covered with moss, and it started to get lighter so that Cameron’s torch wasn’t needed at all. She could hear a roaring that was getting louder and louder and as they rounded the last corner, they were faced with a stunning view of the inky blue sea. The tunnel ended abruptly, opening out into a gaping hole in the cliff face.

Milly and Cameron inched closer to the edge, but Cameron’s grip on her hand tightened just in case she slipped and tumbled inadvertently to her death.

‘Oh!’ Milly exclaimed, as she took in the view. About ten metres below the tunnel entrance lay a pretty little secluded cove, about twenty or thirty metres long and lined with golden sand. Milly longed to lie on the castle’s own private beach. She smiled hugely, what an incredible discovery.

Large rocks punctuated the sea along the cove, making it almost impossible to get to the beach by boat, this seemed like the only safe way to access the cove.

Cameron nudged her and pointed directly below the hole, where a tiny old wooden boat lay upside down, broken and seemingly wedged between the rocks that lined this end of the cove.

‘You don’t think that was Uncle Boris’s boat, do you?’ Milly asked.

‘I don’t know, but it explains a lot about his disappearance if it is.’

‘What if … the treasure is down there too?’ Milly said.

He smiled. ‘If it was, I expect it washed out to sea a long time ago.’

‘Can we get down there to explore?’ Milly leaned out over the opening but Cameron pulled her back.

‘Please be careful, I really don’t want you to die.’

He leaned out himself, ever so slightly and then knelt to the floor, picking at the mud to reveal a piece of rope that seemed to be welded to the edge of the ledge with moss. Eventually he managed to pull it free and a rope ladder came away from the cliff face. It was about four metres long and the end had clearly broken off at some point over the years.

‘Well I guess that’s a no for now, but I reckon the hardware store in the village might sell rope ladders, or at least know where we can get them.’

Milly pulled a face, disappointed that this current adventure had come to such a swift end.

‘I promise we’ll come back,’ Cameron said, as he moved his fingers to her lips, pulling her pout into a smile. She laughed. ‘Come on, we have two other tunnels to explore and I guess you want the one that looks like it leads to an enchanted forest next, you being a Disney princess and all.’

He led the way back up the tunnel, still holding her hand, and she couldn’t help smiling at his back, feeling a silly giddiness sweep through her. She really liked Cameron and the more time she spent with him, the harder it was to find reasons not to be with him.

C
ameron switched
on his torch as the light from the beach faded the further they went back up the tunnel.

It was an odd thing, holding Milly’s hand. It was warm and fitted his hand perfectly, but he hadn’t even known her a day and yet it felt like the most natural thing in the world. The boundaries of their professional relationship seemed to be crumbling very quickly.

Suddenly Milly slipped in the mud behind him and although he was holding her hand, she landed on her bum by his side, the mud splashing over her clothes, face and hair.

‘Oh God, Milly, are you ok?’ She burst out laughing and took his hand as he offered to help her up. ‘Your clothes are covered.’ Cameron wiped some mud off her top and her laughter went up an octave as he inadvertently nudged against her breasts again.

‘So you’re a bit of a breast man?’ she laughed.

‘I’m so sorry.’

She wiped the mud off her face, leaving trails of dirt across her pale skin. She looked adorable. ‘Well normally a man would take me out to dinner first, before I let him get that far.’

Realising she found the whole thing hilarious, he didn’t feel the need to apologise again. ‘I did make you soup yesterday and a pie last night.’

‘Oh well in that case, let’s forget the tunnels and jump straight into bed now.’

She walked off up the tunnel and Cameron was seriously tempted to take her up on that offer.

He noticed she was limping slightly and he hurried to catch up with her. ‘Are you ok, you’re limping?’

‘Just stubbed my toe, I’m sure it’ll be fine in a minute.’

‘How about a piggy back?’

‘So you can cop a feel of my bum too? No, I don’t think so.’

‘Well let me know if you change your mind.’ He took her hand again and in the torch light he could see her smile. He walked slower so she could take her time, as he tried to resist the temptation to pick her up and carry her.

T
hey reached
the junction of the fork again and Milly ignored the dull throbbing in her toe.

She stopped and looked up the passage that was covered in moss. Cameron was right, it did look enchanted.

‘We should have brought supplies with us, I’m starving,’ Cameron said, standing close behind her.

She could feel his heat, smell his intoxicating scent. He was too much.

And even if he did like her, which he seemed to, they couldn’t do anything. Castle Heritage would fire her on the spot if they found out she had been kissing or sleeping with a client.

She stepped forward away from him, but his hand was still entwined with hers. She tried to ignore how good it felt there as they walked up the tunnel.