The Contract Duchess, a Regency Romance: Key To My Heart Book 1

Chapter 20 - Derrick

Derrick forced his eyes open; his lids felt as though they were sealed shut, and when he rubbed them with a finger, he felt a layer of dirt scratch the thin skin. He could not suppress a shiver as he stretched his stiff limbs. Not only was his body protesting prolonged contact with the hard packed dirt floor, but the room felt colder now than when he had fallen asleep, and it was not especially warm then.

A rumble from his belly reminded him that he had not found anything edible in the cellar, despite Sarah's assurances in her letter. He was a little surprised that she had not yet arrived to gloat over him and rush him off to the local vicar to get married via special license. She had never been a patient girl, and her careful plan seemed too detailed to have been the result of a whim. She clearly believed they were meant to be together, so why was she delaying?

A whisper of dread colder than the floor beneath him coiled around his spine. He was trapped in a cellar that had not seen regular use in at least a decade. There were only three people who knew where he was, two with no incentive to return, and one who was mad and might have completely forgotten the entire plan. He very well might not leave this room alive.

Just as that thought settled like a cloud of fog over his mind, he heard noises outside the cellar. Fearing that some treasure hunter or other rogue had stumbled upon the abandoned estate, he felt about for something he could use as a weapon. His questing fingers had just grasped the small wooden box, heavy again with all of they items Sarah had left for him, when the sound of metal clanging on metal echoed around him, followed by the grinding of the key in the lock, and then the door was being pushed open, the hinges squealing out their neglected state.

Derrick found himself wishing he had a better weapon, or at least thought to sleep farther away from the door. It was him and the small box against who knew what was coming through that door, and he would not have bet on his own odds at the moment.

"Derrick, are you here?"

The one voice he had both been longing to hear and had not expected in this place, so far from her home, cut through both the chill of the air and the paralysis of his fear. As he rose slowly to his feet, the cellar was lit with the glow from a lantern, held by none other than Angie, her brothers standing on either side, clearly providing support and balance to her. He was overcome with emotion, intentionally taking a deep breath to suppress the tears threatening to pour down his face. A wave of nausea crashed over him with the deep breath, and he swayed in place.

He may have fallen to the hard cellar floor had Robert not leaped forward and grabbed him by the shoulders. He searched Derrick's face intently for a moment, and the nausea passed. Derrick offered him a shaky smile as he shook off Robert's hands and stepped to Angie's side where she stood, framed by the thick door frame.

He reached to grasp her hands in his own, and her expression transformed from worried anxiety to relief in a heartbeat. The change was accompanied by a brilliant smile that took his breath away, and the nausea swept over him again, causing his knees to buckle. He hoped he managed to return her smile with one of his own before he felt himself falling into cold darkness.