Darkening Around Me

Seized by a dark genius, Miles O’Keefe has shut himself away in his ancestral mansion for more than decade. Driven by an unquiet spirit called The Thornleigh Bride, he sculpts masterpiece after masterpiece—and edges ever closer to madness.

His decadent prison is finally breached by Samantha Knox—a woman who has been to the brink of hell and back. She wants—needs—Miles to sculpt her scarred yet strong and beautiful body, to prove she has survived. She sits for him. His hands shape every curve of her body, indulging passion by proxy. Every glance, every word that passes between them brims with desire. With a single touch, it spills over.

But their ecstasy inflames Miles’s ghostly muse, as well. The Bride will neither share her house nor relinquish its heir, whom she has possessed for so long. Not without revealing her deadly secret. Before the end, Samantha will stand once more at the edge of the abyss….

Darkening Around Me

Barbara J. Hancock

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

The night is darkening round me,

The wild winds coldly blow;

But a tyrant spell has bound me,

And I cannot, cannot go.

The giant trees are bending

Their bare boughs weighed with snow;

The storm is fast descending,

And yet I cannot go.

Clouds beyond clouds above me,

Wastes beyond wastes below;

But nothing drear can move me:

I will not, cannot go.

—Emily Brontë, “The Night Is Darkening Round Me”

Chapter One

I rented a convertible as tourists do, though probably not as often in this part of the world. It’s not that I wanted the wind whipping around me and the fresh air following a long flight. It’s that I thought I should. What I got was more frigid than fresh. It was late summer, but September in the Pacific Northwest obviously didn’t mean the same as September in Virginia. My visions of driving along the 101 with big sunglasses and a scarf trailing behind me like the confident woman I pretended to be were put to rest.

Oh, it was sunny enough at first, but as I traveled it grew darker.

This was wilderness. I’d seen it called “old growth forests” and now I understood why. There was age in the air, a taste of primordial moss and fern blended with surf-dwelling things I couldn’t name. I knew my destination was a piece of privately owned land adjacent to Olympic State Park. Other than that, I followed the GPS directions in completely unfamiliar territory. Even the jagged coastline, while beautiful, set my teeth on edge because it was so alien compared to the sandy shore back home. I closed the convertible’s roof as if I was battening down the hatches.

But I drove on.

Just as I was beginning to think I should have brought a tent and an adventure guide, the roof of the house came into view. High above the ocean and several roads off the main coastal highway, my destination was so covered by greenery I couldn’t get a good look at it. The car climbed the driveway, but not without a few wheezes that made me wish for a four-wheel drive and that feeling in the pit of my stomach that I used to get as a child on a Ferris wheel.

Pacific sea breezes feathered my hair with cold fingers as I stepped from my car to the garden of Thornleigh—three paces, maybe four—and then the wild tangle enveloped me. Just like that I was shut off from the world. At one time it must have been a masterpiece, hundreds of rose bushes laid out in a carefully trimmed maze of an English garden. Now one blossom-heavy bush had grown into another and twined overhead to create a true labyrinth. Its shadowy confines reached out to me with verdant tendrils seeking to draw me in and pull me close. All at once, it was far too much nature to feel usual.

Claustrophobia threatened.

My heartbeat sped up and my breath quickened even though I could make out the stepping-stones that would—please, God—lead me to the side door I’d been told to enter. I hurried forward from stone to halfway-buried stone, praying for a shaft of sunlight or a hint of air that wasn’t petal sweet.

I was tired, worn down by travel and lack of normal routine. The nerves I normally kept in check were coming out to play in the dark.

I had taken an early morning flight from Abingdon, Virginia, and I’d flown all day with only one brief stop in Denver. A sleepy little town in spite of its cultural renaissance of the past couple of decades, Abingdon was everyday and normal. There we had orderly fields and apple orchards, the Barter Theatre and a quaint effort to spruce up historic midtown for tourists. Here was all untrimmed and untamed.

Of course, “quaint” doesn’t necessarily mean safe and “wild” doesn’t necessarily mean dangerous, does it?

A ghostly white face materialized out of thorny shadows and I instinctively held up my hands in defense. It took seconds to realize the face belonged to a life-size statue. It took longer before that seemed to matter to the instinctive fear that raised the hair on the back of my neck and kicked my pulse into rapid overdrive.

Even as I forced my hands down at my sides, the vine-covered marble unnerved me. It was a woman. The patina of age and the effects of weather didn’t hide her expression of grief and fear. The wear made her tears seem ancient and ageless and never ending.

I swallowed and stepped closer. I didn’t want to. For some reason, I couldn’t experience the slightly embarrassed relief a person usually feels when they’ve been startled or frightened by something that turns out to be ordinary or mundane.

The statue still scared me.

Her eyes were moisture-filled and wide. Her mouth was slightly open, as if at any second she might beg for help or scream.

A step on the path behind me caused me to spin. My breathing hadn’t recovered. Now it hitched in a sudden intake that hurt my chest.

Nothing.

Only the stirring wilderness of leaves all around and the occasional gasping sigh of a wilted petal as it fell.

My eyes, though, had adjusted to the artificial night created by the overgrown and neglected garden. Now I saw them. Face after face after face slowly revealing themselves to my wide peering eyes.

There were dozens of statues. All of women. All with horrible expressions—pain, fear, shock, grief—forever frozen and on display. The garden seemed to hold a perpetual funeral in its leafy embrace.

I closed my eyes and swallowed against the too-rapid breaths that threatened hyperventilation.

Only statues.

And in the garden of a sculptor, for heaven’s sake.

No reason for panic.

No reason for the fight-or-flight instinct that had my fists clenched and my legs poised for takeoff.

Sweet, rose-scented air caressed my face and the rustling of leaves teased my ears. But it wasn’t soothing no matter how I tried to make it for long seconds with my eyes closed and my nerve failing. Finally, my eyes popped open and there they were. All still exactly as before, silently harmless, while the sheen of sweat down my back said otherwise.

I went back to my car to retrieve my bag from the passenger seat with slow, purposeful strides, refusing to hurry and definitely refusing to run. Not because it was silly—though, of course, it was. Absolutely ridiculous.

Carefully, I leaned over and picked up my satchel. It was packed with a week’s worth of belongings. No more. No less. A week at Thornleigh was all I’d been allowed by the reclusive artist who was to capture my likeness in clay.

I’d seen his work in my aunt’s gallery back east. Beautiful, luminous pieces full of strength and spirit. Nothing at all like the poor souls behind me. Were they his work, too? And, if so, did I trust him enough for what lay ahead?

* * *

The rose jungle ended abruptly in a gravel-strewn patio beneath the looming great house known as Thornleigh. Finally, with a deep breath, I could taste the sea once more and fill my lungs with its salty freshness. Built in the early 1960s by an eccentric millionaire, the stone-walled house would have looked more keep than castle if it hadn’t been for its copper-topped turrets that pierced the cloudy sky above it. I’d passed through many quaint Victorian-era neighborhoods in my life and they’d always seemed vaguely haunted, obvious remnants of days gone by. Thornleigh mimicked that on a grand scale, an insistent, persistent whisper of “nevermore.”

Washington was already exotic to a lifelong Virginian. I thought I’d known “green.” In the long drive from Port Angeles, I’d experienced more hues and shades than the tame forests and manicured lawns back home had ever displayed. Redwoods larger than I had imagined and the wild rocky coastline. So violent and changing compared to the tame beaches of Norfolk’s coast. I’d traveled extensively over the past two years, testing and proving myself, again and again. But Thornleigh and its jagged cliff pedestal seemed to challenge me.

Up the sides of the house, vines twisted and curled and climbed as if they sought to escape as I had from the statues in the garden or maybe pull the house down to a stony ruin at the statues’ feet.

“You made it.” A deep voice interrupted my morbid fascination with Thornleigh. I quickly shifted my gaze, only to meet the darkest eyes I’d ever seen. I’m five feet five inches tall. Thornleigh was four stories high and built—I had read—on top of a first-class rock wine cellar. The man who stood between us wasn’t even slightly dwarfed by the house at his back. And I? I felt tiny confronted with them both.

Miles O’Keefe. Tall, dark and handsome, but more than those things. He topped me by almost a foot, but his broad shoulders curved in on him when he pushed his hands in his pockets. His eyes were so brown they were almost black and his hair fell in Byronesque waves more mahogany than chestnut, but his skin was pale, as if he spent little time in the sun. His face was perfectly formed and balanced with a lean, cut jaw and firm, well-shaped lips. But the brows on his pale face were furrowed above his watchful eyes. I was suddenly certain he’d seen me hurry from the garden, chased by an overactive imagination that had been fed by dark experiences I’d like to forget.

“Why, yes, of course…certainly no trouble finding it….” I laughed, feeling even more foolish over the fear I’d felt in the garden. I knew real fear. That hadn’t been it. But, rather, it had been fed by the real terror that still lurked, pulsing along with the blood in my veins.

He looked over my shoulder, squinting enigmatically into the shadows behind me. Then, he dropped his searching gaze again to my upturned face.

But not before I glanced back. Just once. To be sure no one…and nothing…was behind me. Foolish or not, the feeling of being watched wouldn’t leave me.

Jet lag, surely. No more. No less.

“One week,” he reiterated. He made no further commentary on my travels or small talk about the weather even though dark clouds swirled above us and several fat droplets of rain hit his shoulders to run down across the broad expanse of his chest at his collar.

I wanted to tell him again that I didn’t believe in curses or legends or rumors of macabre hauntings, but something in the closed quality of his face stopped me. I’ve never been a chatterbox or a social butterfly; even less so following that horrible day years ago…. I didn’t press for conversation.

I nodded, willing to humor him after my long drive and frightening walk with the statues. His statues, I reminded myself.

He reached toward me and his sudden movement caused me to startle. I jumped and squared my shoulders. One foot slid back to brace and balance slightly behind the other. He paused, one dark brow crooked and his eyes more penetrating than before.

My bag. He wants to help with my bag.

Polite gesture meet defensive overreaction. Ugh.

I didn’t regret the martial arts lessons. Not for a minute. No one who had been through what I’d been through should regret learning to defend herself. However, I did regret pulling out my practiced moves when they were obviously unnecessary.

“I’ve got this,” I said and I meant it. I could handle my own bag and whatever else came my way.

Bravado sometimes works best when your nerves are shot.

More rain began to fall and he turned to lead me inside. Even with a sudden downfall roaring around me, I shivered as I stepped over the threshold of Thornleigh.

* * *

Dear Mr. O’Keefe:

In January of last year, I survived multiple stab wounds following an armed robbery at my aunt’s art gallery, La Roux. I’m a silversmith. I stopped in for only a moment to deliver a custom crafted pendant. I was left for dead, but I didn’t die. Others did. A month ago, I saw one of your sculptures at the gallery. I have since learned that you are renowned for capturing the female form and conveying its strength and beauty. I have undertaken many long months of physical therapy and strength training to reclaim my health and my life. Being sculpted by you would be an affirmation for me. I hope you will consider my request.

Sincerely,

Samantha Knox

* * *

Later—a year later—an exquisite envelope had arrived in my dusty mailbox. Who corresponded on actual paper—luxuriously thick and clothlike paper—these days? The envelope was creamy vellum and I handled it with care because I’d never crafted the kind of ornate sterling silver letter opener it deserved. Trembling fingers had to suffice. I had seen the return address handwritten in a firm but artful script. What I found when I opened the envelope surprised me. There was a simple note responding to my emailed request, but with it a folded charcoal drawing of the statue I had so admired at La Roux. The drawing distracted me from the note for long moments. I was hypnotized by his bold and obviously hurried rendering. The charcoal pencil had been pressed into the paper so hard that it left indentions, which would have torn through cheaper paper. But the image he’d created wasn’t crude, no matter how simple. She was as compelling in charcoal as she was in clay. She leaned into an invisible breeze that swept her gown against her body. Her face was indistinct as if seen from a great distance.

Finally, I’d pulled my attention from the drawing to read the letter.

* * *

Dear Ms. Knox:

Yes. I will see you. I invite you to Thornleigh this summer. For one week. Only.

O’Keefe

* * *

I had looked Thornleigh up on Google. Of course I had. I did nothing these days without research and preparation and triple-checking of all my facts. Not because I was suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome—although my therapist might disagree.

There had been tons of information on the house and the way the surrounding community felt about it and its previous owner. Dominick O’Keefe had been seen as a reclusive madman. His wife, Maria, had thrown herself from the cliffs in 1965, not long after their wedding. Her ghost still haunted the area according to legend. There were entire books and television specials devoted to the Thornleigh Bride.

I’d purchased expensive stationary to reply to him in kind. My cursive—beyond what I used for my signature—was rusty, but my letter to him was crafted in neat, orderly rows of the script I had remembered from elementary school.

* * *

Dear Mr. O’Keefe:

I will come. I am stronger now than ever. I ran two marathons this past year and I climbed Mt. Rainier in May. To paraphrase…I’m not afraid of ghosts…but one week it is. I have my training to consider.

Sincerely,

Sam

* * *

Now that I’d been through the creepy encounter with the ghostly statues in the garden, now that I’d seen the house itself, vaguely threatening with its out-of-time mystique, now that I had met O’Keefe and seen the darkness in his eyes, I couldn’t dismiss tales of the Thornleigh Bride so easily. I didn’t believe in ghosts, but I’d been forced to face the dark that sometimes dwelled in the hearts of the living, and it was a lesson I carried with me to this day.

Chapter Two

It was late and I was hungry. The lunch I’d eaten on the flight from Denver was a vague cardboard memory. This I told myself as I bathed and changed for dinner though my empty stomach had little to do with the vanilla chai lotion I rubbed on my legs or the soft touch of coordinating perfume I dabbed on my wrists. Considering the curiosity that Miles O’Keefe had piqued, I probably should have nibbled on stale mints from the bottom of my purse and stayed in my room. The furnishings were dated, but, all the heavy, dark furniture aside, it was clean and the bathroom well equipped.

I didn’t nibble mints.

O’Keefe had made me curious and I wanted to see him again. My interest had begun with the statue at La Roux. It had grown with the gift of the charcoal sketch. And, yes, even the mystery surrounding his “ghost.” Meeting him earlier and discovering the macabre statues in the garden hadn’t caused my curiosity to lessen.

The storm outside had strengthened rather than abated. The lamplight flickered as I dressed. There was no harm in seeking companionship on a stormy night, but I try not to lie to myself if I can help it. I was compelled to seek out O’Keefe and it had nothing to do with hunger or the storm. Slightly to do with electricity, but not the kind lighting up the sky outside my window. He was the first mystery I’d allowed in my life in a very long time. Challenges, yes, left and right. But never the unknown. I’d made sure my life was carefully organized and mapped for so long. Miles was a sudden, unexpected gasp in my steady respiration.

At least I could blame my aunt for the dress I wore to dinner. She had given it to me in the hope that I would wear it to a show of my work that had never been. I hadn’t been to my workshop since the attack and was living off the income of pieces I’d previously sold. I had only packed the dress because the tags still attached to its bohemian skirt had fluttered at me from my closet. It was longer, softer and more artfully flowing than I would have chosen for myself. But the modest neckline covered my scars and the sleeveless bodice showed off my toned shoulders. Besides, the thin sweep of skirt seemed somehow appropriate for Thornleigh. It was a casual dress but a pretty one, and I wouldn’t allow it to be a weakness for wanting to look attractive in front of the handsome artist who unsettled me so thoroughly.

I walked downstairs on ballet flats that made nothing but quiet swishes on the carpeting while thunder shook the house around me.

There’s nothing like walking through an old, empty house in the dark with only an occasional flickering lamp and flashes of lightning to illuminate your way. Everything was odd, jagged shadows from unfamiliar objects. I was constantly startled by misshapen furniture revelations down every hall and around every corner.

As far as I knew, there were no other guests in the house, so any movement I saw at the edges of my perception were tricks of light and dark and all the gray spaces in between.

I came upon a portrait that dominated one nook down a narrow hallway. It was a painting of a handsome middle-aged man whose attractiveness was marred only by a hard, piercing gaze and a mouth that was pressed into a thin line. The tiny gold plaque on the elaborate frame read “Dominick O’Keefe”. I paused because the look in his eyes bothered me even though the breadth of his shoulders and the sweep of his hair reminded me of his nephew.

Dominick’s eyes burned with an intensity I was surprised the painter had been able to capture with oil on canvas.

The painting solidified my impression of the original O’Keefe’s desire to be seen as important and powerful. The whole of Thornleigh was new money masquerading as old. Never mind that when this giant, imposing portrait was painted he could have been photographed. That he’d commissioned such a large oil was telling.

He’d wanted to be the master of all he surveyed.

That odd certainty claimed me as I stood there staring into long-dead eyes.

The painting, the carpeting, the paneling, the lighting—all of it was “Victorian” by way of 1963. The effect was creepily off-kilter. Thornleigh had a dollhouse quality to it, as if everything was a not-quite-right copy of what it should have been.

As I stood there in the on-again, off-again flash of lightning and electric wiring that had seen better days, I had the fierce desire to fix and to freshen. To repair. Hadn’t I been doing the same for myself for months? I wasn’t the only soul in the world that needed healing. But the same desire to heal rising here made my heartbeat quicken and my breath catch.

Because I didn’t think it was Thornleigh that I was compelled to save.

With that thought came the sudden slam of a door down a hallway that intersected the one where I stood. The loud impact of heavy wood against wood made me jump. I turned to the black opening of the other corridor and waited. Long seconds stretched by, but no one revealed themselves. Who else was in the house? I assumed my host waited for me downstairs. It probably shouldn’t have bothered me that I wasn’t alone, but it did. Especially when the door slamming was only followed by the distant rumble of thunder from outside. Part of me hated to turn away from the direction of the slam to continue toward the stairs, but, of course, I did it anyway. I couldn’t stand there nervous for no good reason all night. Still, as I did turn and continue on my way, my neck prickled and my pace quickened.

* * *

O’Keefe had told me how to find the small morning room where we would eat dinner. It was off the grand dining room, which stood empty and cold save for dozens of ghostly draped chairs and a massive cherry table that could have accommodated fifty. I couldn’t walk quickly and quietly enough past chair after empty chair as their sheets gleamed in the dark.

The smaller and brighter morning room beckoned, but even so I paused again as Miles O’Keefe came into view. He stood by a fireplace, looking down at the flickering flames, his skin alight with its glow but also shadowed where the glow failed to touch. He startled me again with his height and the lean quality of his form. How anyone so tall and obviously strong could also give off an air of vulnerability I don’t know, but it was there in his dark, dark eyes and the flash of his hair against his pale forehead.

“I wondered if I should send out a search party,” Miles said as I entered, but when he turned the slight tilt of his lips fell and he was serious again.

My cheeks warmed when those almost-black eyes swept me from head to toe. I suddenly wished for jeans and sneakers and possibly a ponytail holder because it seemed to be the unbound waves of my hair that held his attention the longest. My natural desire to feel attractive warred with my need to feel safe and unnoticed by this man with flashing eyes.

“A bread-crumb trail wouldn’t be a bad idea,” I said. Pretending we were still being light and funny.