Voices wafted up the castle stairs as Harry followed Elise to the third floor. Careful not to step on her long dress, he maneuvered the heaping plate of puddings he had spirited away from the refreshment table along with a bottle of champagne and two glasses.

“You’re a bad influence, Harry Benson. I’ll have you know that I’ve never sneaked food up here in my entire life.”

“Never?” That surprised him. Elise had always struck him as a nonconformist.

“Never. As children, we took tea downstairs with our parents.”

“How dreadfully dull.” Harry had taken his tea in the priory kitchen, usually with Nick, while they boasted to his mother about their daring deeds.

“Proper manners and protocol were required of us at all times. Mother liked to show us off. We’ll need to return this plate tonight. I’d hate for Maeve to land in trouble with Mrs. Sinclair.”

The plush carpet stretched wall to wall on this level, and the priceless oils on the lower floors had given way to cheerful watercolors and prints of children playing by the sea.

“If Sammy’s escaped, I’ll help you find him,” Elise said when they reached the corridor outside the nursery. “I know this castle better than anyone and usually have a fairly good idea where he is.”

“How do you always know where to look?” he asked, walking alongside her.

“It only takes a bit of imagination.”

“Or did you behave much the same way as a child?” He pressed his lips together to keep back a knowing smirk.

“Perhaps a wee bit.” Elise measured the air between her thumb and index finger.

“Sammy’s very keen on you,” Harry informed her.

Her pale-blue eyes widened, surprise etched all over her face.

“You had no idea?”

“None whatsoever. Sammy’s pulled me off task more often than I care to admit. I’ve not had the cheeriest disposition when I’ve gone to hunt him down.”

“He thinks you’re clairvoyant.”

“Eyes in the back of my head and all that?” Elise grinned.

“He’s under the misconception that you are part mutant superhero. His friend Thierry is very much into superheroes and told him how you saved her family.”

Elise shifted and glanced away. “You know how children are. I’m sure Thierry’s blown everything out of proportion.”

He dropped the teasing tone. “Perhaps.”

“If you had grown up at Torwoodlee Castle, you would have figured out where Sammy had slipped off to.”

“Most likely. But then, I had quite an active imagination and the opportunity to give it full rein. Nick wasn’t much better. When the two of us played together, I’m sure we gave my mum half her gray hair.”

“Now that I can believe.”

Chapter 22