Beastly Beautiful (2 page)

“You admire the piece?” Sir broke into her thoughts. “It was a gift from the very talented artist, the late Jean Phatteu.”

“You knew Jean Phatteu? The Jean Phatteu?” Teagan asked.

He smiled at her open surprise. “I wouldn’t call him a personal friend,” he answered. “But I made his acquaintance once or twice in Paris.”

Teagan stared at the sculpture with a renewed respect, until she became suddenly aware of Sir’s laughing eyes on her. Simultaneously, she remembered it wasn’t just a piece of art before her. It was also a naked statue. Flushing, she averted her gaze to the next marvel, an immense chunk of black rock, rising up out of the floor near the center of the room and reaching almost to the ceiling. It took her a moment to realize it was a fountain with a sheet of water cascading across its smooth surface.

Scarcely aware of what she was doing, she moved further into the room. There was a fully stocked bar along one wall and at the opposite side of the room a kitchenette, divided from the rest of the space by a waist high brick wall. Kitchenette was as ridiculous a name to apply to the vast area as living room had been for the other.

If she had been alone, Teagan would have taken the time to explore the space more fully, and maybe even poked her head into a few of the doors letting out of the main area. As it was, she abruptly remembered she was gaping, open-mouthed, as if she were inspecting the palace of a magnificent pharaoh.

Her mouth clicked shut, and she shook away her amazement. It was just a house, that was all. A fancy place to lay your head at night.

Sir was watching her with an expression in his mocking eyes that made her wish she had treated her surroundings more casually. Clearly, he thought her some sort of hobo stumbled in from the slums, and wholly flabbergasted by her good fortune at landing in such a place.

“Well, I’m here,” she said, chagrin making her sound prickly. “When do I start earning my five hundred bucks?”

“Very soon,” he said smoothly.

Removing his dark coat, he cast it over an opulently decorated creation Teagan could only dub loosely as a coatrack She seemed to find herself coming up short of names for lots of things since stepping off the elevator. Sir was yet another sight that was putting her at a loss for words. Beneath the full-length coat that had concealed him, he was dressed in a blue silk shirt and dark tie over black slacks. He somehow looked just as formidable in his casual attire as he had when buttoned up under a long coat. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to the elbows, displaying an impressive looking pair of forearms. Teagan caught herself wondering if the rest of the package were as pretty as the pieces she’d seen and then looked away, mortified he might have guessed at her thoughts by the expressions playing across her face.

But he had already turned his back on her. “Follow me,” he said, disappearing through one of the doorways adjoining the living area.

Follow him to what, exactly? Despite the hesitant thought, Teagan obeyed. As abruptly as that, her decision was made. There was no turning back.

Chapter 3

The new room Teagan entered was a sort of smaller living area. The spacious area had what was probably meant to seem a more intimate atmosphere, with an open fireplace along one wall, and a couch and pair of armchairs drawn up before it. A few shelves lined the walls, again displaying more art treasures, along with stacks of books. Nevertheless, the feel of the place was far from casual. At least, it wasn’t the sort of room where Teagan would feel comfortable plopping down and putting up her feet.

An entire wall was devoted to a floor-to-ceiling sized entertainment center, displaying an immense television screen and a sound system with more knobs and buttons than Teagan could imagine uses for. Catching her gaze lingering over the entertainment center, he seemed annoyed at the distraction, quickly flicking a switch on the wall near the door. The entertainment section of the room sprang into action, doors sliding closed and walls folding in on themselves until, a few seconds later, all that remained was a smooth, seamless looking wall of dark wood. Teagan felt as if she stood in the presence of magic.

A simple clap of Sir’s hands dimmed the lights to a softer glow. Teagan noticed there were no light fixtures hanging from the ceiling. Rather, the edges of both floor and ceiling were lit by the glow of canned lighting set into the walls. The softer, yellow illumination provided an informal effect, but Teagan was far from relaxed by it.

Sir led the way to the fireplace, where he waved Teagan to a seat on the sofa. The cushions were so thick she immediately felt swallowed by the furniture as she sank into its embrace. Sir didn’t sit, but planted himself before the fireplace. He must have turned a knob somewhere near the mantelpiece because a row of thick orange and blue flames suddenly sprang up from the bottom of the fireplace.

Teagan wondered if it was pathetic that she could be so easily awed by the mere presence of fire and moveable bits of furniture. Then again, maybe it wasn’t solely the special effects that had her under their spell. As Sir regarded her from his stance before the fireplace, she found herself shrinking a little under his dark gaze.

Nearby, the sharp ticking of a pendulum clock over the mantel broke the silence. Sir’s eyes moved to the clock, and his fingers began tapping impatiently along the top of the mantelpiece, in time with the ticking noise. It was his only indication of irritability, yet Teagan felt something in him had changed from the time they entered this room.

She was abruptly reminded of the uneasy, impatient sense she’d felt emanating from him in the alley. Something dark flickered in his eyes, but she felt whatever passions stirred below his surface had not been awakened by her presence. Something about that clock disturbed him, she thought, as she witnessed his eyes being drawn to it seemingly against his will.

The sudden chime of the hour startled Teagan, and she jumped in her seat. The hands on the clock had moved to seven. Sir wasn’t affected by the noise, as she had been. He appeared prepared for it. Braced, even.

Teagan felt a cold, ticklish sensation, akin to fear, start to creep its way up her spine. What was going on here? She suddenly had the odd sense there was something unimaginably awful hanging over both their heads. She had the abrupt urge to leave this fancy penthouse and its strange, intense inhabitant far behind her.

With an effort, she controlled the desire to leap to her feet.
You’re imagining things
, she told herself. This whole unreal place and situation had stirred her naturally overactive imagination to full flame, that was all. To quash her fear, as she waited for Sir to come out of his eerily silent mood, she concentrated on the reward to come and on planning what would be the first thing she ate when she got out of here with her fists full of cash.

“It’s time.” The low words, uttered in a tone of surrender, of inevitability, caught her attention. She had no idea what time Sir was referring to, but by now she had an idea it wasn’t anything he welcomed. “I will explain your task now,” he said.

“Okay.” Teagan shifted nervously under his gaze.

“It’s very important you pay attention to all of my instructions and follow them to the letter. The slightest deviation could mean—” He stumbled and seemed to catch himself abruptly. “It could affect your pay,” he finished. “You won’t receive a cent if the job isn’t done to my specifications. Do you see the small, silver box resting on that desk?” he asked.

Teagan’s gaze followed his to a heavy oak desk resting in a shadowed corner of the room. Because of the magnificence of the rest of the space, she hadn’t, until this moment, given that area more than a passing glance. Now she rose and followed at a distance, as Sir led her to the desk.

“Lift the box,” he ordered when Teagan stood before the desk.

She did as she was told. The little box of decorated silver was about the size and shape of a musical jewelry box, and felt cool and heavy in her hand. As she lifted it from its resting place, she saw a small brass key lying hidden beneath.

“You are not, under any circumstances, to open this box,” he instructed coldly, as if noticing her curiosity. “I simply want you to note the placing of the hidden key for future reference.”

“I have noted it,” Teagan said matter-of-factly, matching his seriousness. What was all this leading up to?

“Then come with me.” He led her out of the room and back into the larger open living area.

He next directed her attention to a smaller, but still very expensive looking, sound system in this room. Removing a CD from a nearby rack he popped it out of its protective case and inserted it into the CD player. “I already have this set up as I want it,” he said, pushing several buttons on the player. “The track is selected, and I’ve programmed it to repeat. All you’ll need to do is push the play button at the right time.”

This was terribly strange. He was paying her all that money to come up here and push a button on his CD player—something he could do very easily? But aloud all she said was, “And at what time would that be?”

“We’ll get to that in a minute,” he said. “I’m not finished yet. Notice that door.” He pointed toward a door at the far corner of the room.

It stood out because it was constructed in a different fashion than the other doors letting off from the living area. It was iron banded, like a dungeon door out of a medieval castle, and painted red.

“That’s my study,” he said. “I keep all of my most important papers in there, and it’s vital you never enter. You mustn’t so much as peek inside or you will lose your reward. I don’t take kindly to prying.” His tone was cutting as he said this, making Teagan instantly nod agreement.

“One last thing,” he continued, moving on to the kitchen. He opened the doors of a stainless steel fridge set into the wall. The interior shelves held enough food to feed a lone man for a month. “This—” He indicated the bottom shelf. “—is where I keep the wine. Remember it.”

“Um, okay,” she said, thinking this was getting weirder and weirder.

He opened the doors to his kitchen cabinets. “Here is where you’ll find a full table setting, including a wine goblet. There is silverware in the drawer and a cloth for the table. You can set up a place on the table in the corner there.”

“I’m getting a little confused,” she said.

“Don’t be. Now comes the part where I give you your instructions.”

He left the kitchen and she trailed after him. Despite his words, he didn’t appear in any hurry to get to the point. Pausing before a long row of red curtains running the full length of one living room wall, he tugged on a cord Teagan hadn’t previously noticed hanging among the draperies. Instantly the curtains drew back, displaying a window that made up an entire wall of the room.

The window looked out over the smaller buildings below, offering a breathtaking view of the city at dusk. Cars streamed by on the crowded streets. Pedestrians jostling one another on the sidewalks looked like tiny dots from here. Neon signs flashed in the distance, the sky on the horizon joining their array of color with its own fiery hue as the last sliver of sun sank down out of the sky.

Teagan stood close to the window, gaping at the scene below. “It’s fantastic,” she murmured aloud, caught up in wonder.

“Is it?” He leaned one forearm against the glass and gazed out over the rooftops. “I used to think so.” From out of nowhere, a glass of brown liquid appeared in his hand. He seemed unaware of it, studying the darkening horizon. There seemed an air of resignation about him, and yet Teagan also felt a deeper underlying excitement. Whatever it was he thought of, it was something he both dreaded and anticipated. “I have to go out,” he announced abruptly. “You’ll complete your tasks without me.” He downed the drink in his hand in a single gulp and slammed the glass down on the edge of a low table nearby.

“But—but you haven’t told me anything yet,” Teagan protested as he whirled and moved away, suddenly appearing to be in a rush. She scurried after him. “I don’t even know what my task is.”

He was already snatching his coat off the rack. “It’s pretty simple, just listen closely and do exactly as I say,” he said, agitatedly. “Go into the den and sit down to watch the clock. At about…” He hesitated, casting a measuring eye toward the darkening sky outside the long window. “At exactly seven-thirty,” he corrected himself, “you’ll get up and retrieve the brass key I showed you from beneath its hiding place under the silver box. I’ll remind you again—don’t think for a moment about opening the box. I will know if you do.”

His words held such a threatening note that Teagan immediately dropped any notions she might have harbored of taking a secret peek inside once he was gone.

He continued, his words picking up speed as he threw on his coat, as if he already couldn’t wait to be on his way. “You will bring that brass key into this room and use it to lock the door to my study from the outside. Don’t interrupt me,” he added when she opened her mouth to protest.

“No questions asked,” he reminded her shortly. “You’ll lock my study and replace the key exactly as you found it. You will then start the CD player on the track I have it set on. Leave the volume as it is. Don’t readjust anything. Next, you will remove the dishes I showed you from the kitchen cabinet and lay out a single place setting at the table. Pour a goblet of wine and leave that on the table as well. No food. Just the wine. You will then leave my apartment, having touched nothing else. Go back to your cardboard box in the alley and speak of this night to no one.”

“And then I’ll be finished?” Teagan asked. This was the weirdest assignment she’d ever heard of in her life. She couldn’t imagine why on earth any of these strange things he had ordered should be worth five hundred dollars to anybody.

“No, that’s not all. At precisely six o’clock in the morning, you must return to this apartment to undo all of your work. You won’t see me then, but I will know if you fail to complete the tasks. Turn off the music, unlock the study door, replace the key, and then put away the table setting. After that, your work will be over. We will not meet again.”