Nessa’s eyes turned wide. “No one is allowed up there.” Her eyes grew even wider. “Good Lord, he has locked her in, never to get out.”
“I do not believe that, and I wish to prove it. Do you know of any other way into the room?”
Nessa turned silent for several minutes before saying, “I remember my mum telling me once that there was a secret way in and out of the keep from the upper floor. It was meant to help the laird’s family escape, if necessary, but it was never used.” Nessa gasped. “That must be how he is able to get the women to the upper floor without anyone seeing them.”
“The Dragon would have to have learned of the secret entrance to be able to use it. Who else knows of it?”
Nessa chewed on her lower lip as she thought. She finally shook her head. “I cannot say, for my mum never said how she learned of it.”
“Then you cannot say for sure if a secret passage does exist.”
“No, though I do remember my mum tapping and pushing against walls in the rooms on the upper floor when we would see to cleaning therooms there. She would look at me and tell me she was searching for secrets.”
“Then I will continue her search.”
Nessa jumped up. “Do you forget that the Dragon forbids anyone to go to the upper floor?”
Heather stood, smiling. “I have no intention of disobeying my husband.”
“Then wherever will you search?”
“Outside,” she said, “and I can count on you not to breathe a word of this?”
“You have no worry there, my lady, and I would be pleased to help you anyway I can.”
“I appreciate that, Nessa, but I will not see you suffer if caught helping me. I will do this on my own, for then I will be the only one answerable to the Dragon.”
“As you wish, my lady, but I am willing if you should need me.”
Nessa returned to her duties and Heather stood outside Nessa’s cottage, glancing up at the keep. It was a fair size, though seeing how the tower narrowed as it stretched to the upper floor made Heather realize how small the space actually was. The top portion was usually left as one large room and often used for storage of linens and such, but this top had been divided into three small sections when finished and she wondered why. Did it have something to do with the secret passage?
Heather slowly made her way around the bottom of the keep toward the side she was most interested in. She was glad the area was not in viewof the entire village. It was more secluded with no one about, a perfect place to make an escape.
Her glance went to the ground instead of the keep itself. She walked over and squatted down, her hand going to an area of grass that appeared to have been trampled. Why would grass so close to the keep wall be trampled?
“What are you doing there?”
Heather fell back on her bottom startled by her husband’s stern voice.
His hands quickly slipped under her arms and he lifted her to her feet.
“I never hear you approach,” Heather said with a shake of her head.
“And you never will, so do not think to hide anything from me.”
“How did you learn to walk so that your footfalls were not heard?” she asked, taking his arm and leading him away from the keep and from her reason for being there.
“An exceptional warrior taught me the skill.” There were times her beauty caught him unaware, and this was one of those times. Her blond hair glistened in the sunlight and her cheeks were tinged soft pink, her lips a deeper rose. Had his harsh kiss still lingered there, staining her lips? Her blue eyes sparkled with almost as much pleasantness as her smile.
“Will you teach me the skill?”
Rhys stopped. “If I did that, I would never hear you approach and already your steps are faint.”He bit his tongue for allowing the words to slip from his lips. He had allowed her beauty to distract him just as he had allowed her words of love to anger him. Too easily, she slipped past his defenses and that had to stop.
She laughed softly. “I believe my light steps were born out of necessity. I found myself treading lightly when my sisters were mere bairns and I had put them to nap or bed and did not want to wake them as I left the room. As they got older, I kept my steps light so I could sneak up on them and catch them doing things they should not have been doing. Other times it was so I could sneak off by myself for a few moments of peace and quiet. Not that it lasted very long. Patience learned how to track young and was forever finding me. Do you have siblings?”
“No,” he answered and wanted to bite his tongue again. He did not want her to know anything about him and here he was answering her. He grew more annoyed when he realized that he had gone in search of her to see that she was not upset over their recent encounter when truly it was because he favored her company. She was stirring things to life in him that he had thought long since dead.
“You do have cousins, your uncle Ewan’s four sons.”
