Pitt stepped back, a look of horror on his face. “Bite your tongue. I am not falling in love with Nessa.”
“I never said you were,” Rhys said and laughed again, “now come with me.
“It is a ridiculous thought,” Pitt said, keeping pace beside him and repeatedly refuting Rhys’ claim with each step he took.
* * *
Heather leanedher shoulder against the door. She had pounded on it and shouted for help until her throat was dry. It was just a matter of time before Rhys discovered her missing and searched for her. She simply had to be patient. As far as the dark, not knowing what was in it caused more fear than the darkness itself. But there was nothing in this room that could harm her and she very much doubted the secret passage was in here, allowing someone to sneak up on her. There was no tellingwhen this door would be opened or closed. So, if the culprit made his way in from outside, he could find himself unable to enter the keep.
At least she had eliminated one room where the secret passage could be hidden.
She turned her head suddenly, thinking she heard a sound and smiled when she heard footfalls and voices growing closer.
Pitt stepped off the top step after Rhys. “First Rab McLaud gets beaten to death by his father-in-law, Hew McDolan, then Haidar steals his body from McDolan, severs his head, and sends it to you. I wonder what is going to happen to the rest of him.”
Heather’s shout never reached her lips. She could not believe what she had just heard, and she would hear more before she let them know of her presence.
Rhys stopped, realizing no torch flickered, though a modicum of light came from the open door of the one room. He spoke to Pitt as he went to see what happened with the torch. “Make no mistake he will make use of the rest of Rab’s body. He may leave it on Macinnes land to fuel the winds of war between McLaud and Macinnes, making sure my warriors are busy elsewhere or he may deliver it directly to Greer McLaud and tell him that he saw the Macinnes chop off his brother’s head and cast it to the animals. Whatever he chooses to do will benefit his plans.”
“Shall I have a message sent to the Macinnes alerting them of the situation?”
“Not yet,” Rhys said as he saw that there was no torch in the sconce.
His response had Heather pounding on the door and shouting. “Let me out! Let me out now!”
Rhys hurried to the door upon hearing his wife’s anxious pleas.
As soon as it opened, Heather stepped out and stepped right in front of her husband. All the things she intended to say died on her lips. They did not seem as important as the words that spilled out instead. “You do not trust me enough to tell me the truth.” Her hand went to her chest. “I thought, I truly thought...” She shook her head and went to rush past Pitt when she was grabbed. She was jerked to a stop, and she turned to see and feel her husband’s fingers close strongly around her arm.
Pitt took his leave without being told to do so.
No tears came to her eyes, though her heart ached. Then like cold water being thrown in her face, sensibility returned to her. She berated herself silently. How could she have thought of herself before her family? Their safety was more important than her worrying that Rhys did not trust her.
“My family needs to know about this,” she said.
“They will know when I am ready to tell them.”
“They could be in danger,” she argued.
“They could be in more danger if I told them.”
She tried to pull away from him, but he held her much too tight.
“I do trust you, wife,” Rhys said
Heather was too angry to hear the sincerity in his words and so she lashed out, “But not enough to confide the truth.”
“Some things are better left unspoken,” he said.
“Not between husband and wife.”
“You need to trust me on this,” he said sternly.
“And you need to trust me.”
* * *
Heather satin the chair by the fire with her legs drawn up and her arms wrapped around them. She had not seen her husband since he had deposited her there a couple of hours ago and ordered her to stay put.
