Chapter Nineteen
As everyone gatheredfor dinner, Alexander waited impatiently for Clarissa to come down the stairs. Like Gwen had mentioned earlier, he also had not seen Clarissa all day. He at least thought he would see her as she went to the library to get another book to read or return the one she had been currently reading, but he hadn’t.
’Twas possible she had brought several with her into her room. He told her she could take full advantage of whichever books she wanted, so it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. But he thought she would have emerged from her room at some point, if only to quench her thirst or for a meal.
As they all sat at the table waiting, they started to send questioning glances to each other.
Gwen pushed back from her chair and all the men stood. “I will go see what is keeping her,” she said, placing a hand on Nicholas’s chest, a worried frown on his face.
She left the dining hall and the men sat down. A maid came forward with a flask of wine and filled their glasses.
“Thank ye,” Alexander said and fisted the glass most uncouth like and drank deep, forgetting his manners, and not caring that he did.
The men surrounding him were all in the war with him. They had seen the worst of each other along with the best. There were plenty of times when manners didn’t play into their actions.
A few minutes later, Gwen reappeared, alone, her face pale. “She is no’ in her room,” she blurted, approaching Nicholas, who stood up with such force it knocked his chair over.
“What?” he demanded.
Gwen shook her head. “Her room is empty.”
“How is that e’en possible?” Alexander asked. “When is the last time ye saw her?”
“Last eve. As I mentioned to ye earlier.”
Alexander glanced around the table at his friends. “Has anyone seen Clarissa today?”
They all looked at each other, shaking their heads. A chorus of nays echoing off the walls.
“Shite.” He pushed his hands through his hair and stood, pacing the room. “If she is no’ in her room, and she wasna with ye in the gardens earlier, Gwen, and no one has seen her, where can she possibly be?”
“I havena the slightest idea,” Gwen said.
“Have ye checked the library?” he asked, knowing she wasn’t there, but not willing to believe she could be anywhere else. He pushed open the door of the dining hall and took the stairs two at a time. Bursting through the library doors, not caring if he scared her, he glanced around the empty room. He couldn’t imagine where else she would be in the castle.
“James!” He called out, descending the stairs.
The butler rounded the corner. “Your Grace?”
“Have ye seen Miss Gordon today?” He snapped.
“Nay, Your Grace.”
A sense of foreboding crept under Alexander’s skin.
“Gather the rest of the staff. Someone had to have seen her.”
Ten minutes later, every person on the Campbell payroll stood in front of him as he paced back and forth.
“Has anyone seen Miss Gordon today?” He studied each person in front of him, his gaze stopping on the young maid that had been assigned to Clarissa.
Stopping in front of her, he tried to make eye contact, but the lass kept shifting her eyes everywhere but to his.
“Gretchen?”
“Aye, Your Grace,” she curtsied.
“Do ye ken where Miss Gordon is?”
