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“I am bored to tears in this room—is that a good enough reason?”
“I guess so.” Vicky looked around the room and her nose scrunched. “I would be bored in here as well.” The distrust in her eyes slipped away as she looked at Sloane. “What did you say your name was?”
“Sloane.”
A sweet smile, almost shy, lifted her plump cheeks. “Then I am most happy I snuck in here, Miss Sloane.”
~~~
Night had settled and the door opened. For one brief second, Sloane hoped it was Vicky again. The girl was sweet, and they’d spent an hour going through the steps of the quadrille this afternoon. Real conversation with Vicky had been beyond welcome and it had kept her mind off her current predicament.
The second of hope passed.
She wasn’t so lucky.
Reiner walked through the door with a tray of food balanced on one arm and he closed the door behind him. The aroma of seasoned grouse and roasted rosemary potatoes wafted into the room. She sat on the foot of the bed with her bare feet tucked under her and Reiner gave her only the quickest glance as he moved across the room to set the tray on the small round table in the corner by the fireplace.
“Did you have anything to admit to me this eve, Sloane?”
“Nothing new since you last asked this morn, Reiner.”
Both his question and her answer deliberate and calm—cordial—as it always was.
He turned toward her, his gaze on her curious. “No? I understand you had a rogue visitor today.”
His words sent a spike of fear through her heart—not for herself but for little Vicky.
But for once his golden brown eyes weren’t weighed down with grim distrust as he looked at her. Suspicion still laced his gaze, but the cold irate glare had tempered.
“I did.” She moved to the edge of the bed, straightening her skirts as she draped her legs off the side. “I do hope you do not blame Vicky. She was only curious—odd noises were coming from a locked room. It was actually quite brave of her to venture in here.”
His eyebrow cocked. “Brave?”
Sloane nodded. “She had no inkling what she would find beyond the door, yet she entered anyway. That is brave.”
Reiner offered a slight nod and moved to the center of the room, standing before her. “You did not try and escape past her. Why?”
“She’s an innocent child. She didn’t deserve to be blamed for my escape were I to push past her.” Her look skewered him. “If I’m going to escape past anyone, it is to be past you, Reiner.”
The smallest smile lifted the right side of his mouth. “Be that as it may, the guests that I have had here at Wolfbridge have departed and I have decided something.”
She eyed him cautiously, gaining her feet. Her palm went to the front of her dark dress to smooth the impossibly wrinkled fabric. “Which is?”
“I have decided to let you out.”
“You’ve decided to set me free? Tell me where I am so I can go home?”
A caustic chuckle left his lips. “That is not about to happen, Sloane. You know exactly what you need to tell me for that to happen. I merely meant I will let you free of this room.”
She folded her arms in front of her. “So I can assume there are conditions?”
“Yes. You’ll have two of my men shadowing you at all times. You cannot speak to the staff as to why you are here. You are welcome to the castle interior and to go on strolls in the south garden. That is the extent of your freedom until you tell me exactly who you are, who you work for, and what you were after in my room.”
She had to stifle a sigh. Those same, constant demands he made of her grated on her nerves. But she wasn’t a fool. She would trade almost anything for fresh air after days in the stifling room.
“Why now?”
“Simple. I was entertaining guests, as I’m sure you noticed when you snuck onto my grounds. I couldn’t set you free in the castle without questions I’d rather not answer being asked by my guests.”
