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A frown set into his face. “He sounds much like my father.”
Sloane took a sip from her tumbler, her canny blue eyes contemplating him. “The more I know of you, the more of a mystery you are. I cannot place you—place your kindness when you choose to show it.”
“I’m not the ogre you think I am?”
Her shoulders lifted in a slight shrug. “I don’t know what you are. If I could remember how I got here—why I’m here—maybe all of this would make sense. But you—you I cannot unravel. You don’t make sense.”
His eyebrows slanted inward. “In what way?”
“You hold me captive, but give me free rein of everything here—including access to your niece. If you truly thought I was a threat, you would still have me locked up in that chamber next to yours.”
“True.”
“So why continue to hold me here?”
You’re mine to protect.
The rogue thought flew through his head, gnawing with razor sharp teeth hard into his mind. A thought that didn’t make it to his lips.
He’d been fighting it, fighting it since the first seconds he’d wrapped his arms around her when she was screaming in her room.
She was his to protect.
And that she’d added a spark to his life where there was none. That he was lonely and he hadn’t realized it until the very moment she smiled at him after they had danced. That her smiles and laughter infected everyone around her—lightened everyone around her. That her outrageous tales of brave Scottish warriors and their outlandish antics entertained them during dinners—so much so they would often forget to eat. That her mischievous grin when she was conspiring with Vicky to escape his niece’s lessons made him chuckle instead of groan. That he wanted her—her body, her mind.
He said none of that.Couldn’tsay any of it. Not yet. Maybe never.
So he stared at her silently for a long moment. Her blue eyes never wavered from his.
Reiner cleared his throat. “Maybe you need to stop thinking of this as being held captive. Maybe I will make more sense if you shift your thinking. You’re my guest, being encouraged to stay until you can recall what you hoped to accomplish here. You remember and we both win.”
“Is that what you think this is?”
He shrugged. “It makes it more palatable for me.”
She snorted a laugh. “Call it what you wish, Reiner. I’m your prisoner.”
He stifled a sigh and moved to sit down on the far side of the settee. He couldn’t argue with her truth. His elbow propped on the curve of the carved mahogany arm of the settee and he angled his body toward her. “It is an unfortunate happenstance. But I cannot let you go until I know the truth. Too much is at stake. The safety of my niece is at stake.”
Her eyes flew wide in alarm. “Vicky is in danger?”
“I don’t know. But I’m not about to take that chance.”
Sloane nodded, her forefinger rubbing along the top rim of her glass. Her gaze fell onto the fire and her lips parted. “I’ll tell you one thing if you tell me one thing.”
“Something of importance?”
She nodded.
“I am willing if you are.”
Her stare remained on the flames of the fire. “I can climb. Climb really well.”
His head tilted to the side. “Climb what?”
“Climb the types of vines that grow on castles.” She looked to him, her voice just above a whisper as though she were revealing her greatest secret. “The castle I grew up in had ancient vines growing up along the south wall. My brothers and Torrie and I, we would all play a game. Valor of Vinehill—where we would storm the castle. The game included climbing the vines to gain access to the upper floors. I spent summer after summer climbing vines three, four, five stories high.”
“You’re saying—“
