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The frown already at home on her forehead deepened before she quietly nodded.
Carefully scanning the foyer, he listened for any sounds of intruders, gesturing for her to remain at the front door. Sticking his head into the front parlor first, nothing seemed out of place. Next he looked at the dining room. All the large sterling silver pieces appeared in place. Any burglar worth his salt would know that the candelabras on the table alone were probably worth five figures. The knots in his stomach eased and he reentered the hall. “I think it’s okay.”
Relief washed away Siobhan’s concern. “Good, because I don’t know the combo to the gun safe.”
Jack rolled his eyes at her. If there’d been burglars in the house, there would have been no time to go hunting for a gun in a safe.
“Coffee?” She stood in front of him.
Narrowing his gaze, he looked across the hall to the Governor’s study. “Did you leave the lights on in the study?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Someone did.”
Chapter Fourteen
“I liked it better when you said everything was okay.” The look of concern on Siobhan’s face brought out every protective instinct Jack had.
With her plastered against his back, he slowly entered the study. To his eye, everything looked in place. Watching where he stepped, he circled the desk. A couple of drawers were slightly open. He couldn’t imagine the former Marine patriarch not being precise about everything, including closing desk drawers.
“Hmm.” Siobhan stepped around him to the wall of bookshelves. “Someone knocked this over.”
She leaned over and Jack grabbed her arm. “Don’t touch that. Just in case.”
“So someone was here?” Her voice didn’t quite crack, but came close. She was putting up a brave front.
“Maybe. And maybe you should call the Governor and give him a heads up.”
“And then call the police.” Those nerves of steel he knew her to have were resurfacing.
He shook his head. “Better see what your grandfather wants to do first.”
With a nod of her head, Siobhan pulled her cell out of the glittery small purse still dangling from her arm and called the Governor.
Jack eyed the room carefully, looking for any additional sign of an intruder, or a really bad housemaid.
“Okay.” Siobhan tossed her phone onto the desk. “Grams and the Governor are already on their way home. The chicken was dry and the music got too loud.”
Her delivery of why the Barons were on their way home actually made him chuckle despite the potential severity of the situation. “I suggest we wait in the other room.”
“Sounds good. You make yourself at home, I’m going to run upstairs and change into something more comfortable, then I’ll make that pot of coffee I offered you.”
Following her toward the stairway, he nodded. “Tell you what. Why don’t you go change and I’ll put on the coffee?”
She leaned forward and quickly kissed his cheek. “A man of many talents.”
All he could think was how many more of his talents he wished he could show her. He hadn’t been in the kitchen more than a minute when a blood-curdling scream reached his ears. Siobhan. Damn it. Dropping the pot in the sink, he bolted down the hall and up the stairs. He should have checked the whole house before assuming all was well.
Barreling down the second-floor hall, he took the turn into her room without slowing down, grabbing onto the doorway for balance. In the middle of the bedroom Siobhan stood, her hands on her mouth, surrounded by piles of… everything.
As neat as the Governor’s office looked, Siobhan’s room did not. Drawers in her dressers and vanity were wide open, contents dumped on the floor. Even the bedsheets and spread had been pulled back and dangled off the foot of the bed. Night table drawers were open, books had been pulled away from one wall of shelves. A tripod and some other equipment bags he recognized from the wedding were thrown on top of a pile of sweaters.
“Why?” she muttered softly, before spinning around and almost falling into his arms.
Cradling her as tightly as he dared, he whispered over her head, “I don’t know, but you’re all right. That’s what matters.”
She bobbed her head against his shoulder. “I don’t want to think what would have happened if I’d been home alone.”
