He was still grinning when he approached his chamber door and greeted Jock and Rainer, who stood guard with strict orders not to allow Kenna out of the room.
“Welcome home, yer Lairdship.”
“Has she thrown anything at the door yet?”
“Nay, sir. Nary a whistle fer quite some time now, but she is inside.”
“That can’t be good,” Duncan said, from behind him.
Tearloch was weary of his dark shadow and the constant predictions of doom where Kenna was concerned.
“She has doubtless fallen asleep in the bath,” he said, defensively. He opened the door, and as he entered, he shut it inDuncan’s face, then leaned back against it. Best to stand still for a moment and let her take in the sight of him in his clean new clothes. It might make her warm to him. Or so he’d hoped. But she was nowhere in sight.
The tub still held water and bubbles, but they were cold to the touch. The fire was pathetic and did nothing to warm the room. The shutters had been left off the windows, and with a storm coming in fast, the wind had done its work. No doubt she was huddled beneath the bedding…
But she wasn’t.
Her new clothing was spread out and waiting. And if she wasn’t wearing them…what was she wearing?
She wasn’t hiding behind the folding screen. She wasn’t under the bed.
He peeked into the water again to see if she had drown, but that was impossible. The tub was too small, the water too shallow. Behind the tapestries then?
“Come, Kenna. ‘Tis time for you to face the world again.” He walked along the walls, searching for feet, a bulge. “I ken ye’re embarrassed, but it is time to be forgettin’ about such nonsense.”
She wasn’t there. Oh, how he hated that Duncan was just outside the door, practicing readying his smirk. So he went round the room again, peeked out the windows, found the guard on the ground beneath, then checked the bed curtains. He climbed on the bed and pressed up on the canopy.
Nothing.
His roar of frustration could have broken down the door, but it was Duncan who threw it open and rushed inside, the guards on his tail, swords drawn.
“She’s gone again,” Duncan said, then turned to eye the guards. “Ye claimed she was here.”
“She couldnae have gone,” said Jock. “We n’er left our post.”
The other one shook his head. “Aye, we did,” Rainer corrected. “After we frightened her well and good, we went to the stairs to watch the hall fill.”
Tearloch had to unclench his jaw to speak. “After ye did what?”
Duncan stepped around the pair and went for the door…to close it.
Both men were wise enough to toss their weapons away from them. Then Jock asked, “shouldn’t we go after her?”
“Auch, aye,” Tearloch said quietly. “Duncan and I will do just that. In a moment. But first, I would like to ken just what ye did to frighten my ladywife.”
“Lady?” Rainer shook his head. “I only heard that she was an enemy to the clan.”
He cocked a brow. “Someone told ye this?”
“Nay. I overheard… In the stables, I overheard that she planned to murder ye, Sir Tearloch.”
He looked at Duncan, who gave his head a shake, silently agreeing with him that Rainer’s excuse was no excuse at all. And finally, they both found a way to relieve the frustration they’d suffered for the past two days.
When Duncan opened the door once more, the other captains were waiting in the hallway. They’d heard his bellow and come running, but they hadn’t interrupted.
Jamie glanced past them into the room. “Lady Kenna?”
“Find her!” Tearloch was grateful his men moved without question. They hadn’t been surprised in the least.
