“No.”
She wasn’t sure whether to believe him, but he was making her feel kind of funny with the way he was looking at her—her heart was fluttering oddly—so she turned back to Jamie and glared. “You should be thanking him.”
Unable to deny the evidence around him, Jamie stepped back.
She waited. Unlike Thommy’s, her brother’s expression hid few of his thoughts, and right now “stubborn” was besting what was “right.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Well?”
For the first time, Elizabeth was aware that there were other men with Jamie, and that with the men working on the wall, they now had quite an audience. Thus at least a dozen men witnessed the rare sight of James Douglas apologizing. He might be drawn up as tight as a bow, his hands might be curled into fists at his sides, and his mouth might look like he’d just drunk curdled milk, but he said, “It seems I owe you an apology. I didn’t realize—”
All of a sudden he did realize.
He spun on her with all the anger that had been directed at Thommy. “You could have been killed! God damn it, Elizabeth, don’t you know how dangerous this is? What the hell are you doing in here?”
Apology apparently forgotten, he eyed Thommy suspiciously, and she felt him stiffen behind her.
Elizabeth frowned at her formidable brother. She knew his anger was out of concern, but he was wrong with what he was insinuating. “I was looking foryou. I was told you were in the North Tower.”
“I was. This is the Guard Tower.”
“Aye, well, I realized that too late. I was leaving when I accidentally knocked down the wall.”
She decided it was more prudent not to explain she’d grabbed the wall to brace herself from the shock of seeing a half-naked man.
Not just any half-naked man.
Her brother’s eyes darted to Thommy, and then back to hers again. “Why are you at Roxburgh at all? As I recall, I told you to stay put, and I would be at Blackhouse to fetch you when I’d finished here. This is no place for a lady.”
Was it her imagination, or had he emphasized that last word for Thommy’s benefit? The tension between the two men was palpable.
Jamie was acting like she’d come to Roxburgh to find Thommy. But that didn’t make sense. He should have guessed why she was here. She frowned. “I came after Archie, of course. To bring him back.”
Jamie wasn’t looking back and forth to Thommy anymore; his gaze was firmly fixed on hers. “What are you talking about?”
Her heart sank, as the first hint of panic spiked her pulse. “Archie took a horse and rode out yesterday to join you. I followed him to bring him back, but didn’t catch up with him in time. I thought to find him here with you.”
Jamie shook his head, and she knew from his grim expression what he was going to say. “Archie isn’t here.”
5
AFTERJAMIE’S OMINOUSpronouncement,Elizabeth and her brother retired to the king’s solar in the North Tower—the actual North Tower, this time, which was connected to the Guard Tower by the aptly named North Range.
Jamie had led her away so quickly she hadn’t had a chance to speak with Thommy—not that the blank stare he gave her invited conversation—but she would seek him out later.
First, she had Archie to worry about. She was trying not to overreact, but she could sense Jamie was anxious as well. He’d called for Richard, and along with Joanna’s other brother, Thomas, they were gathered around the table on benches with a few of Jamie’s other household guardsmen.
Her brother’s eyes seemed to have turned black as they felt like pinpoints on her. “You rode halfway across Scotland withoneguardsman for protection?”
Truly, he was so predictable. “I’m not the one who matters right now. We need to find Archie. Where else could he have gone?”
She didn’t doubt there would be hell to pay later, but Jamie’s worry for the sibling who was currently in danger won out. “Are you certain he was making his way here?”
Elizabeth bit her lip, her hands twisting anxiously. “Nay, but I assumed after our argument”—she’d filled him in on the disagreement she’d had with Archie the night before—“he would come here. It’s what he’d threatened to do.” She looked to Richard for help. “He was headed in this direction—at least until Selkirk.”
“Aye, my lord,” Richard put in. “I tracked him easily enough but lost him in the city.”
Jamie swore, dragging his fingers through his hair. His eyes fell on her accusingly. “You were supposed to be watching him.”
