Vanessa knew such a statement should spread fear through any gentle-bred lady. Of course she was concerned for the safety of Her Majesty and the kingdom; however, she also felt a most unladylike excitement to be involved in this adventure. Here was proof that her mother had always been right about her. She didn’t understand genteel ladies, didn’t precisely belong in their world.
Thrill or not, Vanessa certainly didn’t want the queen to be harmed. “She is in danger, then,” she said. “Someone must warn her.”
“I have already sent a warning to Solomon’s, and they will handle matters. And I’ve notified a friend of mine, Fielding, as he has a personal relationship with the gentleman in question,” Graeme said.
Of course he had already sent warnings. He’d been the one to send notice to her family of her safety and their nuptials, when the thought of that had completely escaped her. She wasn’t certain if she wanted to examine what that said about her.
“The legend states that once someone has the three stones, the Kingmaker will be complete.” Graeme rubbed at the back of his neck.
“Right, the three royal stones—King David, King William, and King Robert Bruce,” she said. “Clearly the Loch Ness Treasure is Robert’s stone, because he is the only Scottish king.”
“I suspect you’re right,” he said.
“Perhaps what we should do, then, is locate the Loch Ness Treasure ourselves,” Vanessa said. “Before your cousin or that nasty man can get their hands on it. Without that stone, the Kingmaker will be incomplete, correct?”
He nodded, and a smile played at his lips. “That is precisely what I had been thinking,” he said.
“Do we know where it is?” she asked. “Other than somewhere in those caves?”
He smiled, and the devilish nature of the grin seemed to tickle her insides. “No. I believe we might need to borrow my cousin’s notes for that task.”
“Borrow them?”
“I have a plan,” he said.
Vanessa had a plan as well. They still couldn’t get the decoder to work, but she refused to believe that was the only way to decipher the secret text. She hated to do it, but it was time to ask for help. She looked down at the writing in The Magi’s Book of Wisdom and was once again struck by a slight twinge of familiarity. She could swear she’d seen some of the symbols before, but nothing specific came to mind.
Still, it was enough to spark her curiosity. Perhaps the answer lay somewhere in her father’s library. He had a large number of volumes on many different subjects, and perhaps she could find something of use. Of course she didn’t have access to those books while she was here in Scotland, so she needed a proxy.
The logical choice for assistance would be Jeremy, but she could not bring herself to ask him for help. Besides, Violet had admitted she’d had a curiosity about their father’s work—Vanessa would let her demonstrate her recently acquired research skills by letting her assist with the code. She scrawled a short note at the top of the parchment without an endearing salutation, a mere plea for assistance and instructions to respond through telegram so that Vanessa would receive it quickly.
She would have sent this request in the same manner, but she wanted to send along examples of the symbols to aid in the research. Carefully Vanessa mimicked the style of a variety of the drawings. Then she signed the letter and folded it into an envelope. She would send it out now so it made the evening train.
“Are you certain you feel well enough for this?” Graeme asked for the third time since they had left his mother’s house.
Vanessa rolled her eyes, though she doubted that he could see her in the black of night. It had been a full day since she’d been injured, and she hadn’t even required stitches. “Yes. I am a touch sore, but otherwise feeling as right as the day is long, as the saying goes.” Then she paused before continuing. “I am in no way saying that I do not feel healthy simply because the days here in Scotland this time of year happen to be quite short.”
He chuckled, and the low rumble of his baritone warmed her insides. He finished tethering their horse to a tree.
“Careful where you step,” he said. His large hand clasped hers as they made their way through the trees to the back door of Niall’s home.
From her previous trip here, Vanessa knew the lawn to be well-manicured, in sharp contrast to the wilds of the rest of the landscape in this area. But Niall’s manor house, built of brown brick and accented with ivy climbing up the sides, looked as if someone had picked it up from the English countryside and transplanted it here in the Highlands.
“This way,” Graeme said. “There’s a back door that leads from the gardens directly into a parlor.”
The gardens, as it were, consisted more of statues than of actual plants. Granted it was quite cold up here, and Vanessa doubted one could have much success with flowers. She followed him to the French doors that led into the house.
Instead of opening the door, Graeme turned to face her and bent as if requesting a kiss. His breath whispered across her cheek. Her own breathing seemed to stop—as did her heart—as if her very body waited for what he’d do next. Would he ignore her request that he not tempt her with the pleasures of the flesh? But then he stood to full height again, now holding a pin he’d swiped from her hair. He turned back to the door, and a few wiggles of the pin later, the lock released.
Silently he opened the door, and he and Vanessa slid inside. The parlor was dark, but the lamplight left on in the hall provided enough visibility for them to move through the sitting room.
Graeme glanced into the hallway before leading her out into it. She recognized it as the main hallway that led directly to Niall’s study. If Niall worked similarly to the manner in which she did, then there was a chance he’d still be awake working through his notes. When they reached the door, Graeme stood still and silent for several moments, simply listening.
A faint light peeked from below the door. It could be a lamp left burning like the one in the hall, or it could mean that Niall sat in that room reading or working. Nerves beat inside her chest, an internal drum that fired her heart and sped her breathing.
One second more, and then Graeme opened the door.
She knew that he’d tucked a pistol into the waistband of his trousers, but he did not draw the weapon as they entered. A single lamp flickered from the top of Niall’s desk, but no one was inside the room.
