Lord Keeper by Tarah Scott Page B

interrupted.
    “If safety is an issue, send more men with us.”
    “Ah,” was his only response.
    “The sun is well advanced in the sky.” Victoria looked up, confirming the obvious. “It would be unwise to begin a journey at this late hour. We can leave by first light.”
    With an effected sigh, Thomas took her hand and laid her fingers in the crook of his arm, then started toward the castle. “I had no idea you wished me dead.”
    Victoria gasped. “What can you mean? I have no wish to see anyone dead, not—not even him .”
    “Yet you ask me to release you, which would mean my death.”
     
    * * *
     
    Victoria kept her gaze on Thomas, who sat behind Iain’s desk. He smiled in response to her request to return home. She hadn’t believed he would grant her freedom. Father Brennan, however…fool that she was, she had expected help from him.
    She forced back rising panic and said to Thomas, “You have no right to keep me.”
    “I do not have the power to release you.”
    “You have a great deal of power, my lord. You told me yourself, you rule while Lord MacPherson is away.”
    “Aye. But the master will return, and if he finds his most treasured possession missing, this lowly servant would receive no compassion.”
    “Possession?” Her heart jumped to a gallop. “I have no use for being a possession. Perhaps it would suit you?”
    “Forgive me, my lady.” Thomas bowed his head. “You must know I meant to say the laird protects that which he considers sacred.”
    “Oh, aye. I understand.” She shifted her attention to Father Brennan. “You said I had the right to choose. I choose to leave.”
    “I cannot take you from Fauldun Castle while Iain is away. Thomas is right. Iain would have no mercy with regards to such a transgression. ’Tis understandable.”
    Victoria kept her gaze locked with his. “For a man.”
    Father Brennan nodded. “Aye, a man, especially one in Iain’s position, cannot allow such a challenge to go unanswered.”
    “I see.” She rose and cursed the tremble in her legs. “This talk of possessions and challenges gives me much to consider.” Victoria commanded her legs to remain steady as she crossed to the door. She didn’t look back as she left the room and pulled the door softly closed behind her.
     
    * * *
     
    Victoria made a grab for the portfolio on the uppermost shelf in the library and almost tumbled from where she balanced with one foot on the lower bookshelf. She reached again, but jerked her head around at the sound of voices in the corridor. Sweet Jesu, were they headed for the library?
    The voices drew nearer. She dropped back onto the carpet and scanned the room for a hiding place. The sideboard was too short. Her gaze then fell on the large cabinet in the corner of the room. She grabbed the candle sitting on the desk and hurried to the wardrobe. Victoria flattened herself against the wall and squeezed between the stone and the cabinet. She was forced to draw in her stomach in order to squeeze past and just barely fit.
    She blew out the candle, then froze in the darkness. Sweet Jesu, her captors were likely to think less of her being in the library than hiding behind the cabinet. She groaned. Why hadn’t she come during the day to search for the plans that outlined the castle’s layout?
    “That is your reward for impatience,” she muttered.
    Victoria felt for the edge, intending to slip from behind the cabinet, but jerked her hand back at hearing the door open. She plastered herself against the wall and held her breath.
    “I will light a candle from the sconce in the hallway,” Thomas said. A moment later, light filtered from around the cabinet.
    “Sit, Father,” Thomas said. “A drink?”
    “Aye,” Father Brennan replied.
    The tinkle of glass, then liquid being poured into the tumblers followed.
    “We ought not to have meddled,” Father Brennan said.
    “You call it meddling, Father?”
    “You are very much like your cousin,” the priest said