Page 51 of Highland Renegade
His sister gave him a curious look, but he didn’t acknowledge it. Instead, he forced himself to walk out at a casual pace, as though his mind weren’t in turmoil. Every nerve ending was on edge, and he hadn’t felt this wary since the days after his stepmother had been killed.
Thankfully, the Great Hall and large foyer were empty, the clansmen still in the fields. Ian picked up the sheets where they’d fallen and shook them, but nothing fell out, which was expected. Then he searched the ground below and around the staircase, but the stone floor was kept clean and there was nothing there, either. He looked up the stairs and began climbing.
It didn’t take long before he discovered the loose board. It stood out at an angle now, no doubt caused when Emily had slipped. Ian bent down, rubbing his thumb across the holes where nails had been. The openings showed fresh wood as though the nails had just been removed. But he hadn’t found any nails on the floor.
His nape hair stood nearly on end. Had someone deliberately loosened the board? Had someone wanted Emily to fall? Maybe to her death?
Chapter Fourteen
“I am going to join the rest of you for the evening meal.” Emily picked a simple gown from the wardrobe in the bedchamber. “I have been stuck in this room for nearly three days.”
Fiona looked up from the half-burned log she’d just turned in the small hearth. “The healer said ye should rest.”
“I have been resting. Forthreedays.”
“Ian wants ye to wait until Old Gwendolyn checks ye again.”
“And when is she coming?” Emily tried not to sound grumpy. The first day she truly had not minded staying abed. Her head had hurt and her side was bruised from the fall. Yesterday had been somewhat tolerable, although her sisters had kept up a nonstop conversation and Fiona had hovered over her like she were truly an invalid. But today… She’d had all she could take of being confined to four walls.
“I doona ken. She has rounds she makes. ’Tis better ye wait.” Fiona replaced the poker in its stand. “Is there anything else I can do for ye?”
Emily gave her a wary look. Ian’s sister was trying to change the subject, a tactic she was all too familiar with, having used it herself to steer Juliana and Lorelei away from things they could not have when they were younger. She wasn’t about to be led off her topic.
“Yes. You can walk with me up to the ramparts so I can get some fresh air…and a change of scenery.”
Fiona shook her head. “Ian wouldna like ye going up there.”
Emily frowned. “Why not? Does he think that I cannot climb stairs just because I slipped and fell?”
“The steps are uneven… Besides,” she continued quickly as if she’d just had a revelation. “They are strenuous. Gwendolyn said ye are nae to strain yourself. So…I canna let ye climb them.”
Emily eyed her suspiciously. Fiona had been acting very much the watchdog since the accident. As soon as Ian left in the mornings for the fields, she would appear. She didn’t leave the room unless Juliana and Lorelei were there and even then, she didn’t stay away long. It wasn’t until Ian returned, usually well after dark, that Fiona left for the night. A thought struck her.
“Did Ian tell you to keep me prisoner in this room?”
Fiona’s eyes widened slightly and Emily realized that he must have told his sister to not let her out of her sight. “He did, didn’t he?”
“Nae!” She denied it a bit too fast. “Ye are nae a prisoner.”
Emily shrugged. “Perhaps that was a poor choice of words. Aconfined guest, then?”
His sister didn’t answer directly. Instead, she looked around. “Ye doona like this room? We have others that are empty.”
She was changing the subject again. “The room is fine.” And it was. Emily had to admit the windows allowing the morning sun in made it a more cheerful room than her former one. The walls were paneled in wood, which kept the cold from seeping through the stone, and there were rugs on the floor to keep her feet warm.
Fiona waved her hand about. “We’ve brought the things from the old room, too. Are ye missing something?”
“No.” She was making another attempt at keeping Emily from leaving the room. “Everything is here.” Not that she had much. Apart from her clothing, she had few personal items…a simple hairbrush and hand mirror, a few inexpensive baubles that hadn’t been worth selling, and a picture of her parents. “But that is not the point. I am bored sitting here.”
Fiona brightened. “I can get ye a book from the library. What would ye like to read?”
Emily narrowed her eyes slightly. She might as well test a theory that was beginning to form in her head. “That is an excellent idea, but, since I have not had an opportunity to look over your selection, I will accompany you and choose something myself.”
“Oh, I doona think—”
“What? That I am incapable of choosing a book? Or that I might stumble and fall in the hallway? There are not even any steps to climb, since this chamber is on the first floor and so is the library.”
“’Tis nae that—”
