Page 33 of Much Ado About a Scot

Isobel shook her head, clearing her thoughts. “How do you know this?”

A look of indecision crossed his face for a heartbeat before he straightened. “I cannot tell you that, but you must trust me on this.”

She straightened. “I asked you never to lie to me. If you think I cannot handle the truth, you are wrong. I would rather face the truth head-on no matter how much it hurts than have a lie stab me in the back later on.” As it had with Ezra.

“I only want what is best for you and Jamie.” His gaze shifted to the bookcase on the wall opposite them. “Perhaps it is best if you knew about this.” He moved to the bookshelf and slid it aside, revealing a hole in her wall.

Isobel gasped.

“Someone created a secret passageway from your house to Dunbar Manor. There is also another access point outside. The well on the Graham property near the treeline is no well at all, but an entrance halfway between the two estates. That is where I found Jamie. He had crawled inside the well and followed me down after I discovered it.”

“A passageway?” Isobel’s heart pounded in her ears as she stared into the gaping darkness. “A secret entrance explains so much. There were so many times I swear I felt someone in the house and saw shadows moving in the darkness.” She turned her gaze toward the crossbow she kept in the room. “That’s why I keep that weapon in here during the day, and take it upstairs with me at night.” She brought a trembling hand to her brow. “Though now I can see how dreadful a decision that was. Someone could have used that crossbow against us!”

Xander retrieved the crossbow and handed it to her. “Keep this in your chamber from now on. I intend to block access to all parts of the tunnel before nightfall. I’ll start by walling up the entrance into your home. No one will ever have access to you in that way again.” Their gazes met and held. She saw a fierceness in his gaze that brought a catch to her breath. For a single moment, he was someone else, someone she’d never met before. Then the look was gone.

“Are you going back to the well now?”

He nodded. “I’m going to make sure no one else is in the passageway before I remove the ladders on either end. Then I’ll remove the ladder from the well before I seal off the entrance to your house.”

“Who would be down there?”

A frown marred his lips as he remained silent. Indecision reflected in his eyes before he finally said, “I fear Graham has associates who are less than honorable.”

“What could they possibly have to gain by harming me or my family?”

“There is still a mystery to be solved surrounding your estate and David Graham’s, but I believe this tunnel, the deaths of your husbands, and the men visiting the Graham estate with frequency have more to do with a political plot against the king,” he said grimly.

Isobel looked at him bewildered. “The king of Scotland?”

Xander didn’t look at her. “I don’t have all the pieces of the puzzle yet—”

“Is that what this is to you?” A flare of anger pierced her confusion. “A puzzle to be solved? Is that why you said you’d only stay two months, because you figured you’d find the answers to your questions by then?”

“Isobel, please.” His voice was rough. “You’ve got this all wrong.”

“Do I?” She tightened her grip on the crossbow in her hands. “I think there is a lot more you aren’t telling me, like who exactly you are.”

“I am the man you see before you.”

She shook her head in denial. “You claim to be a man looking for work, yet you have enough funds to hire twenty people to work in the fields, ten extra workers to cook and serve, and have supplied enough food to feed them and over a hundred more at the harvest celebration tonight.”

“I can’t explain it all just yet.” Desperation tinged his voice.

She flinched. She hated being lied to. Ezra had lied to her. Xander was lying now, but at least he had not been unkind to her. He had cautioned her from the beginning about asking too many questions. And he’d made it clear there was nothing between them but the lust they shared.

Or had that changed? They had worked side by side, shared their meals, and had argued the merits of letting a little boy grow up. In the past few days, they had shared moments of fear, laughter, and companionship that had formed a tentative bond of friendship between them. Friends and lovers, but definitely not husband and wife. “There is no place in a marriage for lies, even lies of omission.”

He set his lips in a grim line. “I promise I will explain more very soon. For now, I need you to trust me and let me stay beside you and Jamie until I know it is safe.”

She drew a deep breath and released it slowly before she finally nodded.

He moved toward the door then stopped. “Please stay inside while I’m gone.”

“Don’t worry. I have no intention of giving anyone a chance to kill me or my son.”

“I won’t let them touch you.”

Chapter Thirteen