Alistair arched a brow. “Indeed, Father. To the best of my knowledge.” He lifted his hands in a defensive gesture. “Father, Danny is not my child.”
Gawain grunted.
There was another moment of uncomfortable silence. Forks could be heard scraping against plates as everyone suddenly pretended to be greatly interested in the food.
But then Hawk set his napkin upon the table. “Gentlemen, if you’ll excuse me, we’ve all got a busy day ahead of us. Shawna, may I have a word before we get started?”
He rose and awaited her. Shawna rose as well, following him as he headed toward the stairs. “What is it?”
“Come along with me,” he told her.
She was startled when he started up the second flight of stairs to her third-floor tower room.
“Hawk—”
He stopped in front of her door, opening it. “Go in now,” he said.
“You’ve summoned me—to go to my room?” she queried.
He smiled. “I heard you had an exceptionally eventful evening.”
Shawna felt a soft tide of red seeping over her features, and she wondered just what information brothers shared. Was he speaking of events before or after they’d swum to the cavern?
“Aye, that! In the crypts?—”
“I’ve been there briefly, but I have to return to search the place more thoroughly.”
“I’ll help you?—”
“No, Shawna, I’ve brought you here because I want you to lock yourself in for the time being. I can’t be with you right now.”
“But, Hawk, there’s so much?—”
“Shawna, I’ll not leave you locked up in a tower all day, I swear it. But I have promised my brother to keep you out of trouble, and he seems to think that you have a ready penchant for falling into it. Please, bear with me for the moment. We need to know you’re safe, and you surely need some sleep.”
“But I’m not?—”
“You are tired. You look like hell!”
“Well, thank you, Laird Douglas.”
“I’m not Laird Douglas, and you know it well. Despite that, Lady MacGinnis, I am giving you an absolute directive—if you’ve any care for my brother or yourself, pay heed to me, I beg you. I’ll send someone in the late afternoon, after you’ve slept. All right?”
He wasn’t really giving her a choice.
“All right.”
She stepped into her room. He closed the door. “Slide the bolt, my lady.”
She did so. She heard him walking away.
She was never going to sleep. Never.
She was wrong. She lay upon her bed, but her clothing felt too constraining. She changed back into her nightgown and lay down once again. She stared at the ceiling, telling herself once again that this was torture, she was never going to sleep. Hermind was filled. With David. With the things he had said. With the way that he had touched her.
With Sabrina, poor Sabrina. Where was she?
What was happening here?