“One of them is.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
She wrenched away from him, hugging her arms around her chest as she walked to the window, keeping her back to him. “Why are you so certain that someone in my family is guilty?”
“Shawna, who else has power here?”
She spun around. “You. You walk through walls. Your brother. He plans a trip here, and suddenly strange men are appearing out of stone and trying to cut me down.”
“My brother isn’t here yet.”
“You are in this room—when there is no possible way that you can be here!”
“Obviously, it’s possible.”
“Why—why are you here again?”
“To protect you—understand that. I will protect you. God knows, there might well be some link between the danger threatening you now and what happened five years ago. Accept the fact, my lady, that I will be with you, protecting you, despite the fact that you seem not to appreciate my efforts.”
“It seems you’re the only one I need protection from when I’m in this room.”
“I threaten you?” he queried softly, and she realized that he had silently come to stand behind her. His hands fell upon her bare shoulders, and his soft, husky voice burned her earlobes. “You, my lady, are the dangerous one. One way or the other, you were the first to solicit my affections. Remember? And you have certainly weathered them without ill effect.”
She braced against his hold. “Oh, you have no idea of the consequences?—”
He spun her around, his hold upon her firm as he told her, “But I do know the consequences of seeking heaven with you.”
Shawna gritted her teeth, trying valiantly to struggle from the tight hold he had upon her. “Oh! Yet last night you seemed ready to dare it again. What incredible courage.”
“Ah, my lady, I weigh all risks.”
“If you think?—”
“I think that someone made a very great effort to kill me. I don’t know why someone attempted my murder, nor do I know exactly why I’m alive. I’m equally certain that someone is determined to kill you. I know every secret passage, tunnel, stairway, nook, and cranny in this castle—it is, as you will recall, my birthright. So, I think that I will come and go from this room as I please, and I think that, under the circumstances, youshould do your damned best to accommodate me in any way possible.”
“Accommodate you!” Shawna gasped.
“Ah, my lady!” he teased in mock horror, eyes raking over her. “It may not be such a wretched thing. Indeed, it did seem that you enjoyed my presence when last we met. You may discover what revenge I would take against you to be sweet indeed.”
“Let go. You are brutal?—”
“Ruthless,” he corrected. And again his eyes swept her in a way that seemed to create an inferno within him. “And very, very determined.”
“Determined on vengeance?”
“On truth,” he said softly. A curious light touched his eyes, and his tone was even huskier. “And, aye, vengeance. Naturally, I will take all that vengeance at my leisure.”
He still held her tightly. Perhaps he heard the thunder of her heart, felt the way she trembled. She struggled fiercely against his hold, advising him furiously, “Go to the authorities. Go to the queen! Take back your birthright?—”
He shook her hard, once, to still her. Her eyes met his. She was aware that he did not tease now, that his green eyes were sharp, and his handsome features were rigid. “If I go to the authorities, Shawna MacGinnis, I will seek out the very best solicitor in the country, and I will accuse the entire MacGinnis clan of attempted murder, and since the very fact that I am alive stands well for evidence in my favor, it is likely a good portion of your family will hang. Not to mention the fact that you were quite definitely part and parcel of the conspiracy.”
Determined to respond with dignity rather than the bursts of fear and fury that so easily ruled her when he was near, she tried to pull free from his hold. He let her go. She faced him from just a few feet away. “So come and go as you please, Laird DavidDouglas. Slip in and out of the room—and I shall do my best not to perish from the shock of your sudden appearances before we’ve come to the end of this quest. Just keep your distance, Laird Douglas, and I’ll argue this no more. We’ll find out what truly happened in the past and what is happening now.”
“Aye, lass, I’ll keep my distance. You keep yours.”
“I don’t keep slipping through your window and crawling atop you in bed.”