She pulled away to try to study his face in the dim light of the fire. His eyes looked sharp, his mouth grim, yet he didn’t seem to taunt or condemn her.
“Dead and buried,” she told him.
“And burned?”
She shivered fiercely. How uncanny. It was almost as if he had been where she had been, heard what she had heard. “Edwina McCloud spoke to me tonight.”
“She did?”
“She spoke of a different body lying in your grave.”
“A perceptive woman.”
“How can she be so perceptive?”
“How has she ever been so perceptive?” David queried. “Yet perhaps…”
“Perhaps what? Perhaps it is time to announce that you live, that you were never buried.”
“That’s not quite what I had in mind.”
“Then?”
“Well, I think I would like to try to ascertain if the man who lies in my grave is the convict whose life I led in his place.”
“Convict?”
“A long story. And it does not matter tonight.”
“It matters to me.”
“Well, I’m not in a mood to share it at this time.”
“I want to know?—”
“Shawna, you tell me,” he asked gravely, “what happened to you on the night of the fire?”
“I was dragged from the stables. I don’t know by whom. I only know that I awakened outside—next to your body.”
“It would seem, then, that there were two powers at work that night,” he mused. “I was supposed to die in the flames, and it was made apparent that I did. But somehow, my body was exchanged for that of another man.”
“Perhaps some member of my kin attempted to save you,” she suggested.
“I’ll allow that. But you needn’t say it with such superiority!”
“Really, my dear Laird Douglas. Well, what can you expect? It’s incredibly distressing that you are just suddenly here—that you never so much as knock upon the door—or even the bedpost!”
“Ghosts cannot be expected to knock.”
“Then perhaps ghosts should not expect to experience other earthly sensations.”
“How rude, my lady. Especially considering the fact that I sat in a chair, awake, and keeping watch throughout the long hours of many a night, ever attentive to your safety.”
“Aye, for indeed,” she taunted wryly, “if I’m to be throttled, you would choose to be the throttler.”
“That I would.”
“Then if you would keep watch,” she told him evenly, “keep watch.” She did her very best to keep her eyes completely level with his. Yet she felt herself shivering again, and her lashes fell to cover her eyes. Why was she so uneasy tonight?