Page 25 of All My Broken Dreams

Then she’d smile or look at him like she was now and he was … he was …home.

“I can’t do this for a whole weekend,” he blurted out without thinking.

Her lips parted just slightly and the pupils of her eyes dilated. His cock stiffened and he was never more grateful for the long wool coat he habitually wore than he was in that moment.

“Deacon, is that you?”

He blinked, dragging himself away from her face to look up at Mrs. Cameron, trying to understand where she came from, forgetting that he had asked her to meet them there.

Chapter Thirteen

“Igot your text,” the woman was saying. “Now, what is this all about? Harry Listowel is no longer with us. You know that as well as I do.”

It was too late to stop her. His eyes snapped to Robbie’s face. She stared at him with blue eyes wide and frightened, stark against a milk white face.

“I am Harry’s sister. Where is he?”

Mrs. Cameron shot Robbie a look and then turned awkwardly to Deacon, lips pursed as though he was to blame for her mistake. “His sister? I was not aware he had a sister, and I’m not so sure I can believe it now. There is nothing between you in looks. Our Harry was the very devil for looks.”

Robbie didn’t respond but Deacon sensed she was building up to hurl a volley of questions that Mrs. Cameron was not going to appreciate.

“Robbie Listowel, this is Mrs. Cameron, our housekeeper in a way. She is employed by the Academy to manage the building,” he added, hoping she would catch the warning in his voice and calm down. “Robbie has come here from the U.S. to find Harry. Her family hasn’t heard from him for several weeks and they’re worried.”

“Well, I can tell you where he’s gone. Up the road to live with the other mucky-mucks. Harry shifted ages ago, yet it’s me who has the burden of minding his flat, keeping it tidy in the event his lordship returns from the dead.”

Robbie choked.

“It’s just an expression,” Deacon said hastily, then turned to Mrs. Cameron. “Robbie needs to get into Harry’s rooms to look around. She thinks he might have left a clue about where he’s gone. Is there any objection to you letting her in his flat?”

“There’s no rule against it that I know of.” The woman shrugged her ample shoulders. “I’m in there every other week to give it a good dusting and I haven’t seen anything like that lying about. But you are welcome to try if it means that much to you.”

Jimmy elbowed his way around the lady, carrying two steaming plates of food. “One full Scottish and one American plate. Enjoy. Move along, Mrs. Cameron. You make a better door than window. Come away with you and let the young people get on with it.”

“Fetch me when you’re ready to set off,” she said with a wave. “I’ll be over here, having a cup of tea.”

Deacon listened to Jimmy and Mrs. Cameron bicker about taking up a table on a busy morning for a single cup of tea and wished his problems were that simple.

Robbie tucked into her breakfast like she hadn’t eaten in a week. He wished he knew where his appetite had gone. A full Scottish was not going to go down easy with this knot in his stomach.

He tried to remember what was in Harry’s rooms before he was brought into the Order of the Blood Banner and moved to Dugald Croft. Listowel didn’t bring much with him as Deacon recalled. The bulk of his possessions were still in the flat.

Mrs. Cameron wouldn’t know what to look for, if she went in there at all and about that, Deacon had his doubts. Cleaningan empty flat when she could be down at the bingo was not Mrs. Cameron’s speed.

However, she was an employee like the rest of them, beholden to Locksley Hall for her wage. She wouldn’t jeopardize that by agreeing to let Harry’s sister search his room if she thought Robbie would find anything incriminating.

But then again, Mrs. Cameron wouldn’t know what was incriminating because she didn’t know a crime had taken place.

Deacon caught himself.There’s no crime here. Harry is being reprogrammed, that’s all. He can come back anytime he wants. He obviously doesn’t want to.

Then what about Robbie? What was he going to do with her? How was he going to convince her to give up and go home while she still had her face?

He set his fork down and exhaled. That was a dark thought. The original families of Fuil Bratach were bloodthirsty and vengeful when crossed. Torture, murder, kidnapping and confinement of those who threatened the Order had ensured its survival for hundreds of years.

Deacon lifted his gaze to Robbie’s pretty, pensive face. Alastair wasn’t heartless. He wouldn’t hurt her. Send her home with a flea in her ear, that was the worst he would do.

“You said something before Mrs. Cameron came up to the table,” she began. “You said ‘I can’t do this for a whole weekend.’ What did you mean by that?”

This was it. This was his chance. If he was going to protect her from herself, he had to do what Alastair asked him to do and keep her near.Keep her near….

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