Page 31 of Undercover Savior

The walk from the library to our upstairs rooms seemed endless. I was so anxious about whatever David intended to tell me. I just prayed he was ready to be truthful about the things I sensed he was either hiding or lying to me about.

I’d put a great deal of trust in him when I shared my theories about Eric Weber and Tower-Meridian, because deep down, even in the short amount of time we’d been together, I sensed I could. I just wished he felt the same way about me.

If confiding in him had been a mistake, I doubted I’d ever forgive myself for it. Then again, if I was really wrong, I might not live long enough for it to matter.

“This is me,” I said when we reached the fourth door on the left, as Tag had written down for me. “Would you like to come in?”

“Um, sure. I think I’m just one over from you.”

When we went inside, I saw we’d been given adjoining suites, the connecting doors of which had been left open.

“Do you know what this is?” David asked, chuckling.

“Besides adjoining suites?”

He motioned for me to join him in the other room.

“When Tag’s ancestors first converted the monastery into their home—and we’re talking a couple of centuries ago—this would have been the earl’s quarters.” He pointed to my suite. “And those would belong to the countess.”

“Of course. I see that now. Seems so unromantic.”

“While I’d venture to guess some unions may have been based on love, the majority were arranged and were more of a business deal than a marriage.”

“What about your family, David?”

His eyes met mine. “Sullivan…I…”

An alert that sounded like an alarm went off on his mobile.

“Come with me,” he said, taking my hand in one of his and pulling me from the room.

“What’s going on?”I asked when I realized he’d drawn his gun with the other.

He grasped my hand tighter. “This way,” he said when the power went out and the only illumination was from the lights along the floorboards.

“Is there a fire?”

“Something like that.” He pulled me into a room at the end of the hallway. “Stay as close as you can to me.”

He used his shoulder to push against a panel in the wall and, when it opened, led me behind it. The temperature immediately dropped by several degrees.

“The steps are steep,” he warned. “Hold onto my arm and stay as close as you can behind me.”

“David, please tell me what’s happening,” I whispered.

“Security breach. There’s a safe room on the lowest level, and that’s where I’m taking you.”

I hugged the stone wall as we made our way down what felt like two stories. Unlike in the hallway, there was no illumination in the musty-smelling stairwell. Once we got to the bottom,David reached into his pocket. Seconds later, the place where we stood was lit up by his mobile.

When he pointed it at a door, I saw a panel similar to the one outside his cottage entrance. He placed his palm on it, and another smaller door sprung open. There, he punched in a code. “Con seriously needs to rethink this,” he muttered, leading me through the now-unlocked entrance. “Although this is nicer than I imagined,” he commented when motion-detected lights turned on and the door shut and locked behind us.

My mouth gaped, less at the room we were in than at his surprisingly nonchalant attitude.

“Come here,” he said, pulling me close to him.

“David, this is…”

“Shh,” he soothed, stroking my hair when I couldn’t speak and my body began to shake.

---