“I don’t care what you wish,” Ryland snapped. “I am here, and you will answer my questions.” He shoved the door shut behind him as if it sealed his intentions.

“You think to command me?” the Old Woman asked with a chuckle.

“Must I?” he asked and turned his head briefly to Esme. “You should not have come here alone.”

“I could not pass up the opportunity,” Esme said softly. “I left a message. I knew you would follow.”

“You are lucky to have such a faithful and kind woman love you from the depths of her heart,” the Old Woman said and grinned at the surprised look on his face. She chuckled. “You didn’t know that she loves you?”

Esme spoke. “I have felt it in my heart, but?—”

“You don’t need to speak of this here, Esme,” Ryland said, though his heart soared that it could be true that she did love him more than he expected she would.

“Aye, I do,” she said, nodding. “I do love you from deep in my heart. I have since you told me that you love me. I was too fearful to accept it for reasons I am sure you understand. But you have proven to me you are the man I can love without question, the man who will always see me kept from harm, a man who will keep an honest tongue with me, a man who will forever love me. A man I will forever love.”

Ryland snatched her up off the chair and into his arms and kissed her with a strength that was meant to seal their love forever.

Their kiss ending, Ryland rested his brow to hers and said, “I will see that we have a good life together, Esme.”

“Not unless you solve this mess that has been left to you,” the Old Woman said, drawing both their attention.

Ryland kept his arm around Esme while his eyes focused on the Old Woman. “Explain what you mean.”

“I do not take orders from you,” the Old Woman warned.

Ryland’s eyes turned stormy. “I will have answers.”

Esme squeezed Ryland’s arm gently. “My husband can be impatient. You were telling me?—”

“Before he so rudely arrived uninvited,”the Old Woman said with a tilt of her chain.

“My apologies,” Esme said and gave Ryland’s arm another squeeze when she felt him stiffen beside her. “Understandably, his concern was for me. He means you no disrespect.”

“Is that true?” the Old Woman asked, her eyes glancing at Torrance.

He stared at the woman, Esme’s grip on his arm warning him to watch his words. But the woman had asked if that was true and lying would do him no good.

“Nay, it’s not true. How do you expect me to respect you when you summon my wife and command that she visits with you alone? I would be a poor husband to let my wife go alone to a stranger, especially when the information we seek concerns me, not her. Respect works both ways.”

“A truthful tongue, surprising and confirming,” the Old Woman said with sly smile.

His brow scrunched. “Confirming?

“Aye, your truthfulness confirms what I already knew. You are not Torrance. You are Ryland.”

Ryland stiffened.

“Torrance never spoke the truth, and he would have burst in here and threatened my life if I didn’t tell him what he wanted to know.”

Esme’s face betrayed her surprise as she spoke, “You knew Torrance?”

“I know of him and his family.”

“What do you know?” Ryland demanded.

“There you go demanding again,” the Old Woman chastised.

“And you not telling me anything, tells me you know nothing,” he accused.