Page 33 of Seductive Secrets (Secrets of the Heart 2)

“I’m sure we have plenty of time yet,” she said in a carefree manner. “After we pay our respects, I’d like to show you something in the house.”

He glanced up at the sky again. A flash of lightning lit up the horizon. Thunder rumbled lowly in the distance. They didn’t have long before the storm approached.

They hadn’t been at Imanie’s grave for more than a minute when Willow’s head snapped up, and she grabbed hold of his arm.

“That’s good,” she announced. “This way, please.” She directed him to the cottage, holding tightly to his arm as they climbed the two small stairs leading up to the porch. “There is an oil lantern we can use, right inside the door.”

He followed her into the house, waiting while she lit the lamp. The firelight cast a soft orange glow in the one-room structure. Conrad looked around to see dusty furniture atop an old water stained, wooden floor. Besides the dust and musty aroma, the place looked as if someone still lived there. There were even dirty dishes still on the table.

“Willow, how long did you say Imanie’s been dead?”

“About a year now I suppose.” She walked over to a chest and opened a drawer and looked through it. There were clothes in it, and she held up one gown after another. “Imanie didn’t have any clothes worth wearing. However, she did have some nice jewelry.” She closed the drawer and opened another one.

“Why haven’t you or your cousins gone through her things by now and cleaned up the place? It doesn’t seem as if she has any living relatives to handle it.”

“She doesn’t. Or at least not that we know of.” She slammed closed the drawer and went over and opened a long cupboard that extended from the ceiling to the floor.

Conrad strolled over to the small table in the center of the room and picked up a plate. It had remains of dried food on it yet. “You could have at least cleared the table of the old woman’s last meal.”

“I suppose we should have. However, once Imanie was buried, none of us wanted to return here. You see, we really had no reason. And now that Fia has married and moved to Scotland, Maira and Morag think it’s too sad to spend time here. It was all I could do to convince them to accompany me here the other night.”

“Why were you here?”

“I wanted to get this to wear to the festival – the festival that you so rudely dragged me away from.” She held up her hand and showed him the bracelet and ring.

“You stole jewelry that didn’t belong to you so that you could catch the eye of a nobleman? How honorable of you,” he said sarcastically.

She scowled and held her hand over the bracelet, her guilty gaze falling to the ground. “You just said we should have gone through her things. And Imanie doesn’t have any living relatives, so what is the problem?”

It thundered again. The sound of raindrops on the roof told Conrad it was time to go.

“What did you need to show me?” he asked. “It’s starting to rain, and we need to leave.”

“I – I just guess I wanted to visit Imanie’s place once more.”

“Well, we can come back during the day and when it’s not storming.” He turned to leave, but her light touch on his arm caused him to stop and look back. “What is it?”

“Do we really have to go so soon?”

“You were the one who wanted to stay at the bonfire. I thought you’d be happy to know we’re heading back to the festival.”

“But there’s no need to hurry anymore. Now that it’s raining, the bonfire will be canceled.”

“Aye, I suppose it will. Still, if we leave now, we hopefully won’t get soaked to the skin.”

“Conrad. What was the reason you brought me here in the first place?”

He hesitated to answer. How could he tell her he did it to get her away from the rest of the noblemen because he was green with envy every time she smiled at them, or they kissed her hand? Thinking of her marrying one of them made him even more determined to win the competitions so he could stop this from happening. He’d made Rook a promise to protect his daughter, and that is what he was doing.

“It’s my job to keep you away from the other men,” he admitted, not knowing what else to say.

“There’s more to it than that, I know there is. I can see it in your eyes.”

“Nay, there isn’t.”

“Why did you join the competition and say you wanted to marry me?”

“I didn’t say that.” He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and stared at the ground.

---