The Ghost Read online

  She stopped suddenly. No, it didn’t. If it’s too good to be true, it probably is. Lachlan’s warning came back to her just in time.

  Joan knew better than to ignore what all her instincts were telling her. Something wasn’t right.

  Without another thought, Joan turned to the left and headed not for the Great Hall but for the chapel. If anyone was watching, they would see a woman going to pray—hardly unusual with the men about to march off to war.

  The chapel was quiet and dark when she entered. There was a priest with his back toward her near the altar lighting a candle, but he appeared not to have taken notice of her arrival.

  Stepping into one of the side chapels used for private prayer and confessions, she was about to kneel on the velvet-covered stool before the small altar when someone grabbed her from behind.

  22

  JOAN RECOGNIZED HIM right away. “Alex!” she exclaimed, twisting around to look up at him. “You scared me half to death.” One glance at his face was enough to tell her something was wrong. “What is it? What’s the matter?”

  He didn’t answer her right away. His expression seemed dark and forbidding in the flickering candlelight of the chapel. His entire body seemed to be radiating with dangerous emotions. His eyes burned with dark flames that she hoped were a trick of the candlelight. He didn’t look like himself at all.

  She could feel his fingers tightening almost imperatively on her arm. “Where are you going this late in the evening? And don’t tell me it’s to confess your sins—not that you don’t have plenty of them, Joan.” He leaned closer, saying with a low growl, “Or should I call you Ghost?”

  No amount of training could have prevented the small gasp from escaping from between her lips or the draining of blood from every pore of her face. He knows . . . Dear God, he knows. And if the look of barely restrained fury burning in his eyes was any indication, he wasn’t in any mood to listen to excuses or explanations, though she had to try.

  “Alex, I know you are upset—and you have every right to be—but if you will just give me a chance to explain—”

  “Upset?” He cut her off with a roar of outrage. The hand set like a brand around her arm gave her a hard shake and hauled her closer. “Now why would I be upset to discover that the woman who has agreed to be my wife and to whom I have given my heart has been deceiving me since the day we met? That she has drugged me”—Joan winced—“and spied on me? That she has acted the wanton to entice information from men? That she has put herself in unspeakable danger with no thought—” He stopped, apparently realizing that his voice had grown too loud, and took what she hoped was a calming breath. “When I saw you come out of the donjon and feared I wouldn’t reach you in time . . . By God, you nearly walked right into their trap!”

  It had been a trap. Hearing confirmation of what her instincts had told her should have filled her with relief, but instead her eyes narrowed. “I don’t need you to rescue me, Alex. I figured it out myself.”

  “The hell you don’t—”

  “Is something wrong, my lady?”

  Joan turned, realizing the priest she’d seen upon entering was standing a few feet away. He must have heard their voices. If he’d heard anything else, his expression gave no indication. He looked at her with concern and at Alex with suspicion.

  Alex released her arm, his expression suddenly stony.

  Joan forced a cheery smile on her face. “I’m sorry if our voices disturbed you, Father. My betrothed and I were having a small disagreement about the wedding feast—or rather about certain guests at the wedding feast. Perhaps you might settle it for us? Tell me, Father, do you think a man should be excluded from the list just for smiling at me?”

  The priest seemed to understand the problem right away. Alex was being irrationally jealous—or at least that was what she wanted the priest to think.

  The portly middle-aged clergyman smiled and said as gallantly as any knight, “Your beauty deserves smiles, my lady. I should think if that is a criterion for exclusion you would be left with a feast full of women.”

  Joan blushed prettily, as would be expected by the compliment, and Alex glowered, but the priest merely chuckled as he walked away.

  “You lie convincingly, my lady,” Alex said in her ear as he led her out of the side altar and into a small room nearby.

  It wasn’t a compliment.

  Looking around, Joan realized they were in the sacristy. “Do you think we should be in here?” she asked as he closed the door.

  Normally being in a small, mostly dark room with him would be making her senses jump with awareness, but now they were jumping with something more akin to trepidation. Good gracious, did he have to look so big and imposing? Where was her golden knight now?

  “Don’t worry, this won’t take long,” Alex said, adding to the ominousness. “And this way we won’t be interrupted again.”

  “How did you find out?” she asked, and then answered for herself. “It was the men, wasn’t it?”

  “You mean learning that you were not a wanton but only pretending to be one?” he said sarcastically. “Aye, among other things. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that I did, and if I can so can someone else. You may have avoided their trap tonight, but do not think that is the end. They are determined to find the person who has been feeding information to Bruce, and I sure as hell am not going to let that be you. It’s over, Joan. As of right now, the Ghost is no more.”

  She bristled. It didn’t matter that she’d come to the same conclusion herself, she didn’t like being ordered and dictated to. It reminded her too much of her father. “That is for me to decide, Alex. Not you.”

  “You are dead wrong about that. If you think that I’ll let this charade continue, that I will allow my wife to keep putting herself in danger, you are mad.” Allow? “Do you even realize the horrible position you’ve put me in? I’ve had to lie for you, but I will not keep doing so.” He paused, adding as if he knew her thinking, “And if you are thinking about running to your father, don’t bother. I’ve already talked to him.”

  He’d seen Lachlan? If the allow comment wasn’t enough to make her angry, that threw her over the edge. “By God, Alex, what were you thinking? Are you sure you are not the one who is mad? He could have killed you. God knows, he’s been waiting for the chance.”

  “Aye, well he didn’t. I pointed out that he might not want to stick a knife in the back of his future son-in-law.”

  Joan made a face. “I can only imagine his reaction to that.”

  Alex didn’t say anything; he didn’t need to. They both knew what Lachlan thought of him.

  “I won’t be ordered about, Alex. Not even by you. If you think marriage gives you that right, then you are mistaken. I have been doing this a long time; I am not a helpless maid in need of rescue. And if that is why you wish to marry me, you should reconsider. I know what I am doing, and I will continue to do whatever it takes to help our cause with or without your permission.”

  “Your cause,” he corrected. “It isn’t mine anymore. Whatever it takes? Christ, you sound just like Boyd. It doesn’t matter who you hurt, who you lie to, and who you use as long as you win, is that it? God, I thought you loved me—or was that a lie, too?”

  Guilt stabbed her. “Of course, I did—I do. I never wanted to lie to you, Alex. I hated every moment of it. There were so many times I wanted to tell you the truth, but I couldn’t. You try to make it sound so simple, but it isn’t. I did what I had to for the sake of the mission. Because I believe in what I’m doing. Because I believe in Bruce. Because I know the alternative and never wish to see anyone else’s mother in a cage. So if it means I have to speak a few untruths, if it means I couldn’t tell you what I was doing, if it means I have to pretend to be interested in a few men to get information, then I will do so. Gladly.”

  “Is that what you told yourself when you drugged me?”

  She flushed with guilt. “That was an accident.”

  “So you di