Page 50 of To Defy a Highland Duke

Mayhap there wasn’t an informant at all.

Perchance his wily cousin—brother—he’d never become accustomed to that foul truth, had been sneaking around the castle with no one the wiser for years.

Why hadn’t Keane considered that before?

What an unforgivable oversight on his part.

Camden and Graeme stepped into the room, countenances attentive and somber. As one, they directed their resolved gazes to Keane, their eyes demanding answers for the hundred questions their disciplined tongues held in check.

“Marjorie sent for us?” Graeme asked, taking in every inch of the nursery just as Keane had, his warrior’s instinct evident in his defensive posture and battle-practiced scowl.

Formidable opponents, the Kennedys were good men to have on one’s side in a crisis.

“Cora is missin’. We dinna ken if she wandered off in her sleep, or—” Keane cut a speaking glance at the stricken maids, then jerked his chin toward the doorway, indicating he wanted to finish the conversation in the corridor.

At once, their faces impassive, the Kennedy brothers complied, filing out, their huge shoulders filling the doorframe.

Before stepping into the passageway himself, Keane addressed the maids. “Bolt this door after me and do no’ open it for anyone but me. Do ye understand? Make sure the windows and other doors are also secured.”

The maids exchanged fretful looks but bobbed their heads as they said in unison, “Aye, Yer Grace.”

He gave a terse nod and joined his cousins in the corridor. The scratch and scrape of a bolt sliding home met his immediate departure.

Good. Better the maids tremble in fear than make another careless mistake.

Ears flat and to the side, Chimera sauntered down the corridor, her striped tail low and flicking back and forth. She was in a feline snit for some reason.

Where was her sister?

Still outside?

Sphynx detested crowds, and she’d be clawing at the kitchen door in short order if she was.

After prowling near, Chimera nudged his leg hard, emitting a low-pitched growl. Keane didn’t have time to ponder what had her riled.

“Go find yer sister.” He pointed down the passageway.

With a disdainful flick of her tail and a censuring look from her slitted citrine eyes, she presented her back end and trotted away. Several feet along the carpet, she paused, looking over her shoulder and yowling.

“Find yer sister,” he said again. “I havena time for ye right now.”

“That creature makes my hair stand on end,” Camden muttered, eyeing her dubiously. “I’d hate to have her peeved at me. Are ye positive those cats are domesticated?”

“Aye, but they dinna like a lot of people around. It tends to make them tetchy.” Rather like himself. “I need one of ye to stand guard here until my men come up.”

Keane indicated the thick panel with a jab of his thumb.

“I shall.” Camden volunteered, a hand on the Bollock dagger at his waist. His sword hung at his side, and another dirk protruded from his right boot.

Keane faced his other cousin.

“Graeme, unobtrusively inform my guards inside the castle what has happened and send one to alert the sentries outside that we are tryin’ to locate the lass. Have them inconspicuously begin searchin’ the back stairways. I dinna want those celebratin’ Hogmanay to get wind of this. It doesna take much to send a crowd into a panic. In all likelihood, the child wandered into a nook and fell asleep.”

The harsh lines etched onto Camden and Graeme’s rugged faces suggested they didn’t believe that the case any more than he did.

“Is Cora kent to sleepwalk?” Keane shifted his gaze between them, his stomach sinking when both shook their heads.

“Nae,” Graeme said gruffly.