"Yes," he snarled, and slammed the door.
She could be in his library. But even the warmth that wafted out to meet him as he opened the library door didn't dispel the deadly silence. He looked at the chair his father had occupied earlier—the chair he had discovered Elise curled up in on many occasions. "Mayhap the why and the who are the same," his father had said.
Marcus shook himself from the vise which gripped him, then closed the door on the vacant room. He considered employing more men in the search. Nay. If he found evidence of her culpability, he would deal with her before he could change his mind. He strode down the corridor, continuing through the castle until reaching the last sconce burning in that wing of the castle. He disengaged the light from the wall, then took the final steps to the staircase leading into the bowels of Brahan Seer.
Narrow step after narrow step, Marcus wound his way down to what, during his grandfather's rule, had been dungeons where he incarcerated criminals such as the one who betrayed them that afternoon. He paused in the long corridor before one of the cells and gave the door a shove. With a grinding creak, the heavy iron swung open. The sconce's flame jumped as if gasping for breath.
Marcus settled his gaze on the iron shackles hanging on the far wall in open defiance of time's passage. How would a woman survive chained in those irons? If Elise braved these dungeons, had even a tremor passed through her when she hurried by these rooms of torture? What sort of woman entered such a place?
A woman with something to hide.
He hurried past the cell to the next right turn, stopping at the sudden dead end. Squatting, Marcus lowered the sconce and slowly edged the light forward in order to examine the stone floor and discerned a single set of boot prints beneath the thin layer of dust. His heart pounded against his chest. He jerked the sconce up, searching the wall for the hairline crack recognizable only to one who knew it existed. He found the seam and depressed the spot. The panel sprang open with a squeal.
Marcus rose and stepped inside the passageway. Sconce low, he proceeded slowly, inspecting the packed dirt floor until he reached the end of the passageway. He faced left where lay the concealed door which opened to the outside and pushed against the door. The stone slid noiselessly open and he stepped into the night.
Ten minutes later, Marcus entered the kitchen again. "Elise is not to be found." He stopped before Winnie.
"Surely ye aren't worried," she said, but Marcus had caught the flicker of surprise in her expression.
"Who took the meal to them?"
"Bartholomew."
He started for the door.
"By now he's on duty at the wall," she called as he disappeared into the darkness.
Moments later, Marcus mounted the battlement stairs and found Bartholomew standing guard on the west corner of the wall. The guard straightened at his approach.
"You delivered the food to the women in Winnie's cottage?" Marcus demanded.
"Aye, laird."
"Were the women in the cottage when you arrived?"
Bartholomew shook his head.
Marcus narrowed his eyes. "And you thought nothing of it?"
He swallowed. "I didn't know I should."
Marcus hesitated, then turned and hurried along the battlements and down the stairs. He returned to Winnie's cottage but found nothing changed.
This time, when he entered the kitchen, Winnie halted the task of pulling scones from their baking pan and watched his approach.
He stopped beside the table. "They weren't in the cottage when Bartholomew delivered the meal."
Her gaze moved past him.
"What's wrong?" came Elise's voice at his back.
He pivoted to face her. Nell stood alongside her. "Where the blazes have you been?"
Elise's brow snapped into a frown.
"Well?"
"We were on the hill, near the storehouse," she replied.
Marcus looked at Nell.
"Aye, laird, we—" she looked at Elise.
"What is it?" he demanded.
"We were star gazing," Elise said in a reprimand.
He glanced at her, then looked back at Nell. "You two have been together all evening?"
"Aye," she said, obviously confused.
"By God," he muttered, and advanced toward them. Elise blinked and Nell retreated a pace, but he continued forward. When within reach of them, he grabbed Elise's wrist and started toward the great hall. Several men stared from the doorway.
"Be about your business," he ordered.
The men scattered in a hurried scuffle as he pulled Elise through the doorway and into the noisy hall. The din quieted slightly, men parting as he strode to the stairway.
"Marcus, what—"
"Hush," he commanded without looking back at her.
She didn't balk until they reached the door to her bedchamber. There, she yanked her hand free of his grasp.
He whirled on her. "Where were you?"
"I told you."
"I searched all of Brahan Seer."
"Clearly not all, or you would have found us. Ridiculous," she added in a mutter. "You act as if we need worry while inside the keep."