The Perfect Bride - By Kerry Connor Page 0,42
that if Ray or Zack did have a key, it wouldn’t have been much trouble for either of them to get from the groundskeeper’s cottage to the kitchen and up to her room.
She was standing there, considering the possibilities, when the sound of approaching footsteps reached her. She looked up just in time to see Ray coming around the corner. He came to an abrupt stop as soon as he saw her, his expression quickly souring.
As if realizing at the last moment that he had to be polite, he managed to work up a thoroughly unconvincing smile and nodded. “Afternoon.”
“Hi there.”
Apparently satisfied the formalities had been dispensed with, he lowered his head and walked around her, continuing on his way.
She quickly moved to follow him, not about to lose this chance to talk to him. “It’s a beautiful day out.”
“Enjoy it while you can. Supposed to be a storm coming in tomorrow.”
“I noticed you don’t live in the house like Grace and the Warrens. Do you have your own quarters?”
“There’s a groundkeeper’s cottage out back.”
“Is that where you raised Zack?”
“Yep.”
“Zack mentioned his mother took off when he was a child.”
“The boy talks too much,” he muttered.
“That must have been very hard on you.”
“It wasn’t the most fun day of my life, but we got by.”
“Did you ever hear from her again?”
“Nope. And good riddance.”
“That didn’t worry you?”
He snorted. “No. Why would it?”
“Something could have happened to her. She might not even be alive anymore.”
“Not my concern.”
She frowned at the coldness in his voice. “She’s still the woman you married, still Zack’s mother.”
He came to an abrupt halt and whirled to face her. “And she didn’t want to be either one. Some women aren’t cut out to be a wife or a mother. I only wish she would have figured that out beforehand and saved us all the trouble.”
She stared at him, fighting a shudder at the utter coldness on his face. “I—I’m sorry.”
“You ask a lot of questions.”
Jillian mustered a smile. “I’m curious about people.”
“No offense, ma’am, but you can go be curious somewhere else. I have work to do.”
With that, he put his back to her and continued down the path, quickly vanishing behind the greenery. Jillian didn’t bother to try to follow him. She figured she’d gotten as much out of him as she was going to, and probably far more than she had any right to expect.
Considering his words, she made her way back to the entrance to the garden.
Her head lowered in thought, she was nearly to the front of the house when she spotted something blocking the path in front of her. She jerked her head up.
Adam stood a few feet away, watching her. At the sight of him, the sunlight shining down upon him, her heart jumped. Out of surprise, she told herself, unwilling to admit it was from anything else. Like how good he looked in the sunlight.
The sunlight that still couldn’t illuminate the darkness in his eyes.
“I’ve been looking for you,” he said.
She held her hands out, palms toward him. “Well, here I am.”
His eyes narrowed with suspicion. “What are you doing out here?”
“After wandering around in those tunnels I figured I could use the fresh air.”
The way his lips thinned, Jillian knew he didn’t exactly believe her. “That’s actually why I was looking for you,” he said, his tone sending a prickle of warning down her spine. “Could I see you in my office?”
* * *
THEY DIDN’T SPEAK as they made their way back into the house.
When they arrived back at his study, Adam held the door for Jillian to enter first before following her inside. As soon as the door was closed behind him, he strode past her toward the desk.
“What’s this about?” she asked.
Adam stopped behind the desk and turned to face her. “Given this recent...discovery, I’m not sure we can allow you to stay here any longer.”
She hadn’t moved closer, still standing near the door. She simply looked at him, as though not understanding. “Why not?”
“I don’t know how extensive the passages are or what condition they’re in, and frankly, I can’t trust that you’ll stay out of them.”
“We were both in them and they were perfectly fine.”
“You can’t know that for sure. We couldn’t really see much with your flashlight. And even if they were perfectly fine, you still managed to fall.”
“It was a little stumble. It could have happened anywhere.” She held up a hand when he would have interrupted. “But if it would make you