The Tempting of Thomas Carrick Read Online Free PDF

More loudly, he said, “Welcome back, Mr. Thomas.”
    Mrs. Kennedy bobbed a curtsy and echoed the sentiment. The footmen, both of whom Thomas recognized from years past, nodded in greeting.
    All were transparently glad to see him, which was nice in a way…and worrying in another.
    Ferguson glanced at one of the footmen. “Grant can show you—”
    Frowning, Thomas cut in, “Where is the laird?”
    Ferguson and Mrs. Kennedy exchanged a glance, then Mrs. Kennedy carefully said, “In his room, sir. He rarely comes down, these days.”
    Thomas managed not to swear. The last time he’d been there, Manachan had been striding around the place, hale and hearty. “I know the way—I’ll see myself up. But what’s your current problem?”
    Another glance was exchanged, but this time it was—again—one of relief; all were glad he’d asked.
    “It’s Faith Burns, sir.” Mrs. Kennedy gripped her hands tightly before her. “She’s the senior maid.”
    Thomas nodded. “I remember her.”
    “Yes, well.” Ferguson ran a hand through his hair, something Thomas had never seen the normally unflappable man do. “Faith’s gone missing. She was here last night. All was normal and as it should be. But she didn’t come down this morning—or, leastways, none of us have seen her.”
    “Her bed’s made,” Mrs. Kennedy said. “But we can’t tell whether she slept in it or not.”
    “And her sister—our healer, Joy—left last night to go out to the Bradshaws,” Ferguson explained, “so we can’t ask her if she knows where Faith’s got to.”
    Mrs. Kennedy folded her arms and clasped her elbows. “It not like Faith to just up and go.”
    “What about other family?” Thomas asked.
    Ferguson shook his head. “They’re the last of the Burnses, and neither of them married.”
    Thomas thought, then grimaced. “I can’t see anything else you can do except keep searching. Get Sean and the others to ask around in case Faith had to leave for some reason last night.”
    Ferguson nodded. “I’ll get Sean onto that.”
    Mrs. Kennedy pulled a face. “I just can’t see Faith leaving without a word to us, but the Wattses are second cousins. Sean might try them.”
    Thomas suddenly realized what—or, rather, who—was missing. “Where’s Nigel?”
    Ferguson didn’t actually sniff, but the impression was there. “Off to Ayr with Master Nolan. Left yesterday morning, bright and early.”
    They’d ridden back from Glasgow only to leave the next day? Thomas struggled to keep his reaction from his face; what were the pair playing at? If Manachan was too ill to lead the clan, it was Nigel’s place to step up.
    Thomas looked from Mrs. Kennedy to Ferguson. “Is Edgar with the laird?” Edgar was Manachan’s manservant, a silent and staunchly loyal man.
    Ferguson nodded. “Edgar stays with the laird as much as he can. If he’s not fetching something, then he’s within call.”
    Thomas fought to keep the frown from his face. They were speaking of Manachan as if he was an invalid… He shrugged out of his greatcoat and handed it to Ferguson. “I’ll go up. I’ll be with the laird if you need me.”
    Stepping past the group, Thomas strode down the hall and beneath the archway into the adjoining hall that lay at the bottom of the main stairs. He took them two at a time.
    The gallery was exactly as he remembered it; overall, very little seemed to have changed.
    Except that Manachan was keeping to his room.
    Thomas knew which room that was, but he had only rarely been inside. His uncle wasn’t young, but throughout Thomas’s life, Manachan had been hale and hearty, brazenly and boldly so.
    Fronting the dark-stained oak door of the master suite, Thomas paused to steel himself against what he might find within. He’d known Manachan was “ailing,” but to his mind, an ailing Manachan had not equated to a man keeping to his room. “Ailing” certainly hadn’t suggested, at least to him, that Manachan would retreat from his