“So, according to the journal you found, our ancestors rarely used this chamber, passing the knowledge of the place only from laird to eldest son?” Dageus was saying. His deep burr sent little shivers of sexual awareness through her.

“Aye,” Silvan replied. “I spent a bit of time paging through it yestreen. The most recent entry was made in eight hundred and seventy-two. ’Tis my guess the laird died unexpectedly and, like as not, quite young, and the chamber was forgotten.”

“All this history,” Dageus said, shaking his head. “All this lore, and we never even knew about it.”

“Aye. Had we, things might have been very different. Mayhap some of us would have made different choices.”

Chloe opened her eyes a slit. There’d been a strange, pointed note in Silvan’s voice when he’d made the last comment. She studied Dageus’s chiseled profile, bronzed by the flickering candlelight, wondering what he wasn’t telling her. She’d not forgotten about the curse or his unceasing searching of the old tomes. Though she’d had ample opportunity to ask him yesterday, she’d not wanted anything to mar the wonder of their day together.

Truth was, she didn’t want anything to mar the wonder of this day, either. She would zealously defend it from the merest hint of gloom. She’d never felt so bubbly, so elated, and she didn’t want it to end. She—who always pushed inquisitively, who never took “I don’t know” for an answer—abruptly had no desire to make even the smallest inquiry.

Tomorrow, she promised herself. I’ll ask him tomorrow.

For now, between suddenly finding herself in the past, experiencing passion with such an intense man, and discovering so many treasures, she had enough to contend with. She was having a hard time just keeping pace. Merely pondering the fact that she was in the sixteenth century was overwhelming enough.

As if he felt her gaze on him, Dageus turned his head suddenly and looked straight into her eyes.

His nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed, his gaze hot and possessive. “Da, Chloe needs a bath,” he said, without taking his gaze from hers. He caught his lower lip with his teeth and all the muscles in her lower body clenched. “Now.”

“I’m a bit dusty myself,” Silvan agreed after a brief, awkward pause. “I suspect we could all use a bit of a break and a bite to eat.”

Dageus rose, seeming larger than usual in the confines of the low-ceilinged chamber. He held out his hand. “Come, lass.”

Chloe went.

“Must we chain him like that?” Gwen asked, frowning.

“Aye, love,” Drustan replied. “He’ll kill himself before he’ll talk, if I’m fool enough to give him the opportunity.”