Bound By Honour (Book 1)

Chapter 12

"The last place I ever thought to look."

Sparrow raises her eyes from the third book she has been reading. She places it on his desk, still open to the page she had been studying. Wolfe's eyes take in the green cloak she has placed over the back of the chair and the boots that rest on the top of his desk. He steps forward and picks up the book and checks what she's been reading. He smiles as he sees his writing scattered across the page, everything written in code.

"You shouldn't smile; I may just have worked it out."

Wolfe shakes his head and leans against the desk. "Impossible, you would have put this book down after the first few pages if you'd worked it out." Sparrow straightens up in her seat and removes her feet from the desk. She leans forward, her elbows against the desk.

"So did I miss much?"

Wolfe chuckles; the sound rumbling from deep within his chest. "Since I had no one from the Iceni lands was present we were unable to come to any new arrangements. Perhaps if you hadn't got lost we may have."

"Lost." Sparrow tests the word in her mouth. "I think I found exactly where I needed to be." She picks up the first book in the pile and hands it to him. "I made some alterations that you should consider." She rises and walks right out of the door.

Wolfe opens the book and scans the first few pages and finds nothing. He glances at the door; maybe she was playing with him, wasting his time. However, she did seem very sure as she said the words and handed him the book. He keeps scanning the pages until about the thirtieth one where in small neat handwriting several notes have been added, in his code and each one makes sense. He grins and glances to the exit shaking his head. No one is his family ever figured out the code, not even Ra had worked it out and his intelligence sometimes surpassed Wolfe's own. In the matter of a few hours she had figured out a code that had taken him months to come up with and master.

He leaves his study and glances around. He sees his brother come in from the cold outside, small icicles hanging from his black hair. "Hunter." Hunter was just about to head up the stairs but he halts at his brother's voice. Slowly he turns, annoyance highlighting his strong features. "Have you seen Sparrow?" He notices Hunter's jaw clench as his brother's gaze sweeps the entrance hall before jolting back to meet his eyes.

"Nope, can't see her."

"Hunter." Wolfe says again as his younger brother turns once again to head up the stairs. "Did Sparrow find my study all by herself?"

Hunter carries on climbing the stairs but his answer comes to Wolfe clearly, "She had some assistance. Perhaps you should rewrite your notebooks, if I can figure them then she surely can." Hunter reaches the top and glances down, "Until you marry her, her loyalty lies with her family not with us." He disappears through a door while Wolfe frowns up at him.

He didn't realise that Hunter had figured out his codes, he didn't even know that Hunter had ever ventured into his study. Hunter usually avoided anything that related to their deceased father. Wolfe's study once belonged to his father as did all the books lining the walls. Wolfe weighs the book in his hands and then his stomach rumbles, loud and demanding. It's seems that is time for some food. He deposits the book back within his study, determining to find all the notes she's added later on. As he leaves, he turns and locks the door only to feel the gaze of someone watching him. He looks up and catches a glimpse of someone moving from one room to another.

He strides through the rooms until he gets to the kitchen. The cook, Maria, is hard at work kneading some dough, flour coating her hands and arms up to her elbows. She glances up, her cheeks a healthy blush. "I wondered when I would see you. You're the last of the boys to come in today." Wolfe shoots her a look but she doesn't get flustered. She's known them since children, just because they are now all men won't stop her viewing them as boys. "Take a seat and I'll get you some warm soup and freshly baked bread." Wolfe steps over but then halts as he looks down the long wooden table to someone who is sat on the end surrounded by servants. She laughs as she tries to swallow a large chunk of bread. One of the maids gently smacks her on the back and Sparrow laughs harder as the bread goes down.