Edilean slipped her arm through his, and pressed her body close to his.
Under his beard, Angus couldn’t help smiling. “Shamus would probably have held you somewhere for days and tortured you. Tickled your bare feet with a goose feather.”
She looked up at him in puzzlement, then grimaced. “You’re teasing me.”
“Yes, fool that I am. Now be quiet and let me think.”
Angus was sure that when the girl was found to be missing, Malcolm would get Shamus and figure out what had been done. Malcolm would even figure out about the coffin—and he would make sure he misled Lawler long enough for Angus to get to Glasgow.
At these thoughts Angus relaxed a bit and he could feel the girl, still close by him, slumping so much he wondered if she’d fallen asleep. Laudanum was a powerful drug. Take too much and a person never woke up.
As he drove, Angus began to realize the enormity of the situation. He could never go home again. Never again would he see any of the people he’d known all his life. He wouldn’t see his sister’s children grow up. Wouldn’t see young Tam grow into manhood.
He couldn’t help it as a tear came to his eye and it dropped on the girl, making her stir. “Ssssh, lass, go back to sleep.” Had she been any other girl he would have put his arm around her and held her while she slept, but not her.
But she didn’t go back to sleep. “Were you telling the truth when you said you can’t go back? Or were you just angry at me?”
“I canna return. It’s one thing to stand before your uncle and admit you threw his niece into a horse trough, but another to admit to... to this.”
“I’m sorry I hit you on the neck with my whip. I meant to hit your shoulder, but you bent and...”
“The whip hit my neck,” he finished for her. “It healed.”
“How can you tell under all that hair?”
“Some girls like my hair.”
“I never cared for facial hair on a man.” She was quiet for a moment. “What will you do? Where will you live?”
“I’ll be all right. Don’t worry about me.”
“I’m sorry I got you into this. It’s all my fault, Mr. McTern. I know! Why don’t you go to the New World with James and me?”
“Is that what you have planned?”
“Yes. He has the tickets, and we have the best cabin on the ship, the Mary Elizabeth. James did so very much work. After I wrote him of my predicament and the treachery of my uncle, he planned everything.”
“So he’ll take care of you as soon as I leave you there?”
“Oh, yes. He’s meeting me at the inn with men to load the trunks onto the ship. Then the next day w
e sail at four P.M. and James says we’ll be wed by eight. We’re going to get married on board the ship.” When he said nothing, she added, “By the captain.”
“Aye, I understand.”
She was quiet for a while. “Do you leave a sweetheart behind?” She looked at him in shock. “Do you leave a wife behind?”
“No, no wife, no bairns, but there will be at least a dozen women who will be heartbroken.”
She knew he was making light of the situation, but it was a serious matter. By trying to save her, he’d inadvertently given up his entire world. “What will you do?” she asked again, not knowing what else to say.
“You’re not to worry about me. I can take care of myself.”
“Do you think my uncle will send men to hunt you?”
“Aye, I’m afraid he will.”
“Then, Mr. McTern, you must go to America with us. People are free there. Or more free than they are here, anyway.”