“I didn’t—” Angus began, but then stopped. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do what you want.”
“Why not?” Tam asked, his face showing his anger. “You want to keep being the laird even though you live here?”
“Of course not!” Angus said, but he thought about Tam’s words. To give up his birthright? Could he do that? He’d spent most of his life trying to give honor back to the name that his grandfather had almost destroyed, so could he just walk away from it?
“He won’t do it,” Tam said to Malcolm. “I told you he wouldn’t.”
“Do you want to go back to Scotland?” Malcolm asked softly, looking at Angus. “Is that what you want, lad?”
Angus glanced at them and knew he couldn’t say what was in his mind. They were so fresh off the boat from the old country that they still smelled of heather, but Angus had been in America for years, and he liked the feeling that a man could do or be anything. Right now, if he waited long enough, he’d get a thousand acres. The land would be his own, and he could do with it whatever he wanted. In Scotland, nothing had belonged to him, and what he did was always overseen by others. Even now, if he were given charge of the McTern lands, he’d still be expected to look out for hundreds of people. No, he didn’t want to go back. “No,” he said at last. “I want to stay here.”
Tam’s face lost its angry look and he seemed a bit ashamed of the way he’d nearly attacked his cousin.
“So then you will go back with us to see Miss Edilean,” Malcolm said, smiling in relief.
“Sorry,” Angus said, “but I can’t do that.”
“Why not?” Tam asked. “You don’t like her?”
Angus gave a little guffaw at that absurdity. “She doesn’t like me,” he said.
“You had a spat,” Malcolm said. “That’s understandable. Is that why you’re here and she’s there?”
“Are you two married or not?” Shamus asked. “And why are you called Harcourt?”
“It’s a long story,” Angus said.
“I got time,” Shamus said, “and I like a good lie if it’s well told.”
“It’s all true and I’m telling you that I cannot go to Edilean and ask anything of her. She... Well, the truth is that she hates me.”
“From what the captain of the Mary Elizabeth told us, that’s not true,” Tam said.
“He said you two were together every minute.” The familiar smirk was back on Shamus’s face. “Did you—” He made a vulgar gesture.
Angus got to his feet, his fists clenched, but before Shamus could get up, Malcolm called them down. “Sit!” he ordered Angus. “And you stay where you are.” He ran his hand over his face. “You two have been fighting since you were born.”
“You jealous, old man?” Shamus said, still with his fists clenched and ready to take on Angus.
“Old man,” Malcolm said under his breath, then raised his head. “I’m young enough to deal with you two.” He looked at Angus. “You have to go to Miss Edilean and ask her to do this.”
“You’re not understanding the problem,” Angus said. “I’m more than willing to ask her, but if I went to her, she’d say no just to get me back.”
“For what?” Tam and Shamus said in unison.
“Nothing that I plan to talk about.”
Malcolm took a deep breath. “We all have our problems with women, but they can be made up.”
“Have the papers drawn up and I’ll sign whatever you want,” Angus said.
“No. We were told that a judge must see you with Miss Edilean to make sure that you’re both telling the truth.”
“That won’t work,” Angus said firmly. “Edilean will tell them to arrest me.”
“Maybe if you tell us what happened, we can do something about it,” Malcolm said, his voice full of exaggerated patience. All of them, even the two men sitting against the far wall, looked at Angus.
Angus thought about how he’d made love to Edilean, then left her there. He remembered the horrible things he’d said to her servant—which, no doubt, he’d told Edilean. Yes, Angus had had a reason for everything he did, but still, the result was not something that a woman would forgive.