The Heiress Bride (Sherbrooke Brides 3)

He yowled. His stallion, startled, reared back, unseating his rider. He fell off, landing on his side, but he was up in an instant.

Sinjun didn’t wait to see what he would do. She forced Fanny to run straight at his stallion and, at the last moment, to swerve away. She grabbed the stallion’s reins and pulled them over his head. She felt her arm nearly pulled from its socket as the stallion balked at being led, but finally he broke into a run, coming neck to neck with Fanny.

She heard Robert MacPherson yelling curses behind her. Unlike Douglas’s stallion, Garth, this animal didn’t respond at all to his master’s voice. Thank God.

He was a very odd man, she thought.

CHAPTER

13

SINJUN SAID NOTHING about her encounter with Robert MacPherson to anyone. Who was there to tell, anyway? She could just imagine what Aunt Arleth would say. Blessed hell, she would probably clap her hands and cheer Robert MacPherson on. She would probably drug her and have her delivered to MacPherson in a gunnysack.

She’d released his stallion close to the border of MacPherson land and slapped its rump. She hoped that MacPherson had a very long walk ahead of him.

Colin must be fetched immediately from Edinburgh. On the heels of that thought, she shook her head. What she needed to do was think, then act, quickly.

But, she thought, as she changed from her riding habit to a soft muslin gown of dark green, if Colin were here, what would he do? Hunt MacPherson down? Challenge him to a duel? MacPherson was a weasel, a very pretty weasel. He’d shown his true colors in Edinburgh, when he’d tried to shoot Colin and gotten Sinjun instead. She touched her cheek, remembering the shard of rock slicing into her. It had healed now with no scar, not that it mattered much. No, she couldn’t take chances with Colin’s life. She knew he would behave with honor; he was that kind of man. She doubted MacPherson had much of that attribute in any significant quantity. She would simply have to do away with MacPherson herself. Yes, gentlemen were too nice in their notions; they were bound by concepts of behavior that had no practical use when it came to the sticking point. She had to do something, and she would do something. She wanted Colin safe and home with her and the children. It wasn’t likely that he could learn to care for her if he never came home.

She walked quickly up the stairs of the north tower to Colin’s chamber. She wanted a gun and he had an adequate collection kept there. She would not ride out again from Vere Castle without one. The door stood partially open. Puzzled, she quietly pushed the door open more widely.

Philip stood in front of his father’s gun collection, his hand lifted to pull free an old dueling pistol that Sinjun doubted could still be fired with safety.

“Philip,” she said very quietly.

He jumped and whirled about, his face deathly white.

“Oh, it’s just you,” he said, and his shoulders slumped in relief. “What are you doing here in my papa’s room?”

“I might ask you the same thing. Why do you want that dueling pistol, Philip?”

“It’s none of your affair! Besides, you’re a stupid girl and you wouldn’t understand!”

She arched an eyebrow at him and said, “You think so, do you? Well, if you wish to test your beliefs, why don’t the two of us go to the gardens and have a bit of a competition?”

“You can shoot a gun?”

“Naturally. I was raised by my brothers, you know. I am also a champion with a longbow. Are you?”

“I don’t believe you.”

“There is no reason for you not to. Once I shot a very bad man in his arm and quite saved the day.”

He turned away from her then and she saw that he was wringing his hands.

It hit her hard when she realized what was wrong. The Virgin Bride had scared him, truly scared him, and it was her fault. She’d never before played the ghost with a child. She hadn’t thought, hadn’t imagined that it would so terrify him. She drew a deep breath, feeling so guilty she bit her lip.

“What’s wrong,

Philip?”

“Nothing.”

“Did I tell you that Pearlin’ Jane has visited me several times since I’ve been here?”

He started, his face flooding with color. “Silly ghost, she doesn’t exist. You made it up because you’re a girl and you get scared of anything.”

“Boys aren’t scared of ghosts?”