Devils Highlander (Clan MacAlpin 1)

“So sorry. ” Fiona stared, wide-eyed, looking from Marjorie to Cormac and back again. “But I wanted to warn you.

You told me to keep my ears open for talk of the bailie. But he's here. Now. In the drawing room with your uncle. ”

“The bailie is here?” Panic flared in her chest. If only Cormac would help her deal with the situation. And now it had appeared on her own doorstep. She prayed she wasn't the one who'd led the bailie to her uncle's. “What ever could he be doing here?”

“He is a respectable man in society, Ree. ”

Her focus shot to Cormac, seated at the edge of the bed, chin in hand. She glared at him, not particularly eager for his opinion at the moment.

Even though she knew he was right. It could be a matter of a simple explanation. “Did you hear him say why he was here?” she asked her maid.

“No mum, he just bustled in, him and that wife of his—”

“His wife?” Marjorie shuddered at the memory of rumbullion and hideous women in feather-plumed hats. “Adele is here, too?”

“Aye, and a nasty piece she is,” Fiona muttered, and then her jaw dropped, appearing shocked she'd spoken aloud.

She ignored Fiona's comment. Her maid's peculiar muttering was to be expected, and Marjorie had only one concern at the moment. “Did they ask for me, or are they here only for Humphrey? Tell me, Fiona, are the children safe?”

“Aye. ” Fiona straightened proudly. “Archie came and took them all. ”

“What?” Marjorie gasped, stumbling backward into the wall. She propped herself against it, her fingers feeling cold and drained of blood.

“He came to pay a visit. He told me he wanted to help, and took the lads with him back to Saint Machar. ” She fiddled nervously with her apron. “I didn't do wrong, did I?”

Cormac flew from the bed, strode by them to the door.

“Where are you going?” she demanded. A clammy chill prickled her skin all over. Archie had the boys, Archie took Davie. She forced herself to stand upright. She went to grab her wrap from where she'd tossed it on a chair. “I'm going with you. ”

“You canna!” Fiona gasped. “It's almost full dark outside. ”

“Aye,” Cormac said, his voice steely. “Listen to the maid. You can't leave. Lock yourself in. Open for none but me or Fiona. ”

Their eyes caught, and time held still. The gravest of looks crossed his face, as though he'd come to a great decision.

“I'm going to make this right,” Cormac said, and he stormed from the room.

But Marjorie knew she wouldn't be there when he returned.

Chapter 33

She'd told him no. Marjorie had refused his proposal, and he'd seen the surety in her eyes.

Cormac upped his pace, thinking of Gregor's fine chestnut gelding, stabled at the Broad Street mews. He'd make it to the docks faster on horseback. But it was the horse of a wealthy man, and galloping through the darkness, he'd summon every eye in Aberdeen.

Wealth. He'd told Marjorie she deserved a wealthy lord. Was that why she'd balked at marriage? Was the prospect of life with a fisherman not so appealing after all? He frowned. He'd not give the notion a moment's credit.

She'd been so angry when he'd told her he couldn't destroy the Oliphant. Surely it was simple anger that drove her refusal.

Because surely Marjorie loved him. She'd told him before that she loved him. God help his cursed soul if she didn't.

He cursed his soul, wondering why he hadn't said the words to her sooner. He loved Marjorie more than life, so why hadn't he told her when he'd first had the chance?

But

even as he speculated, he knew why. He was a coward. Losing his brother and then his mother had almost destroyed him, and he'd been afraid he'd get hurt again. So he hadn't told her of his love — as though, by not saying the words, it might not exist.

Furious with himself, he ran harder through the streets. He might be a fool, but he'd be a coward no more.