My Highland Love: Highland Lords Series (39 page)

Her eyes blazed with a bravado he believed
bordered on hysteria. "Which biggest mistake would that be, Marcus
MacGregor?"

"Leaving me before I had the chance to really
love you—and be loved by you."

She faltered as if she would crumple back
onto the stone bench.

His hands worked into fists at his sides. "We
are finished with lies. God knows, I'm as guilty as you. I knew you
feared something. I have been a fool." He stared at her astonished
face. "I won't make you a prisoner, but I must know you will use
good sense in the future. Do you understand that, as my wife, you
cannot go about like a peasant's wife?"

"I used good sense when I left Whycham
House," she retorted.

"Aye?" He clenched his fists tighter. "You
can say that when you knew Ardsley had a bounty on your head? You
didn't tell me, the one man who could have—would have—protected
you. You married me but didn't trust me. I told you I would not
fail you."

Elise burst into tears and covered her face
with her hands.

"Surely, you expected no less?" he
pressed.

This, Marcus suddenly realized, was to be his
revenge. She would have to live the rest of her life with him
loving her, no matter her faults. Mayhap she would love him in
return, despite his faults. Love him, aye. Forgive what had
happened in Boston… what had happened to Steven? Perhaps not.

She reseated herself. Marcus sat beside her.
He placed a hand on her shoulder. She stiffened, but he recognized
the reaction as fear not loathing.

"I must know what happened," he said.
Then
we shall see what you think of my sins.

He waited. Her sobs at last subsided into a
deep sigh. She faced him but avoided his gaze. "I left Whycahm
Hall. Mary told me—" Her gaze abruptly jerked to meet his. "Oh,
Marcus," she cried in a voice so full of sadness it startled him,
"Mary—" She choked.

"Aye," he said quickly. "I know."

"No! Mary was the spy. She was giving the
Campbells information."

"What?" Blood pounded through his veins, the
rushing sound in his head making it hard to think.

"Yes," Elise went on hurriedly. "She argued
with Price. I heard enough to understand she had been passing
information to the Campbells. That's why they were on MacGregor
land. I didn't believe you when you said their presence had
something to do with me. I am at fault, and I don't deserve to be
here, but I swear, I wouldn't have left Whycham house if not for
her urging."

"What happened?" Marcus demanded.

"After Sophie showed us to the guest chambers
in Whycham House, Mary told me about Ashlund and how the stables
were too close to the main house. I remembered Winnie telling me of
her uncle who died of terrible burns, and Mary was so vivid in her
descriptions of Ashlund—"

"Mary had never been to Ashlund," Marcus cut
in savagely.

The anguish in Elise's eyes nearly did him
in. "How could I know?"

Aye, how could she know?
"I was wrong
not to understand how little of us you understood," he
murmured.

"You can't blame yourself, that is—"

Marcus leapt to his feet. "You are ignorant
of a great many things here, Elise. Don't make the same mistake you
made before."

She blinked and he knew he'd hurt her, but he
wouldn't allow her ignorance to go unchecked this time. "Mary has
received her just rewards. Forget her. What happened next?"

"About forty-five minutes after we left
Whycham House, we were accosted by highwaymen—or I thought they
were highwaymen." Elise shuddered with such obvious fear Marcus
clenched his hands at his sides to keep from slamming a fist
through the solarium's glass wall. "I thought they were simple
highwaymen so threw my wedding band out the window of the
carriage." She looked at Marcus. "I am sorry. Sophie told me the
emerald was in your family for centuries, but I meant to give you a
clue."

So, Sara McPhee hadn't taken the ring. "You
did right," he said.

Gratitude flickered across her features, then
she went on. "When we reached the point where they were gaining on
us, more men appeared from within the trees and intercepted us."
Tears streamed down her cheeks. "Your men fought valiantly. Price
shot Richard and Taylor."

Two of the men he had planned on hunting down
and killing. "They were good men."

"Price pulled me from the carriage. He left
Mary inside. The men…" Elise faltered. "Three—no—four of them, they
were beaten half senseless, then the carriage was run off the
cliff."

Marcus's mind raced. The woman who he thought
was Elise must have been put in the carriage after it crashed into
the water. What poor soul had Ardsley snatched from her life to
take Elise's place?

"The other man," Elise rushed on, "I don't
remember his name." She turned an anguished look on him. "I should
remember his name."

"What happened to him?"

"I don't know. Price forced laudanum down my
throat. I awoke aboard a ship. He made threats. I didn't fear his
threats against me, but…"

"He threatened me?" Marcus asked quietly.

"Yes. But…" she halted and he saw the agony
on her face.

"Kiernan?" he pressed.

"Not him…" Her gaze dropped again and she
said in a whisper, "Your other child."

"My other—" Marcus fell back a pace, feeling
as though he had collided headlong with a horse racing toward him
at breakneck speed. "What are you saying?"

Elise was shaking. "I-I couldn't be sure so
early on. I had missed my monthly flux by only a week. When Price
told me he knew, I was so startled that he instantly knew."

Marcus grasped Elise by the shoulders. "You
are with child?"

She slumped in his grasp and began crying so
hard that Marcus was shaken to the core.

"Elise," he insisted with more
gentleness.

"The laudanum." She forced back the tears.
"They fed me laudanum every day—every hour, it seemed." She
appeared to deflate even more. "I lost the child."

Hot rage flashed in a thick lightning bolt of
red across his vision. He had sat across from Ardsley, stared into
his eyes, and all along the bastard had known he was responsible
for the loss of the child—
my child
. Yet the man had returned
his stare and smiled.

"If I faced Ardsley now—" Marcus cut off the
statement at seeing the sudden terror on Elise's face, but her
expression said she understood all too well the unfinished words.
Nothing could stop me from killing him
—nothing
will
stop me from killing him. The oath never to set foot on American
soil again rang in his head—a vow he would break.

"This is why I didn't tell you the truth
before our marriage." Tears streamed down her cheeks. "I am sorry.
I realized too late you would st-stop at nothing to—"

Marcus crushed her to him. Her body melted
against his and he prayed the action was the first in the weakening
of the wall between them.

* * * *

Marcus shifted his gaze from the flames in
the hearth of his London study to the Earl of Loudoun. The shocked
expression on the earl's face when Marcus had laid the edict signed
by King George on the desk was far better revenge than any Marcus
could have devised.

"You drag me here for this rubbish?" Loudoun
demanded.

"By King George's command," Marcus replied
evenly.

"Ridiculous," he muttered.

"Would you have preferred I continue to take
matters into my own hands?"

The look on Loudoun's face said he would have
preferred just that.

"You do not seem to comprehend," Marcus said.
"I tire of the fight. It will end one way or another. I can raze
every keep between Brahan Seer and Castle Kalchurn. You cannot
doubt I have the power."

"You have the power," Loudoun snarled.

"Yet you crave the war—a war you would most
assuredly lose."

"We have not yet lost," Loudoun snapped.

"You have not won."

"The Campbells are a force to be reckoned
with."

"How many more of your men must die to prove
that?"

The earl's mouth tightened.

"You need not love a single MacGregor for us
to live in peace, Loudoun."

"We cannot live in peace."

"King George disagrees." Marcus motioned to
the document. "You may keep this copy. Copies have been sent to
every Campbell leader of consequence."

Loudoun placed the tips of his fingers on the
paper, then slowly slid it inch by inch into his hand until it
formed a ball. He abruptly threw the paper at Marcus. Marcus didn't
flinch when the paper rebounded from his chest and landed on the
floor.

"A law purchased with Ashlund gold," Loudoun
sneered.

Marcus held his gaze. It mattered not if
Loudoun knew that half the Ashlund fortune had been the final
bargaining price that induced King George to sign the law
condemning both Campbell and MacGregor to death for murdering any
man—or woman—from the opposing clan. A sense of weary finality
washed over Marcus. Ashlund gold had bought MacGregor freedom, but
it was the wisdom of one MacGregor so long ago that had illuminated
this better path.

"Bought with MacGregor blood," Marcus
murmured, then louder, "and Campbell blood."

The earl rose in one graceful motion.
"Forgive me, Lord Ashlund, but I find it likely King George will
countermand this foolishness with the next turn of wind. He will
find fault with you and your clan soon enough."

Marcus gave a short laugh. "I wager King
George would be just as pleased to find fault with you as he would
with me."

Loudoun's face reddened. He whirled and
headed for the door.

"Loudoun," Marcus called.

The earl halted and faced him.

"I will make sure King George enforces this
edict."

Loudoun's lip curled upward. "Even if it
takes every last crown in the Ashlund vault."

"Even if it takes every last crown."

Loudoun turned and left the room.

Only a moment passed before the library door
opened again. Marcus turned from staring at the hearth and smiled
as Elise's head appeared around the edge of the door.

"I saw the earl leave," she said. "How did
the meeting go?"

"As to be expected."

"Your son is waiting to speak with you."

Marcus raised a brow. "Why not come
himself?"

She laughed, opening the door another inch
but didn't enter. "He tells me you forbade him so many things when
he last saw you he fears forgetting one of your rules."

"He has done as I instructed and we're in
London, after all. He has free reign here." Marcus grimaced. "Nay,
'tis best you not repeat that." He regarded her. "Do you intend on
standing in the doorway the entire day?"

Elise blushed and opened the door fully. She
wore a simple gown of soft turquoise muslin. This was the most
festive dress she had worn since returning from Boston. Perhaps she
was truly beginning to forgive herself—and him. The softness in her
eyes gave him hope.

She remained in the doorway. "I'll send
Kiernan to you."

"Will you return later?" Marcus asked as she
started to turn.

She looked at him. Her expression displayed
some of the shy reticence he had seen during those first months at
Brahan Seer

"Perhaps," she replied with the hint of a
smile, and turned to close the door.

Marcus's gaze fell upon the mail he had
received just before Loudoun arrived. A letter from Boston lay at
the bottom of the mix.

"Elise," he called.

She paused and looked over her shoulder.

"Have Kiernan meet me in the stables in
fifteen minutes. I have something to attend to and I planned a ride
before lunch. He can accompany me."

She nodded and left him alone.

Marcus seated himself at his desk and fished
the Boston letter from the pile. He tore open the envelope and
removed a letter, two folded newspaper clippings, and a sealed
envelope addressed to Elise. He laid the two letters aside and
unfolded one of the newspaper clippings. The title read:

November 10, 1826

The Wellington leaves Boston harbor carrying
twenty-five American convicts headed for Australia.

Marcus scanned the report, which listed the
twenty-five men, their crimes, and sentences.

He picked up the second clipping and unfolded
it. The report read:

November 10, 1826

BOSTON SHIPPING MOGUL MISSING

Boston shipping mogul Price Ardsley, recently
charged by the board of directors of Landen Shipping with fraud,
has been missing since November 9. Landen Shipping contends that
Ardsley fled the country to avoid prosecution.

The night Price Ardsley disappeared, Mister
Jacob O'Riley reported witnessing two men outside Ardsley's estate
accost a lone rider. A hood was thrown over the victim's head, then
he was tied and thrown into the back of a carriage driven by his
two assailants.

William Sheldon of the Boston Police
Department interviewed Mister O'Riley but determined the event
O'Riley witnessed is not connected with the disappearance of Price
Ardsley.

Anyone having information about Mister
Ardsley's whereabouts is directed to report to Captain Sheldon
immediately.

Marcus reread the first clipping. Price
Ardsley in Australia. Heated satisfaction shot through him. So, he
would not have to return to America after all. He refolded the two
clippings, slipped them back in their envelope, then opened the
letter and began reading.

Ashlund,

Six weeks have passed, and I am fully
recovered from the knife wound you inflicted. Had the doctors not
insisted on the long convalescence, I would have caught the next
ship bound for Scotland and run a dagger through your leg for good
measure.

I imagine you've read the newspaper clippings
I sent. Strange things are afoot. I can't say what lies ahead.
Though I feel certain Price Ardsley won't be in a position to pay
anyone to kill another man—or two men, as the case may be—again in
the near future.