“I… yes,” she said. “I know who that is.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Vaila’s head whip around.
Because Vaila and her younger sistersdidn’tknow the name Finlay Gordon.
That was something that their father had shared with Ailsa alone. Part of her duty and burden as the eldest.
“Finlay Gordon,” she said, ignoring the feeling of a dozen eyes upon her, “is my father’s brother.” Davina gasped. “His illegitimate brother,” she amended. “My grandfather, Father’s father, he wasnae… Did not always comport himself as a husband aught,” she said diplomatically.
Laird Buchanan was still rubbing his chest idly as he nodded. “I dinnae wish to be party to gossip,” he said, “but yer grandda… There was talk. About women.”
“Da did not like to speak of it,” Ailsa said quietly. “I suspect he felt it improper to speak ill of the dead in such a manner.” Her grandfather had died before Ailsa was born. “But from thelittle that he said… I fear Grandda did not do well by Gordon’s mother. From what I understand, this poisoned Gordon against the clan.” She hesitated. “And Gordon, he is the elder brother. Born before Da. So he may have felt…”
“Thatheought to be laird,” Ewan filled in.
It was a story as old as time, one brother striking out against the other due to jealousy. Cain and Abel. Romulus and Remus.
And now her father and Finlay Gordon.
“Aye,” she said. “Da couldnae prove it, but there have been attacks in the past that he attributed to Gordon. And Graeme…”
Lord, she’d been doing so well. But it had beensucha long day, and it was ever so hard to get the words out without letting her voice hiccup.
“When Graham was killed,” she said when she was certain she would speak steadily, “Gordon was the most likely instigator, though hired soldiers did the deed, as I understand it.”
Eilidh was weeping openly, though her tears fell silently. Davina was clutching her hand like it was a lifeline.
“Christ alive,” Ewan muttered, wiping a hand over his face. Ailsa could not have said it better herself.
“There is… more,” she said.
Ewan’s gaze was probing. Well, if he hadn’t liked the previous part, she felt certain that he would dislike this next part.
“He…” She cleared her throat. “He approached my father about marriage. To me.”
Ewan shot to his feet.
“This man,” he said, low and gravelly in a way that Ailsa didnotfind appealing, “tried tomarry ye?”
She swallowed. “Aye.”
Ewan’s expression grew thunderous. Ailsa was helpless not to note how good it looked on him.
He always had been hopelessly beautiful. That was the problem with Ewan Buchanan.
Well. There were any number of problems with Ewan Buchanan, but his beauty didn’t much help. He was just all dark hair and those piercing blue eyes. His shoulders were broader than they had any right to be. He looked like the kind of man who could bear any burden, who would never flinch or falter.
It wassotempting to just lay everything at his feet. But she couldn’t. She had to remain strong.
And so she made herself meet Ewan’s blue, blue gaze.
“This man, he’s yer father’s brother—half-brother—and he tried tomarry ye?” he demanded.
“Aye,” she repeated.
Vaila pressed a hand to her mouth. Lady Buchanan looked faintly ill.
Laird Buchanan steepled his fingers. “I see,” he said contemplatively. “Well, I cannot deny that this is all very distressing, indeed. If the man is so far gone as to try to wed his own niece—legitimate or otherwise—and then to kill when he doesnae get his way, then I can only consider him the kind of madman who might take any kind of foolish measure to get what he feels he is owed.”
