“No.” She still desperately wanted to have a good cry but she held back her tears. “There is no one.” She walked into the house and straight up to her room.
Seeing the box sitting on the bed, she walked over and picked it up. She sat on the edge of the bed and opened the box. All the papers rested neatly inside just as they had for nearly four years. Emily doubted she would find anything in them to help her but she carefully unfolded and read each one. When she picked up one it felt a little odd and she thought Neddy may have refolded it wrong. She opened it and out fell several letters. She stared at them as if they were poisonous snakes for a moment before she picked them up. Arranging them by dates received, she began to read and soon tears filled her eyes. Despite her best efforts to stop them, the tears slid down and she had to hold the letters out of the way.
Every single one was from their cousin. Annabel had written to the woman about her marriage, her child, and even where they had settled. In a sad way Annabel had signed the death warrants for the last of her family. David had to have known what she was doing yet never said a word.
“What is wrong?”
Emily looked up to find Iain standing over her. “My sister wrote to our cousin. Our cousin is also Albert’s cousin. My own sister, who had sworn she understood the danger we were in and how we had to hide, sent letters to our cousin. I do not have copies of her letters but the answering letters give me a good idea of what was said. Constance spoke of how wonderful it must be to have a son. Then about how beautiful it sounds at the cabin. She would have told enough about it to give them a good place to start looking. I can barely read this they so infuriate and sadden me. I told her! I told her there had to be no contact, nothing said to anyone.”
Tears choked her and she tried to hold them back but she could feel them continuing to slip free and roll down her cheeks. It was hard to accept that her older sister could be so careless. Even if she had not fully believed everything Emily had told her she should have at least felt some sense of caution. Their parents had been killed and someone had tried to kill them at least once. That should have been warning enough for anyone.
The bed dipped and a strong arm went around her shoulders. Emily leaned against Iain and tried to soak up some of his strength. She was both furious and heartbroken. Her sister was dead and Emily did not want to be angry at her but she was.
“So your sister wrote to someone and that is how the men found you. It seems a long way to come. Why not just leave you here out of his way but with no blood on his hands?”
“I begin to think Albert likes to get blood on his hands. He killed our parents and we are pretty certain it was him behind two attacks on us. So we fled. I thought she had listened to me. She swore she understood that we were in danger, and that David and Neddy were, too. She swore to me that she would write to no one or talk to anyone. But she did and she obviously did so for a long time.”
“I am sorry her foolishness has hurt ye so.” He kissed her lightly and held her close. “Ye need to sleep, Emily. Ye have had a harrowing day and now discovered what has to be verra bad news.” He took the papers from her hands and carefully put them back into the box. “I think ye are also upset that ye are angry with a dead woman, your sister. Get some rest. It may help ye see things more clearly.”
She sighed. “Yes, it may help.” She got the key from the chain and relocked the box. “Thank you. It was just such a shock.” She took a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped her eyes. “Oh, I should help Mrs. O’Neal with the meal.”
“She has been making the meals here by herself for a few years. She will be fine. Rest. I will have her put together something for ye for if ye wake up hungry. It will be right there on your new table.”
Emily looked over and saw the table she had bought and had a hard struggle not to start crying again. “Thank you. I did not insult Matthew by buying it, did I?”
“Nay. He understood what ye did. Saved a little face for Mabel. Not a bad thing and he was impressed at the way it is built.”
She smiled and surprised herself with her ability to calmly lie down. She really needed to tell him the whole truth, she decided. There was no question he deserved to be told. At least then he would know what he was up against. Although she thought it wrong to sleep, her eyes closed in minutes. Emily fought to try to sort through her thoughts as she waited for sleep to take her but it came over her quickly and she sank into it with a sigh.
Iain stared down at her. He could not even imagine how her sister could have ignored so many warnings that they were all in danger and written to anyone at all over in England, especially to a woman Emily considered too closely connected to the man she was sure was hunting them. Shaking his head over the idiocy, he walked away to deal with his own work before supper and try to think of a way to stop his anger over the past from coming to life and aiming for her. Even he was getting tired of it.
Chapter Eight
Iain frowned at the paper he held and could make out only a few words. The lessons he had been forced into by Mrs. O’Neal and his brothers were actually working, but slowly. It had only been a week of regular lessons but he felt he should have been able to read more than a few words. If he was to get the small loan he needed, however, he needed to understand every word before he signed it. That meant he had to go to Emily and he sighed. He had done a good job of angering her with his wavering emotions and he doubted she would want to be helpful. Then he told himself not to be a fool. Emily would help because she was one who could not do anything else.
Standing up, he headed out of his room, deciding it was best just to steel his spine and get it over with. It was late so he hoped the meeting would be over quickly. He rapped on the door to her room and she opened it, her look of surprise changing quickly to one of wariness. To his astonishment she stepped out into the hall and shut the door behind her.
“Neddy is asleep,” she said quietly.
“Ah. Weel, I need ye to read a paper for me.”
“What sort of paper?”
“I need a loan from the bank and they said they wanted me to sign this.” He held out the paper. “Your teachings helped me guess at only a few words. I dinnae want to sign anything until I ken exactly what it says though.”
“That is wise. A rule my papa lived by. Is there a place where we can sit for a moment?”
“We can go down to the dining room. No one there this hour of the night.”
She allowed him to lead her down the stairs. He was not in one of his cold moods and she was pleased he had turned to her for help but she remained cautious. The way he could go from warm and seductive to coldly formal in the blink of an eye was unsettling and, to her disgust, hurt her feelings. She was not going to be made to suffer for wrongs done by the others of her class.
By the time they reached the dining room, Emily was calm but determined. She would not allow him to play his confusing games of kissing her one moment and treating her like a complete, and somewhat disliked, stranger the next. Since she intended to tell him the truth, that might well end his games anyway. With his rancorous feelings about the English gentry, the truth would certainly end the strange bouts of warmth he showed her. Sitting down, she frowned when he pulled a chair closer and sat right next to her then handed her a couple of papers.
“Dinnae ken why they need more than one page,” he muttered.
“Probably written by their lawyers or one of them has learned the craft. I have never known a lawyer to use one word when he could use six. They are always trying to make certain they do not lose or forget a thing. Do you wish this to be read aloud?”
“No need unless you find something you think is important. My agreement was to put up my flock in exchange for a loan.”
