“Ye have made a mistake comin’ here, Thompson,” Magnus stated, glancing around the hall to check they were alone. He could not believe that Thompson had been stupid enough to arrive with only a sword to protect himself.
Thank goodness Leah is already gone. He cannae hurt her now.
“Ye kidnapped me wife,” Magnus said coldly.
Thompson was relaxed, his stance almost casual as he held the sword loosely in his hand.
“I did,” he said, shrugging one shoulder. “Ye’re a traitor for marryin’ an Englishwoman, taintin’ yer Scottish blood. I’d have enjoyed getting’ to ken her when she arrived, though. She’s nae bad to look at.”
Magnus growled, knowing Thompson was baiting him but powerless to prevent his reaction.
“Better than me Edith, is she?” Thompson asked. “After all these years, I thought ye might have come to yer senses. When yer first wife was nay longer a factor, I was expectin’ ye to call any day, but ye never came. Hidin’ away in yer ivory tower, keepin’ everyone at bay.”
“I told ye I wouldnae marry her.”
Magnus felt sick at the thought that he had been right all along and had done nothing about it. Why had he never pursued Thompson and brought him to justice? If he had, all of this might have been prevented.
“Aye, ye did. But nae for any reasons I could see. She’s a good lass, and ye’ll take her as a wife now. I cannae believe that frigid English bitch would lie with ye. Send her back to her homeland as ye planned, and ye and me daughter can be wed within the week.”
Thompson raised his sword then, his stance far less relaxed than it had been. Magnus felt Kenneth stiffen beside him as they waited for his next move.
“I doubt she would’ve stayed for long, as it was,” Thompson continued with a sneer. “I’ve done ye a favor, lad. Ye can be content with me daughter, and the English wench can go back to Daddy.” His lips twisted into a cruel snarl as he said it.
“Ye’re sick,” Magnus hissed.
“Aye, maybe I am. But I’m nae stupid. If ye touch me, me men will sink the little boat yer pretty wife is in, and she’ll be lost at the bottom of the ocean for all time. Perhaps ye’ll enjoy lookin’ out at it every day, rememberin’ that her bones lie on the seabed.”
“Ye wouldnae,” Magnus retorted, feeling fear course through him at the cruelty of those words.
“I’ve done so before.”
And there it was, the final admission that it was Thompson who had killed Elizabeth. Magnus finally had the proof he had waited for all of these years, but it was a hollow victory.
He was torn between slicing the man in two with his blade or trying to convince him that he did not care what happened to Leah so that she could escape.
If he hurt this man, there was every chance that Leah would be drowned.
He would not let that happen.
“Or would ye prefer me to take her off yer hands?” Thompson mused. “Perhaps this is what ye wanted all along. Must be unpleasant havin’ a woman under yer feet after all these yearsalone. Maybe it would solve all yer problems if the English lass were just to disappear.”
Magnus scoffed, injecting as much derision into the sound as he could. “I dinnae care what happens to the English lass,” he said firmly. “Ye can do what ye will with her. As ye say, I’ve built me life here. I’ll use her for bairns and nae have to see much of her. She’s like any other woman. A means to an end.”
He swallowed past the lump in his throat as the lies fell from his lips. Then, with a sinking, horrible feeling in his gut, he heard a stifled gasp from the doorway.
He knew Leah was standing behind him—could feel her presence now like a physical force. Not only had she heard what he had said, but she was now in the direct view of the man who wanted her dead.
Panic flooded him, and he stared at Thompson, raising his sword again, keeping the man’s eyes squarely on him.
“I dinnae care what happens to her. She trapped me into marriage, and I’ll be glad to be rid of her.”
Magnus ignored her fresh gasp of pain, but the sound was not ignored by Thompson.
His dark eyes turned to see her there and locked onto her with keen interest. Magnus saw the Laird’s hand tighten on his sword and knew that the time for talking was over.
“Get her out of here!” he bellowed to Kenneth, who was already running to Leah. He could hear her fighting against his man-at-arms as he dragged her away.
He hoped she did not injure Kenneth in her anger, but he currently had a much bigger problem to deal with.
