Fiona straightened again at Glenrothes’ harshly submitted conclusion.“Surely not, Francis!”she exclaimed, but all around, heads nodded in ready agreement.
“That day he came to my club, he didn’t only spill his plans to lure you into eloping.He all but threatened to take you by force if necessary,” Glenrothes said.“To take you off, see you ruined in Society’s eyes, and force a marriage whether you agreed or not.I thought it nothing more than the arbitrary blather of an infuriated fool at the time.It never occurred to me that he would set words to action.If you had come to me sooner with this, I would have done more than blacken his eye then or let him off with the beating he received last night.Good God, Blossom, he’s still out there now.We dumped him at his uncle’s, but I doubt he’s still there.”
“Come toyousooner?”Fiona gaped at his disclosure.“My God, Francis, you should have toldmeall this sooner!First, you hide from me the fact that Ramsay was nothing more than a fortune hunter and now this?Why didn't you say something when I came to you the other day?”
She swallowed back the lump forming in her throat at the thought that the man she had been planning on marrying was not only a fortune hunter but a felonious brute, one quite possibly capable of murder as well.
“When I think of how many times he tried to get me into his carriage...Damn it all, Francis!All of this could have been avoided if you had just said something!Why?Why didn’t you just tell me?”
She clutched Harry’s hand tightly, an anchor in the madness mounting around her.His other arm came around her shoulders and pulled her securely against him.Burying her face in his shoulder, she focused on his warmth, the safety of his embrace.The knowledge that he would never let anything happen to her.He would fight for her again as he had twice already.
And perhaps she might even be able to trust him more than the man she had trusted most in her entire life.Wouldn’t that be an odd twist of fate?
“I suppose I thought to protect you, Blossom,” Glenrothes said softly.“You are our wee lass.Our only sister.I did what I thought was right to keep you safe.Both of us hiding the truth, keeping secrets from one another kept us from putting the puzzle pieces together earlier.”
Aylesbury held Fiona tightly to his side, soothing away the tremors that shivered at intervals through her body.The other MacKintoshs were talking among themselves, trying to reason out what delusions Ramsay might have in thinking he could get away with such a crime and still believe she would wed him.That they all wouldn’t line up to kill him for bringing any harm to their only sister.
Only Glenrothes was still looking at them, Aylesbury realized.Or studying them, it seemed.The earl’s eyes were narrowed, one finger tapping thoughtfully against his lower lip as his gaze traveled over them, noting Aylesbury’s arm around Fiona, their hands still tightly clasped as she curled against him.
“Is there anything else you have been keeping from me?”
He stilled, instinctively knowing where the question was leading and wondering how to answer.He wasn’t a coward by any means, but quite frankly, he had no desire to be bludgeoned by the fists of nearly a dozen outraged highlanders if he spoke wrongly.
“Pardon?”he asked, if only to buy himself a moment to think.
“What time did this all happen today?Fiona was to tee off at noon, I believe.”Glenrothes’ gaze turned to the clock on the mantel and back to him.
Sensing the tension emanating from him, Fiona lifted her head, gazing up at him curiously.Then, her eyes followed his to her eldest brother, the head of her family.If possible, her grip on his hand tightened even more.Still talking amongst themselves, no one else in the family besides Eve seemed to hear the exchange as softly as it was spoken.
Like Fiona, Eve looked to her husband with an inquiring, if somewhat surprised look before following his penetrating stare to Aylesbury and then to Fiona.Her eyes widened as if she were seeing the situation under a whole new light, and with a jolt of what might have been amusement, Aylesbury felt Fiona surreptitiously rotating the diamond ring he had given her into her palm.
“Let me clarify,” the earl said softly enough, though to Aylesbury’s ears the threat in his voice was as loud as a cannon’s boom.“Whatholewas she playing on when the kidnapping took place?”
Not enough time for even the quickest calculation.“The seventh.”
“The ninth,” Fiona said at the same time.
The finger stopped tapping, and if possible, the earl’s eyes narrowed even more as his usually warm, muddy green eyes sharpened glacially.
“It was the ninth,” Fiona said more firmly.“I’m sure Aylesbury hadn’t played there often enough to be familiar with the course.”
It was a good try, he thought.But not good enough.There would be the devil to pay for the pleasure he had taken that afternoon.No doubt about it.
“Dinner is waiting, my lady,” Hobbes said from the door, addressing Lady Glenrothes.“Shall I have it put aside?”
Eve opened her mouth and closed it indecisively, looking at Glenrothes.
“You go along, my love, and take the others,” he said quietly, leaning over to kiss her cheek tenderly.“I will need a...moment alone with Lord Aylesbury before I come along.”
The countess shot Aylesbury a pitying look that he hardly had a chance to acknowledge before Glenrothes’ piercing stare was back on him.He held it unflinchingly while Eve herded everyone toward the door.
Fiona stood but hesitated at his side.“Whatever you have to say to Lord Aylesbury, you can say to me.”
“Are ye ready to spill all yer secrets to me, lass?”
“I don’t know,” she replied stubbornly, crossing her arms over her chest.“Have you shared all of yours with me?”
“Faith, Blossom, we will have that conversation soon enough,” her brother said quietly but with firm command that brooked no argument.“Now out while I have a word with Aylesbury.”
