“Aye, she was agifted surgeon who discovered her passion for the lab. My father is also adoctor.”
“Wow,” shebreathed out. “What a lineage.”
“Aye.”
“And yoursiblings?”
“Liam holds PhDsin both Social Science and Scottish History, and of course is next in line tobe king. And our baby sister, Billie, heads our social services and charitablegivings departments. She’s the bleeding heart of the family.”
She scoffed.“So, underachievers, then.”
“Aye.” Ilaughed. “Losers and degenerates, the lot of them.”
She finished herdrink, so I poured her another and took my seat again.
“Are you close?”she asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence. “Your family?”
“Very.”
She dropped herhead, and I could feel her sadness as she studied her hands.
“Are youalright, love?”
“I just wonderwhat it would be like to be close to one’s family. Jedediah, my youngerbrother, is my closest confidant, but I wonder how long that will last. Myolder brother, Levi, is well on the side of my father, and Briar Rae is far tooyoung to know anything yet.” She raised her head and gave me a sad smile.“Sometimes the loneliness is overwhelming.”
I bit back myrage at Trask for making her feel that way. “I’m sorry, love.”
She shrugged,taking another sip of whisky. “It is what it is.”
“I don’t likeit, Lennox.”
“Neither do I,Phin, but there’s nothing I can do to change it.”
“Not the past,no, but you can change your future,” I said.
“Not if I’mforced to marry Myron.”
“Who the fuck’sMyron?” I snarled.
My temples beganto throb, and my body temperature rose by ten degrees. I wanted to mountMyron’s head above the cottage mantle.
Whoever he was.
She rolled hereyes. “He’s just a run of the mill creep my father would love to see me marry.Myron fools all the blue hairs of the church with his ‘charm’ and devotion tothe Lord.”
“But not you?”
“No way inhell.” I let out a snort. “Myron is most certainly a few sandwiches short of apicnic.”
I relaxed andinstantly began to cool down. “Does your father entertain the idea of the twoof you marrying?”
“I have no idea.I think Myronthinkshe has favor with my father, therefore I’m prettysure he thinks that means he can ask for my hand, and I don’t have the right tosay no.” She shook her head. “I mean, what kind of idiot, living in the UnitedStates of America, anyway, thinks a woman doesn’t have the right to say no to amarriage proposal?”
“Sweetheart,women are sold every day, all over the world.”
She gasped.“What?”
“Human traffickingis a global issue. America isn’t immune and organized religion is often amongthe worst offenders.”
