She looked up at him, her green eyes so damn beautiful. He soaked her in, trying to remember it all—the way the sun glinted off her fiery hair, the pale creaminess of her skin, the warmth of her breath.
“Remember the discussion we had about not hiding from life? I want you to remember that. I don’t want you to hide any longer. For me, Cait. Do it for me.”
Chapter 33
Cait wrenched away from his grasp. “No,” she whispered. Then, louder, “No!”
She understood with sickening clarity what he was trying to tell her. They’d already tried him and found him guilty, and she and Iain were never going to have the life he’d promised her. She glanced at the unknown soldier beside him and instinctively knew that he’d been the one to condemn Iain to death. He was watching her with a cold gaze.
“We haven’t much time,” Iain implored. “We need to speak quickly. They’ve found me guilty of killing Donaldson but—”
“This is wrong,” she muttered.
He grabbed her hands to keep her from backing away farther. “Listen to me,” he said with urgency. “They want to blame me for the other murders. I’m afraid they will after I’m…after my…”
She shook her head. “Don’t even say it. That’s no’ what’s going to happen. I’ve brought Sutherland and MacLean. Graham and MacGregor said they would help. They’ll send more men if we need them.”
“It’s too late for that. I’m to be hanged tomorrow.”
She wrenched her hands from his and spun around. Iain lunged for her, but she grabbed the lapels of the unknown officer’s red coat and shook him.
“Now see here!” the man exclaimed in shock, attempting to step back.
“No,yousee here. Iain Campbell didno’kill Donaldson.Idid.”
“Cait, no.” Iain pulled on her from behind, but she shook him off. “Stop it, Cait.”
“Ikilled Donaldson. He came for me in my cottage, and I ran. He chased me into the woods and beat me.” She pointed to her face, keeping a tight hold on the officer’s coat with her other hand. “Look at my face.Yoursoldier did that to me. He beat me and told me he was going to kill me. He dragged me around by my hair, and it was terrifying. But I found a large stick, and I hit him on the head, and when he fell I hit him again. He died bymyhands, no’ by Iain Campbell’s hands.”
She took a shuddering breath but didn’t release him. He stared down at her in shock. “I’m afraid you are mistaken, madam,” he said. “Donaldson was found on the side of the road with his throat slit and stab wounds about his body.”
Cait released him and stepped back, her breath leaving her. “Nay. I killed him. I know I did. He was dead when I left him there.”
“Did you stab him and cut his throat?”
“I hit him over the head with a tree branch.” It was as if the anger had consumed everything left inside of her. She was a battered husk with barely enough strength to keep standing. She turned to Iain. “He’s lying. He’s trying to blame ye for something ye didn’t do. I killed Donaldson by hitting him over the head. I had no knife to slit his throat nor the constitution to do such a thing.”
“Because Campbell did it,” the man said. “Campbell found him and killed him. He already admitted as much. He’s also suspected of killing the other English soldiers.”
“Nay,” she whispered. “He’d never do such a thing. It was me. I killed Donaldson.”
“Stop it,” Iain hissed behind her.
She looked at Iain in sadness. They were never meant to be, the two of them together. It had been a far-fetched dream. “It’s far better they know the truth. I will die for it if I have to, but it’s better that ye live and I die. Scotland needs ye.”
Iain groaned and his shoulders slumped forward. “Don’t do this. Please.”
“I would do anything for ye.”
“Even admit to something you did not do?” the soldier asked.
She eyed the man in disdain. “I would never allow him to take the blame for something I did. I don’t know who told ye that Donaldson was found on the road, but he wasn’t. He died in the middle of the forest by my hand.”
“But hewasfound on the side of the road,” Palmer said. “My men found him there with his throat cut and stab wounds about him.”
Cait looked at Palmer in surprise. “That’s impossible.”
“Maybe he wasn’t dead after you hit him,” Palmer said.
