‘Lorna, this is not the place. Let us go inside and talk.’ He made a grab for her, but she flinched out of his reach.
‘You are a blackguard, Peyton Strachan,’ she shouted.
‘Aye, you’ve made that clear. I am not good enough.’ He dragged Lorna to one side as the stares of Strachan clansmen dug into Cecily. They made no effort to keep their voices down.
‘As I recall, you turned me down, so I am free to find another,’ barked Peyton. ‘You have no claim on me, nor I, on you.’
‘‘My father was listening to every word that passed between us. He arranged the match for me, Peyton. ‘Twas not my doing.’
‘You seemed happy enough with it yesterday.’
Lorna’s words were a knife to Cecily’s ribs. Yesterday? So Peyton had just asked another woman to be his wife, and when she refused, he had taken it out on her. Any humiliation at Edmund’s hands paled compared to what Peyton had just done.
‘Why are you here, Lorna?’ he said.
‘Jealousy, most likely,’ shouted Bertha, who had moved closer to suck up the scandal.
Lorna shot her a look that could kill. Peyton narrowed his eyes at Bertha, and she pursed her lips.
Lorna stomped to her horse and mounted it. ‘I have always been honest about my feelings, but you are a fiend and a liar, Peyton Strachan, for bedding this slattern when you were courting me,’ she shouted so that all could hear.
Peyton shouted back, ‘This lass is no slattern. She is to be my wife.’
Lorna’s mouth fell open, and Cecily’s legs almost buckled.
‘No, I’m not,’ cried Cecily. ‘I’d rather burn in hell’s flames than marry you.’
A smug smile twisted Lorna’s face. ‘Well, it seems this drab is more choosy than she looks,’ she said, turning her horse and galloping out of Fellscarp in a flurry of muddy skirts.
A stunned silence fell over the yard. Peyton glared at his clansmen, his face a frozen mask of anger. For a moment, Cecily could not think or move. Then tears sprang to her eyes, and lest everyone see, she ran as fast as her legs could carry her - away from Peyton, Bertha and all the horrid Strachans and out through the gates of Fellscarp. She hurried towards the water, her muddy skirts sticking to her legs and tears blurring her eyes.
The causeway was clear, but they would soon catch up with her on foot, so there was no escape that way. If she waded out far enough, she could simply sink under the water. Drowning seemed infinitely preferable to spending a moment longer in their company.
***
Peyton uncurled his hands from tight fists, feeling the eyes of Clan Strachan searing into him. It wasn’t nearly as bad as Cecily’s rejection. He felt it in his bones and his soul. He met the eye of the onlookers.
‘What the hell are you all staring at?’ he growled.
‘The sight of two bonnie lasses fighting over you, Laird,’ cried one man.
‘You are a lucky devil,’ shouted another. ‘I’d take the blonde one any day, though she’s not eager to wed, is she? Laughter ensued.
‘Aye. Definitely the blonde. She had the upper hand,’ shouted another, called MacDougall. He came over and thumped a palm onto Peyton’s back. ‘You can have both if you play it well, Laird. What I would give to have two lasses fighting over my favours,’ he said to the assembled company.
‘You can’t even get one,’ shouted Bertha.
‘No, aye, that’s right,’ said MacDougall. ‘But that’s about to change. Come here, Bertha,’ he laughed, chasing her up the steps into the house and pinching her bottom as she shrieked.
Peyton got more pats on the back from the men as they slowly dispersed, grinning and nodding. Everyone in Clan Strachan seemed to approve of the whole debacle, apart from Aila, who sent Peyton a scowl from across the yard.
‘It will be nice to have a wedding at Fellscarp,’ said one of the serving girls with a smile of admiration flung his way.
Aye, it would be nice. Now, he had to convince his reluctant intended that it would be nice. And given what he’d just put Cecily through, how in hell was he supposed to do that? Peyton sighed and followed Cecily’s path out of Fellscarp. She cut a lonely figure at the water’s edge. She glared at him as he approached.
‘Lass, forgive me, for I have done a bad thing this day,’ he said.
‘Never mind. If you ride quickly, you may be able to catch up with Lorna.’
