‘Oh, it’s simple, Cullen. Donnan betrayed me. He told your father all about the raid on the cattle, so the Macaulays were lying in wait for me. He was never a prisoner. He sold me to your father, like a lamb to slaughter. He was in on the plan to make me wed you, all along. And so were you.’
‘I don’t know what you are talking about.’
Lowri took a step towards Cullen. ‘Your father forced me to marry you to save my friends, but they were never in any danger. The only person in danger was me. You pretended to care about my life, to save me from a fate worse than death, you said, but Donnan told me you were part of this. You knew, and all this time you have been lying about it.’
Cullen’s jaw worked, and he glared at her. ‘So you are saying that you got all this from Donnan - a man who betrayed you to my father, threw you to the wolves. You cannot believe a word he says, Lowri.’
‘I cannot believe you either.’
‘I swear on my life that I knew nothing of this.’
‘Your life means nothing to me anymore.’
Cullen winced as if she had wounded him, but she knew better.
‘I knew nothing of this, lass. My father deceived me as much as he did you.’
He stared into her eyes, and she could not read him. Was he shocked, angry, or just trying to worm his way out of the truth? Lowri’s hand shook so much she could barely hold her arm up.The pistol was getting heavy. Cullen took another step towards her.
‘If you think I betrayed you, if you believe these last months and what we shared in that bed was a lie, then pull that trigger.’ He tore up his shirt and took the pistol and steered it to his chest.
‘Aim true, right here, straight to my heart,’
Tears blurred Lowri’s vision. She shook her head.
‘My father likes to play with people. Did I not tell you that over and over? He has duped us both. We both fell into this trap.’
Hot tears stung Lowri’s cheeks. ‘But I can escape it. I have no reason to be with you any longer, now my so-called friends are free.’
His grip on her hand tightened. ‘Then shoot, Lowri. Because if you do not, you must know that I will never let you go. I will not let you leave me. I will follow you back to Fellscarp, anywhere, to the ends of the earth, if I have to. We are part of each other now, and there’s no changing it.’
‘Back when we were with Seamus, you said if I got with child, you would not try to hold me. We shook on it.’
‘Aye, if you got with child. But you have not, yet I will still hold you for you are mine by law, my wife.’
‘Aye, your wife, your possession, nothing more. And why, Cullen? Why do you care where I go or what I do?’
‘You know the answer to that. You have known it for weeks. I love you, lass.’
How could he say those words now, when her trust in him was ashes at her feet? She hated Cullen Macaulay, wanted him, dreaded him, needed him. But she could not kill him. Lowri lowered the pistol. He tore it from her hand and laid it on thetable. Cullen pulled her into a violent embrace, his hands on her shoulders, squeezing. He shook her.
‘You have to trust me,’ he spat. ‘You have to trust someone in this life, Lowri, or you will forever be alone and miserable.’
Connie came rushing in, out of breath and red-faced. ‘You have to come quick, Cullen. There’s a wrecking.’
Chapter Twenty-One
Lowri ran as fast as her heaving breath would allow, holding tight to Connie’s hand. Cullen had snarled, ‘Stay put,’ and then ridden away. He did not stop to question or think. He just got on his horse without a backward glance.
Lowri had followed him, and Connie had followed her, loudly protesting. ‘I fear it is a fool’s errand. Those poor souls out in this. They don’t stand a chance.’
The oncoming storm lashed the land, laying flat bushes and bending trees to snapping point. It wasn’t raining yet, but the purple clouds rolling over each other and sheet lightning flashing on the horizon threatened a terrible downpour. When they reached the dunes, both women stopped dead. On the darkening horizon, the pale sails of a ship were stark against the sky. It heaved up and down in the waves, perilously near the line of rocks which reached out from both sides of the bay. Lowri had once thought they looked like welcoming arms, but now they formed a gaping mouth ready to swallow its prey.
‘She’s too close to shore. She’ll rip her hull open on the rocks,’ cried Connie.
‘Why didn’t she stay out to sea?’ Lowri had to shout to be heard over the wind.
‘There. Look,’ said Connie, pointing to a rise of higher ground where a fire struggled against the wind, sending flurries of sparks up into the darkness. As they hurried down the dunes to the sea, they could see flickering light. On the beach, severalmore fires had been lit, large stacks of wood piled high. They were no ordinary fires. Someone had taken a great deal of trouble to set them.
