Rebecca put her hands over her mouth as the coach rumbled up the street. The worst part of this had been the way she’d had to look again at every conversation she’d ever had with Dunncraigh and Donnach, searching for clues about who they truly were, what they’d truly done. For ten years she’d called them friends. For the past year she’d thought of them as family.Family—when they’d actually taken her true family away from her.
The coach rocked hard sideways. Gasping, she grabbed onto one of the rope handles and hung on, listening to muffled conversation above her. Before she could ask what in the world had happened, the door nearest her swung open.
She gasped again, clutching her reticule like a club as Callum swung his head down from above into the doorway. “Dunnae kill me, lass,” he grunted, flippingdown and pulling himself inside the coach. He hooked the door with his fingers and shut it before he took the seat opposite her. “I said I wouldnae eavesdrop, nae that I wouldnae drop from the eaves.”
Rebecca threw herself at him, wrapping her hands into his coat and pulling herself as tightly against him as she could. Callum made a low sound deep in his chest that might have been a growl, and put his arms hard around her shoulders.
“I’m here, lass,” he murmured into her hair. “They cannae hurt ye any more.”
But they could hurt her. They could hurt her by harming him. “Maybe we should just leave,” she said into his collar. “You and me and Margaret. Let them do whatever they wish, as long as they can’t touch us.”
“I agreed with ye about going to the magistrate, to the courts, Becca,” he returned, still using the same soothing tone. “I cannae let them go entirely. It’s nae in me to do that.”
She pushed away from him a little, looking up at his face. “What if I asked you to, Callum? If I asked you to take us to Kentucky with you and never come back?”
His two-colored gaze searched hers. “First I reckon ye’d have to tell me what he said to ye that scared ye so much.”
And if she told him that, he would likely alter his plans back to murder. “Suffice it to say that he knows I have no intention of marrying Donnach. The way he worded it… I tried to go along with everything, to sound willing but a little hesitant, but— For heaven’s sake, he suggested I let you have Mags, because Donnach and I will have other children.”
“Hm. That sounds like someaught that would get ye angry, nae frightened. Did he tell ye I’ve nae much of afuture? Did he threaten ye with someaught, yerself? Tell me, lass, or I’m likely to imagine the worst, anyway.”
She grumbled a curse under her breath. Hedidmake a point—Callum had never required much in the way of proof to set him against the Duke of Dunncraigh. “It was just… Yes, he suggested some things, including that he could see I kept Margaret if I was willing to cooperate and be silent about whatever they planned on doing. The idea that this was something acceptable to him, that he would simply trample whatever happened to get in his way, whether what he wanted actually belonged to him or not… It made me angry. And I realized I was very unprepared to see him like that, even knowing in principle what he’s done, when I thought for a long time we were friends and allies.”
“Aye. If it makes a difference, at the very beginning ye likelywereallies. Every time he dug an ounce deeper into the business, though, he likely figured he needed yer da’ and Ian a little bit less.”
“And their shares a little bit more.” She nodded, belatedly shaking herself. “What are you doing here, though? Did you find anything? Or could you not get into the house?”
He loosened his grip from around her shoulders and pulled a small book from one pocket. “I found someaught.”
Her father’s journal. The old, cracked leather cover had been part of her everyday life for decades, so much so that she couldn’t believe she hadn’t realized it wasn’t among his things. But then her father hadn’t been among his things, and that had set everything at Edgley House off balance. She took it with shaking fingers, lifting it to her face to smell it.
After a year it didn’t carry the scent of her father or his cologne any longer, but it still had the faint mustysmell of old leather clinging to its pages. “Thank you,” she breathed, pinning it to her chest. “Did you look through it?”
“Nae. I grabbed what I could find and trotted down here to look in on ye.”
“Is this it, then?”
“Nae. There’s a satchel up with Wicker,” he said, naming the coachman. “I sent Johns back for Jupiter.”
“And?” she prompted.
“Ian’s ledger, contracts showing the dates Dunncraigh purchased ships and land and buildings—some of it paid for by Sanderson’s—to expand the fleet, and his ledger showing how he’s been using his clan’s tithing money, and yer money, for himself.”
She stared into his eyes. He’d found… everything. “Do we go to the authorities now? Heavens, I don’t even know for whom we should be asking.”
“I want a closer look, first. I didnae make things neat and tidy when I left Maxwell Hall, either, so he’ll know someone took his papers. He’ll reckon it was me. I’m a bit curious to see what he does about that.”
“‘A bit curious,’ you say,” she commented, her heart thumping. “I do think you’re a madman, sometimes.”
He smiled. “Sometimes, I reckon I am.” Callum kissed her lightly on the forehead, protective rather than romantic. “I came back here to kill two men. I didnae expect to find anything else. If keeping what Ihavefound requires me to go after justice and nae revenge, I reckon I’ll live with that. As for who we should seek out, he’s the Maxwell. If I went to a parish constable, Dunncraigh would know about it before I’d finished my first sentence. I hate to say it, but I reckon we need the Crown. I’ll have to ride down to Fort William, or dispatch someone to the House of Lords in London. That’ll take time, lass.”
“I don’t like either suggestion,” she returned. A trip to Fort William would take him two days, plus another two days to return. And sending someone all the way to London and waiting for a response could take weeks. “What about the clan Maxwell chieftains?”
“And ye saidIwas mad, lass. If half of them werenae in his pocket, I suppose they could take the leadership of the clan from him. They couldnae see him arrested or tried for his crimes.” He took a deep breath. “I’ll send for Kimes, and have him find me a judge he can trust. I’ll nae sleep until Dunncraigh and Stapp have iron bars between ye and them.”
“Do you really think they would attempt to drag me off by my hair and force me to marry Donnach?” Rebecca retorted, glad to feel some anger replacing the dread of the past hours. “I would be screaming the entire way. I’m more worried about you.” She tapped her forefinger against his chest.
“I wish they would come after me, straight at me this time,” he said in a soft, low voice that made her shiver. “I’m nae a trusting man, to be struck from behind or poisoned.” Unexpectedly he took both of her hands in his, holding them tightly. “Ye know I would trade places with Ian if I could, aye? That I’d spare ye from the pain ye’ve had if it was in my power to do it?”
