“Then you have no intention of making Meg an offer of marriage?”
There it was. The question that rose like a rock wall in the path of his destiny. It was the question that had come to haunt him.
Many times this past week he’d been tempted to ask her to wait for him, but he knew he could not. Hell, he could very well be dead in a few weeks. At best, he would be considered a traitor. That was how most Lowlanders would see him for aiding his kin, the MacLeods of Lewis, in their fight to repel colonization by the Fife Adventurers. Alex wasn’t even sure that Meg wouldn’t agree. She had argued for a compromise with King James with respect to his Highland policies; she seemed unlikely to support armed warfare against the king’s men. A man who could soon be put to the horn was hardly the emblematic negotiator that Meg had in mind for a husband to better her clan’s position with the king.
Moreover, Alex would not risk placing her in more danger. The threat from Thomas Mackinnon had only just ended. If it were discovered that he was helping the MacLeods on Lewis, a connection with him would be dangerous. Very dangerous. His enemies could decide to use Meg to get to him.
When he did leave Edinburgh, Alex would make sure that Meg’s loyalty to King James was not in question because of a connection with him. It would be left to her father to determine how vocal his clan’s involvement with the effort to repel the Fife Adventurers would be. The Mackinnon chief would decide what to tell his daughter. Alex would not do so for him.
But Alex acknowledged that his reasons went even deeper. He could not be the leader she needed for her clan, not until he put his past behind him. The demons of second-guessing haunted him unrelentingly. If he could only go back and change the moment when he’d refused to surrender to Dougal, his cousins might still be alive. But he’d defied Dougal, even when the battle was lost. He’d been filled with all the arrogance of youth, the sense of invincibility. And his recklessness had cost his cousins their lives.
Now he had the opportunity to make retribution. What kind of man would he be to turn his back on his kin, on those he’d let down before?
Alex looked Jamie straight in the face. “I have no intention of making Mistress Mackinnon an offer of marriage.” He kept the bitter disappointment from his voice but was unable to prevent the uncomfortable tightening in his chest.
“Good.” Realizing that he’d perhaps come dangerously close to pressing his luck, Jamie retreated from Alex and made his way back to Meg’s side. Alex watched him with barely repressed fury.
Just then, as if Meg knew the direction of his thoughts, their eyes met. He felt a strange tightening that started in his core and spread through his entire body.
He knew she’d been watching him all week, confused by his sudden withdrawal. He didn’t want to hurt her. But he could not give her what she most needed. It was better that she realize it now.
Turning away, he broke the connection. Every day—nay, every minute in her presence was a chink in his armor of resolve. Soon there would be nothing left.
He only had to hold out a few more days. But it was damn difficult, when every fiber of his being craved the one thing he couldn’t have.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Dougal slip out of the room. It was just the opportunity Alex had been waiting for. Any excuse to get the hell out of here before he did something he regretted, like storm over there, pull her into his arms, and kiss her until everyone in the room knew that she was his.
He tracked Dougal through the cool palace corridors in a direction that Alex quickly recognized. His instincts heightened as he realized this might be it, the proof he’d been waiting for. Curbing his excitement, he concentrated on not getting caught. Dougal checked behind him a number of times, almost as if he expected someone to be following him, but Alex anticipated his moves and quickly ducked out of sight. As he became even more certain of Dougal’s destination, he was able to drop farther and farther back, minimizing his chances of discovery.
When Dougal entered the same room where Alex had previously spied Seton and Balmerino, Alex knew his instincts had proved correct. The MacDonalds were double-crossing Rory and the other Highland chiefs. Cautiously, Alex approached the room, sliding into the same uncomfortable niche he’d hidden in before.
“Glad you could join us, MacDonald.”
Alex just caught the end of Lord Chancellor Seton’s greeting, but he’d heard enough to discern the sarcasm in his voice.
“Gentlemen,” Dougal said. “I apologize for the delay, Lord Chancellor, but it could not be helped. I wanted to make sure my departure from the hall was not remarked upon.”
“Do you have reason to be concerned?” Seton asked suspiciously. His voice sharpened. “Have you been compromised?”
“No, my lord,” Dougal replied hastily. “I just thought it prudent to keep an eye on the Highlanders that are here at court, especially Alex MacLeod. I don’t trust the man.”
“I’m not interested in your petty clan feuds, MacDonald,” Seton said. “I leave the barbarians to you. Do whatever you think is necessary. If the man is a threat, remove him. As I’ve just been telling the others, the king will not tolerate another failure. All contingencies must be accounted for. This time, the Fife Adventurers will colonize the Isle of Lewis.”
Alex realized Dougal had just been given license to kill him. He wondered how long he would take to use it.
“I’ve already begun going over the preliminaries,” Seton continued. “I’ve received final confirmation that the colonists will be ready to depart as scheduled. What have you learned of the resistance, MacDonald?”
“We have nothing new to report,” Alex heard Dougal respond. “The chiefs have met to discuss the possibility of another attempt to colonize the Isle of Lewis, but there is no indication that they believe anything is imminent. Resistance, if any, is still much in the planning stages.”
Alex knew he shouldn’t be surprised, but even faced with such indisputable evidence—hearing it straight from Dougal’s mouth—he still couldn’t believe the MacDonalds’ propensity for treachery. They had sworn allegiance to the other chiefs to help fight the king’s efforts to plunder the Isles, yet here they were—through Dougal—betraying them all.
No doubt MacDonald expected to insinuate himself into the good graces of King James by feeding Seton information about the Highlanders’ planned attacks. Rory would be furious to learn of their latest treachery.
But Lord Chancellor Seton’s next words pushed aside all thoughts of the MacDonalds. “I want to be informed as soon as you learn of the Highlanders’ plans. Any resistance to the Fife Adventurers’ colonization will be crushed. King James has been clear in his directives. Our men have been instructed to use whatever force they deem necessary to root out the barbarians on Lewis”—he paused—“including slaughter or mutilation to discourage further resistance. The same will go for their supporters.”
Alex couldn’t believe his ears.Slaughterandmutilation? Seton’s words sent a chill of foreboding straight to his bones. At that moment, Alex realized the full extent of King James’s humiliation from the failed first attempt to colonize Lewis by the original Fife Adventurers. No doubt the mockery of his new English subjects had influenced this savagery. The English claimed that a king who could not contain a handful of barbarians was not fit to rule England. King James was taking no chances with this second attempt.
By empowering the Lowland Fife Adventurers with the power to exterminate the inhabitants of Lewis, the king had just sanctioned the mass murder of his own people.
