Some things hadn’t changed. Outwardly she might look like the proper lady—he’d been surprised by the difference in her appearance and reserved manner—but the lass who’d strolled into the Great Hall of Stirling Castle like a pirate taking over a ship and had been too confident and bold for her own good was still there. She’d never shied from a challenge before, and she certainly wasn’t doing so now. He’d known she would be trouble from the first; he’d just never guessed how much.
He turned to Lamont. “Tell the men to get a few hours of rest. We’ll ride for the border at dawn.”
“We’re sleeping here?” Margaret asked him as his partner walked away.
“Rustic sleeping arrangements didn’t used to bother you.”
She didn’t miss the pointed reminder of those nights they’d shared by the campfire all those years ago—why the hell was he acting like he remembered?—and lifted her chin. “I was referring to the fact that we are a few miles away from Wyrkinton.”
He gave a sharp laugh. “The English lack the courage to attack Bruce’s men at night in the forest. They’ll not stray from the safety of the castle walls until dawn. You need not fear for your safety.” He paused. “Although you might be cold in that fine gown, so I’d stay close to the fire.”
She flushed angrily at the sarcasm he couldn’t quite hide. She’d been about to get married, damn it. It shouldn’t bother him.
“I wouldn’t be wearing a wedding gown if I’d known I still had a husband. How could you, Eoin? Youpromisedyou would come back to me, if it was in your power. How could you let me think you were dead all these years? Did you not think I had a right to know that my husband lived?”
“Right?” Six years of pent-up anger, six years of festering on a wound that hadn’t healed, six years of pretending it didn’t matter that his wife had betrayed him, couldn’t stay buried another moment. He’d promised, aye, but that was before she tried to put him in the grave.
He took a threatening step toward her, practically baring his teeth. “After what you did, you lost the ‘right’ to know anything. As I recall you made a number of promises as well. I don’t owe you a damned thing, Maggie.”
“What about Eachann? What did you owe him?”
He stilled. “I didn’t know about him.”
“Whose fault is that?” She spoke softly but the challenge hit hard.
He fisted his hands at his side so he wouldn’t touch her. What the hell was it about this woman that made him want to drag her into his arms and kiss that defiance right from her mouth?
But her anger fell as quickly as it had risen. She looked sad and defeated, and somehow that unsettled him even more. “Maybe you don’t owe me anything, but don’t think that I haven’t blamed myself for what happened to you—or what I thought happened to you—every day since. I never meant to betray you, Eoin. Ilovedyou.”
Loved him so much she’d left him. Loved him so much she’d been discussing dissolving their marriage with her girlhood sweetheart right before he’d kissed her. Loved him so much she’d sent him away and told him to never come back. “So it was all a big mistake, is that it? Did your brother lie then? Did you not tell someone of my presence that night?”
She shook her head, her eyes stark. “No, it wasn’t a mistake. I did tell someone, but I was trying to protect you.”
“By betraying me?”
She ignored his sarcasm. “Brigid found me in the forest after you left and threatened to tell my father I’d been raped if I didn’t tell her what happened. I made a mistake in trusting someone who’d been like a sister to me, but I didn’t feel like I had a choice.”
“How about thechoiceto keep your mouth shut?” He stepped toward her, anger pounding through him. “How much more clear did I need to be? Was ‘no one,’ ‘under any circumstances,’ and ‘my life’ subject to interpretation? Itrustedyou, damn it. I told you how important it was that you not tell anyone I was there. I let down every one of those men on that beach because I believed my wife—the girl I loved more than anyone else in the world—would know to keep herdamned mouth shut. Your intentions don’t make a damned bit of difference to all those men on that beach.”
She looked stricken. Her eyes filled with tears as she tried to explain. “I’m sorry. I had no idea what you planned. I didn’t want to risk having my father’s men chasing after you. I thought by telling her that I was protecting you. I never imagined she would go to my brother with the information.”
His mouth fell in a hard line. He supposed he should be glad she hadn’t gone to her father herself. Glad it hadn’t been some petty form of revenge for all his perceived wrongs. But six years of hatred had formed a thick layer of steel around his thinking where his wife was concerned that was not easily penetrated. She’d told someone. Did it matter why?
And the result hadn’t changed.
Still, he was surprised to learn of her friend’s part in it. “Why did she?” he asked.
“She was in love with Dougal and thought it would ingratiate her enough to my father to permit a marriage between them. Ironically, Dougal did receive a bride for what happened, it just wasn’t Brigid.”
A flicker of pain crossed her face, and he found himself asking, “What happened?”
Margaret gazed at him unflinchingly. “Brigid threw herself off the cliffs at Dunskey Castle, not long after Dougal’s marriage. She never forgave herself for what happened that night. All those men...” She shuddered, and then looked up at him. “She didn’t realize what would happen, and neither did I.” When he didn’t say anything, she added, “I don’t expect you to forgive me. You trusted me to keep your secret, and I didn’t. I should have let Brigid tell them I’d been attacked and maybe...” She stopped and straightened. “I made a mistake, but it was in trusting a friend when I shouldn’t have. I tried to help when I realized what Brigid had done, but I was too late.”
“What do you mean, you tried to help?”
“My father locked me in my chamber, but I climbed out of the tower and lit the old beacon near Kirkcolm. But your ships had already reached the beach.”
He was silent, taken aback by what she’d revealed.She’dlit the beacon? He’d always wondered about their mysterious helper. “It wasn’t too late for all the ships,” he admitted. “Two were able to escape in time.”
