“I was mistaken.” Duncan eyed Jeannie, seeing nothing but hardness. “The woman will be of no help to me.”
Perhaps he’d been a fool to think she ever would. She’d chosen her side years ago, supporting—nay, aiding—her treacherous father.
For weeks after he’d left Scotland, Duncan had done something he never did: second-guessed himself. He’d racked his head to find another explanation. But either he’d lost the map on the battlefield and it had miraculously ended up in Grant’s hands, someone had taken it while he slept the few hours in his tent, or the far more logical explanation that Jeannie had taken it. Her oddly worded note, her determination that he not leave, the rearrangement of his belongings all pointed to her. Still, something ate at him. He couldn’t forget how she’d looked that night he’d surprised her in her chamber—the last time he’d seen her. She’d appeared, she’d sounded, she’d seemed…innocent.
Unable to reconcile the sweet girl he knew with the manipulative schemer anger had created in his mind, he’d decided to return. Then, right before he was to set sail, word reached him of her marriage to Francis Gordon.
She hadn’t even waited a month. Three weeks after he’d left, barely escaping with his life, she’d married. While he’d been agonizing about whether he’d committed a grave injustice against her, she’d been lying in the arms of another man.
The swift marriage confirmed his worst fears. It begat the darkest period of his life, the time when he’d earned his fearsome reputation. Eventually the gut-wrenching betrayal had given way to the faint pinch of discomfort he felt now. But even that tiny remnant of weakness infuriated him.
His men moved to either side of him to hold him by his elbows, but before they had taken a few steps, the sounds of approaching men—by the sounds of it a good many—stopped them. It was too late. The Gordon guardsmen were already there. If he wasn’t about to collapse escape would have been possible, but hampered by the ball of lead in his belly…Well, Jeannie would have her chance to see that noose around his neck soon enough.
“My lady!” The calls echoed through the trees.
Duncan turned and looked at Jeannie, his gaze locking on hers. He knew better than to put himself at her mercy, but he had no choice. “What’s it to be,Lady Gordon?Will you help me or turn me in?” Why he bothered to ask he didn’t know. He could see the answer in her eyes.
“Here,” Jeannie called out, answering the concerned cries of her guardsmen. “I’m here.”
At least a score of clansmen broke through the trees, surrounding them, hagbuts and pistols drawn, swords brandished. When they saw the three strangers, they immediately took aim, intending to finish the job she’d started.
At least it would be fast. Ten years of waiting and it all came down to this. He should have known better than to think he would find mercy in the hands of the woman who’d betrayed him. He heard the click—
“Wait!”
All eyes turned to Jeannie. Except for his. His had been glued to her the whole time. Watching. Challenging. Seeing whether she had the stomach to do what she threatened.
“I…” she faltered.
She couldn’t do it. It shocked him almost as much as it did her. His eyes narrowed. Was there a glimmer of softness left in that cold heart after all or was some other game at play?
Their eyes met for an instant before she looked away, seemingly disgusted with herself. “Lower your weapons. There’s been a mistake,” she said calmly. “I was caught by surprise. These men mean me no harm.”
Jeannie couldn’t do it. Her chest twisted, though any emotion for this man had been wrung out of it long ago.I should. For all the pain and suffering you put me through, I should.
But as much as she wanted to send him to the devil, at the moment of truth she’d looked into his eyes and the words would not come.
Lord knew why. She owed him nothing. Indeed, he could destroy everything she’d fought so hard to protect. But hers would not be the hand that spelled his doom.
Her spurious decision seemed to have surprised Duncan as much as it did her.
Adam, the captain of her guardsmen, eyed her uncertainly , his gaze flickering to the three imposing warriors. “Who are they?”
Good question. She thought quickly. “Guardsmen hired by my brother. Additional protection after the recent events.”
She felt Duncan’s questioning gaze on her, but ignored it. Her troubles were no business of his.
Adam straightened. “We have men enough,” he said, obviously taking umbrage at the suggestion that he was not equipped to see to her protection himself. Ignoring that Duncan and his men had managed to break through the perimeter he’d set up easily enough.
“I’m sure my brother meant no disrespect,” Jeannie said, attempting to mollify the disgruntled warrior. “But you know how upset he was. I will tell him these men are unnecessary, but until then we need to get him back to the castle.”
Appeased, the captain looked around. “Where’s Tavish?”
“There was a slight misunderstanding,” Duncan provided, his voice raspy.
How he managed to stand with a hole in his belly she didn’t know. She bit her lip. Mother Mary, he was pale.
“From where he was positioned, I didn’t realize he was protecting the lass.”
