Grant.
His mind raced, trying to sort out what this meant.Betrothal gift.Had Jeannie known about this all along? He’d thought he’d been wrong, that she hadn’t betrayed him. He’d wanted to trust her.
A few pages later he found a short correspondence, again from Grant to Francis Gordon, dated three days after the battle, the same day gold had been found in his belongings. It discussed the king’s approach and near the end words that sent a chill down his spine:The rumors you alluded to at our last meeting should give you no cause for concern. I have dealt with the matter and you can be assured that nothing will stand in the way of this betrothal.He was “the matter.”
Duncan’s insides twisted. Vindication was cold comfort.
He felt the subtle shift in air at the same time as a beam of flickering light spilled over his shoulder.
“What are you doing in here?”
He stiffened at the sound of her voice. He’d been so engrossed in what he’d found that he hadn’t heard the approaching footsteps. Holding the map in his hand, he slowly turned to face her. Jeannie stood in at the edge of the tunnel, a candlestick in her hand.
Long red curls, blazing fiery gold in the candlelight, tumbled freely around her face and shoulders down the front of her thick velvet dressing gown. God, she was beautiful. So beautiful it hurt to look at her. He hated the doubt that consumed him.
“What are you doing?” she repeated. Her eyes shifted behind him, seeing the papers, and her face filled with horror. “My God, you’re spying on me.”
Jeannie gazed at him in stunned silence. To think she’d been unable to sleep because she’d been warring with herself about what to do. He’d saved her daughter’s life and quite possibly her own. With all he’d done she couldn’t stand aside and allow him to hang. But Dougall’s future hung in the balance. She’d wanted to find a way to help him and protect her son at the same time.
Now here he was spying on her. He’d found the room. How could she be such a fool to allow herself to think that he’d changed? That he’d trusted her? Betrayal curdled in her stomach.
Her accusation hung in the cold night air. He didn’t deny it. Instead he held out a couple of papers in his hand, his eyes once again cold and unyielding. “How do you explain these?”
Not knowing what to expect, her fingers shook as she took the wrinkled parchment in her hand.
Her heart thumped when she realized one of the documents was the map he’d been accused of selling to her father. She flipped it around, read the note, and then the letter.
Saying nothing, she handed it back to him. A cold chill swept across her skin. Dear God, what had her father done? She’d wanted to think he hadn’t been involved, that the map had merely fallen into his hands. Had Francis been involved, too? Even posing the question felt disloyal. “This proves nothing.”
His eyes flared dangerously. “It proves your husband was involved.”
“What it proves is that my father sent the map to my husband. We already knew my father sent it to the Gordons. It changes nothing. Francis had nothing to do with framing you for treason.” Did she say it for her benefit or for his? And if Francis had been behind it, did it really change anything? He’d still protected her and her son.
Duncan’s eyes scanned her face. “What has he done to deserve such loyalty?”
She heard the raw emotion in his voice and had to turn away, lest she be tempted to tell him. Instead she turned his accusation back at him. “Why are you so quick to implicate Francis? My father even says the map came to him unexpectedly.”
“And how did it come to him?”
Her chest pinched. His question shouldn’t hurt so much. “I did not give it to him, if that’s what you mean.”
“Then who did?”
“Was there no one else with opportunity?”
“I removed my sporran twice. Once with you and once when I returned to my tent.”
“And you slept alone?”
He gave her a long look. “My father, brother, and a few of my father’s closest clansmen slept in the tent as well.”
“Yet you immediately assumed it was me?”
“Given your father’s actions that day, you were the most logical. But I did consider other possibilities.”
“And?”
He didn’t say anything.
