“She isna like her brothers.”
“And how well do ye know her brothers?”
“That is an unfair question.”
“Is it, lass?” He placed the missives on the boulder, then started pacing. “Do ye have something to hide?”
“Nay. It’s just… why do ye want to know?”
“Everything about yer past, especially the time ye spent with the Sutherlands, is of great interest to me, to my clan.”
“I thought ye were leaving.”
“Until this afternoon, I thought the same. But important details have come to light.”
“What kind of details?”
“The kind that make a man rethink his choices.”
“I’m not a Sutherland spy.”
“I believe ye.”
He did? “Why?”
“Ye’re not stupid, Keely. So, I must accept yer explanation as to why ye showed up here when ye did. A mere coincidence, or God’s hand played a part in it. Either way, I believe we were meant to see each other again.”
“Thank ye for that bit of trust.”
“Doona take advantage of it. If I find out ye’re lying, I’ll have yer heart.”
The threat dinna affect her the way it should. Instead, she relied on that courage Jamie told her to find within herself. “The way I took yers?”
He gave her a scathing look—the kind she imagined he showed his fiercest enemy before he drove his sword through their gut. “Doona tempt me, lass.”
She dinna understand his desires, or why he acted the way he did. “I willna grovel at yer feet, Alex.”
“Why did ye leave?” he finally asked.
Should she tell him? Would he hate her that much more once she explained it? “I wasna thinking clearly when I ran away on my wedding night, Alex. John was a good man, a kind one. I-I…” The words were all jumbled up inside her head. “The thought of another man touching me…” She covered her mouth, even that partial confession would make Alex think she never stopped loving him. “It wasna what I wanted.”
“Nay?” He stared at her long and hard. “What did ye want, Lady Keely?”
“The right to choose my own husband.”
“And who took that freedom away from ye?”
Keely cast her gaze downward, kicking at the ground—anything to keep from looking directly at Alex. “Circumstance.”
Alex snorted. “Circumstance?”
“Aye,” she said. “The kind beyond a daughter’s control.”
“My father and brother are gone, yer oath of secrecy died with them, Keely.”
Tears filled her eyes, but she refused to give Alex the satisfaction of seeing her cry. “A promise once made must be kept, always.”
Alex stepped closer, tipping her chin upward. She couldna keep from staring at him, from catching a fleeting glimpse of the compassionate man he used to be.
