“IN MY HOUSE? You threaten me in here? The guards will slay you if you kill me.”
“Inmyhouse, you mean,” Lorna said. “The guards will slay no one. I will say that you attacked me. You already have a bad name for leaving Robina. No. You will rot in prison for your crimes. For all your crimes...”
Lorna turned to Robina.
“Milady, I apologize profusely about your dress, but I am not sorry I spilled your drink.” Lorna’s voice sounded like a low growl. “Your drink was poisoned. I saw him put it in your glass.” She was ashamed to even mouth such a terrible deed. “I was standing with you, but I went to find Lockie and I saw him pouring something in your wine.”
“Did you do that?” Alex asked Lockie.
Lockie's eyes widened with fear as Alex approached him with one stride and pulled Lockie up by the front of his tunic. He raised him to his feet without apparent effort with just one hand. “Did you try to kill my Robina?” He roared so loudly that Lockie winced with pain.
“Why?” Robina asked, her eyes filled with tears. “Why would you want to kill us?” She put a hand protectively on her belly. She never thought that Lockie could go that far.
“To make him suffer!” Lockie pointed to Alex, his voice laced with hatred.
Alex did not think twice, but instinctively swiped Lockie on the side of his face with a bunched fist using such force that Lockie tumbled to the floor and landed heavily on the side of his face. He screamed.
“No more!” Robina said. Her voice was trembling, but she pulled Alex down to sit beside her. His body was tense with the effort of restraining himself from doing Lockie any further damage.
“There is something else you should know about this...man!” Lorna spat the word out and there was a world of scorn in her voice as she turned to Robina and Alex. “Why do you think he wanted you even though you were with child?” she asked them. She looked at Lockie as if he were a poisonous insect she wanted to crush underfoot. “Because he thinks I am barren. I prayed and I fasted, but nothing worked. My monthly flux stopped a while after I married you. And all the stress you caused me did not help at all!
“Robina, the reason he wanted you was because you were pregnant; he wanted to pass the baby off as his own, and he wanted me because I am heiress to two estates. If I die he inherits both, and will be a very rich man—without an heir. The only way he can possibly solve that problem is to kill me and marry someone else. However, when I went to see my father, who is much better now, by the way, I had him sign a document disinheriting you if anything happens to me.” She shook her head pityingly and glared at Lockie.
“You did what?” Lockie said in rage now.
“Did you think I would be that stupid? The only reason I told you I loved you was to gain and keep your trust, so that I could get my revenge.”
“Revenge for what?” Lockie looked genuinely puzzled.
Lorna’s lips peeled back from her teeth like a wild animal about to snarl. “You have a very short memory, M'laird,” she hissed.
The look that Lockie gave his wife was venomous, and he reached for the whisky bottle, but Alex, thinking he was going to use it as a weapon, snatched it out of his hand.
18
More Revelations
Lorna’s eyes took on a dangerous glint. “I knew when I married him that he only wanted my inheritance, although I flattered myself that he wanted more at first. I soon found that to be untrue, and I saw that he only wanted my wealth. But he underestimated me. I pretended to gradually fall in love with him, and he believed all of it. My sister helped go through all that. And you would have known they are my sisters if you had met them before marrying me. But they were women and you did not care! You only visited my father to convince him that you were a good man and that you loved me.
“Apart from your greed, I wanted revenge for what you put me through in bed at night, every night.” Her lip curled as she glared at him. “I expected to feel pain the first time, not agony. You did not even try to be gentle, and when I pleaded with you for a few days more to heal you denied me, then reminded me that you were my master! Ever since, my body has gone through the most excruciating pain every night. That is why I cannot bare children! Your awful character made it happen. ”
“Your body?” Lockie laughed scornfully. “There is nothing attractive about your body!”
“Then why did you want me so much?” she asked, shrugging. “Apart from my wealth, of course.”
“I HATE you!” Lockie screamed.
“My wealth ensnared you! I have the mind of a woman, and a woman’s feelings,” she replied. “And I WILL get better. I may be able to conceive a child, but whether I am or not, you will never know, for you will be hanging at the end of a rope!”
“I will kill you,” Lockie said in a voice that throbbed with menace.
Alex drawled scornfully. “Not today, M'laird. Today you are going to be a guest in my dungeon where you will wait till the justices come to take you to trial.”
“On what charges?” Lockie asked aggressively.
“Stock theft, an attempt on my life, and an attempt on Robina’s life,” Alex replied, crossing his arms over his chest. “Hanging offences, every one.”
Lockie stood glowering at him from beneath lowered brows for a moment, then, powered by desperation, he lunged forward and grabbed Robina, wrapping his elbow and forearm around her neck.
