She wrenched away from Dougald, ignoring his startled look. “What do ye mean?” she rasped in disbelief. “Stop talking to me as if I were a child! Ye speak as if I’ll be a widow by morning.”
“So ye will, my darlin’ Maddie,” Dougald said soothingly. “‘Tis all arranged. Our kinsmen were having the devil of a time trying to decide how to rid ye of the major ‘til I came along unexpectedly. Back from the dead, ye might say.”
Madeleine winced as he laughed hollowly, a dry echo of the hearty laugh he had once possessed. It chilled her to the bone.
“Angus and I spent last night devising our plan, so ‘twill appear to be an accident,” he continued, sobering. “We canna risk the redcoats venting their wrath on Farraline once more. But we’ll need yer help.”
Madeleine tried to speak steadily though she felt her world was crumbling around her. “What plan, Dougald?” she asked, glimpsing the flare of intense hatred in his eyes.
“Once the redcoats have bedded down for the night, ye’re to give us a signal. We’ll creep in and capture them, tie them up, then burn Mhor Manor down about their heads. ‘Twill be a ceilidh fire like none other, Maddie! And the English authorities will ne’er question what happened, since ye’ll supposedly have perished, too. ‘Twill seem an unfortunate accident, and there’ll be nothing left to prove otherwise—”
“Ye would burn them alive?” Madeleine cut him off, gaping at him in horror.
“Aye, and gladly!” Dougald spat, his ruddy skin flushed with fury. “They did the same to us at Culloden. Surely ye heard that story from the hunted clansmen passing through Farraline. I was hiding in a ditch and heard the terrible screams when the redcoats set the barn afire, with the wounded Highlanders inside.”
He paused, his face twisting in torment at the awful memory, then continued, eyeing her grimly. “If ‘tis yer house ye’re worried after, Maddie, I’ll build ye a far grander one when we return with our prince to claim Britain’s throne for the Stuarts. But dinna let me think ye’re balking because ye might harbor some bit of affection for these bastards, or yer English husband, I should say.”
Madeleine backed away from him, terrified by the dark threat in his voice, terrified by the change the ill-fated rebellion had wrought in him.
The Dougald she had known since childhood was gone, the same as if he had died. This cruel man was a stranger to her, hardened by all the brutality he had witnessed, embittered and hell-bent on revenge.
Only such a man could have conceived this gruesome plan, and her kinsmen were influenced enough by her false accusations and the thought of her unhappiness to go along with it. She doubted Dougald would let her leave the glen if he knew where her true feelings lay. She would be a fool if she made even the slightest mention of it.
She forced a smile. “Of course I’ll help ye with yer plan,” she said, hoping her trembling would not give her away. “I hate these redcoats as much as ye. What signal shall I use?”
“When all is quiet, wave an oil lamp in the kitchen window,” Dougald replied, studying her strangely. He moved toward her. His voice was eerily quiet. “Ye’re shaking so, Maddie? Why?”
“‘Tis—’tis such a shock to see ye again, Dougald,” she said truthfully, staring into his eyes. “I’m so happy, that’s all. So glad that ye’re alive.”
Madeleine swallowed hard, hoping her last words had convinced him. She was grateful Dougald had been spared the noose. She had cared for him, after all. But now she felt more wretched than she ever had before.
She loved a man she had once hated, and hated this man for threatening her newfound love. And Dougald was the man her father had chosen for her…
No, dinna think of it! she berated herself, stifling her twinge of guilt. If loving Garrett made her a traitor, so be it. She would do anything to protect him, to protect their love—
Madeleine started as Dougald’s hands easily circled her waist. She didn’t dare protest as he pulled her against his powerful chest.
“‘Twas only my dreams of ye that kept me going during those long months in that filthy gaol, Maddie Fraser,” he said thickly. “I stayed alive for ye, finally broke out of prison for ye. When I heard ye were married to a redcoat I would have come for ye then and strangled him with my bare hands if Angus hadna stopped me.” His arms tightened around her, and he sank his fingers into her hair, drawing her head back roughly. “This Major Garrett Marshall, he’s tasted yer charms before me, hasn't he, Maddie?”
Madeleine said nothing, not wanting to goad his rage any further.
“I know he has, and for that he will die,” Dougald said bitterly.
She closed her eyes as his mouth found hers, possessive and brutally demanding. He was hurting her, and tears welled beneath her lashes. She choked them back, even as she fought against the wave of nausea assailing her senses. She only hoped he would not discern that she felt nothing for him now—nothing.
When he finally released her, she felt defiled by the man who had once been her betrothed—a man who was no more than a shell of his former self, a man from whom she had everything to fear.
“I—I should get back,” Madeleine stammered, glancing behind her for her horse. One of the other Highlanders was holding the mare for her, and she quickly thanked him as she took the reins. She winced as Dougald gave her a lift into the saddle, hardly able to bear his touch on her.
“We’ll watch for yer signal, Maddie,” Dougald said, his hazel eyes boring into hers curiously. “Dinna forget.”
Her throat was constricted so tightly she could not reply. She merely nodded, a fixed smile on her face as she sharply turned the horse around and galloped back along the shaded path, putting as much space between herself and Dougald Fraser as possible.
Tears ran unchecked down her face; sobs of disbelief tore at her throat. Her desperate thoughts spurred her on, even as she broke from the trees and raced toward Mhor Manor.
As soon as Garrett returned to the estate, they would ride into Farraline and face Angus together.
Next to herself, Angus spoke for the entire village, and his word was respected throughout Strathherrick. He had believed in Garrett once, before her wild accusations had poisoned his mind against him.
