“Perhaps we should go inside to discuss this, where it’s quiet,” Garrett suggested, glancing at the commotion around them. He took her by the elbow before she could protest and steered her toward the front door.
Madeleine had to half run to keep up with his determined strides. She stumbled over the threshold but he caught her, supporting her with his arm until they were in the drawing room. He practically forced her down into an armchair, then stood in front of her so she could not rise.
“You’re not going to appreciate what I have to tell you,” he said cryptically, “so I’ll stand here until you hear me out.”
“What?” she demanded loudly, her temper kindled by his rough handling.
“Glenis didn’t stop at Meg’s because she went to find me,” he said slowly, watching her face. “And she did, on the road to Inverfarigaig. She told me you were Black Jack, Madeleine, and she told me where we could find you and your kinsmen, at the yew tree near Errogie.”
“Ye’re lying,” Madeleine said in disbelief. “Glenis would never have betrayed me—”
“She didn’t betray you,” Garrett cut in harshly. “Glenis saved your life, Maddie, the lives of your kinsmen, and the lives of my soldiers as well. If she hadn’t found us there would have been a bloodbath, and all because you had some idea I wouldn’t believe you were Black Jack if you simply gave yourself up.”
“Would ye have believed it, Garrett?” she said bitterly.
“I don’t know,” he answered, heaving a sigh. “It doesn’t matter now.”
“Aye, ye’re right,” Madeleine said, staring past him and out the grimy window. “It doesna matter.”
She felt numb. Never in a thousand years would she ever have imagined Glenis would play the traitor. She could hardly comprehend it.
Her dear Glenis, the woman who had cared for her since she was a babe. She was her confidante, her friend…and a traitor.
Madeleine swallowed against the tears welling up in her eyes. “What else did Glenis tell ye?”
“She told me why you began raiding, to keep your people from starving,” Garrett related, his voice very low, “and she explained how you managed to sneak from the house without anyone noticing, through the secret tunnel.” He smiled wryly, glancing at the drawing room closet behind her chair. “I could scarcely believe it when she told me you were the one who nailed me on the head.”
Madeleine said nothing, still staring into the distance. She remained silent even as Garrett gently tilted her chin upward so she was looking into his eyes.
“Glenis said she could not return to Mhor Manor, Maddie,” he said quietly. “She thought you wouldn’t want her around because she’d betrayed you. I wanted to argue with her and tell her it wasn’t so, that you wouldn’t think she was a traitor since she had saved your life—”
“Ah, but ye’re wrong, Garrett,” Madeleine interrupted him vehemently. “Glenis Simpson is a traitor. I never want to see her again.” She jerked her head back, and his hand fell away from her chin. “Are ye finished? If so, I’d like to retire to my room.”
Garrett seemed stunned by her bitter words. As he moved away from the chair, she stood up and walked woodenly to the archway. She leaned on the wall, needing the support.
“If ye were thinking ye might fetch Glenis from Tullich, save yerself the trip, Garrett,” Madeleine barely managed, tears threatening to overwhelm her at any moment. “She’s never to set foot in this house again. Not if ye want to have any peace at all.” She started toward the stairway, then paused, meeting his gaze once more. “I take it I’m restricted to Mhor Manor ‘til yer soldiers arrive, if I heard ye correctly?”
Garrett nodded. “It’s for your own safety, Madeleine. I don’t trust Hawley’s men. My soldiers should be here within a few days, Sergeant Fletcher and the others, the same men who were here before, except for Rob Tyler. Then you may go where you wish—within reason.”
Madeleine smiled weakly. “Funny,” she said. “Ye dinna trust yer own kind and I dinna trust you and Glenis…” She paused, nearly choking. “Glenis betrayed my trust.” Her voice fell to a ragged whisper, her eyes misting over. “There seems to be a dearth of trust these days, wouldna ye say, Garrett? And there doesna seem to be any help for it.”
She turned and fled up the stairs, barely making it inside her room before she doubled over, her body wracked by silent sobs. She slammed the door shut and sank to the floor with the corner of her shawl over her mouth, crying as if her heart was breaking.
Her world was so completely torn apart, so upside down, she didn’t know if she would ever make sense of it again.
First she had lost her father, now Glenis. Her final bond with the past was irretrievably broken. Her future loomed before her, bleak and bereft of any hope for happiness. All she had left was Garrett, a man who had usurped her land, a man who had saved her life and married her because she was useful to him. And she had once believed she loved him!
The sad songs were true, she thought dazedly when her tears were finally spent and she lay exhausted on the floor, wrapped in her shawl.
Love, even at its most fleeting, brought nothing but heartbreak and sorrow. She must have been mad to think Garrett Marshall ever cared.
***
Madeleine awoke hours later to the sensation of being lifted from the floor where she had fallen asleep. Her eyes fluttered open, but she could see nothing in the pitch darkness. She tensed as powerful arms enveloped her, holding her close with aching familiarity, and she knew at once that it was Garrett.
“Wh—what do ye think ye’re doing? Where are ye taking me?” she cried frantically, the mists of slumber still clinging to her thoughts as he carried her down the hallway.
“Our room,” Garrett said, hugging her tightly to his chest. “I’ll not have my wife sleeping on the floor, nor will you sleep any longer in a bed other than mine.”
