“Not that, either.”
Fitz’s expression went bleaker still. “How’s Lina?”
How was she? She was much as you’d expect a lady to be when her last hope had been brutally crushed. Logan thought of her pale, frozen face, the blankness in her eyes, and he couldn’t prevent a shudder of remorse. “Worse than I am.”
Fitz dragged a hand through his hair. “What a bloody mess. I realize things have been tense between us, but I never imagined you’d…stealing our letters, Logan? How could you do this?”
Logan could have offered any number of excuses for his actions. He could have told Fitz a few burned letters had seemed trivial enough compared to dozens of burned farmhouses. He could have said the lives of hundreds of people had been more important to him than the future of one lady who had her pick of every peer in London. He could have explained he hadn’t understood how dire Lady Juliana’s circumstances were—that he regretted the trouble he’d caused. He might even have said he’d done what he’d been taught to do since he was a child at their father’s knee.
Whatever he must to protect the land, and the clan.
Instead, he remained silent. He’d had his reasons, but they didn’t excuse what he’d done. He could argue all he wanted, but it didn’t make him any less responsible for Lady Juliana’s predicament.
He’d been under no illusions when he stole those letters. He’d known it was a despicable thing to do, and he’d done it anyway. He hadn’t bothered to consider that one bad act would have endless repercussions, like ripples of water after a tossed stone. He hadn’t spared a single thought for Lady Juliana’s future.
Fitz was pacing back and forth in front of the library door. “Lina has a claim on you, Logan. You’re the reason she’s in this mess. As a man of honor, you’re obliged to see her out of it. A marriage between you—”
“Would be a disaster. You can’t believe otherwise.”
Fitz let out a bitter laugh. “You’ll get no argument from me. I can’t imagine Lina’s any happier about a marriage between you than you are. You don’t deserve her, after what you’ve done. But I don’t see any way around it. If you have a better idea, please do enlighten me.”
“She could marry one of the men from the clan.” Logan had been turning this idea over in his head all evening. “Duncan Muir, perhaps, or Kincaid’s eldest son, Brodie. They’re both gentlemen, and men of education—”
“No. It won’t do. If Lina’s father doesn’t approve her choice the marriage won’t do her any good at all, and I can assure you the Marquess of Graystone won’t settle for an obscure, untitled Scotsman for his only daughter’s husband.”
“If he won’t settle for Duncan or Brodie, then he won’t settle for me. I don’t have a title, and I’m as obscure as either of them.”
“Ah, that’s where you’re wrong.” Fitz gave him a thin smile. “You’re the brother of the current Duke of Blackmore, nephew to the previous duke, and your mother was daughter to a duke. Bloody dukes everywhere, going back for generations. You may like to think of yourself as an obscure Scotsman, Logan, but your bloodlines say otherwise, and of course our family’s fortune is considerable. Lina has a far better chance of reconciling her father to a marriage with you than with any other gentleman.”
“Even so, I doubt the Marquess of Graystone will find the Duke of Blackmore’s brother as impressive as the duke himself.”
“Oh, there’s little doubt he’d rather have me, especially considering my long-standing betrothal to Lina, but a duke’s brother is nothing to sniff at. With a letter of recommendation from me, you’ll—”
“A letter of recommendation!” Logan scowled. “You think I need a recommendation from you to be considered a gentleman?”
Fitz shrugged. “It can’t hurt.”
Logan dragged a weary hand down his face. Christ, how had he gotten himself into such a mess? Why couldn’t Lady Juliana have remained in England and married Lord Pierce as she’d planned to?
The trouble was, Fitz was right. Shedidhave a claim on him. He’d dragged her into this, and she had a right to expect him to get her out of it. Before he sat down on the sofa across from her tonight he hadn’t had any intention of marrying her. Now, he wasn’t so sure
But a marriage, a move to England, so far away from his clan…
He owed his people far more than he owed Lady Juliana. He’d promised his father he’d do everything he could to ensure their safety, and a promise to his father outweighed any claims Lady Juliana might have on him.
He couldn’t abandon the clan now, not when he’d finally found a way to help them.
After he’d witnessed the devastation in Strathnaver, Logan had purchased a large parcel of land in Cape Fear Valley, at the southern tip of North Carolina. For the past few years he’d been funding a migration of the heartier members of Clan Kinross there, setting them up to successfully pursue a new life in North America. For those not strong enough to make the journey he’d searched out places in the Scottish Lowlands and in northern England where they might settle.
Slowly, one family at a time, Logan was clearing out sections of Kinross land.
It wasn’t what he wanted. Everything inside him rebelled at separating the clan, but after a good deal of internal struggle, he’d admitted to himself he hadn’t any choice. At the time, he didn’t know if the new Laird of Clan Kinross would evict his tenants to make way for sheep farms, just as the Countess of Sutherland and the Marquess of Graystone had done. If he did, there would be nothing Logan could do to stop him.
Even if the new laird chose to be merciful, there was little hope the clan would flourish if they remained here. There were simply too many people, and not enough food or land to sustain them all. The clan system had disintegrated after the Jacobite Rebellion—the British Crown had seen to that—and there was no sense in pretending otherwise. The best thing Logan could do for his people was to see them settled in prosperous circumstances.
Not everyone wanted to go. He had no intention of driving them off if they preferred to stay—there would be no forced evictions on Kinross land—but he’d managed to persuade about half of them to voluntarily relocate. Their land would then be enclosed to make larger farms for sheep grazing, and the profits used to sustain the rest of the clan.
The clan had warmed to Fitz since he’d become betrothed to Emilia, but in their eyes, Logan was still their laird. Fitz might try to persuade some of them to relocate, but what if they didn’t trust him enough yet to rely on his word?
