“Nay, he died for the cause, too, and now Angus just wants peace.”
Catherine considered all that Lachlan had told her so far and strained to remember. She tried to imagine a ruthless, lionish warrior who fought bravely in Scottish battles, but alas, nothing seemed familiar.
“Is there anything else you can tell me?”
He leaned forward and spoke in a soft voice that was snide and taunting. “He has a beautiful wife and child.”
Catherine turned quickly in the saddle. “A wife and child? Since when?”
Lachlan frowned at her, and his head drew back slightly. “You truly do not remember? Or are you just a gifted actress?”
“How many times must I say it? I do not remember a thing. I cannot evenimaginewhat Angus looks like.”
Lachlan regarded her with increasing frustration, and she wondered if he would ever believe her about her lost memories. Either way, he seemed disappointed that she was not throwing a tantrum about the mention of a wife and child.
“Imagine this,” he answered harshly. “He looks like a lion, and has a mighty roar.”
The horse lost his footing slightly over the uneven ground. Catherine slid sideways in the saddle, but Lachlan held her steady.
Again, to her dismay, his touch sent a tingling flow of excitement through her body. It was a feeling she fought hard to crush.
“You expected me to be jealous,” she said, referring back to Angus and his beautiful wife. “But how can I be, when I have no recollection whatsoever of the time we spent together?”
Lachlan considered the question thoroughly. “I’ve never heard of anyone losing all their memories before, and I’m still not sure I believe it. So don’t get too comfortable, thinking I’m convinced.”
She scoffed. “Trust me, I am not the least bit comfortable with you.” How could she be, when everything about him overwhelmed all her sensible thoughts? “Clearly I did not make a good impression on you,” she added, “when we knew each other before.”
“Nay, you did some appalling things.”
“Like what, besides the curse?” She realized in that moment that without the benefit of memory, there were no regrets. There was nothing to feel guilty about. It was like living in a constant state of innocence and purity.
And it was so very empty.
“Tell me the worst thing I’ve done,” she said, for she wanted to know the truth, no matter how unpleasant it might be. She wanted a real life. “Perhaps it will trigger a memory.”
Though nothing her grandmother told her had ever triggered anything. Not even the return to her childhood home had brought back her past.
But maybe that was because Lachlan was right: she was not Catherine and never had been.
God, help me.She was so confused and desperate to learn the truth. Desperate enough to go off into the night with a dangerous, unpredictable Highlander who despised her…
“Can you not answer the question?” she asked, growing almost frantic. “Or have you lost your memories, too?”
“I apologize, lass, but I don’t know where to begin. The choices are endless.”
She shook her head with derision. “You are a cad.”
“All right, all right,” he said at last. “I’ll start with how you followed Angus back to Kinloch after he said good-bye to you in the Hebrides. But you better brace yourself for the whole story, because you were a villain like none I’ve ever known. You won’t like how the tale ends.”
“Enough with the suspense,” she said, her heart pounding. “Please tell me what I did. I must know.”
He inhaled deeply, and she found herself leaning into the warmth of his broad chest.
“You followed him to Kinloch to tell him that he had less than a month to live, and that he’d die by the noose.”
She frowned. “Was it true?”
“Nay, he still lives. But you also told him that his wife—who you called a manipulative slut—would betray him, and it would be her fault that he would end up in the noose in the first place.”
