“I do not know,” Angus replied. “Raonaid does not move in polite society. She has always been an outcast, and is rather like a night creature in that way. Difficult to find.”
“It is quite possible then,” Lachlan was forced to accept, “that she could have been living at Drumloch Manor, masquerading as the heiress, then traveling here with me to get back inside these castle walls, while secretly planning an uprising with Murdoch? As his lover?”
Ah, Christ.…A blinding rage was searing through his brain. He wanted to hit something.
Angus locked eyes with him. “There is only one way to find out. Bring her to me now. I lived with her for a year. I bedded her countless times. I will know straightaway if she is Raonaid. And I will also be able to tell whether or not she is lying about her lost memories.”
Lachlan downed the rest of his drink and set it on the sideboard. “Wait here.” He stormed out of the room, determined to unearth the truth about the woman who had completely bewitched him. “I will be back at once.”
Chapter Thirteen
“Do you believeanyof what I have told you?”
Catherine had just relayed to her hostess the entire story of her five-year disappearance and memory loss—along with how Lachlan had attacked her at Drumloch Manor and brought her here to lift the curse.
Gwendolen’s eyes darkened with suspicion, and she rose from her chair to pace about the room.
“It’s quite a tale,” she said, “but I’m afraid it will take far more than your word to make me believe it. I look at you, and all I see is the woman who was once my husband’s lover. There is no doubt in my mind that you are the one who entered my home and poisoned my husband’s mind against me. You were a jealous, conniving vixen then, and I see nothing different about you now. You can pretend to be a tragic heiress until you draw your last breath, but I will believe none of it. So do not look to me for friendship or support. I will not be your ally. If anything, I will talk sense into Lachlan. You have done him enough harm. I will not stand by to see him hurt again.”
Catherine stood up. “I have no intention of hurting Lachlan, so you needn’t bother yourself.” She knew in her mind that Gwendolen had every right to be mistrustful of her, but her words were difficult to accept, for Catherine did not remember doing any of the things that aroused such hatred in the Lioness. “I am disappointed that you cannot forgive me for past wrongs,” she continued. “But I also understand my actions were deplorable. I will therefore leave Kinloch Castle as soon as possible. I have no wish to remain where I am not welcome.”
Lachlan entered the room just then, and they both said his name at once.
“Lachlan…”
He halted in the doorway. “What’s going on here? I see cheeks flushed with anger. Both of you.”
“We were just catching up,” Gwendolen told him with an obvious stroke of anger.
“She does not believe a single word of my story,” Catherine explained.
He approached and gave her a vicious look. “We’ll find out soon enough. Come with me now. Angus is waiting to see you.”
Her heart turned a somersault inside her chest. It was what she wanted of course. She had come here to meet her former lover, in the hopes that her memories would materialize and she would remember her old life.
Her hostess approached her. “What’s wrong, Raonaid? You look pale. Are you worried that my husband will confirm that you are attempting to deceive us all, and that he might confine you to the dungeon?”
Catherine felt sick to her stomach. “I am, in fact. And if that is his decision, I will accept my fate, but I will not rest until you at least believe that I am repentant.”
A look of surprise flashed across Gwendolen’s face, and she turned her eyes to Lachlan, who frowned and said, “Do you see my dilemma? She is not the same.”
With that, he gestured for Catherine to follow him out of the day parlor. When they reached the curved staircase at the end of the corridor, Gwendolen came running.
“I am coming with you,” she said, moving past them and leading the way up the stairs. “I must bear witness to this.”
***
“Did he forgive you for what happened a year ago?” Catherine whispered to Lachlan as they approached the solar, where Angus was waiting for them. She was seeking to calm her anxieties and wished to know if the great Laird of Kinloch was capable of forgiveness.
“We did not speak of that,” Lachlan replied.
“But you were gone for quite some time. Whatdidyou talk about?”
“You.”
That did not help the rickety state of her nerves, for she knew all the terrible things Raonaid had done. If Angus confirmed her as his enemy, the next few minutes could prove perilous—for according to Lachlan, she had tried to have Angus killed.
Oh, God,she should never have come here. It had been a terrible mistake.
