Because he wanted her so badly, he could not bear to be near her.
Chapter Fourteen
“I suppose this confirms that I am Lady Catherine Montgomery,” she said, working hard to recover her composure as she turned to face Angus and Gwendolen in the solar. “But how is it possible that I have a twin who is widely regarded as a witch? My family never mentioned such a thing.”
“What did they tell you?” Angus asked.
“That my mother died in childbirth and my father never remarried. As far as I knew, I was his sole heir and he left his entire unentailed fortune to me.”
Gwendolen approached and touched her arm. “You should sit down, Lady Catherine. You’ve lost all your color.”
She realized suddenly that the room was spinning. She feared she was going to be ill.
Angus went to pour her a drink from the sideboard while Gwendolen led her to a chair.
“Permit me to apologize to you,” her hostess said. “I will never forgive myself for how I treated you earlier. I was wrong not to believe you.”
“It was a misunderstanding, that is all.”
Catherine sat down, but declined the drink Angus offered while all the sounds in the room grew muffled, as if she had just dunked her head underwater.
It was one thing to learn she was not a deranged witch when she had spent the past five days preparing herself to accept such a fate. It was quite another to learn that she had a sister. A sister who, evidently, was separated from her at birth and had turned out to be a mystic.
If that was true, no one at Drumloch seemed to know of it. Or if they did, they were all keeping it a well-guarded secret.
“A room has been prepared,” Gwendolen said. “I will take you there now.”
“But I must decide how to proceed,” Catherine argued.
On top of everything else, there still existed the question of where she had been for the past five years and why she could not remember any of it.
And what of her strange behavior at the standing stone? Did she have the same gifts as her sister, and if so, had she had them all her life?
Gwendolen laid a hand on her shoulder. “We can decide that later. For now, let me show you to your chamber. You must be terribly distraught, Lady Catherine. I hope you will take some time to rest and absorb this news.”
Catherine finally agreed, and Angus accompanied them to the door.
“You will dine with us this evening,” he said, “and we will discuss what must be done. Rest assured, Lady Catherine, that as chief of the MacDonalds of Kinloch, I am at your service. No harm will come to you.”
“Thank you.” She was indeed reassured, knowing that she was in the care of the great Scottish Lion, and that he no longer considered her his enemy. It was something, at least, to be thankful for.
She and Gwendolen exited the solar together and headed toward the tower stairs.
“Will Lachlan dine with us as well?” Catherine asked as they began their spiraling descent.
She imagined him, at this moment, preparing to leave Kinloch again, to continue his quest to find the woman who had cursed him.
She might never see him again.
“I cannot say,” Gwendolen replied. “Angus is not pleased with him. Aside from the fact that he cut him with a sword a year ago, then left without a word, he has just committed a crime by bringing you here.”
“How so?”
“You are worth a great fortune, Lady Catherine, and I am sure your family did not sanction your removal from Drumloch. In their eyes, he kidnapped you, which implicates my husband as well. I expect there will be some angry words exchanged between the two of them in the next little while.”
Catherine followed her hostess down the curved staircase and into a wide stone passageway, lit by a number of torches.
“I do not wish for him to be punished,” Catherine said. “You must inform your husband that there was no abduction. Lachlan did not plan it that way. Iaskedto be taken.”
