When the servants came to take away their plates, Angus lounged back in his heavy chair and signaled for more wine.
“Have you decided,” he asked Catherine in his deep Scottish brogue, “how you wish me to proceed in regards to your current predicament, my lady? We can have you escorted back to Drumloch at first light, if that is your wish.”
“I am grateful to you, sir,” she replied, “for your kindness and hospitality. I will wish, of course, to be reunited with my family, but what I desire most of all—aside from meeting my twin—is to recover my memories and learn where I have been for the past five years. You have helped immensely by confirming my identity and the existence of my twin. I had not known of it, and I long to know the truth. If I were in possession of magical powers, I would summon my grandmother to this table tonight, so that I could ask her directly about the circumstances of my birth, but alas, I am without such magic, so I will have to be patient, until I am reunited with her.”
Angus leaned forward. “What do you require, Lady Catherine? I can send a man tonight with a written letter if you wish. Or as I said, I can make the necessary arrangements to deliver you back to your family.”
Catherine sat back in her chair and considered the options presented to her, then turned her eyes to Lachlan.
He nodded once at her, to indicate that he, too, was at her service. Whatever she needed, he would provide it.
“Perhaps a letter would be the best thing,” she decided. “I want my grandmother to know that I am safe and in the care of good people. Also that I chose freely to leave Drumloch and travel here in order to learn about my past.” She regarded Angus again. “Then—if you could arrange it, sir—I wish to travel to Edinburgh to meet my sister.”
He took a deep breath. “I will see to all of it. Every detail.”
“Thank you. But I have one final request, and that is for Lachlan to be my escort. He has brought me this far, and I trust him to see me safely to my destination.”
Angus turned to his wife, who picked up her goblet of wine and took a slow sip, regarding her husband warily over the rim of the cup.
Gwendolen turned and addressed Catherine. “I understand your desire to meet your twin,” she said, “but I must warn you that you may be disappointed. She is not like you, Lady Catherine. She has lived a life apart from the world, and she has lashed out at me and my husband, and Lachlan as well. We will not stop you from traveling to Edinburgh, of course, but please keep your wits about you. Do not become too hopeful. She is not to be trusted.”
Catherine gave her a melancholy smile. “I thank you for your honesty. I will certainly heed your advice, and I hope that one day I will be in a position to repay you both for your generosity. You have been very kind.”
Dessert plates with sugar cakes and buttered cream were placed before them, and the conversation turned to other, lighter topics.
Afterward, they all went together to the Great Hall, where musical festivities had begun. Gwendolen took Catherine across the Hall to meet a group of prominent clanswomen while Lachlan remained with Angus.
Lachlan picked up a tankard of ale from a passing servant. “Does everyone know that she is not Raonaid?” he asked. “Because if someone makes that mistake, they will need to be corrected.”
“Everyone has been informed,” Angus replied. “I suspect she will become an object of fascination,” he added, “especially among those who have met Raonaid in person.”
Lachlan took a deep swig of the ale. “Identical twins, yet opposite in every way. Gwendolen was right to warn her against becoming too hopeful, and believing she will discover a true loving sister in Raonaid. I’ll not leave Catherine alone with her, that is certain.”
Angus glanced at him sharply. “It is true,” Angus said, “that Raonaid is volatile, but do not forget that she was my lover once, for a full year. I would not say this to my wife, Lachlan, and if you repeat a word of it to her, I will knock your head off your shoulders. But I am not sure what would have become of me if Raonaid had not taken me to her bed that first night when I arrived in the Western Isles, after being forsaken by my father. I might have kept riding straight into the North Atlantic.”
Lachlan regarded his cousin with disbelief. “But she betrayed you. She provided your enemies with information that resulted in an attempt on your life. You were poisoned and hung from the battlements, and she tried to frame Gwendolen for it.”
“She did so because she felt abandoned.”
Lachlan regarded him with dismay. “How can you defend her? She was malicious and vengeful. I became a victim of her malice myself, when I wasn’t even the one who jilted her.”
“You were the one who came to her home and stole me away.”
Lachlan turned and watched Catherine converse with the other clanswomen. She was Raonaid’s identical twin, but when he looked at her he did not see the witch.
“What are you trying to say to me, Angus?”
His cousin finished his ale and set the tankard on a table. “I know how much you despise Raonaid, but your pretty heiress might not take your side if you go to war with her sister. Be prepared for that, Lachlan. Be prepared also for the fact that her family would never approve of you. They would rather see your neck in a noose than have you as a son-in-law.”
“Who said anything about marriage?” Lachlan asked.
Angus studied his eyes. “I saw how you looked at her at dinner.” He paused. “Be careful, Lachlan. This curse of yours… it has more power over you than you know.”
“You don’t need to worry about me,” he replied. “I’ve survived this long, haven’t I?”
“It’s notyouI’m worried about. It’s her. And since I have given my oath to ensure her protection, I intend to send an armed guard with you to Edinburgh. A few of my best men, extra horses, supplies, and a cook.”
“That’s not necessary,” Lachlan told him.
