Raonaid gave him an icy glare and began to pace again. “What am I going to do? I hate them. All of them.”
“Not Catherine,” he said. “You cannot hateher.I know that you don’t.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You are not going to take me away from here, are you?”
He shook his head. “Not yet. You need to resolve all of this and get a sense of who you really are. Otherwise you’ll go on wreaking havoc on the world for the rest of your life. Besides that, Catherine needs your help. She needs her memories back, and there’s a stone circle on the hill that’s calling out to you, I can well imagine.”
She gave him a mutinous look, as if she was angry with him for guessing the truth.
“And then what?” she asked. “If I help that chit get her memories back, what do I do then? I can hardly join their ranks, and start living like a bluidy princess.”
He strode forward and regarded her steadily. “At the very least, you need to take the money. Catherine offered it to you, and by God, after what that wretched woman did to you on the day of your birth, you most certainly deserve to have it.”
Her eyebrows drew together with disbelief. “Do you really think so?”
“Aye, but don’t get too excited, Raonaid. It doesn’t mean I like you.” He turned to go back into the house.
She watched him for a moment, then quickened her step to follow, and gave him a small shove. “Nor I, you.”
***
Immediately after speaking to her grandmother, Catherine went searching for Lachlan. She was so afraid he had left and taken Raonaid with him. What would she do if she lost them both? She would simply have to saddle a horse and go riding after them.
As it happened, she found Lachlan in the blue guest chamber, which had been prepared for him. He was sitting in front of the window, lounging back in a chair with his big booted legs resting on the sill, crossed at the ankles. Outside, the sun was setting in splashing streaks of light and color, and the dusky-rose radiance beamed in on his handsome face.
His targe, sword belt, and pistol were all tossed onto a pile on the bed, and he was relaxing with a plate of pink sugar cakes on his lap. He popped one into his mouth and licked the frosting off his fingers with a loud smack.
Fully entering the room, she closed the door behind her.
Lachlan casually dropped his booted feet to the floor and swiveled in the chair to face her.
“Jesus, lass. You look like you’ve been through a war.”
“Ifeelas if I have.”
He set the plate of sugar cakes on the windowsill. “If it helps you to know,” he gently said, “I convinced Raonaid to stay.”
Catherine swallowed hard over all the emotions that were mounting up inside her. She was terrified that her sister would not be able to forgive the family and would never wish to see any of them again. But Catherine was equally afraid that Lachlan would simply walk out of her life tomorrow and put all of this complicated madness behind him.
She must have revealed some of her thoughts, for he rose to his feet and crossed toward her. “You’ve had a rough day, lass.” He slid a hand up the side of her neck and rubbed a thumb over her ear.
The sensation stirred a pleasant warmth inside her. Oh, how she longed to be held by him. She needed him now more than ever, and it was all she could think of—to lie with him again.
Closing her eyes, she turned her lips into his palm and kissed it. “I was so afraid you left me.”
He shook his head. “No.”
Catherine opened her eyes. “I don’t want you to leave. Not ever. I won’t survive if you do.”
“I don’t believe that for a minute,” he said. “You’re a survivor, Catherine, no two ways about it.”
Fighting to stay strong, she nodded and backed away from him.
“I just spoke to my grandmother,” she explained, working hard to regain her composure. “I told her that she was no longer welcome in this house. John agrees, and he is making arrangements for her to live elsewhere, on one of his other properties. He will provide her with servants and a small allowance, but that is all. Outside of that, we will say good-bye to her and her wretched little dogs. I don’t ever want to see her again.”
“How did she take the news?” Lachlan asked.
“Surprisingly well, as a matter of fact. She didn’t utter a word of disagreement. In fact, she barely looked at me. She kept her back to me the entire time, and simply gazed out the window.”
