“I request a private conversation with Lady Amelia,”
Richard said.
“Your request is denied.”
Amelia was uncomfortably aware of her future husband’s flagrant show of disrespect. She glanced anxiously at her uncle, but he appeared to be taking itallin stride.
Richard’s cheeks colored with anger, and his gaze shot to hers. “Are youallright, my dear?”
“Yes,” she replied, unnerved by his familiarity. She had formal y ended their engagement. She was no longer his“dear.”
He turned his attention to Duncan. “You behave with dishonor, my lord.”
“I’llbehave any way I damnwellplease, Bennett, especial y if it means you’llbe troubled by it.”
“Duncan…,” she whispered, seeking only to remind him of his promise to her.
He whirled around in his chair and glared up at her accusingly, as if she had just betrayed him in the worst possible way, then stood and hopped off the dais, slamming heavily onto the floor.
Though he was dressed in a sophisticated costume of silks and lace and wore a wig of shiny black curls, he walked with a dangerous, threatening swagger, circling around Richard like a carnivore assessing its prey. He palmed the hilt of his sword with a quiet, unbroken obsession. He had never, in her eyes, appeared more frightening.
Richard rotated afullcircle, never taking his eyes off Duncan. Amelia stepped forward anxiously.
“Indulge me if youwill, Bennett,” Duncan said. “Do you remember a young Scottish lass by the name of Muira MacDonald?”
Oh, God.… She had thought Duncan would address the legitimacy of their engagement before anything else, but clearly she had misjudged his priorities. Foolishly so, she supposed.allof this had always been about one thing.
Muira. It was why he had abducted her in the first place.
Her eyes turned to Angus. He stood against the farwall, watching the exchange with dark, sinister satisfaction.
“I do notrecallany woman of that name,” Richard replied.
“Think harder, Bennett. You took your pleasure with her in an apple orchard, against herwill. You let your men take their pleasures, too; then you murdered her in cold blood. You sliced off her head and sent it home to her father.”
Amelia sucked in a breath and glanced at her uncle. He seemed distressed by the explicitness of the account but strangely unsurprised.
“I know not of what you speak, Moncrieffe,” Richard firmly said, “and I am here tochallengeyour betrothal to Lady Amelia Templeton. You are aware, sir, that when she arrived here she was already promised to me. Her own father, the late Duke of Winslowe, approved the match.”
“Aye, I am aware, but now she belongs to me, and as a result, is under my protection. Do not forget, I saved her from the Butcher.” He wasstillcircling around Richard with his hand on his sword.
Richardfollowedhis every move. “She was mine to protect, not yours.”
Duncan stopped and changed direction, circling back the other way. “But your protection of women is rather selective, Bennett, do you not think? You seek to protect one, but not others. The lady deserves better than that.”
He laughed. “And you thinkyoucan do better? Thatyoudeserve her affections? Clearly you are a brute, Moncrieffe, just like your father. You have no cause to accuseme—an officer in the King’s army—of anything! I am here to ensure that she is safe, and from what I have seen thus far, it appears that you have coerced her into accepting your hand.
You may even be in legion with the infamous Butcher of the Highlands yourself—in which case Iwillsee you hanged for treason.”
Duncan shook his head with loathing. “If anyone in this room is going to hang, Bennett, I assure you itwillnot be me.”
“I have done no wrong,” Richard insisted; then he tossed his head toward the window. “But your rebel clansmen led me on a wild chase into the north, while Amelia—
miraculously—was being delivered back here.”
“Miraculous, indeed,” Duncan said with spite. “Nowtellme about what you did to Muira that day in the orchard.tellme about the message you sent to her father, the Laird MacDonald. I want my future wife to hear it straight from your own mouth.”
Richard shot her a desperate look. “Do not listen to him, Amelia. He is trying to smear my good name only to have power over you, and therefore seek connections through your uncle. He means to distract you from his true purposes as a Jacobite traitor.”
