“I saw how he looked at ye,” Margaret said. “He cared for ye.”
“Ye mistake lust for affection,” Sybil said, rolling her eyes. “Once his lust was satisfied, I’d be a constant disappointment to him. Can ye see me living in the wilds?”
“I can see ye doing anything ye put your mind to,” Margaret said.
In any case, it was too late to change her mind. Rory was anxious to return home. Without her to hold him back, he would be many miles away by now. He would soon forget her and make some lucky Highland lass his bride. Sybil’s heart clenched in her chest at the thought.
“Perhaps you’ll meet him again one day,” Margaret said, and patted her hand.
God forbid. While Sybil wished Rory happy with all her heart, she most definitely did not wish to see him with his beaming wife on his arm.
“Margaret!”
The shout coming up the stairs jarred Sybil from her thoughts. It was William, the last person she wanted to see. Without pausing to think, she dove under the bed. She pulled her skirts out of sight just as the door scraped open.
It slammed shut and William’s polished boots came toward the bed.
“Good evening, husband,” Margaret said in a soft voice.
“Where are Sybil and that Highlander?”
“He left the castle, and Sybil has gone to bed,” Margaret said.
“I don’t want your sister here,” William said. “We’re already in danger because of your brother. Her presence here can only make our situation worse.”
A shiver went through Sybil. What did William intend to do?
“Why did she have to come here?” William said. “’Tis bad enough that I can’t rid myself of one of Archie’s sisters, but I must have two of ye?”
Sybil was sorely tempted to kick William in the ankle.
“I understand your concern,” Margaret said in a soothing tone. “But Sybil is my sister. Of course we must protect her.”
“We must do no such thing!”
Sybil watched his boots as he stomped to the side table, and she heard the gurgle of liquid as he poured himself a cupof spirits. He must have guzzled it, for a moment later he slammed his cup down.
“I know ye can’t be suggesting we turn her out, dear,” Margaret said. “She has no place else to go.”
“No place to go? Ha,” William said. “That lass had half the men at court eating out of her hand. Let one of them take the risk of sheltering her.”
“Ye know verra well that, despite Archie’s efforts to persuade her, Sybil refused to accept any of them for her husband.”
“None of them will take her as a wife now—but theywilltake her.” William gave a harsh laugh. “James Finnart has been a fool for Sybil for years. She should have gone to him. With his father in favor with the queen and the regent, Finnart can do whatever he likes.”
“She despises Finnart,” Margaret said. “She would never go to him.”
“Finnart would teach her to mind her tongue.Damn it, that lass is troublesome,” William said. “But at least Sybil looks as if she would be a lively bed partner and a good breeder—unlike the sister I got.”
William wielded his sharp tongue like a blade to pierce Margaret’s heart. Sybil lay helpless under the bed with tears of rage stinging her eyes as the conversation continued its unpleasant course, with his voice loud and angry and Margaret’s soft and placating.
Marriage.God save me from it.
As soon as William left the chamber, slamming the door behind him, Sybil crawled out from her hiding place and put her arms around her sister.
“By the saints, ye shouldn’t allow him to speak to ye that way,” she said.
“Ye can’t blame William for being disappointed with my failure to birth a child,” Margaret said. “He wants one as badly as I do.”
