“What if I told ye we have done naught save what ye saw. We are two who cared for each other at Grant, but were denied the chance to be happy together. What ye saw was a moment of weakness.”
“If ye thought anyone would believe that, ye wouldna offer to see me sent away.”
“People will believe what they wish, no matter what the truth may be.”
Mary stilled, thinking back over what she’d seen. The encounter was damning, but not conclusive. She’d debated long into the night whether she should tell her father, but in the end had decided hearing this tale would do him more harm than good. “At Grant, were ye lovers?”
“Ye try my patience, Mary. I have made ye a fair offer.”
“And I must think on it. My father’s happiness is important to me. If your heart is given to another, he will be displeased.”
“What he doesna ken canna hurt him.”
Mary didn’t like the implied threat. “Aye, it can.”
“Ye say ye, too, are trapped here. I can free ye.”
“Only my father can do that.” Her father and the right man.
Mary’s heart swelled at the idea of being able to marry a man she loved. Seona’s offer should please her, but it also worried her. She liked being a distraction if she stood in the way of whatever Lady Grant wanted her daughter to accomplish, or Seona’s own goal of betraying her husband with her guardsman. There were so many possibilities. Keeping Seona off-balance might keep Mary’s father alive.
In addition, she and Cameron had developed such a rapport that Seona’s promise to convince her father to send her away soon could be disastrous. With Cameron gone to Sutherland and God only knew where else, she feared what her father might do. Yet, before he left, Cameron had not promised to return. He’d merely asked her not to forget him, and she didn’t know what he meant.
“Think on what I have said,” Seona told her.
Mary heard the warning for what it was. “I will think of little else,” Mary promised and left her to the peace of the kirk.
Seona didn’t fit in at Rose. She’d done her bestnotto adjust to her new home. And if Mary was right, she’d brought her lover with her from Grant and refused togive him up. Mary’s father was ill and unhappy. Mary, ever the dutiful daughter, could not imagine leaving Rose any time soon.
A soft knock woke Cameron.Trouble? He rolled from bed and pulled on a shirt, then picked up his dirk before answering. “Who is it?”
“’Tis I,” a woman’s low voice penetrated the thick oak. “I need to speak with ye. Let me in before someone sees me.”
Nan—he recognized her voice. She was one of the women who’d regularly watched him practice at arms. A distant cousin visiting Sutherland from another of his father’s holdings, she often flirted with him, but she’d also flirted with other men. He’d believed she meant nothing by it.
Cameron debated for a moment. Whatever she hoped to accomplish at his door in the middle of the night could not be good for him. At least his shirt covered him to his thighs, but if they were caught together in his chamber and she made it appear Cameron had dishonored her, they could be forced to wed and Mary would never be his.
Yet, Cameron’s curiosity burned. She might have information he needed, or there might be trouble in the clan that she, an outsider, had noticed. He opened his door a crack. “What is so urgent ye must see me in the middle of the night?” Cameron peered down the dark hallway in both directions.
“Let me in,” she demanded, hands on hips. “I willna discuss this in the hall.”
“Ye canna be in my chamber, especially no’ in the middle of the night.”
“Would ye rather I screamed?”
With a sense of doom, Cameron regretted not fully dressing nearly as much as he regretted opening the door. He stood back and let her enter, but left the door open.
She closed it. “I’ve seen ye notice me while ye practice,” she allowed, turning back to him. Her gaze lingered on his body before she added, “Ye seem kind, so I thought ye worth spending some private time together, aye?” Stepping closer, she placed a hand on his chest, studied him for a moment, then nodded, apparently having come to a decision. “My heart is given elsewhere. My father wants me to be sure before he agrees to any match I prefer.”
Cameron relaxed a trifle. She wasn’t here to trap him into marriage. That left one possibility, one he knew very well how to manage.
Cameron trained as hard as he dared during his time at Sutherland, fully expecting his father to send him on another mission soon. His side no longer bothered him, and his strength was nearly what it had been before his injury. The lasses noticed his improvements, as well. While the men’s practice always garnered a few who paused to watch when their chores brought them near, lately there were more, laughing and cheering and commenting to each other behind their hands. The lads liked the attention.
Cameron did, too, but not when it led to midnight visits. He wasn’t surprised when she added, “Yer brothers caught my eye, but yer father sent them away.” Her hands slid down his chest to his belly and paused, her gaze onhis, as if asking, or even daring him, to allow her to continue lower. “They’re no’ here, and ye are.”
Cameron frowned, insulted, but also amused. “So, I’ll do?” He laid his hand over hers, then took a step back. Though tempted to play along, she wasn’t worth the trouble she could cause, especially if she pursued one—or both—of his brothers when they returned. The sooner he got her out of his chamber, the better. “Ye dinna need to do this, lass.” He didn’t want to hurt her feelings or anger her. But he must convince her to leave.
“What if I want to?”
