“To renew our alliance. I hadna seen or heard from you since well ’afore the betrothal. I wasna sure how you felt about it.”
“I didna like it, and no mistake, but since you came to your senses, there’s no hard feelings.”
“And if I had wed the lass?”
“We would no doubt be enemies one day.”
“But, Jamie—”
“Dinna take me wrong, Alasdair.” Jamie cut him off. “I wouldna have ended the alliancebecauseof your choice of bride. But your alliance with the Fergussons wouldna have been mine. You ken? The feud would have gone on as usual, but with you in the middle. Eventually you would have had to choose sides.”
“No’ if your feud ended.”
“There’s no chance of that, now they’ve begun it again,” Jamie said tersely. “Did you no’ learn of my sojourn in the Fergusson dungeon?”
“Learn of it?” Alasdair replied bitterly. “’Twas what led to the breaking of my betrothal.”
“Well then, I fear I’ve greatly misjudged you. Ididna think you would choose sides ’afore the wedding.”
“Dinna mistake me, Jamie. ’Twas no’ a matter of choosing sides then, though I might have been forced to it if I’d know you were there. You see, I was unaware of your capture until after you were gone.”
“They blamed you for my escape then?”
“The lass was quick to accuse me, to be sure,” Alasdair said coldly.
“’Tis no wonder you withdrew your suit.”
“I was furious, and no mistake. But you know for yourself who the guilty one was, Jamie. Now, dinna take offense, but the fact is, she betrayed her family in aiding you, and any lass who would betray her own family might betray a husband some day. I couldna very well marry her after that. Don’t you agree?”
“You mean to say your betrothed was blamed?”
“Who else? Her own cousin saw her near the dungeon and was quick to say so.”
Jamie laughed, unable to help himself. This was wonderful. So the lad had not suffered for his help, and the favorite daughter no doubt got off lightly. He would have liked at least one Fergusson to suffer for his humiliation, just so long as it was not the boy.
“I dinna see any humor in it, Jamie,” Alasdair said testily. “I’ve regretted breaking the betrothal a hundred times since, for I did want that girl more than I’ve ever wanted any other.”
“Och, well, there are indeed lasses who can getinto a man’s blood, and no mistake,” Jamie concurred, sobering.
“But none so beautiful as she,” Alasdair said wistfully.
“Beautiful, is she?” Jamie smiled. Alasdair had assumed he knew what the lass looked like. “You think so?”
“You jest, Jamie.” The older man gasped. “Why, there’s none with red hair so dark, blue eyes so crystal clear, or skin so white and flawless. They dinna call her the jewel of Tower Esk without good reason.”
Jamie sat up, his stomach wound into a knot. The description mirrored the image that was so constantly in his mind. There could not be two girls so alike, could there? It was just too unlikely, too…
“Her name is just as lovely, I suppose?” Jamie prompted.
Alasdair’s eyes snapped. “Why do you toy with me, Jamie? Can you no’ see I’m suffering over the loss of her?”
“Of course. Forgive me, Alasdair. But I did warn you I was no’ in the best of moods. I havena been since first seeing Sheena. Mayhap I was taken with her, too.”
Jamie waited breathlessly. Would Alasdair say, “Sheena’s not the name of the lass I’m talking about”? Or was he right?
Alasdair grinned, confirming everything. “Och, well, your dilemma is worse than mine. To have tender feelings for your enemy’s daughter! Even if theold man would be giving her to you to end the feud, she’d no’ like that one bit. Willful she is, and wants to choose her own mate. I would go to Aberdeen and try to win her for myself again if I thought she’d have me. But the truth is, she was never keen on our match. ’Twas her father’s wish, and of course you know why he chose me.”
Jamie sat back and closed his eyes. He was no longer listening. A flood of memories rushed through his mind one after the other. The coincidences. The similarities. Sheena being at the glen on Fergusson land the first time he saw her. Niall’s hair like hers, the father’s eyes like hers. The boy’s curiosity over what Jamie would have done with the girl at the glen, his anger over the answer. Sheena’s accusations against the MacKinnions, her fear and distrust of him, her desperation to get away. And, finally, there being no “Erminia MacEwen” in Aberdeen. He’d stake his life there was an ErminiaFergusson.
