Jamie shook his head. He might have put it together at any time, but he hadn’t. Maybe he hadn’t wanted to, had avoided making connections, not wanting Sheena to be a Fergusson. Now he realized it didn’t matter at all. His feelings about her, his wanting her, were not going to change.
“Did you hear me, Jamie?”
“What?” Jamie focused on Alasdair.
“I said old Dugald would probably be agreeable to your suit, if you were so inclined.”
“He’s already refused to give her to me,” Jamie said absently.
“You asked for her then?”
“’Twas the condition for my release from his prison that I marry one of his daughters,” Jamie explained. “But Sheena wasna offered.”
Alasdair laughed wryly. “The others dinna compare to her.”
“So I suspected at the time.”
“Och, well, you were saved from that—and by Sheena herself. I always wondered why she helped you.”
Jamie thought quickly. He wasn’t going to betray Niall now.
“She helped me because she feared me. She thought her father meant to give her to me.”
“Yet you knew otherwise.”
“Aye. I used any means to get out of there, and I’m no’ sorry. Better to cultivate a small lie than to have a poor lass forced on me as a bride. You know my temper, Alasdair.”
“That may be, Jamie, but ’twas Sheena who ended the loser, banished for helping the enemy.”
Jamie sat up. “Banished?”
“I was surprised myself, but the old man was hurt by her betrayal, her being his favorite and all.”
“So that is why she was in Aberdeen,” Jamie mused to himself.
“She still is in Aberdeen, as far as I know.”
Jamie relaxed. It was only a harsh-soundingword, “banished.” And if Sheena had not been sent to Aberdeen, Jamie would never have seen her again after that time in the glen.
He thought for a while. Sheena must have willingly accepted the guilt in order to protect Niall, while Niall had let Jamie go so as to protect her. The lad wouldn’t have let her take the blame unless she’d insisted. How ironic! In trying to keep her from Jamie’s clutches, the brother and sister had in fact led her straight to him.
“I wouldna worry over it, Alasdair,” Jamie said lightly. “The fact is, Sheena is old Dugald’s favorite, and he’ll forgive her in time.”
“I suppose. But I wonder if I’ll ever forgive myself for the burst of temper that made me lose her.”
“Look at it this way, Alasdair. You’re probably no’ alone in wanting her. Many men have and many more will, but only one can win her.”
“The one who does will be a lucky man, and no mistake.” Alasdair sighed.
“That he will.” Jamie grinned, feeling quite lucky himself at the moment. “And now I must be leaving you, though I do indeed thank you for coming. You’re welcome to stay, of course. I should be returning in a few days.”
“And where are you off to in this weather?” Alasdair asked, surprised.
Jamie laughed, unable to contain his bubbling mood any longer. “To Aberdeen, to win a bonny lass.”
“Sheena?” Alasdair was growing bewildered.
“Aye.”
