Page 43 of Reviving Her Highland Spirit

“Wait!”

There was a breathless pause. Callum didn’t remember getting down from the saddle, but here he was, boots planted on the grass, face to face with Maggie, his hand around her wrist, pulling her back.

Maggie raised her eyebrows, and Callum released her wrist.

“Wait, Maggie, please,” Callum murmured.

“What is it?”

“I… I have something tae tell ye.”

She frowned. “Something tae tell me? What do ye mean? What’s happened?”

Callum squeezed his eyes closed. Every instinct, all finely tuned by Rufus’ careful instruction and well-taught rules, screamed at him that he was about to make a terrible, terrible mistake.

But Callum was going to make it anyway.

“I’m not who ye think I am,” he said finally. “Ye are right about that.”

“I don’t understand.”

He drew in a breath. “I never knew my mother. It was just my Da and me. I never minded. We were poor, and he was a mercenary for hire, or something of the sort. I can’t remember a time when we weren’t hanging around some battlefield or other. That sort of life isn’t easy, and ye cannot survive for very long.”

Maggie shifted, taking a step closer. She was confused, he could read that in her expression, but her eyes were fixed on his. She was listening. Callum continued, speaking quickly so that he wouldn’t lose his nerve.

“It’ll not be a surprise tae hear that I was orphaned at a young age. My Da died on a battlefield when I was five. I remember it all, ye know. Memories at that age are supposed tae be blurry and unclear, but not these ones. I remember every detail. I found my Da’s body, and I remember even though I was so young, I thought, now what? What will I do now? I’d have died if it hadn’t been for a man coming across me, there on the battlefield, and deciding to keep me.”

Maggie’s eyes filled with sympathy. “Oh, Callum.”

He shrugged. “It happens. I’m not the only child who’s ever suffered. This man brought me up, fed me, clothed me, and taught me tae survive. Tae all intents and purposes, he became my father. I love him like a father, and he means the world tae me. He told me about the McAlisters, and the fight for the title of Laird McAlister, but his story was different tae the one ye told me.”

He could see understanding dawning on Maggie’s face. She knew, but she didn’t know that she knew. She was beginning to realize, however, that Callum was not who she’d thought he was.

Time for the moment of truth.

“Can ye not guess who that man was, Maggie?” Callum asked, smiling sadly.

Maggie swallowed. “Who was it?”

“His name was Rufus McAlister. Most people called him Red Rufus.”

There was a second of silence between them, and Maggie’s eyes flared wide with fear. She took a step back, and Callum grabbed desperately at her hands.

“Don’t look at me like that, Maggie, please. I can’t bear it. Don’t look at me as if I’d harm ye.”

“But ye would harm me! Red Rufus wants us all dead!”

“I know.”

“Ye know, and yet ye came here anyway? Ye took me out riding, let me teach ye how tae swim, and all the time ye were plotting tae kill us?”

“I didn’t know what ye were all like,” Callum said, releasing her hands. He wanted to pull on his hair, scream in frustration, or do something to let out the confusion he felt inside. “I thought that ye were all wicked. Then I saw what it was like here at the keep, I met ye, and… the truth is, Maggie, I don’t know what tae believe.”

“Do ye really think we’re usurping, murderous monsters?” she asked quietly.

Callum held her gaze for a long moment.

“No,” he said softly. “I don’t. But I cannot betray Rufus, Maggie. He’s like a father tae me. I owe him my life. I love him, Maggie, I love him like a father. I cannot choose.”