Page 37 of Claimed Highland Brides

SECRETS AND LIES

The squealing is what alerted her in addition to the high excited voices speaking all at once. She leaped out of bed, rushing to the door and flinging it open.

Catching sight of them milling about in the corridor, arguing about going to bed or waking her up, she screamed, "Jamesina! Ùna! Fenella! Maisie! Aileen!"

"Fiona!" they screeched back before lunging forward and surrounding her with love.

"We've missed ye so⁠—"

"Ye look pale⁠—"

"What have ye been up to⁠—?"

"Ye look thinner⁠—"

They all spoke at once, pawing anxiously at her.

She lifted up her hands to quell the excitement, smiling from ear to ear. "Lassies! Calm doon. We dinnae need tae all speak at the same time. Remember, we're no at hame. Try tae behave yersel'." The grin on her face diminished the strength of her words but Fiona couldn't bring herself to care. She was so happy to see her sisters.

"Come." She tugged at Ùna's hand and the others followed. "Let us retire tae my chambers and ye can tell me all aboot yer journey. What news from hame?" She was practically bouncing on her feet, so re-energized to have her sisters with her again.

* * *

Daividh rode hell for leather for Dunavar, unsure of what he would find but knowing he had to stop Fiona's marriage. Whatever Hunter's motives were he could only guess but whatever they were they seemed sinister in the extreme. He arrived in the middle of the night, alighting from his horse and walking it to the stables before retiring to his cottage. It had been a long hard ride but it was still difficult to rest, what with the new information he had obtained churning through his mind at top speed.

Laird Hunter had engaged in a jousting competition with Murdo Douglass, Fiona’s father, for the hand of her mother. He had lost and then had never sought to marry anyone else.

Was it love? Had he been pining for the woman?

It seemed unlikely considering everything he knew about the man.

Which meant there was an ulterior motive for his interest not only in Fiona’s mother but in Fiona herself. If he could only find what the link was involved in marrying into this particular lineage. The best way to find out was to ask Fiona herself. Even though she had specifically asked him not to pursue this line of inquiry, she had to acknowledge that he was right to do so. He could barely wait for sunrise so he could speak to her.

He sighed, lying back on his bed, hands placed behind his head, and stared at the ceiling. He did not really expect to sleep, but when he opened his eyes again, daylight was streaming in through the slats in his window.

He jerked upwards, startled, realizing he’d fallen asleep atop his bed with his boots still on. He snorted, shuffling off the bed, and went to conduct his ablutions. When he was as refreshed as possible, he trudged over to the castle, hoping to find out where Fiona was and snatch an opportunity to speak with her.

He was not surprised to find the castle already bustling but there seemed to be a lot more excitement than usual. He grabbed a passing footman. “Wha’s gang on?”

“Preparations for the wedding a’ course.” He grinned at Daividh as if he was the one getting married. Daividh’s mouth twisted in a sneer.

“Aye tha’s guid. Lady Douglass, where is she?”

The footman furrowed his brow as if thinking very hard. “She’s wi’ her sisters I believe. They’re fitting frae gowns. A seamstress was called this morning.”

“A seamstress?”

“Aye.”

Daividh was walking away before he even thought to thank the man, wondering what Fiona could possibly be thinking. Even after what he’d told her, she could not possibly be thinking about going through with this wedding. She was not that foolish nor that desperate. So why would she be trying on gowns as if she intended to walk down an aisle and be joined to this man?

He headed straight for her chambers and knocked imperiously on the door even as it occurred to him that he was courting scandal.

“Who is it?” a high piping voice called, and he knew it was not Fiona’s.

“’Tis Daividh Campbell. I wish tae speak wi’ Lady Fiona Douglass. ’Tis urgent.”

The door flew open and familiar green eyes peered out at him. Except this pair was attached to an excitable child clad in a bright yellow gown and looking up at him with those viridian orbs bright with curiosity. He stopped short, caught wrong-footed. “Er, guid morning t’ye.”