Page 120 of Ghost of the Ton

She nodded. “Of course.”

“And ye’ll keep yer promise?”

Mia rose and extended her hand. “Yes,” she said, approaching Iona, who took her hand, curling her thin fingers around Mia’s in a grip that was tight with desperation.

“I-I’m afraid of my confinement,” she said. “Evie almost died when she had young Billy, though that Shona is robust enough to birth over a hundred bairns. Will ye promise not to leave Glenblath until after I’ve had my baby?”

Another twig snapped, then a deep voice roared, “Until ye’ve had yer what?”

Mia turned toward the voice to see its owner emerging from behind a tree, hands fisted at his sides, his face contorted in pure rage.

It was Hamish.

Chapter Thirty-One

Sweet swiving heaven! Surely his ears deceived him?

But when his sister turned, Hamish saw the evidence in the form of her swollen belly.

“What the fuck is that?” he cried, striding out of his hiding place and gesturing to the evidence of his sister’s whoring.

Iona stepped back, her eyes gleaming with fear. Then the defiance returned.

“What do ye think, brother?” she sneered. “Surely even ye must know, given the amount of rutting ye get up to, what happens when a man sticks his cock in—”

“Iona.”

Though Hamish’s wife spoke softly, Iona paused.

“Try not to distress yourself,” Mia said. “As for you”—she turned to Hamish—“I thought you and I had agreed to remain apart. What are you doing here?”

Ignoring her question, he gestured toward his sister. “How long have ye known about this, Mia?”

“For some weeks, though I fail to understand what business it is of yours.”

“She’s my sister—and she’s unwed. Devil take ye, Iona, have ye no shame?”

“Oh, and I suppose the man had nothing to do with it,” Iona scoffed, folding her arms.

“Bloody Murdoch,” Hamish said with a huff. “I knew he was carrying on, but I didnae know he’d be so foolish as to succumb to yer advances.”

“Hamish, you don’t know—” Mia began, but he interrupted.

“Och, I do! Iona’s been wandering about at night like a stray cat in heat—been seen at all hours with Murdoch—but I didnae think she’d be so foolish as to spread her—”

“Stop!” Mia said. “It takes two people to make a baby. Your sister’s about to be a mother, yet the child will have a father, also.”

Iona let out a groan.

“Devil’s ballocks,” Hamish muttered. “I’ll have to speak to him.”

“No!” Iona cried. “Ye’ll do nothing of the sort. The fa…”—she wrinkled her nose—“the man who sired my child disnae want me. He called me a hure and said that any man could be the father.”

Fuck. It was worse than he’d thought. Was there a man in the whole cursed clan whom she’d not parted her thighs for?

But when Hamish saw the distress in his sister’s eyes, he silenced the voice of condemnation in his head. There’d be plenty of time to admonish her when she’d grown calmer.

As for his wife…