Page 47 of Savage Kilted Highlander

“Aye, m’laird. I was shocked when I saw her with him. I thought he was tryin’ tae make off with Lady Agnes as well. I dunno what the meanin’ of it all is,” Tav finished with a helpless look.

“Well, I’m sure Constance will be able to shed some light on that presently,” her father said, fixing his piercing gaze upon her. Constance wondered how she was going to explain it all and persuade her father not to punish Bane. But she loved him, and she was determined to do it somehow. She would stand by him, even if it cost her her last breath.

“But in the meantime, wait here,” her father instructed and promptly left the room.

“Where’s he goin’?” Tav asked, looking after him in obvious confusion.

“I think he’s probably gone to tell Agnes that I am here,” Constance replied, filled with nervous anticipation at the prospect of shortly meeting her twin. “Well, actually, she does not yet know of my existence,” she corrected herself. “I only recently found out about her, and I know it is going to be quite a shock for her when she finds out she has a twin.”

Tav came closer to her and looked at her curiously. “So, ye really are Lady Agnes’s twin sister?”

“Is it not obvious?” she asked. “I am told we look almost identical.” She could not help staring at him, fascinated both by the similarities and the differences between the brothers. Tav was equally as tall as Bane, and he looked just as strong and capable, but where Bane was broad and muscular, Tav’s build was lean and wiry.

His dark, brown hair was cut very short, but he shared enough facial characteristics with Bane for her to easily see the family connection.

Tav’s face was leaner, harder, and more weathered than Bane’s. There was something hawkish about him, which his bright blue eyes added to. He looked like a man who could take care of himself. In fact, she thought, he looked like a killer. Yet she did not find him at all intimidating.

“Aye, I can hardly tell the difference between ye. Ye’re as alike two peas in a pod,” he agreed, looking her over with an expression of wonder. “I really thought ye were Lady Agnes back there in the woods.”

“Bane made the same mistake,” she explained. “But surely, you can tell by my accent that I grew up in England?”

“Aye, I didnae notice it at first, I admit, with all the fuss goin’ on. But now, ’tis obvious. So, tell me… Lady Constance, is it?”

She nodded and smiled warmly at him, feeling an instant kinship with him. “Just Constance to you, Tav. I have heard so much about you from Bane, it would not sit right with me for you to address me so formally. I feel I already know you.”

He looked a little dubious. “What’s he been sayin’ about me?”

“Oh, do not worry. He thinks the world of you. That is why he came all the way here, to find you.”

“Aye, so he said.” There was something odd about his tone as well as his expression as he spoke, something almost shifty, she thought, finding it puzzling.

Why is he not overjoyed that Bane has sought him out?

“So, was he abductin’ ye or nae?” he asked.

Before Constance could answer him, the door opened, and both their eyes turned towards it. Her heart leapt into her throat as her father entered, and she began to tremble when she saw the young woman who stepped tentatively into the room behind him. Constance stopped breathing for a long moment, stunned to see an almost perfect mirror image of herself standing just a few short feet away. Agnes’ expression reflected the tension that charged the air, a mixture of shock, excitement, and curiosity. An instant connection seemed to crackle palpably in the air between them.

Time stopped. The room, Tav, Bane, their father faded to nothing. The world consisted of them alone.

“Sister?” Agnes murmured questioningly, not taking her eyes from Constance. At the sound of her twin’s voice, so like her own, a great bubble of joy welled up inside Constance and burst forth in an irrepressible smile of joy. She took a step towards Agnes, every fibre of her being wanting to be near her twin.

“Yes, Agnes, it is me.” Then, for some reason, she found herself saying, “I am very pleased to meet you.”

Agnes’ features lit up as she stepped towards Constance. “I had nay idea until a few minutes ago that I had a sister, let alone a twin,” she said, her Scottish brogue the only discernible difference between them.

“I know. It must be a great shock to you, as it was to me when I first found out about you,” Constance replied, her voice shaking as they moved nearer. She held out her hands to Agnes not wanting to push her too much. “I hope you are as happy to meet me as I am you.”

“Happy is nae the word,” Agnes said, and suddenly they were both laughing uncontrollably as they rushed towards each other and embraced, as people who love each other do when they have been parted for a long time. The emotions that rushed through Constance as she held her sister in her arms, and felt Agnes arms enfolding her tightly in return, were almost overwhelming. She could feel Agnes shaking just as she was. Their laughter was punctuated by tears of joy as they continued to hug each other, then draw back to look at each other in delighted amazement, before falling on each other again, as though they would never let go.

Their reunion was everything Constance had hoped for, and much, much more. She felt it as an indelible bond that nothing would ever break.

“We shall never be parted again,” she whispered to Agnes.

“Aye, never!” Agnes whispered back as they continued to hold each other, laughing and crying at the same time.