Page 79 of Love with a Scottish Outlaw
“Duncan.”
He didn’t look at her. His movements got more explosive, and she thought he’d rip a hole in the bottom of the bag.
She repeated his name more firmly, then put a hand on his arm. He froze. She could feel the terrible tension of his muscles, a faint vibration from holding himself still when she knew he was desperate to do something.
“Welcker hit her,” he said through gritted teeth.
She caught her breath. “Winifred? She told you that?”
“Nay, of course not. She thinks she has to protect me, but her servant said she had a bruise on her face after the encounter.”
He was still clutching the bag with both hands, as if he needed something to hold onto as he accepted the blame for everything that went wrong.
“I have to go to her,” Duncan said.
But he held the bag and looked at it, as if unseeing.
“And then you’ll have made her bravery useless, because you’ll be captured. This is just what the sheriff wants.” The words of advice took even her by surprise.
Duncan bowed his head and shuddered. Hoarsely, he said, “I cannot continue to hide while people risk themselves defending me.”
“You’re risking yourself for their children. Do you think that means so little to them?”
She took the bag from his hand and pushed him down into a chair. To her surprise he didn’t resist, but now that she could see his face, she saw the impassive mask that didn’t hide the pain in his dark eyes. Duncan had never known any kind of peace. He’d inherited terrible problems when he’d become chief, perhaps too young to chart the wisest course in solving them. He’d made mistakes when he’d first tried to save the children, and he’d learned from them. He suffered for what those mistakes had cost his family and friends. She would admire any other man who’d accepted such responsibility, grown in wisdom, and never surrendered. But none of that excused how he’d used and betrayed her.
With his elbows on his knees, Duncan put his face in his hands and just sat there. She imagined how she’d feel if someone harmed her brother because of her.
She put her hand on his back. He felt so stiff and unyielding, but after a moment, he let out a heavy sigh. She didn’t know how long they remained like that, didn’t understand her own emotions that twisted between pity and the simmering anger over his betrayal.
At last he sat up, and she let her hand drop away, tempted to look at her hand as if it didn’t belong to her.
She had to distract herself. “The sheriff discovered nothing from Winifred.”
“So it seems.”
“Is Winifred’s husband strong enough to protect her?”
“He’s a lawyer for the town council. He has power in his own right.”
“Then that’s what you have to focus on. Winifred wants to protect you and your mission.”
“If only children could feel safe,” he said with frustration. “Then we could live in peace.”
“It will happen. When you’ve caught the sheriff in the act of stealing children, what will you do?”
“Take him to the High Court in Edinburgh, where he has no influence, no support from the magistrates. I have many witnesses, even children, ready to tell their story. Until then I cannot stop—”
“Winifred doesn’t want you to stop.”
Stoically, he said, “I know how terrified the bairns feel; I know what it’s like to think no one can help ye. At least I was fed and housed. To be taken away from all ye’ve known, barely fed, fearing to be thrown into a world without sympathy—” He stiffened. “Aye, I cannot stop. If it takes the rest of my life, I’ll make the children of my clan feel safe.”
She knew he’d allow himself no softness, no comfort, no peace until then. But if he took her home, and she told her brother what had happened, Duncan might be accused of yet another crime. The twinge of guilt she felt angered her. She wasn’t going to have him thrown in gaol, but she wasn’t going to let him suffer nothing for what he’d done.
“So what will you do about Winifred?”
She saw his jaw clench, but his voice was almost mild as he said, “I will write to her and thank her for her bravery.” He glanced up at her. “But I won’t risk her sacrifice by going to her. My thanks for your wise words.”
“I said nothing that Ivor did not say, that you did not know yourself.”
