Page 4 of My Highland Rogue
I wish that I could offer you comfort at this time, Gordon, especially since you were such a solace to me when my mother died.
Again, I am sorry to have to convey such sorrowful news to you.
With my best regards,
Jennifer
London, England
Gordon stared at the letter in his hand. Jennifer. He would have recognized her distinctive script anywhere.
He read the letter again and then a third time. Finally, he folded it and placed it in his pocket, knowing that he would read it again.
He was sorry about Betty, but in actuality his mother had spared little attention or affection for him. It was as if one day she’d been presented with a baby and didn’t quite know how to treat it. As a stranger? As an imposition?
She’d done both.
He would say a prayer for her, not because it was anything that Betty had taught him, but because it was something the countess had once said.It serves us ill to be unkind to those who are not kind to us, Gordon. Instead, we should treat them with love, demonstrating what we’ve been taught in the Bible.
He withdrew the letter from his pocket and stared at it again.
Two years. It had been two years since he’d seen Jennifer. Two years of wondering why she’d given McBain his notes to her. Why had she betrayed him like that?
Yet the woman who’d written him didn’t sound like someone who’d believed him beneath her. Or someone who’d wanted him gone or considered him an intrusion in her life.
Perhaps she’d changed in the past two years.
As far as her news, he saw no reason to return to Scotland now.
Or ever.
Chapter One
Autumn, 1870
London, England
“You’ve gotten a letter,” Maggie said, standing in the doorway of his office.
He glanced up at her.
“A letter?”
She entered the office and handed it to him.
“I opened it by mistake,” she said. “I’m sorry, Gordon. It’s bad news.”
She came to stand by his chair, her hand on his shoulder as he read.
“Is there anything I can do?”
Her enunciation was perfect, but then she’d been practicing for the past five years. She’d wanted to eliminate all traces of the east end from her voice. She had already done miracles with her dress and personal hygiene.
Maggie had been his introduction to London. The minute he’d stepped off the train he’d been robbed.
No doubt he’d given off an aura of being naive and gullible. After all, London had been nearlyoverpowering for someone who’d spent his life in the Highlands. However, he’d never been truly naive, thanks to Betty, and he was becoming less gullible with every moment.
He’d known who robbed him immediately, had caught up with her and grabbed her wrist, spinning her around and staring down into her face.
