Page 76 of Deception and Desire
“She lied to me.”
“She omitted the truth, aye,” Colin nodded. “But she didna lie exactly.”
“How can ye justify her dead father?” Lachlan stuck his chin out. “How do ye forget something like that?”
“I was there.” Colin turned and poured two glasses of scotch and handed one to Lachlan. “I’d forgotten about it myself. It was one sentence of an hour we spent together that first meeting.”
He took the offered glass and sat back down, his ire dimming. “It doesna change the fact her mother despises Scots.”
“I agree with ye there. But that’s no’ Fenella’s fault.” Colin tossed back his drink. “She should have told ye, though. But what’s done is done.”
“How can she say she loves me when she doesna trust me with the truth?” He’d said it. The core of the problem, what bothered him the most.
“She’s willing to turn her back on her family for ye. I’d call that love.”
Lachlan opened his mouth to argue but refused to give Colin the satisfaction. Of course, he was willing to do the same. Orhadbeen willing to do the same. He shook his head. “I’ll no’ take the responsibility for this. She’s at fault here, the complicit party.”
“It’s no’ always about who is to blame.” Colin let out a loud sigh and rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “Please, Lord, send me patience, then strike this mon with a lightning bolt of sense.”
“It wouldna help.”
“Answer me this, then. Do ye miss her?”
Lachlan turned away from his cousin.Like the scent of spring during a fierce winter.
“That’s what I thought.” Colin’s tone softened. “I’ve learned over the years that a mon needs affection as much as a woman needs to be cherished. Dinna choose pride over love. It willna warm yer bed in the years to come.”
*
Mid-October 1819
MacNaughton Castle
“Ye seem abit sullen, Lachlan.” Calum crossed his arms over his broad chest, his bushy black brows furrowed. The men were in the sitting room, a place where family members had gathered each night for generations. Black Angus and Brownie lay before their masters on a thick wool rug. “We’re planning a grand ceilidh for yer aunt’s homecoming and added a wedding, yet my grandson looks as if he’s lost his best hound.”
“I wasna expecting Ross Craigg’s daughter to be part of the celebration. I’d rather spit in the mon’s eye than congratulate him.” He glowered at the miniature portraits framed in silver or delicately carved wood lining the mantel.
“Ah, then ye’ve no’ heard the entire story yet.” The MacNaughton settled into the overstuffed leather chair and picked up his pipe from the table beside him. A large, worn Bible took up most of the surface. Peigi often read from it in the evenings at her husband’s request.
The peat fire in the hearth popped and glowed as the men sipped their aged scotch.
“We’d gone into Dunderave with Maeve and Gideon.” Calum chuckled. “The reverend invited Gideon and me to his cottage for a wee swallow and to settle a dispute.”
Lachlan snorted. The MacNaughton was well known for hiswee swallows.
“Ross Craigg was up to his usual trickery, accusing MacDunn of stealing his sheep.” Calum paused and lit a tinder, then put it to his pipe, soft puffy circles emitting the sweet scent of tobacco. “The reverend had the sheep at his house until I could settle the quarrel. It was obvious the lug mark had been tampered with to look like MacDunn’s. Gideon asked the reverend if the two families had any recent confrontations.”
Lachlan let out a bark of a laughter that caused Brownie to raise her head. He scratched her floppy ears absently as his grandfather continued the story.
“I remember MacDunn’s son had been sweet on Craigg’s daughter in the spring. But when Ross found out the two in the wood last Beltane, he forbade them to see each other.” Another puff of the pipe, and Calum leaned back against the worn leather, his silver and black hair gleaming in the fire’s glow.
“I didna ken they tried to run away later in May. MacDunn caught them and sent the girl back.”
“Ye’d think Craigg would have been grateful,” grumbled Lachlan.
Calum shook his head. “He might have been, until the girl’s belly began to swell.”
Lachlan swore under his breath. “So, this was about revenge?”
