Page 60 of Taming the Scot
“Aye.” Hector lifted his teacup and stared at her over the rim, searching her face for any hint she might know what he was saying. “There’s a race to the finish between him and me.”
“A race?” She shook her head with a little laugh, dipping her fork into the eggs. “I’m afraid ye’re speaking in riddles, sir, and I was at a ball until quite late into the evening.”
“I am shocked, I tell ye.” Hector slapped the table, and though she tried hard not to react, she was certain he caught her wince. “I thought ye were part of the scheme. The way the two of ye looked at each other, I would have thought ye were in love. Or at least pretending it. I confess I thought it was the latter. Euan’s no’ really the one-woman type, which is what was going to make this so much fun.” He laughed and scooped up a massive bite of eggs and shoved them in his mouth.
But then she realized what he’d said, and her blood chilled in her veins. The way they’d looked at each other…When had he seen them? The man had been spying, watching. A cold knot of fear thudded in her belly as she imagined him slinking around the gardens at the ball or outside the corridor to her bedroom. Worse still, sitting in the wardrobe and peeking through the crack.
He pointed his fork at her. “Ye have to be in on the ruse. Ye’re lying. I must say it’s been well done. I was worried for a minute, but now, ye’ve shown me I have nothing to be concerned about.”
She didn’t like the accusation about whatever it was he thought she was part of. This ruse he kept talking about. She was more caught up in the fact that he’d been watching her, and she felt extremely violated by that.
Irritation swept through Bronwen, and that ire was overshadowing any confusion she might have had before. The facts about the secret and what had been kept from her paled in comparison to what he was saying to her now. This man was talking in circles, and she had no idea what in the blazes he meant. “Sir, I still do no’ know what ye’re talking about, and I’ll ask ye to be clear. Are ye saying ye’ve been spying on me?” Her voice came out a bit tarter than she had intended, but she didn’t feel guilty about it in the slightest.
“So forthright.” He grinned, pieces of egg stuck between his teeth. “I like that. And so I’ll tell ye exactly what ye want to know.” He slurped at his tea and then said, “There’s been a race between Euan and me to see who can catch a bride first, make her fall in love with us, and then have our bairns. Whoever wins gets all this.” He held up his hands, indicating the room, and on a grander scale, everything that Euan held dear. “And more. Drum Castle is on the table, as well as Bonshaw Tower.”
The last few words sounded as though they were coming at her through a bubble as blood rushed through her skull. So this was the secret. And why he must have thought she was in on it. Pretending to be in love with Euan. My God, she was a fool.
“Like a bet?” she managed to ask, though her voice sounded very far away. Bets she knew well. Bronwen despised gambling—that was behind the demise of her parents. She took a sip of tea in hopes it would ease the lump in her belly that was slowly swelling and spreading itself through her limbs.
Was everything a lie? The way Euan had charmed her, toyed with her since the moment she’d entered his house. The confession of love…begging her to be his wife. The taking of her virginity to trap her. Had he actually meant it when he asked her to marry him, or was that all part of his massive scheme to win a bet and his inheritance? And to think that Maggie and the rest were in on it. Bronwen’s chest felt as if it were going to explode, and every breath became painful. Before, her face had felt cold and bloodless. Now heat rushed there as her anger and disappointment rose. She’d known it was too good to be true.
How stupid could she have been? To think that man of noble blood, a man as handsome and well off and wonderful as Euan, would love her. That his sisters would want to be her friend.
She was going to be sick.
“Aye, exactly like a bet. And I’m going to win.” Hector flashed a grin that said as much and also promised not to be pleasant about it.
Despite her vision blurring and her body going numb, she could still utter words, however weakly. “How so?”
Hector’s grin widened, taking on the look of a demented wolf. “Because ye’re going to marry me.”
Bronwen dropped her fork with a clatter on her plate and sat back, her spine flattening to the chair. Had she heard correctly? This man was insane if he thought she was going to marry him. That was a mad scheme and never going to happen. Now that she knew the truth about Euan, she’d be remedying their false engagement. “I beg your pardon, sir? I will no’ marry ye, nor anyone else.”
He looked a little surprised to hear that, as if he’d been expecting her to announce her engagement to Euan was off, and she’d gladly take up with him instead. Thirty minutes ago, she might have proudly boasted her betrothal, but now she knew too much.
“As I said, lass, I know who ye are.” Hector’s gaze darkened ominously, and all the smiles were gone from him now, however sinister they’d been. No more laughter. All the cruelty she’d seen lurking beneath the surface laid itself out for her to see. “When I found out about ye, I looked into your past. No’ too many Bronwen Holmes in Edinburgh, especially matching your description.”
His gaze fell to ogle her breasts in a way that made her feel undressed and unclean. Not at all the way Euan had appreciated her. God, but she’d been so stupid. Last night, she’d thought she was special. In love. Going to be cherished for the rest of her life. But Euan had said as much when he first met her, and so had his sisters—he could charm the stockings off of any woman he wanted. And she just so happened to be the closest and easiest target. From the beginning, he’d not taken their lessons seriously, had made only noncommittal noises about finding a bride, but had worked hard to court her.
But Euan’s treachery was not the point right now. Currently, she needed to deal with this man who knew too much about her.
“Seems as though ye’ve got a few men on your tail that want something from ye. I’ll pay them off.” Hector’s voice drew her back. Was he the reason they’d found her at the ball?
She pressed her spine so hard into the spindles of the chair that she was doubtless going to have bruises to mark the occasion. The lead lump in her belly was now a ball of fire, and she kept having to swallow to keep herself from casting up her accounts. Euan had lied to her. A lot. Confessed his love to her, heard her confession to him in turn. And it was all a lie. A ruse to get money, property. A way to get things. And this man knew about her, her parents, the brutes that were after her.
She’d been a pawn, again. And now this man would make her one too.
The family she sought, a future where she wouldn’t be used, had all been a big fat lie. A challenge in a long string of conquests for Euan. And now for his cousin. The pain in her chest was unbearable, as if she’d been stabbed repeatedly in the heart. Almost as excruciating was that his sisters, whom she’d let in and loved in turn, had also lied to her.
She wanted to run. To excuse herself from the table. Slip out of the house and back to her cousins, asking for help one final time. But this man knew too much. If he knew who she was, he would know her cousins, and the way evil dripped on him like water in the rain, she was certain he would make her pay through them.
More so, though she’d thought those brutes wouldn’t find her in this imposter’s guise, they had—and likely at this foul man’s behest. What happened to her last night in the alley had likely been Hector’s doing. But why? Was he trying to ruin Euan’s chances? If he were willing to have her attacked in the streets, there was no telling the lengths he’d go to.
But Euan had saved her, Bronwen’s heart lamented. There had to be some feeling inside him if he was willing to put his own life in harm’s way for her. Perhaps he’d only done that because she was already his mark. And he didn’t want to lose a bet.
Then why make love to me? To trap her further, she supposed.
“I can see your mind whirling, lass, and ye need no’ trouble yourself so much. What I offer is genuine and true.” His face was serious now and a little kind. Well, not kind. Pity was what she saw. “I will offer ye a safe home, and ye’ll be well cared for. After all, ye’ll be the reason I get what I want, what I deserve. How could I no’ cherish ye?”
