The Marquess's Scottish Bride

by Lauren Royal

  So much ill luck had befallen her lately.

  She had to get to Adam. Everything had gone wrong, but this one thing—this one thing—had to go right. With her emerald or without.

  SIXTY-EIGHT

  “WHAT DOES Scarborough look like?” Kendra whispered as she and Ford quietly entered the church.

  “How on earth should I know?” Scarborough had already left his house when they’d arrived there to alert him of his brothers’ plans. “We’ll have to ask around after the service. Surely there will be time to warn him.”

  The ceremony hadn’t started yet, but everyone was seated. At the far end, a harpsichordist played a gentle tune. Ford drew Kendra along one wall, so they could view the assemblage. “Jason thinks Gothard won’t show up until the reception—”

  “Look! There’s Cait’s brother, Adam!”

  “Silence!” a matron warned, turning in her seat to give them a cold gray glare.

  Kendra ignored her, reaching into her drawstring bag for the miniature that Caithren had left in her hands in the park, when she’d run off to find her hat. She thrust the little painting at Ford. “He looks taller than I expected, but of course you can’t tell height from a portrait. It’s him, is it not?”

  He frowned at the picture. “This fellow looks oddly familiar.”

  “Because he’s Cait’s brother and looks like Cait.”

  “Makes sense.” Ford looked back and forth between the man and the small oval portrait. Though his clothing was less flamboyant, the gentleman in question did indeed share the same wheaten hair and hazel eyes as the man in the painting. “Could be,” he mused. The features weren’t exactly the same, but close. Perhaps the artist wasn’t very talented.

  “Go back outside,” Kendra said. “I’ll bring him.”

  “We can’t. It’s about to begin—”

  The music had changed to a sedate march, and the groom was taking his place, but Ford’s protest was futile. Kendra was already down the aisle and tapping Cait’s brother on the shoulder.

  When he looked over, startled, she leaned close to whisper. “May I speak with you a moment?”

  Looking confused, he nodded and rose to follow the twins outdoors.

  They’d barely reached the steps when Kendra turned to him and began babbling. “I realize you don’t know who we are, but your sister is—”

  “I don’t have a sister,” the young man interrupted.

  Kendra and Ford looked at each other. Ford handed him the miniature. “Are you not Adam Leslie?”

  “Nay.” The man stared at it, then looked up. “Where did you get this? Adam is dead.”

  Kendra gasped. “Adam is dead?”

  “I’m his cousin, Cameron Leslie.” Cameron stuck out a hand. “And you are…?”

  Ford grasped and shook it. “Ford and Kendra Chase. We got the portrait from Adam’s sister, Caithren. Our brother has gone after her. She meant to come here to find Adam, but she was—”

  “—delayed,” Kendra finished for him. No sense alarming the fellow right off.

  “I received word of Adam’s death and came to fetch my cousin back home.” Cameron’s hazel eyes filled with concern. “Wore out four horses getting here, because she said he would be at this wedding today, and it’s the only place in England I knew for certain I could find her.”

  “If she doesn’t make it here for the ceremony, she’ll be at the reception.” Kendra reached to touch him on the arm. “My brother will make sure of it.”

  SIXTY-NINE

  CAITHREN ROSE again and walked slowly around the chamber, pacing off her nervous energy.

  “Sit down, wench,” Wat growled from the front room.

  She sat back at the table.

  She shouldn’t be surprised that Jason wasn’t coming for her. He’d ridden halfway across the country chasing after Gothard, and he was determined to find him. Saving Scarborough’s life also figured into the equation. Of course those goals were more important to him than she was.

  Well, if he didn’t come, at least he couldn’t be detained—or worse, shot—by Wat. Though if he did show up, he could probably defend himself against this sorry fellow. Wat was definitely missing something upstairs.

  That weakness of Wat’s should be a boon to her as well. She took a deep breath. He was still in the other room and didn’t seem to be watching. Now was as good a time as any.

  Slowly she stood, sliding the pewter plate off the table as quietly as possible. Hiding it behind her skirts, she drifted to the window, reached out and turned the latch, pushed it partway open—

  “What the deuce do you think you’re doing?” In a flash of fury, Wat came up behind her. She whirled and raised the heavy pewter plate, smashing him atop the head with all the strength she could dredge from her body. The spoon went flying, along with putrid bits of dried meat and gravy that rained down on them both.

  Wat yowled, but he didn’t go down. Evidently he was dim and hard-headed.

  Red with rage, he came after her. She scooped the spoon from the floor and aimed its handle for his face, hoping to get him in the eye. She missed, grazing his sunburned cheek. Bright blood beaded up in a ragged line.

  With a growl, he wrested the pistol from his waistband.

  Dim-witted or not, he could shoot her dead. She was already braced to bring up her knee when she heard the click of the flintlock being cocked. Icy fear gripped her heart. She shifted, thrusting both hands to force Wat’s arm toward the ceiling.

  As she tried to wrestle the gun from him and bring it butt-down on top of his hard skull, a blast tore through the air. Her ears ringing, she felt his body go limp and slump to the floor.

  Panic rose in her throat as she stood there, the pistol in her hands, watching blood well from a neat round hole in Walter Gothard’s head.

  “THEY’VE GOT to be here,” Ford said. “Criminy, there are just too many people.”

  The wedding celebration was in full swing. Lord Darnley’s house was lit with hundreds of candles. Wine and other spirits flowed freely, and the resulting raucous laughter rang through the halls, the ballroom, and into his garden beyond.

  “They?” Cameron asked. “I thought we came here to find Cait.”

  “We also need to find the Earl of Scarborough.” Kendra’s gaze scanned the glittering room before she turned back to Cameron and frowned. “But we don’t know what he looks like.”

  “And two other men,” Ford added, his words directed into the milling throng. “My brother accidentally killed someone, and we don’t know who he was. These two men were witnesses. I’ve seen them and think I remember what they look like, but I’ve yet to spot them here. A serving maid in a tavern told me one of them might be named Balmforth.”

  “Balmforth?” The blood drained from Cameron’s face.

  “Yes.” Ford craned his neck, still looking.

  Kendra’s gaze was riveted to Caithren’s cousin. “Whatever is wrong?” she asked.

  “Balmforth—”

  “There they are!” Ford took off, threading his way through the crowd of revelers.

  “Are you all right?” Kendra stared at Cameron. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “Nay. It’s only—” His mouth opened, but no more words came out.

  She gestured toward the silk-upholstered chairs lined up against the tapestried wall. “Would you like to sit down?”

  “Nay.” He shook his head as though to clear it. “Lady Kendra, I don’t know how to…” He blew out a breath. “Here they come.”

  Ford walked up with the two men, his face as white as Cameron’s. Whiter, even. Kendra clutched his arm. “What is it?”

  Her whispered words failed to carry through the din that surrounded them, but it didn’t matter. Ford knew what she was asking. “The man Jason killed…” he started, then just looked helplessly at the other young men.

  “He was Adam Leslie,” Cameron said. “Cait’s brother.”

  SEVENTY

  CAITHREN HEARD the door latch r
attle in the other room. Geoffrey was back. Somehow he realized his brother was dead.

  While she waited for him to burst in and murder her, she knelt for the tenth time in as many minutes to feel Wat’s neck for a pulse. Nothing.

  The rattling stopped, but she felt little relief. Tears flooded her eyes. Trembling, she sat back on the floor and hugged her knees to her chest. For long minutes she stayed that way, rocking herself, a human ball of misery.

  Her head jerked up when the window moved, a disembodied hand shoving it open the rest of the way. Through a blur of tears, she watched a second hand clench the ledge. A head and shoulders appeared—wide shoulders and unruly red hair beneath a man’s hat. A woman hoisted herself up and through the window, landing on the floor with the grace of a cat.

  Her heart pounding in fear and confusion, Caithren rose. The woman topped her by a good foot—she was taller than Jason or any man Cait knew. A sword hung from her belt, and a pistol peeked from the top of one boot. She was dressed like a man, but no one would have taken her for one. Ever.

  Cait dashed her tears away and blinked. She heard another rattle of the door latch, but she was too stunned to react. “You…you’re…”

  “Emerald MacCallum.” The woman stared pointedly at Wat. “I take it he’s dead?”

  “I-I reckon so.”

  Emerald reached to touch Cait’s hand. “Don’t fash yourself, dear. I don’t normally hold with killing my quarry, but these brothers…well, the world is better off without them.”

  “B-but I’ve never killed a man! And I didn’t mean to, even though he was such a bad one. I swear on”—Cait reached for her missing amulet, then let out a sob—“on my mam’s grave.” She searched Emerald’s golden eyes, tears falling from her own. “Will I ever get over it?”

  “Nay.” The single word was blunt, yet kind. Emerald patted her on the back. “But others will thank you for it, and some day, you’ll realize it wasn’t really wrong. You’ll never get over it completely, but you will learn to live with it.” She backed away toward the window. “It will, however, change you, maybe even for the better.”

  Her hand on the sill, Emerald stilled. “A wee keek back keeps you on the right path.”

  For a moment, Caithren could only stare. One of Mam’s sayings. Let life’s experiences guide you forwards.

  “You came for the reward,” she said softly, remembering Jason accusing her of the same.

  The other woman nodded, then shrugged and turned to duck out. Their gazes both flew to the ledge when another hand appeared beside hers, larger and squarer, with a light sprinkling of black hair across the back. Caithren gasped. A second hand settled next to it, then a face rose into the frame.

  Jason’s face, though so colorless Cait feared for his life.

  Emerald reached down a hand and pulled him up and into the room.

  He stood there, visibly shaking, looking back and forth between Caithren and the woman he’d once thought her to be. Before he could say anything, Emerald climbed out the window and was gone.

  He looked back to Cait, his face still pale, his eyes wide. “Was that Emerald MacCallum?”

  “Aye.”

  He shook his head, then fixed her with an intense green gaze. “Are you all right?”

  Though she wasn’t hurt, she also wasn’t all right. Tears threatening, she bit her lip.

  “Caithren?” he asked uncertainly. He held out his arms and she rushed into them, fresh tears flowing at the feel of him crushed against her. She drew deep of his familiar, comforting scent, underlaid with a trace of the sharp smell of fear. He was warm and solid in her arms, his body still shuddering.

  With a long sniff, she pulled back. “I…I cannot believe you climbed up the wall. Four stories, with your fear of heights.”

  “What do you take me for?” He looked hurt. “I love you, Cait. I would move heaven and earth to make you safe. Climbing that wall was nothing.” At her look of disbelief, he released a shaky laugh. “Well, not nothing, but I would do it again. For you. But give me a few days first, will you? I need some time to recover.”

  She laughed through her tears, reaching forward to clutch his hands in hers. “Geoffrey went to the wedding to find Scarborough. You were right, Jase—he was wearing the fat man disguise, with the beard—”

  She broke off at his gasp. His gaze was riveted over her shoulder.

  “It’s Wat.” Her lids slid closed, but the tears leaked through them anyway. “I didn’t mean to kill him, I swear it.” She opened her eyes, willing Jason to believe she hadn’t done such a terrible thing deliberately. “I hit him over the head, but he didn’t fall, and then he pulled a pistol, and it went off, but it was pointing up in the air. I don’t know what happened!”

  Jason looked up at the ceiling. “It ricocheted.”

  She followed his gaze and saw the Elizabethan molding was damaged. “I only meant to knock him out so I could go find Adam—”

  At her brother’s name, she froze. With a mighty effort, she pulled herself together. She had no time to feel this wrenching regret; not right now. She’d allow herself that luxury later.

  “I must get to the wedding. It’s sorry I am to rush out on you just now, but I’ve come all this way, and—well, you’ll be wanting to go, too, will you not? Gothard is there.”

  “Cait. There’s something I need to tell you. I meant to this morning, but Gothard—”

  “I know. There are reasons you don’t want to stay with me. We’ll talk of it on the way.”

  He took her by the shoulders. “That’s not it, Cait.” His eyes and voice were frantic. “Not at all. You mustn’t think such a thing—”

  She pressed her mouth to his, to silence his proposal. He’d scaled the wall for her. She’d been wrong, and he loved her enough, after all. Her heart sang with joy, but she hadn’t time for such things now.

  She put her answer into her kiss, an embrace of such fiery possession that he had to know how she felt. Reluctantly she pulled away, knowing soon she would have all the kisses she could want. He loved her. She’d never doubt his love again for the rest of her days.

  He’d climbed four stories for her. The equivalent of a mountain for other men.

  “I love you, too, Jase. We’ll talk of it later. I must get to the wedding.”

  “You don’t understand—”

  At the sound of pounding she tore her gaze from his and hurried into the front room, Jason at her heels. He yanked her back just as the door slammed in, barely staying on its hinges.

  Beyond its frame, Kendra and Ford stood in the half-dark of the corridor. And behind them, rubbing the shoulder he must have used to break down the door—

  “Cameron?” Confused, Cait stared at him in disbelief. He looked pale. As Jason moved behind her to shut the door to the bedroom, she took a wooden step forward.

  “Cait.” Her cousin pushed his way between the twins and wrapped her into a hug that smelled of home. “Cait—I’m…” Laced with sympathy, his voice faltered. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Why?” Her gaze flickered to the door shielding the other room. Could the news of Wat’s death be spreading already? “It was an accident, Cam.”

  He pulled away, searching her eyes with his. “You knew it before now, then?”

  She only looked at him, baffled.

  Jason peeled away Cameron’s arms and took her by the shoulders. “Caithren. The thing I’ve been trying to tell you…”

  He looked down at his boots, then back up and straight at her. His eyes held such pain, she was taken aback.

  A cold knot formed in her stomach.

  He drew a strangled breath. “Adam is dead. At my hands.”

  She was speechless. Adam was dead? It didn’t seem possible.

  Jason’s green gaze implored her, but she couldn’t get past the shocking news to figure out what he was asking of her.

  “There was a duel. Geoffrey Gothard pulled your brother from the crowd and used him as a shield. I wasn’t fast enough—or skilled e
nough—to control my blade. And Adam died for it.”

  “Adam is dead?” Her words were barely a whisper. “And you knew it and didn’t tell me?”

  Jason just looked at her for a long, silent moment. Then he turned and walked out through the empty doorway, into the emptier world beyond.

  SEVENTY-ONE

  FORD CHASED Jason down the corridor. “You cannot just leave!” He plucked him by the sleeve. “How long have you known?”

  “Nearly two days. I felt wretched keeping it from her, but I just couldn’t tell her. I knew it would be like this.” He wrenched from Ford’s grasp and continued walking.

  Ford ran after him. “You knew it would be like what?”

  “She hates me. Couldn’t you see it her eyes? Whatever feelings she had for me just died.”

  It had been even worse than he’d thought it would be. Much, much worse.

  “I couldn’t stay and watch that. I love her. Gothard’s well and truly ruined my life.” He started down a narrow flight of stairs.

  “You never would have met her without Gothard.” Ford’s voice came from behind him. “She’s in shock. She might need some time to absorb it all, but if she loved you before, she still will. It was an accident.”

  At the bottom of the steps, Jason whirled. “I killed her brother. Her brother. Do you reckon I’d find forgiveness for the man who killed you, or Kendra, or Colin? It was bad enough when the man was nameless. This isn’t easy to live with, Ford.”

  He stopped and took a deep breath. Inside him was naught but an abyss of grief and regret and guilt. But he had to look outside himself right now. He had other responsibilities.

  “Go back to Kendra and Cait,” he said. “And—her cousin, is he?” Ford nodded. “She loves him—he will comfort her much better than I could. She killed Wat, you know.”

  “What?”

  “Wat’s in the back room. You’ll need to send for the authorities. I take it you warned Scarborough?”

  “Criminy.” Ford’s eyes widened. “No. We ran into her cousin and learned the truth and—egad, I forgot. We came straight here to tell Cait what we knew, and—”