Part 14 (1/2)
Unable to answer the bold challenge in her eyes, Jamie turned his back on her, turned his back on them all. He paced a few steps away to the edge of the bluff and stood with hands on hips, gazing off into the misty gray haze that hovered over the distant moors. That was when he heard a most unexpected sound behind him.
Emma was laughing.
He slowly pivoted to find his men retreating yet another step, as if they feared a fresh explosion of his temper, this one even more damaging than the last.
”Haven't you figured it out yet?” Emma asked, her eyes sparkling with tears. His men might mistake them for tears of mirth but he knew better. ”The joke is on you. The earl wouldn't waste so much as a handful of s.h.i.+llings to save me. I have no value in his eyes. I was never anything more to him than an empty womb where he could plant his seed. And G.o.d only knows there are plenty of those for sale between here and London.”
She shook her head, her husky ripple of laughter mocking them both. ”You've tortured my poor family and dragged me halfway to h.e.l.l and back for naught. He's never never going to give you what you want. He doesn't care what you do to me. So there's no longer any need for you to play the gentleman.” This time it was her turn to close the distance between them. Stopping so close he could see the agitated pulse fluttering in the creamy column of her throat, the enticing quiver of her bottom lip, she tipped back her head to look him in the eye. ”So go ahead, Jamie Sinclair. going to give you what you want. He doesn't care what you do to me. So there's no longer any need for you to play the gentleman.” This time it was her turn to close the distance between them. Stopping so close he could see the agitated pulse fluttering in the creamy column of her throat, the enticing quiver of her bottom lip, she tipped back her head to look him in the eye. ”So go ahead, Jamie Sinclair. Do your worst.” Do your worst.”
For one dark moment, Jamie was tempted to do just that. Tempted to seize her by the hand and haul her deep into those ruins where he could show her just exactly what he would do if she were his woman.
Everything he would do if she were his woman. he would do if she were his woman.
”Jamie?” Bon's voice was barely a whisper.
Jamie continued to gaze down into Emma's eyes, transfixed by the unforeseen power of her pa.s.sion.
”Jamie?” Bon repeated, more urgently this time.
”What in the bluidy h.e.l.l do you-” Jamie swung around just in time to see Graeme come staggering out of the trees on foot. Jamie swung around just in time to see Graeme come staggering out of the trees on foot.
Chapter Twenty-two.
GRAEME WAS CLASPING HIS ribs in a white-knuckled grip. One of the boy's eyes was swollen shut and an ugly bruise, already beginning to yellow around the edges, stained his clenched jaw. ribs in a white-knuckled grip. One of the boy's eyes was swollen shut and an ugly bruise, already beginning to yellow around the edges, stained his clenched jaw.
Several of the men rushed to aid him but it was Jamie who reached him first. He slipped an arm around Graeme's shoulders just as the boy's legs began to crumple beneath him.
”Would've been here sooner...” he rasped out, leaning heavily against Jamie's chest. ”d.a.m.n horse threw a shoe a few leagues back.”
As his men gathered around them, Jamie eased Graeme to a reclining position on the ground, stricken by guilt. He should have known Hepburn wouldn't have any qualms about shooting the messenger. He should have sent Bon-someone who was as crafty as the Hepburn, someone who wouldn't have underestimated the auld buzzard's potential for treachery.
”What did those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds do to you?” Jamie demanded, wincing along with Graeme as he ran a careful hand over the boy's battered ribcage.
”Nothin' I won't survive.” Graeme grinned up at him, his split lip giving his smile a rakish tilt. ”Got in a few good licks meself, I did. Made those fancy footmen o' the earl's think twice aboot knockin' heads with Graeme MacGregor.” Reaching inside his jacket, Graeme tugged out a leather pouch, his hand trembling ever so slightly. ”I did just what ye said, Jamie. I gave the Hepburn yer letter and he said to give this to ye.”
Jamie accepted the offering, managing a pained smile of his own. ”You did us all proud, lad. Especially me.”
As Jamie rose, Lemmy dropped down to take his place, tugging Graeme's head into his lap with a gentleness that should have been impossible for his enormous hands.
Jamie gazed down at the Hepburn's missive. No cheap foolscap this but a thick sheet of creamy vellum, folded into perfect thirds and sealed with a daub of crimson wax bearing the Hepburn's crest.
He broke the seal and carefully unfolded the paper beneath the watchful eyes of his men.
Even though he'd never learned to read, Bon bounced up and down on his tiptoes in a desperate attempt to see over his shoulder. ”Don't leave us danglin', lad. What does it say?”
It didn't take Jamie long to scan the handful of curt words scrawled on the paper. He refolded it with painstaking care. He had imagined this moment for so long, had antic.i.p.ated the dizzying rush of triumph he would feel.
But as he lifted his eyes to meet Emma's questioning gaze, he felt nothing but a piercing stab of regret. ”He's agreed to our demands. The ransom is to be delivered on the morrow.”
He only managed to hold Emma's gaze for an elusive moment before she turned and disappeared into the ruins without a word.
EMMA SAT AT THE EDGE OF the round stone platform that had once housed the old bell tower of the abbey, hugging one knee to her chest. The roof and most of the walls of the structure had collapsed long ago, leaving the platform open to the sky and reachable only by a flight of narrow stone stairs worn nearly smooth by rain and time. the round stone platform that had once housed the old bell tower of the abbey, hugging one knee to her chest. The roof and most of the walls of the structure had collapsed long ago, leaving the platform open to the sky and reachable only by a flight of narrow stone stairs worn nearly smooth by rain and time.
The wind that usually raged so pa.s.sionately over this mountain had subsided to a mild breeze that sighed against her cheek and toyed with the loose tendrils of hair at her nape. The moon hung over the uppermost peak of the mountain like a glowing pearl, twice the size it had been in Lancas.h.i.+re yet still far beyond her reach.
A loose pebble went skittering off the far edge of the platform.
She turned, unable to stop a treacherous surge of hope from leaping in her heart. But it was only Bon who emerged from the shadows at the top of the stairs. He hovered at the fringes of the moonlight, plainly uncertain of his welcome.
”Don't worry, Bon. It's safe,” she a.s.sured him. ”I'm not armed.”
He moved to stand beside her, his snaggle-toothed grin no longer menacing to her eyes but winsome. ”The way ye were handlin' that bow today, I'd wager a man's heart will never be entirely safe as long as ye're around.”
”Perhaps that's why your cousin is so eager to be rid of me,” Emma replied lightly, hoping to hide the bitter edge in her voice. ”Why aren't you down there celebrating with him? He must be beside himself with joy. After all, the earl is about to give him his heart's desire.”
”He still won't tell me or any o' the lads what that is. And it's not like Jamie to keep secrets from me.”
”This may be the first time he's ever had one worth keeping.”
”We wouldn't begrudge him nothin' he wanted,” Bon admitted. ”He's sacrificed too much for us. He's allus been a canny lad, ye know, haulin' around books he was barely big enough to carry. He could have stayed down there in the Lowlands and made his own fortune like a proper gent. But when he heard his grandfather was ailin', he came back here. To take care o' us. To take care o' everyone on this mountain who've always depended upon the Sinclairs for their survival.” Bon hesitated as if he longed to say something else. Something more. But he finally just ducked his head, gazing down at his feet. ”I just come to tell ye I'm sorry we ruined yer wedding. And I hope ye and the earl will be”-he cleared his throat, plainly struggling to choke out the words-”verra happy together.”
”Thank you,” Emma whispered, the sudden tightness of her own throat making it impossible for her to offer him any other absolution.
After he had made his way back down the stairs, leaving her alone, she turned her face back to the moon only to find it s.h.i.+mmering behind a watery veil. The girl who had gazed upon that same moon from her bedchamber window as it drifted over her father's orchard seemed like a stranger to her now-a naive child who had believed a man's quality could be measured by the eloquence of his speech or the fine cut of his coat.
How was she to accompany the earl's men back down that mountain on the morrow and pretend she was still that girl, who had never tasted Jamie's kiss, never felt her body begin to melt beneath the smoldering heat of his desire for her? How could she be content with jewels and furs and gold or even a nursery full of children conceived not out of love or pa.s.sion but desperation and duty?
After feeling her body and her heart come alive beneath Jamie's touch, how would it be possible to lie night after night in long-suffering silence with the earl grunting and heaving on top of her, her teeth clenched to keep from screaming? Especially now that she knew he might not be a kindly old man after all but a murderer, ruthless enough to cut down his own son for daring to love the wrong woman.
She blinked back her tears, bringing the moon into crisp focus. She wasn't wasn't the same girl she had been and she would never be that girl again. No matter the cost, she was no longer willing to deny her own pa.s.sions, her own desires, simply to preserve the peace of those around her. Her mother had spent Emma's entire life living just such a lie, sacrificing her own happiness so she could go on making excuses for Emma's papa. the same girl she had been and she would never be that girl again. No matter the cost, she was no longer willing to deny her own pa.s.sions, her own desires, simply to preserve the peace of those around her. Her mother had spent Emma's entire life living just such a lie, sacrificing her own happiness so she could go on making excuses for Emma's papa.
But she was not her mother. And she was no longer the girl who had stood before that altar in the abbey of Hepburn Castle, prepared to pledge her heart to a man she would never love.
All she needed was someone to help her prove it.
JAMIE BRACED BOTH HIS hands against the rough stone of the abbey's altar. That single stone had somehow survived the devastation of battle and years of neglect, proving there were some things even time could not destroy. hands against the rough stone of the abbey's altar. That single stone had somehow survived the devastation of battle and years of neglect, proving there were some things even time could not destroy.
He wondered how many christenings it had seen, how many weddings, how many burials. How many lives had begun there? How many had ended?
The small church had been a ruin for as long as he could remember, no doubt destroyed in one of the many wars and skirmishes that had left their scars on this rugged and beautiful land. Even though it had been reduced to little more than roofless walls and moss-covered rubble, an air of dignity still hung over the place, as if neither G.o.d nor time had forgotten this had once been holy ground.
He ran his hands over the pocked stone, wis.h.i.+ng he had the words to express the tumult he was feeling. Although he'd always been a believing man, he'd never been a praying one. He'd a.s.sumed it would be best if he and the Almighty didn't discuss their differences of opinion.