Part 26 (2/2)

He waited for the accusations to fly. She'd accused him of murdering Jack before and she'd been quite pa.s.sionate about it. But she kept her peace with an obvious struggle. She must feel beholden to him, he decided, for she didn't seem one to hold her tongue.

”Anyway,” she said with emphasis and a warning look, Stop interrupting! ”Papa's raid was a failure. They came away with naught and lost two men. He was so surprised to see the sheep-you should have seen his face!” She wasn't with him now, her eyes s.h.i.+ning, looking within. ”Before that night, he'd not talked about me much. He told everyone about my raid. He made me tell him the story over and over, then nagged at Jack. And when he became very ill, just before he died and would drink too much, he would tell the story to anyone who would listen.”

She smirked suddenly, coming back to him. ”Ridley hated the story. You should have seen his face curl up into itself every time Papa would start telling it.”

Alex laughed, delighted with the story. He'd loved his father's regard as well, though it seemed he'd felt it a good deal more than she had, so he could understand her pride.

They smiled at each other for a moment, then her smile turned to a troubled frown and she looked away. ”I don't understand you. What do you want from me?”

”I want Gealach,” Alex said, disappointed the warm moment had to end. ”If I have you, Carlisle cannot marry you. It's that simple.”

”Carlisle can't marry me if I'm dead, either. So again, why are you doing this?”

”Carlisle won't be eager to do business with his betrothed's murderer. This will be a legal transaction, completed by our solicitors. There will be no question that Gealach is mine.”

”I see.” She looked down at the blanket draped across her legs. ”Well, that certainly makes sense.”

Alex watched her curiously. What had she expected him to say? The truth? Not likely. And yet what he told her was the truth. At least it had been in the beginning. Maybe even that was a lie, because he'd wanted her since the first moment he'd seen her. He still wanted her, yet now he didn't know what he would do with her if she ever said aye-a more unlikely event he could not imagine.

He was staring at the cave opening when he sensed her moving toward him. He looked at her sharply. Her eyes were fixed on his gaping s.h.i.+rt front, her hand reaching toward his chest. Alex froze, eyebrows raised. What the h.e.l.l was she doing? And where did she get the strength? She was obviously determined to do something and he didn't try to stop her until her hand curled about the bead that hung from a leather string around his neck. She tried to jerk it off, but he caught her wrist.

Her eyes snared his, her face damp with sweat. ”Where did you get this?” Her voice harsh, angry.

She didn't release the bead and he kept hold of her wrist. ”Let go.”

”No. Give it to me-it's not yours.”

”It's not yours either.”

Her lips thinned and he knew the strain of her awkward position was draining her. But she was nothing if not tenacious and tried to yank it off again.

Gently, Alex pried her fingers loose and forced her back down. Her eyes remained fixed on the bead, now swinging forward from his s.h.i.+rt.

”That's Mona's bead. Where did you get it?”

”I found it at Graham Keep, in Lady Graham's chambers.” Before she could ask what he was doing rifling through her stepmother's chambers, he said, ”Ridley invited us to search the keep, remember? Rob was sure he hid Caroline and Patrick, and indeed, Patrick had been kept in the dungeons for nigh on a year.”

”But they were gone,” Fayth said. ”So you stole an enchanted stone?”

Alex smiled, taking the bead between his fingers to look at it. ”Hardly enchanted... it's a landmark.”

Her brow furrowed, but she remained silent.

”It was in the small leather sack, along with the lock of Patrick's hair and nail parings.”

Fayth's eyebrows raised.

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