Seduced by the Highlander (29 page)

Catherine strode closer. “Wait,” she said. “You’re not leaving, are you? No, you cannot. You must stay until all this is settled—or at least long enough to replenish your supplies before you return to Kinloch.”

And there it was.
The assumption, spoken aloud, that he would not be a part of her life now that she was home again. But why should he be? He had fulfilled his duty by delivering her to Kinloch, where she was able to discover the truth about her identity—that she was indeed Lady Catherine Montgomery. He had also reunited her with her sister. It was time now to return to his home in the Highlands. To the life he knew before the curse. It was time to put all this behind him.

Perhaps one day he would be thankful that she had refused his offer of marriage, which had been proposed under extraordinary circumstances.
It’s bound to make things seem more intense than they really are.…

With a sudden knot of grief pulsing in his gut, Lachlan turned in the saddle to look back at the coach, which was still waiting halfway up the drive. He was surprised that Raonaid had not thrown a tantrum by now. He had never known her to be patient or docile.

Catherine turned to her cousin. “I have brought someone I wish you to meet.”

The earl nodded, then waved a hand at the driver, signaling for him to approach. “Is this the person you mentioned in your letter?” he asked with some unease.

“Yes.”

The coach, led by four chestnut horses, rumbled up the drive and pulled to a slow, creaking halt in front of them. A footman hurried down the steps to open the door, and Lachlan watched it all unfold with a terrible ache in his heart.

*   *   *

Catherine kept her eyes fixed on her cousin’s face, for she wished to measure his response. Had he known about this missing link in the family? Had he been keeping it secret from her all this time? Or would he be as shocked as she to learn of it?

John strode forward, curious and eager to view the woman inside the coach.

Raonaid’s small foot emerged first; then her gloved hand reached out to accept the footman’s assistance. At last, she showed herself. She stepped fully into the pink light from the setting sun and lifted her face.

Catherine glanced quickly at her cousin. His cheeks went pale. His eyes deepened with wonder.

“My word.…”
He moved closer to take Raonaid’s hand. “I am astounded. You are a perfect likeness.”

Raonaid regarded him with suspicion. “Did you know about me?” she asked.

“I assure you, Lady Raonaid, I did not—at least not until recently.”

It was the first time she had been properly addressed as a member of the aristocracy, and the importance of that moment was not lost on anyone. Especially Raonaid, whose head drew back in astonishment.

“When Catherine disappeared for the second time,” John continued, “I took it upon myself to look into her past. Then her letter arrived only a few days ago and confirmed what I had been able to uncover on my own.” He turned to address Catherine. “I have information for you both,” he said, “regarding your birth. If you will join me in the drawing room.”

Catherine felt an almost-dizzying rush of eagerness, for she was about to discover the truth at last.

She turned to Lachlan. “Will you come with us? I would like for you to be there.”

In actual fact, she had never needed him more than she did in that moment.

He stared down at her, as if considering how best to reply, then simply dismounted and handed Goliath over to a groom.

*   *   *

“Where is Grandmother?” Catherine asked when Mrs. Silver, the housekeeper, appeared in the doorway to the drawing room, looking pale and distraught as she set eyes upon Raonaid.

“She will not be joining us,” John explained. “I am afraid she has been keeping to her rooms lately.”

“Why?”

Her cousin hesitated. “You will understand soon enough.”

John waved Mrs. Silver into the drawing room, escorted her to a chair, and went to pour her a glass of brandy. It was hardly proper for an earl to wait on a servant in such a way, which left Catherine feeling shaken, for whatever information Mrs. Silver was about to divulge must indeed be most unsettling.

John poured drinks for everyone else, himself included, and sat down. “Mrs. Silver has proven herself to be an invaluable source of information,” he said. “What she is about to tell you will, no doubt, be disturbing to you both, but it is time the truth was known. Please, Mrs. Silver, describe the events of twenty-five years ago to Lady Catherine and Lady Raonaid, as you remember them.”

Catherine felt Raonaid tense beside her at the shock of hearing her name spoken for the second time with the proper form of address.

“When it was announced,” the housekeeper timidly said, “that your mother was expecting a child, everyone of course hoped for a boy, to secure an heir for the earl, but shortly before she went into labor, a woman came to the door, bold as brass, and claimed she was a gifted midwife. She told me that the countess would deliver a babe with powers from beyond, and that she would need to put an enchantment on the child to cure it of this malady. She was mad, I believed, so I sent her away, but when I told the dowager of it, she ordered me to send a footman to fetch the woman and bring her back.”

“Surely Grandmother would never believe such a tale,” Catherine said with skepticism.

“Oh, but she did, my lady. And the very next day, your mother began her labor—two weeks early. She collapsed in the stone circle with terrible pains in her belly.”

“Is that where we were born?” Catherine asked, feeling a cold shiver ripple up and down her spine at the memory of her own behavior on the night she walked in her sleep to the standing stone on the hill. “In the Drumloch Circle?”

“No, my lady. We managed to bring the countess back to the manor house, but the dowager insisted on using the midwife who had come to the door. Everyone else was kept out of the room—everyone but me—and it was many, many hours before you both were born. You came first, Lady Catherine, and then your sister. Your mother struggled hard. She gave you both everything she had, and I believe it’s important for you both to know that she held you together in her arms for a full hour before she passed.”

Catherine reached for Raonaid’s hand and held on to it while a tear trembled down her cheek. She looked up at Lachlan. He was watching her intently, with concern, and she was grateful that he was here to learn all of this.

“What happened next?” Raonaid asked.

Mrs. Silver’s hand quivered as she took another sip of brandy; then she lifted her eyes to meet Raonaid’s and faced her squarely. “As soon as the countess passed, the dowager took you out of her arms, Lady Raonaid, handed you to the midwife, and told her to drown you in the river.”

“Good Lord!”
Catherine stood up.

“The woman did exactly as she was told, I thought,” Mrs. Silver continued, “as that was the last I ever saw of you. I was instructed never to speak of it again, not to anyone, especially the earl. Your father never knew your mother had delivered twins.”

An eerie silence ensued, and Catherine sank back onto the sofa cushions. No one spoke for a long moment.

“Why me?” Raonaid sharply asked. “Why not Catherine?”

“Because you had a birthmark on your neck,” Mrs. Silver replied, “and the midwife told us that it was the sign of your unearthly power.”

Raonaid drew her hand away from Catherine’s and spoke in a contemptuous tone. “What was the midwife’s name?”

“Her name was Matthea,” the housekeeper replied. “Obviously, she did not end your life as the dowager believed. She took you away.”

“Aye,” Raonaid boldly replied. “She took me to the Hebrides and raised me as her own—and she was very kind to me, until the day she died.” Raonaid shot Catherine a heated look. “I don’t envy you, Sister, being raised by the dowager.” She glanced quickly, poisonously, at John. “Where is she now? Why has she not shown her face? I suspect she fears me worse than she fears her own death. Does she expect me to cast some vengeful spell on her? Change her into a frog or a rat?”

Catherine glanced uneasily at Lachlan, whose expression stilled and grew very grim.

Raonaid scowled. “Well, tell her not to worry. I wouldn’t waste my bones on her. She will simply have to live with what she did to her own flesh and blood. God will judge her soon enough.” She stood up. “I want to leave here. Now. Lachlan, will you take me back to the Highlands? I don’t want to see these people ever again. I want to go home.
Please.
”

When he did not respond straightaway, her voice grew beseeching. “I am sorry for what I did to you. I
beg
of you, Lachlan,
please,
just take me away from here.”

“It’s not up to me,” he said, turning his eyes to Catherine, waiting for some signal from her.

She reached for Raonaid’s hand and spoke with compassion. “You cannot leave, not like this. Please stay and give us another chance. Our cousin John is a good man. He had nothing to do with any of that. He didn’t even know of it until recently.”

“Indeed, Lady Raonaid.” John rose to his feet. “I wish to make amends. You are very welcome here. It is your birthplace and your home.”

“It is
not
my home!” she shouted. “It never was!”

Catherine stood up, too, and saw that her sister’s face was flooding with color. She looked as if she might suddenly bolt.

“But it could be,” Catherine implored, her heart filling with desperation. “I am your sister, and I want to be a part of your life. My inheritance—half of it is yours. No matter what you decide. I am sure my father would have bequeathed it to you if he had known of your existence. But please, do not go. You have a home here, and a family that wants to know you better.”

Raonaid laid a hand on her stomach and spoke in a shaky voice. “Lachlan, please take me out of here. Away from these people. I cannot breathe.”

Catherine watched in horror as he rose from his chair and held out a hand. Raonaid pulled away from Catherine and crossed toward him. Without uttering a word, he escorted her out of the room.

Catherine and John regarded each other in tense silence before Catherine ripped off her gloves and threw them onto the sofa cushions.

“Where is my grandmother?” she asked in a voice that seethed with fury. “I wish to speak to her.
Right now.
And God help her when she faces my wrath, John. God help her!” She turned and strode out of the drawing room, calling over her shoulder at the last second, “
Make sure they do not leave! Lachlan and Raonaid must stay here tonight! I will not lose either of them! I have already lost enough!
”

Chapter Thirty-three

“Was I dreaming?” Raonaid asked as she paced back and forth in the garden outside the manor, her fists perched on her hips. “Did you hear all of that? Or have I lost my mind?”

“I heard it,” Lachlan replied, watching her with some concern. He’d seen this woman tear an entire kitchen apart, and he didn’t want to get in the way if she was so inclined this evening—for he rather thought this estate
deserved
a good tearing apart.

“My own grandmother handed me to a stranger with instructions to drown me like a dog! What kind of madness is that? I am
glad
I was not raised here. I pity Catherine. No wonder she disappeared without a word. She probably ran screaming from the place, and purged it from her mind intentionally!”

“Try to calm yourself,” Lachlan said. “It’s not all bad. You have a sister now, and a cousin who is a powerful nobleman. Neither of them had anything to do with what happened that day, and they both wish to make amends, so you cannot take your vengeance out on them.”

She stopped in her tracks. “Did the earl not shoot you? Catherine told me about how you met in the stone circle, and how they sent you off with the magistrate to have you killed. I don’t see why you are defending them.”

“I cannot blame them for reacting the way they did,” he replied. “I would have done the same. I came after Catherine like a ruthless savage, thinking she was
you.
”

“Oh, and that excuses everything, does it?” she scoffed. “People can do whatever they bloody well please to
me
, because I am wicked and worthless. I don’t deserve anyone’s respect. According to a certain dowager countess, I don’t even deserve to live!”

“What she did was wrong,” Lachlan agreed, working hard to keep his voice steady and calm. “Everyone else knows it, so you cannot hold the whole world responsible. And surely the dowager feels some remorse in her old age. For that matter, the worst is yet to come now that Catherine knows of it. Your sister was just as horrified as you were, to learn what occurred. I
know
her. She will not let it rest.”

Raonaid gave him an icy glare and began to pace again. “What am I going to do? I hate them. All of them.”

“Not Catherine,” he said. “You cannot hate
her.
I know that you don’t.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “You are not going to take me away from here, are you?”

He shook his head. “Not yet. You need to resolve all of this and get a sense of who you really are. Otherwise you’ll go on wreaking havoc on the world for the rest of your life. Besides that, Catherine needs your help. She needs her memories back, and there’s a stone circle on the hill that’s calling out to you, I can well imagine.”

She gave him a mutinous look, as if she was angry with him for guessing the truth.

“And then what?” she asked. “If I help that chit get her memories back, what do I do then? I can hardly join their ranks, and start living like a bluidy princess.”

He strode forward and regarded her steadily. “At the very least, you need to take the money. Catherine offered it to you, and by God, after what that wretched woman did to you on the day of your birth, you most certainly deserve to have it.”