Uncle Roderick placed his hand on her shoulder and pushed her firmly back into her chair. “No. Someone had best be forthcoming right now, or there’ll be trouble.”
“Oh, you used to be fun!” Rose said.
“This is not a game, little girl.” He came back to the bed. “Out with it, Rose.”
The sisters were stubbornly quiet.
“You’re not too old for a flogging—I’ll wield the strap myself if someone doesna talk now!”
When Rose and Gillian still refused to speak, Isobel opened her eyes and sat up. “I don’t want to marry the earl! They’re trying to help me…to stall the marriage.”
He stared at Isobel in confusion. “Stalling wilna help you, lass. What’s the point?”
“The point,” Rose said, “is Father. Since I’ve arrived he is doing so much better. We want to wait until he is stronger before we give him such a shock.”
Gillian had come to the bed, too. She touched their uncle’s arm. “That’s not all. Father wants to marry me to Sir Philip now—but Isobel and I have decided that we’d like to trade husbands. She prefers Sir Philip, and I prefer the earl.”
He blinked down at Gillian. “They are men—not a box of sweetmeats to be tasted and traded about.”
“Why not?” Rose asked. “That’s how they see us. Besides…Sir PhilipprefersIsobel, and the earl cares not so long as it’s a warm body.”
Roderick looked at each of them with frustrated disapproval before sitting on the edge of the bed in defeat. “Very well.” He sighed thoughtfully then looked up at Rose with a frown. “Alan’s getting better, ye say? Are ye sure of that?”
“Aye,” Rose said quickly.
Roderick rubbed at his forehead, his frown deepening. “Yer certain he’s not pretending to feel better? For your benefit?”
Rose put her hands on her hips and gave her uncle a condescending look. “I’d know.”
He rubbed his forehead some more, then pinned Isobel with a suspicious look. “I gather this has something to do with where you were last night?”
Isobel nodded. Roderick’s eyes narrowed on her neck, and he reached out, fingering one of the ribbons that dipped into her bodice. He drew it out until he held Philip’s ring in his palm. He exhaled loudly.
“Will we be feuding with Clan Colquhoun if your little scheme fails?”
Isobel started to shake her head when Rose said, “Aye.”
Isobel glanced up at her sister uncertainly, then nodded agreeably. Why not?
Roderick stood. “Well. Sir Philip isna much of threat, unless he can get his clan behind him. Doubtful, that. Ye dinna desert your people for more than a decade, then expect them to rally to you when you need them.”
Isobel winced at her uncle’s honesty.
He turned to Rose. “Is there any way you can make herlookill.”
Gillian gasped and clutched their uncle’s arm. “So you’ll help us?”
“Aye, I’ll help you devious wee witches. Though I’m not certain this is the way to do it.”
Gillian clapped her hands together.
He raised a brow at her. “Ye’re awful keen on the earl. Is there something else ye should be telling me?”
Gillian blushed a deep rose. “No! I’m just happy for Isobel, is all. She and Sir Philip are in love—isn’t it beautiful? And now I don’t have to go to France!”
Roderick shook his head. “Married to Kincreag, you may wish ye had gone. Blasted witches—made me forget why I’d come. Your father sent for you, Isobel, but I suppose I must tell him you’re too ill.” He did not seem pleased about that at all.
Isobel’s heart sank. She’d only seen her father once since she’d returned. She’d missed him so much and now she had to continue to stay away. It made her feel selfish again. If Rose was wrong and their father wasn’t recovering, then the little time she had left with him was slipping away while she spent their precious time trying to deceive him.
