Instead of replying, Kade went to the bedside table and opened its single drawer. He took something out and then rejoined her.
“I believe this belongs to you,” he said as he sat down.
She stared at the small leather pouch he’d placed in her palm and comprehension dawned. With trembling fingers, she loosened the pouch strings and tipped the contents into her hand.
The Clan Iain brooch, its silver, amethysts, and diamonds glittering like starlight in her palm, was none the worse for wear. Her heart thudded with a heady mix of relief and astonishment, making it hard to breathe.
Kade watched her, a slight smile tilting up the corners of his mouth.
“How did you find it?” she finally managed.
“Angus did. Your brother did his best to avoid him, but the old fellow is cannier than he looks. At one point, Johnny snuck down to the gazebo. He spent some minutes there and then retreated to the house in what my grandfather described as a furtive manner. So we searched the gazebo and found it.”
“But I looked in the gazebo,” Charlie protested. “It was one of the first places I searched.”
“One of the wooden panels beneath the bench was loose, and that’s where Johnny hid it. There was some scratching on the panel, so he probably pried it off—after you searched the gazebo, obviously. Otherwise, you would have noticed it, like Angus and I did.”
She grimaced. “Johnny lied to me, when he had it all along. I told him that he could trust me, but he still lied to me.”
Tears suddenly prickled as disappointment swept through her. Even though she’d had her suspicions about her brother—more than suspicions—she’d clung to a faint hope that Johnny was telling the truth. It was crushing to know he’d had the brooch all along.
She pinched the end of her nose, trying to stifle the urge to cry. “He’s never lied to me before. Not like this.”
Kade took the brooch and placed it on the small round table next to his chair before taking her hands.
“I know it’s bitter,” he gently said. “I think Johnny is very scared, and as young men often are, he’s concerned with the appearance of honor. He got himself into trouble and is trying to find a way out of it by himself. You mentioned that your father can be quite hard on him, and I suspect that incurring Lord Kinloch’s displeasure is almost as frightening to Johnny as Morgan’s threats.”
Charlie struggled for a few seconds, her anger warring with the instinct to protect her foolish little brother. “So the solution was to steal my brooch. That is hardly an act of honor.”
“He wouldn’t be the first person to steal it.”
Kade’s expression was so wry that she couldn’t possibly take offense. Besides, he was right.
“Yes, I’ve set a terrible example for him, haven’t I?” she said with a sigh. “I still wish he’d come to me, though. I would have helped him.”
“Running to his big sister for help? Perish the thought.”
When she started to protest, he gently tugged on her hands. “I’m not trying to excuse him, love. Of course he should have told you. But the fact that he didn’t, given how close you are, illustrates how fearful he is.”
She mulled that over. “I wonder what he thought he was going to do with it. Give it to Sir Leslie? Pawn it? It would be quite difficult to pawn, since it’s so distinctive.”
“Who knows? But you can take comfort in the fact that he refused to give Morgan the brooch, even under duress. That refusal leads me to conclude that your brother didn’t really know what to do. So he simply hid the brooch away until he could find a way out of his dilemma.”
That was true. While Johnny had been terribly foolish, he hadn’t betrayed her. “Thank you for that, and for finding the brooch.”
He smiled. “Thank Angus, although I fear you’ll give him a swelled head. He’s quite chuffed at the success of his ‘spy work,’ as he calls it.”
“He’s earned my undying gratitude. But what happens now?”
“We should sit back and wait to see how matters develop.”
Charlie couldn’t help feeling skeptical. “Shouldn’t we just say we found the brooch? Once we do that, Sir Leslie will have no choice but to leave Johnny alone.”
“We could, and of course the decision is up to you. However, I very much doubt Morgan will leave Johnny alone—not with the money he owes him.”
Charlie could feel the beginning of a headache coming on. The situation wassoblasted complicated andsofrustrating.
“He’ll go to my father, and poor Johnny will really be in the soup.”
