"I'll settle him at alodging house in Edinburgh. There was a little money left in the cash fund,enough to keep him for a year or so. After that he'll have to find work."
"With no help fromyou?"
"With no help fromme."
He smiled faintly."Unusual. I wonder what he did to open your eyes?"
Ruel was still looking at her.Why wouldn't he turn and walk away? she wondered desperately. The pain was toogreat. She had to be free of him.
"You're not going to tellme that either?"
"What?" She wouldnot stand there, pinned by Ruel's stare like a sacrificial goat for the tiger.She turned and started down the deck. "You should be happy, Li Sung. Youwere always telling me how foolish I was."
He fell into step with her."I'm not happy Patrick hurt you. It was what I always feared, but I neverwanted it."
"I'll get over it."And she would also break free of Ruel in spite of his determination to make heraware of his power over her. If she had not wanted to go to Glenclaren, nocoercion would have forced her to go. It had been her decision to try to rightthe wrong she had done Ian.
"You're walking too fast.Since you refuse to honor me with your confidence regarding MacClaren andPatrick, may I at least ask where we're running in such a hurry?"
"Sorry." She slowedto accommodate Li Sung's limping gait. She had been running from Ruel, sherealized suddenly, away from that implacable will that had jerked Ian back fromthe gates of death and was now focused on her. "I thought I'd go down tothe cargo hold and see how Sam and Bedelia are doing."
"Everyone is going to beso happy to see you." Jane reached out and took Ian's cold hand."Your Glenclaren is beautiful. I can see why you love it."
Ian didn't take his gaze fromthe towers in the distance. "Yes, it is beautiful."
She pulled the blanket higheraround him. The jarring trip had not been good for him, she thought anxiously.If possible, he looked paler than when they had lifted his stretcher onto theback of this wagon at the docks in Edinburgh two days earlier. "Truly. Everythingis going to be fine."
"I can almost believeit," he whispered, still looking at the castle. "Perhaps there reallywas a reason… "
Ten minutes later the wagonrumbled over the wooden drawbridge and into the flagstoned courtyard.
A chipped and stained cisternoccupied the center of the courtyard, and scraggly blades of grass grew betweenthe flagstones. Wherever she looked Jane could see signs of age and disrepair.
"It's not always likethis," Ian said. "I've been away a long time and places this old needcare and nurturing."
"Or tearing down,"Kartauk murmured.
Jane gave him a witheringglance. "It won't take us long to do a few repairs, Ian." How strangeto realize Ruel had grown up in this castle. It was difficult to even connectRuel with this weathered, ancient place.
"Where is he?" Thebrass-bracketed front door flew open and a young woman marched down the stairs."Good God, Ian, have they not got you sitting up yet?"
"Margaret?" Ian saidin disbelief. He lifted himself on one elbow to look over the side of thewagon. "What are you doing here?"
"Where else would Ibe?" She strode toward the wagon. "When I received Ruel's letter Imoved Father and myself to Glenclaren. Until you're over this infirmity, it wasclearly the most practical thing to do."
Jane felt a ripple of surpriseat her first sight of Margaret MacDonald. Soft hands, lace, and a fashionablebustle... She could see why Ian had laughed when she had described how she hadenvisioned his Margaret. She could not see the woman's hands, but herhigh-collared dark blue gown was faded and shabby with long use, and she movedwith a bold economical grace. She was tall and slim, her wheat-colored hairworn in a smooth bun. Her square chin and large, mobile mouth were too strongto be considered beautiful, but she possessed wideset gray eyes that werestartlingly lovely.
Margaret climbed into thewagon and knelt beside Ian. "You look terrible," she told himbluntly. "I can see it's time you came home." She gave him a quickkiss and continued briskly. "But no matter, I'll set everythingstraight."
"Margaret… " Ian'sfinger reached out and touched her cheek. "Bonnie Margaret."
"Your illness must haveaffected your eyesight as well as your limbs," she said tartly. "Forbonnie I certainly am not." She turned to Jane and demanded, "Who areyou?"
"Jane Barnaby." Shegestured to the two men on the front seat of the wagon. "Li Sung and JohnKartauk."
"And why are youhere?"
"Ruel sent—"
