It was a disarming statement, as was the smile, but it did nothing to relax her. Quite the opposite. She was pretty sure she’d choke on the tea if she tried to swallow. Still, she added a dollop of cream and pretended to take a sip, thankful her hand was steady enough not to spill the stuff. She set the cup down.
“I suppose you have questions?”
An eyebrow lifted. “Aye. I’ll let ye start, though. Tell me how ye came to be at the dance last night.”
So therehadbeen a dance. At least she hadn’t imagined that. Just the kiss. Her eyes drifted to his mouth. It was a very kissable mouth, wide and full. Maybe she had just wanted to kiss him?
The hysterical bubble threatened to rise again.
“Yes. Well.” She forced herself to focus on the desk in front of her. She had a half-baked story that she thought might be believed since she could hardly tell him she was from the future. She’d be locked away for sure.
“I was at the dance with two of my friends. Vi Sutherland and Thea Ross. I…think they might have met some gentlemen…” She gave him what she hoped was a conspiratorial smile. “If you know what I mean. They’re probably looking for me—”
“Sutherland? Ross?” he interrupted. “Who accompanied them?”
She frowned. He’d certainly missed her point. “No one.”
He frowned too. “Lass. Ye need to tell me the truth.”
“I…am.” So far, she was. “We just wanted to mingle with the townspeople.”
Niall leaned forward, his elbows on the desk. “Ye are expecting me to believe that three women—all of whose clans back the government and would like nothing better than to capture Prince Charlie—just happened to be in Inverness by yourselves?”
Instinctively, Charlotte leaned back as comprehension dawned. Their ancestors had been anti-Jacobites. The Campbells had fought for the English at Culloden, as had the clans of Ross and Sutherland.Good Lord. Did Niall think they—she—was a spy?
“I… We…” She swallowed. “Actually, we didn’t want our families to know we were gone.”
His eyes narrowed slightly. ‘I doona believe ye, lass.”
“You…don’t?” She swallowed again. “Why not?”
He held up his hand and ticked off reasons. “One. Yourfriendsnever showed up last night. Two. Ye are a fair distance from Argyll. How did ye make that trip by yourself? Three—”
“I didn’t make the trip by myself. I was with my friends.”
“Three,” he continued counting on his fingers. “Ye wore a MacGregor tartan instead of a Campbell one, to disguise who you were.”
“Disguise? No.” Good grief. She’d rented the costume and hadn’t bothered to ask about which clan it represented.
“Ye expect me to believe Campbells are nae hiding down the road waiting for ye to return to camp?”
“No. Yes. I mean… I do not know if there are Campbells lurking somewhere. I would hope not.”
“Ye hope not? Why would ye nae want your kin near?”
“I…” What kind of an explanation could she come up with? Her imagination began to stir. What would the plot be if she were writing this? She was in enemy territory, in disguise, a fair distance from the clan seat… Inspiration hit in the form of a well-used—maybeover-used—romance trope. But. This was the eighteenth century, not the twenty-first. Jane Austin and the Bronte sisters hadn’t been born yet. It might work. She took a deep breath and had the ironic thought that his handsome face would serve well as that of her hero, although at this point that was stretching even her imagination too far. All she could do was hope he’d believe her story.
“All right. I haven’t beentotallytruthful.” She ventured a tentative smile but he remained impassive. “I was afraid you’d send me back.”
Still no smile. “Send ye back?”
“Yes. To…” What was the name of the Campbell seat? She nearly panicked as she drew a blank and then remembered. “Inveraray—”
“Ye are kin to Archibald Campbell?”
“Ah…indirectly.” She supposed that was true, if she traced her genealogy back far enough. “In any event,” Charlotte went on before Niall could question her further, “my father betrothed me to a man I do not want to marry, and the laird approved it. So…” She shrugged. “I disguised myself and ran away.” Now the lie was out, she felt strangely calm. “My friends helped me escape.”
Niall leaned back and considered. “And where were ye planning to go?”
