"Do you think he'll let me ride his horse?" Jamie asked.
"I don't think so." She smiled sadly.
"Why not?" He frowned.
"You're not big enough yet."
"Aye, but I could ride with him!"
"'Twouldnot be safe." She shook her head, knowing full well Rebbie didn't want to have to deal with Jamie. Mayhap he didn't even like children. She didn't know.
"I'm going to ask him," Jamie said willfully and crossed his arms over his chest.
Calla released a long breath. "Very well, but when he tells younay, don't come crying to me."
"I'm not going tocry, Ma," he said as if such a thing were ridiculous and he were merely a small adult.
"Good."
But chances wereshewould cry. Her eyes already burned and her heart ached. What must Rebbie think of her? He hated her, surely. Only moments after he'd said he loved her.
She had been stunned when he'd confessed his feelings in the coach earlier. Aye, stunned, but also thrilled beyond measure, for she loved him to an irrational degree. At times, he made all else seem unimportant. He stole her reason and her sanity, making her want to wrap herself about him and never let go.
But she could not do that.
She'd simply made the wrong decision, becoming intimate with him again, allowing him to break down her defensive walls… introducing him to Jamie.
Now all was at risk.
***
Rebbie was hellishly restless as he rode Devil behind the coach, and the horse obviously sensed his tension as he danced about beneath him, tossed his head and snorted. Plus, Devil wanted his wild run across the fields and moor, but he would have to wait.
Rebbie still couldn't believe the lad might be his son. Why would she keep such a secret from him? Of course, she hadn't known his name or where to find him prior to their meeting again atDraughon, but since then, she'd had ample time and opportunity to say,oh, by the by, we have a son.
Damnation,thathad been the big secret she'd kept from him all along. He muttered a curse under his breath. Something had told him not to trust her, but he hadn't listened. He'd been too damned bewitched by her. And her husband… she'd well and truly duped him. Of course, 'twas the way it was done in their circles. Anybairna lady had was her husband's child. No questions asked… most of the time.
But he intended to ask questions, dozens of them.
Had that been her intention all along—for him to get her with child—or had it been an accident? For some reason, he'd thought she already had a child when they spent the night together. But nay, now that he thought about it, her body had been that of a slender girl. Certainly, she'd been beautiful and appealing, but since then, her body had become enticingly curvy. Had those changes come about because she'd carried his child? He cursed his own gullibility. He hadn't wanted to see the truth.
Surely, she'd used him.
"Are you well?" Lachlan asked, riding up alongside him.
"Splendid. And you?"
Eyeing him, Lachlan frowned. "'Haps you noticed something when you met the lad, something that I also noticed the first time I saw him a few days ago."
Rebbie glared at him. "Aye, I damned well noticed. Why didn't you warn me?"
"I didn't know ifitwastrue. Besides, 'tis not my business. I just noticed you seemed out of sorts."
"'Slud," Rebbie said through clenched teeth. A slow seething rage still crawled along his veins.
"She hadn't mentioned it?"
"Nay," Rebbie practically growled. "She has a hell of a lot of explaining to do."
