Page 57 of Deception of a Highlander

“I saw you.” She looked away, but not before he saw the tears pooling in her eyes. “You hugged her and kissed the top of her head while your little boy watched from the house.”

Cold realization snaked down his spine. How had she seen that? He had been so careful.

Kieran narrowed his eyes at her. “Ye saw this? With yer own eyes?”

She met the challenge of his gaze. “I did.”

“And how did ye see it?” He tightened his fist at his side, struggling to keep his anger restrained.

“I followed you. I felt as if you were hiding something from me, and so I followed when you left the castle.” Her stoicism faltered, and her delicate white fingers worried the fabric of her skirt.

The dam to his rage broke. “Ye had no right,” he began, his voice rising.

“I did,” she interrupted. “You said last night that I belonged to you.”

Hope and torment mingled in the stormy depths of her eyes, disarming his fury and bringing him back to the reason he had summoned her. Enough hurt had been unleashed in this room.

He took a step closer and lowered his voice. She eyed him warily but did not move away. “I did say ye belong to me, and ye do. What ye saw today, it isna what ye think.” Mariel had spoken similar words to him. “But the lass ye saw is dear to my heart, and I’d like for ye to meet her.”

Mariel’s brows knit together. “I don’t understand.”

He met her gaze with an unflinching stare. “After we eat, I’ll have the horses saddled, and then ye can come with me to meet my sister.”

* * *

Mariel’s hips rocked with the lazy sway of the horse beneath her. Kieran rode silently beside her as they followed the path that he had taken only hours before. Waves crashed against the shore with an erratic rhythm, and birds sang out in the distance. The breeze was sticky with moisture from the ocean, and ominous dark clouds crowded the sky overhead.

“Why doesn’t your sister live in the castle with the rest of the clan?” Mariel asked.

Kieran looked thoughtful for a moment before answering, “She doesna feel safe there.”

Mariel waited for Kieran to continue. When he did not, she asked him out of curiosity. “Why not?”

His hands tightened on the reigns perceptively, and his mouth pressed in a thin line.

Mariel shifted in her saddle, sorry to have asked such an unwelcome question. “We don’t have to discuss it if you prefer not to.”

His gaze met hers, his expression weary. “Perhaps if I tell ye, ye will understand the hatred my people have for the English and realize why the clan made things difficult when ye first arrived.” He relaxed his grip on the reins, his cold stare set on the invisible path ahead of them. “Several years ago, an English noble convinced my sister to be his wife. She fell for his lies and left for England. We didna hear from her for years. Truthfully, after centuries of crimes delivered at the hands of the English, we considered her one of them and dinna think of her often.” He smirked. “Sounds cruel, but we are a hard lot, and she made her own decisions.

“Before the snow began to fall this year, I received a message from the MacKinnons, informing me that my sister was with them and in dire need of help. I went to her as quickly as I could.” His gaze was distant with memory.

“When I saw her, she was…” He shook his head and exhaled deeply. “She had a small boy with her.”

Kieran looked directly at Mariel. “My nephew—no’ my son. I havena fathered any bairns, aye?”

Heat crept over her cheeks, though whether from quiet pleasure or embarrassment, she did not know. She nodded, fearful speaking might shatter the fragile and candid speech he so rarely displayed.

He shifted his gaze toward the road once more. “She dinna want to talk, no’ at first, but I finally convinced her she needed to. I needed to know what happened.” A muscle worked in his jaw. “That bastard of a husband beat her every day she was on English soil. She endured it for years until he raised a hand to their son, then she escaped. No’ a day goes by that she doesna check behind her back to see if he is following her. She thinks if she lives in the castle, he’ll find her and drag her back to England.”

The creaking of their saddles filled the silence as Mariel absorbed what Kieran had told her. Emotion tightened in her chest for the woman she would soon meet.

“You don’t like her so far away because you can’t protect her,” Mariel said softly.

Kieran’s shoulders were squared, his body taut with rage. “Maybe ye can talk some sense into her.”

He nudged his horse up a steep hill to where the humble whitewashed hut sat. Mariel didn’t speak again as he tied off their horses, and they walked the distance toward the plank door.

Her stomach knotted.