Page 50 of His Secret Highland Bride

“You mean you don’t think she will be happy to find out you’ve lied to her?” Tory clarified.

“I’ve not lied. Not exactly. I’ve just not elaborated the facts.”

She snorted in a very unladylike way. “You men are nothing more than cowards. You hide away to keep from telling women the truth, even if they would be much better off if you would just come out with it so they might lick their wounds and move on.”

Shane may not have been a scholar when it came to understanding women’s thoughts, but he was certain his sister was no longer speaking of the situation with he and Lindsay. Rather than pick at that wound, he held out his arms, because he needed to tell her something else she wasn’t going to like.

“There is more.”

“More? More than you having a wife? What, do you have two wives?”

“Actually, yes.”

Shane worried Tory might faint, such was her surprise. He went on. “That is, not at the same time. But I had a wife before Lindsay. Her name was Maria DeLuna. We married in Spain, where she was from. She was killed.” His voice dipped on the last word, but he managed to explain what happened to his first wife. Lindsay had been right when she’d told him it would be easier to remember Maria without the guilt getting in the way.

He smiled even as his sister shook her head.

“And you never mentioned a wife in any of your letters home.”

“There were not so many letters, and I couldn’t speak of her for some time after she died.”

Tory nodded, but her anger had faded. “And you have remarried this Lindsay? A Cameron?”

“I was being forced into a marriage Father had agreed to. Call me stubborn, but I didn’t want to make an alliance that would only put more jewels around Deirdre’s neck. I wed Lindsay to offer her protection after her uncle had mistreated her, and I do not regret it.”

“You’re scared to tell her.” Tory’s eyebrow lifted in that smug way she had when she knew she was right about something.

“Aye. I’m terrified she will not want the burden of being the lady of the MacPhersons. And I’m worried she will not look at me as she does now. As nothing more than a man she has come to care for. Not a laird. Just a man.”

“You want her to want you for who you are, not what you are.”

“Aye.” He was surprised that his sister understood so well. But she was grown. He imagined her lack of company wore on her.

“I can see why you would want that. I’m the daughter and now sister of a laird. I’ve always expected to be married off as chattel.”

“Well, I will not be marrying you off anytime soon,” he assured her.

She laughed and shook her head. “Only because you don’t have the coin for the dowry.”

His lip pulled up on the side. “That might be part of it, but I would at least see you happy.”

“Well, I thank you for that. I’ve never been so relieved not to have a dowry. It means the men only looking for coin will move on.”

He let out a breath and nodded.

“Aye. I wish I could move on. Unfortunately, there is the matter of the dowry for the Wallaces’ daughter. It has been paid and already spent. I have nothing with which to repay the laird, since Deirdre ran off with every cent we had. If they come to claim recompense, I have nothing but the castle in which we stand. If he declares war… I will have no choice but to have my marriage to Lindsay annulled so I can marry the Wallace lass as planned to save the clan.” He let out a breath, feeling exhausted for having finally spoken his fears out loud. “I do not think I can do it.”

“Then we must find a way to keep that from being the only option.”

But as he was hugging his sister and hoping for a way to keep his wife, a lad tapped on the door, calling their attention to him.

“Riders approach. It looks to be Alec and his men.”

“Lord, I hope our brother brings good news.”

Chapter Nineteen

It was clear from the way Alec held his shoulders as he entered the study that he did not bear the good news Shane hoped for.