Page 6 of Highlander’s Vengeful Seduction

“Can that happen?” Angus frowned, his hand coming up to lay over his own heart in concern. “I didnae ken that a lass could have such an effect.”

“Aye, it can happen,” Donal said, though he doubted that a man’s heart could simply give out because of his love for a woman. Angus had always been trusting, though, and it was easy to convince him of anything, just like when Donal and Ronald had convinced him that eating a little bit of hay every day would endow him with an enviable manhood, much like a stallion. It had taken Angus over a week to realize that he had fallen victim to the brothers’ joke.

“I hope it wasnae because of my sister.”

When Vika spoke, both Donal and Angus turned to look at her. She stared at the table in front of her, and she refused to look up at either man. Donal had suspected Vanora from the beginning, but he had no way of tying her to his brother’s death, at least not until that moment.

The best course of action for Donal was to feign ignorance and pretend as though he had no idea what Vika was talking about. He looked at her with a quizzical frown.

“Yer sister?” he asked. “Why would it be because of Vanora?”

Both Angus and Vika leaned closer to Donal, the latter talking in a hushed voice.

“Weel…Ronald and Vanora, they were verra close after ye left, ye ken,” Vika said.

Angus gasped, suddenly remembering the same thing that Vika had. “Aye! Ronald stayed behind, did he nowt? He stayed here for many weeks after ye left, and he and Vanora were always together, it seemed.”

It was no proof of Vanora’s guilt, but it was enough for Donal to push aside any doubt that remained in his mind. Who else could it be if not Vanora? Vanora, now a beautiful woman who charmed every man who saw her and who had apparently been inseparable from his brother?

Donal thought back to the time when he had rejected her. Could her treatment of Ronald have been an attempt to get revenge? Perhaps if he hadn’t been so harsh on her, she wouldn’t have treated Ronald so terribly; perhaps his brother would still be alive, had he only been a little gentler with her.

“How close were they?” Donal asked though he wasn’t certain if he wanted to hear the answer. “Ronald never told me anything about her. He didnae mention her once tae me after he came back.”

Vika gave Donal a small shrug. “I dinnae ken. I only ken that I saw them together often, and they used tae talk a lot. I remember they would go down tae the loch every now and then, just the twa of them, and they would stay there for hours at a time.”

“I remember that, tae,” Angus confirmed. “I went with them once, ye ken, but I didnae see them do anything other than talk. Vanora wis always…infatuated with ye, Donal. I dinnae think that she would forget about ye so easily.”

Donal had no idea that everyone knew about Vanora’s fondness of him, but then again, it didn’t surprise him. She had been a young girl back then, and it must have been hard for her to conceal the fact that she was smitten with him.

“I widnae be so sure about that,” Vika said. “Tis true, my sister loved ye dearly, Donal, but after what ye said to her, she never wanted tae see ye again, not for a long time. She was hurt, and all she wanted tae do was forget all about ye. For the longest time, she pretended ye didnae even exist! I widnae be surprised if she found solace in yer brother.”

“She never told ye aught?”

Donal would have thought that Vanora would have spoken to her own sister, at least, out of all the people she could have tried to reach out to. Vika was the obvious choice for her confidante, but she seemed to be just as clueless as he was.

“Never,” Vika confirmed. “I dinnae ken why. Perhaps she didnae want anyone tae know that she fell in love with another man so quickly, or perhaps she kent what it would be like for everyone to find out, only tae have Ronald reject her, tae, in the end. She didnae like the pity she got when ye left.”

Regret didn’t even begin to describe what Donal was feeling. He couldn’t help it; even if he knew that there was a good chance Vanora was the reason his brother had killed himself, his heart was soft, and it hurt for her. There was no denying that Donal had wronged her in the past. No matter what she had done, he would regret that for the rest of his life.

“Vanora is the only one who kens what happened,” Vika continued. “Ye should ask her, aye? Then ye’ll have yer answers.”

“Aye,” Angus agreed eagerly. “Ye should ask her, and then ye should come back here and tell us what she said.”

Donal rolled his eyes at his old friend, who’d always had a penchant for gossip. Vika was right, though; the only way he could find out what truly happened between Vanora and Ronald was to ask the only party involved that was still alive.

With a nod, Donal stood up and made his way to the middle of the room, narrowly avoiding the dancers as he waved through the crowd. He declined every offer for a dance that the women threw at him; he only had eyes for Vanora.

She looked more alluring than ever. Her brown eyes glittered in the soft light from the candles that were scattered throughout the room, and her dress hugged her body in all the right places. Donal’s traitorous heart began to beat faster when their gazes met, and a tingle ran down his body, all the way down to the tips of his fingers and his toes.

There was something about Vanora that he could not resist. At that moment, he realized why every other man in the room was infatuated with her. All but Angus, who was the only man seemingly uninterested in her, despite being the future laird and so having an advantage over everyone else.

When Donal reached Vanora, there was only one thing that he could manage to utter.

“A dance?”

He didn’t miss Vanora’s initial hesitation. She didn’t reply to him, nor did she offer him her hand. Instead, she simply stood there, giving Donal a look that he couldn’t quite decipher. He could describe it as nothing other than severe, her face set in a small, almost imperceptible frown that didn’t give much away.

In the end, though, Vanora gave in, even if she did so with a sigh. She took Donal’s hand. He began to lead her around the room—doing so better than any other man before him, if he did say so himself.