Page 69 of In Bed with a Highland Brute

“Callie asked me tae come. What is wrong with ye, Murdoch? Why are ye so mad?”

“Callie never wrote that letter.” He stepped toward her, his voice firm and low. “I have just come from her side. She hasnae left Avery in the healer’s cottage.”

“I beg yer pardon?” Eloise frowned. Surely it was not possible!

“Someone lured ye here. Tae think that they may have…” He looked away from her and to the cliff edge. “Oh God.”

“God, what? Murdoch, ye arenae making any sense! Other than ye giving me a heart attack by grabbing me so close tae the cliff edge, nothing is wrong.”

“Everything is wrong.” His voice boomed, competing with the whistling wind and the crack of the waves on the shore far below. “Ye were standing in the very spot that she must have stood in when she died.”

Eloise stood stock still, feeling the wind buffet her as she took in what Murdoch had said.

She… when she died?

“Who?” she whispered, with her voice barely audible at all. “When who died, Murdoch?”

His breath appeared to catch in his throat, and he turned his back on her, placing his hands over his head in despair.

“I cannae dae this. Ye dinnae ken what it did tae me, tae see ye standing there.”

“Then tell me.” She hurried around him, desperate to catch his eye again. “Murdoch, please, speak tae me.” She reached for his hands and pulled them down from his head, encouraging him to look her in the eye.

She saw pain in those dark eyes. There were tears in them that he was fighting back, blinking hard and refusing to let fall.

“Murdoch.” Her heart felt as if it cracked in two, just looking at those unshed tears. “Please, tell me what is going on.”

“She must have stood there before she fell, before she was… pushed.” He sighed deeply and bent forward, hanging his head.

Determined to have his gaze now, Eloise reached for his chin and used a single finger to urge him to look up. It mirrored an action he had done to her on more than one occasion, to have her gaze.

“I told ye I was betrothed once.” His voice was full of angst as this time he did not look away from her. “Lillie. She was Harper’s sister. The betrothal was arranged by our fathers tae unite the clans.”

“And she…” Eloise trailed off, turning to look at the cliffs as she realized what he was saying. “She died.”

“She was murdered. In this exact spot!” He waved a hand madly at the cliff edge then took her hand. “We are getting away from here. Now.”

“Wait, Murdoch.” She tried to pull on his hand, desperate to talk some more, but he was clearly having none of it. He led her all the way down the hill, refusing to say another word as they raced toward his horse. “Murdoch, ye have tae tell me something more than this. Who killed her? Why was she killed?”

A muscle ticked in his jaw, but he still said nothing.

“Murdoch!” Eloise pushed against him, though it yielded no results. When they reached the horse, he took hold of her waist and as good as threw her into the saddle. She yelped in surprise, scrambling to sit straight as he pulled himself up behind her. Without hesitation, he wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her close before flicking the reins and taking them away.

They rode so fast, with such a bitter wind nipping at their faces, Eloise could not speak again. She glanced repeatedly back in the direction of the cliffs though as they ran away, wanting one last view. She gulped, feeling a lump in her throat when she thought of the woman he was supposed to marry and how she was pushed from those cliffs.

“This is awful,” she muttered as the horse began to slow.

They reached a loch isolated between mounds of rocks. Here, the trees grew so far on one side that the cliff face was entirely masked from view. On the other side, the rocks formed a waterfall, with water billowing off slates of rock into the large pool beneath them.

“Murdoch, please, ye and I must talk about this.” Her begging worked and they came to a stop beside the loch.

He bent his head down, resting his forehead on her shoulder. That touch urged her to reach back to him, placing one hand on his thigh so they had some connection.

“I am so sorry,” she whispered. “I didnae ken ye had loved a woman who was taken from ye so cruelly.”

“I didnae love Lillie.”

“What?” Eloise wasn’t expecting the relief that washed over her. It was as if the heaviness that weighed on her sternum had been lifted. “Ye didnae love her?”