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“Then ye are behind all of this, aren’t ye?” Before, all of her theories had been purely speculation. Yet at this moment he had all but admitted it.

“ ’Twas not my grand plan, if that is what ye mean,” he answered. “But I did ride agin’ my kin. I had to.”

“Had to?” she said in disbelief. “Ye had to kill yer mother and father and brothers, and all of yer cousins? Dammit, man, yer a Scott. How could ye betray those who loved ye?”

“Ye never loved me!” he spat with sudden contempt. When she looked mildly taken aback, he nodded at her. “Am I right? Ye never loved me, any of ye. Oh, they loved ye because ye were such a sweet, beautiful girl, and they loved my sister and Caladora, too, and the other lads, but I was different. A black sheep.”

Jordan shook her head. “What are ye talking about? Ye turned away from us, Malcolm, not the other way around.”

“My father hated the sight of me.” he insisted. “So I came here, where people dinna judge me because I was a bastard.”

Jordan looked shocked. “Bastard? What are ye saying?”

Malcolm was pale. He swallowed hard, the pain evident in his eyes. “Lilith, my mother, was raped after Cord was born,” he said dully. “I was borne from the union. Did ye ever wonder why I dinna look much like a Scott? ’Tis because I am not a Scott. I am a McKenna.”

Jordan’s eyes widened. “Dunbar McKenna? He is yer da?”

Malcolm nodded. “Aye, he is.”

Jordan was astonished. But the closer she gazed at her cousin’s light brown hair and wide features, the more she realized that he did indeed look like Dunbar. “Raped her, did ye say?”

“Aye,” he replied. “Matthew never told anyone about it, lest Lilith be shamed by it, which is why no vengeance was ever taken. No one wanted the truth to come out. So Matthew tried to raise me, tried to love me, but every time he looked at me he was reminded of the disgrace done to his wife.”

Jordan reeled with the knowledge. “Is that why ye came here always? Because ye knew it to be yer true home?”

“Nay,” he whispered. “I dinna know the truth of it until a short time ago when Matthew told me. But Dunbar knew it, which was why he kept me close to him and used me as his spy into the clan Scott. He had some daft idea for me to become Laird Scott someday.”

Jordan shook her head back and forth absently, horrified by the confession. Strange thing was, Malcolm did not seem the least bit pleased at the prospect of becoming Laird Scott. In fact, he looked very subdued by the entire situation.

“With all of the Scott males dead, then it looks as if ye are indeed Laird Scott, Malcolm,” she said softly, bitterly. “It would seem as if one of Dunbar’s schemes has succeeded.”

“But they are not dead, not all of them,” he told her. “Matthew, Ian and Cord are locked away in the dungeons below. Dunbar hasna decided what to do with them yet.”

Jordan sucked in her breath. Her father had been right all along. “And Callie?” she ventured hopefully.

“Ye’ll be seeing her soon enough,” he said. “She’s holed up in one of the chambers upstairs.”

Jordan closed her eyes in thanks. She felt relieved but still extremely apprehensive at the same time. Her eyes found Malcolm.

“What are they going to do with me?” she asked.

“I dunna know,” Malcolm said. “Mayhap use ye to whore. I dunna think Dunbar is planning on killing ye.”

Disgust and fear shot up her spine and she went stiff. “Whore? I would rather die.”

“When ye went to the English, ye became a whore anyway,” he replied irritably. “What is the difference if ye whore here or at Northwood?”

She was outraged. “Malcolm, I have lain with only one man in my entire life; my husband,” she exclaimed. She debated whether or not to tell him the whole story, but thought against it. She did not want anyone knowing who she was married to.

He shrugged. “And he is an English bastard, he is.”

“What of Callie?” Jordan suddenly wanted to know. “They are not keeping her to whore, are they?”

“Nay,” Malcolm shook his head. “No one has touched her. I think Dunbar wants her for Abner, although she is too tall and thin for his tastes.”

Sweet Caladora. Jordan was desperate to see her cousin and to comfort her. Callie was a weak soul. She could only imagine the fear the girl must have been going through, just as Jordan was now.

Malcolm suddenly stepped back into the shadows as Dunbar and Abner marched into the room, their eyes riveting to Jordan as if she were a fat slab of prize beef.