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“No, he didn’t. The papers Falsted has from Reiner that order the clearing are false—a forgery of his name. Reiner bought the land, yes, but never with the stipulation that it be cleared. So place the blame back on Falsted if you need to hunt for blood, but you will leave my husband out of it.”
“No.” His lip curled. “Now I have two bloody Englishmen to hate. To ruin.”
She stepped closer, her neck craned so she could be as close to him as possible. “You’ll not touch Reiner, Lach.”
His mouth tightened to a hard line and he refused to answer her.
“Lachlan—”
“A duel.” He took a step backward, his head shaking. “For taking you unwittingly—that’s what Milly said. He took you. And when in the hell were you in Scotland? Why didn’t you come home?”
Her look narrowed at him. “I wasn’t unwitting and you insult me with that comment.”
“The man is going down, Sloane, one way or another.”
“Or not at all. You do this and you are no brother to me. This is your bloody anger taking over all of the sane thoughts in your head again. You need to stop and listen.” She grabbed his forearm, clamping her fingers around it. “Listen. Reiner is my husband. He didn’t do this. If ever you were to trust me, now is the time, Lachlan.”
“Sloane—”
“No. No more arguments—there is no stopping this, because it’s already done.” She squeezed his arm. “Aside from grandfather, it is just us now, Lach. I don’t want to lose you over this, but if you go after Reiner, you are no brother to me.”
Shock registered on his face, his eyes narrowing at her for a long breath. Seconds passed.
He exhaled. Long and tortured. “Aye. Your husband is safe from me. For now.”
“Lach—”
“For now, Sloane. I’ll promise no more than that. Now can be a very short amount of time. For the second he so much as sets a hair out of place on your head, he’s mine.”
“I expect no less of you.” She smiled, warm and genuine. “Now I can be happy you’re here and that my dear brother has travelled all this way to attend my wedding.”
“We’ll not be staying for this blasphemous event.”
She twisted, tucking her arm into the crook of his elbow and tugging him toward the main doors of the ballroom. “Actually, you must stay now that you’ve appeared. It will cause quite the scandal if you left before the ceremony.”
“I don’t give a bloody damn about a scandal.”
“That is clear for how you ruined the dancing for the evening.” Her feet paused and she tugged him to a stop, looking up at him until he met her gaze. “But you care about me and I do give a bloody damn about not creating an even bigger scandal. So it is settled. You’ll stay.”
An incoherent grumble came from his lips.
Agreement. Or as close to it as Lachlan was able to give at the moment.
“Good. That’s settled. I’ll find Mrs. Flurten and she will find you and the Vinehill men chambers to retire to. The number of rooms in Wolfbridge is ridiculous and there are hallways and rooms I’ve never even seen.” She leaned into his arm, smiling sweetly at him. “Plus there’s a ball tomorrow evening you must stay through, so you may as well make yourself comfortable.”
His feet stopped.
She tugged him forward, not giving him a chance to protest. “I am so happy you’re here. I must tell you all of the mischief I’ve been in. Did you ken that Wolfbridge has the most excellent climbing vines?”
{ Chapter 18 }
Sloane walked along the dark corridor that led from the north wing where her brother and his men were assigned rooms. Sconces along the hallway were lit every twenty feet—enough to see, not enough to banish the many shadows. Rooms on this floor were mostly empty, reserved for the guests who would be arriving tomorrow for the grand ball.
She needed to find Reiner. He had been cornered by men in the billiards room when she and Lachlan were done conversing. Not wanting to extract him from his guests after the scene her brother had just caused in the ballroom, she sent a footman to relay to Reiner that all was well, and then went to find Mrs. Flurten to have her brother and the Vinehill men situated.
As she passed the second to last room before the staircase that led to the first floor, the door opened and Lord Falsted stepped out in front of her, blocking her path.
“Lady Sloane, it is good that I finally found a moment to speak with you.”
