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‘I must go to her at once.’
He grabbed her firmly by the forearm and pulled her back in front of him. ‘Morag is with her. Now I say again, where have you been?’
‘Out for a walk.’
‘Don’t lie, Ilene, I saw you with him,’ he snarled.
‘What?’ she said, feeling sick to the pit of her stomach.
‘Just now, on the bridge, I saw you kissing that fool in plain sight of everyone.’
‘That’s no business of yours. Let go of me.’
‘It is my business.’
‘It’s no concern of yours what I do. You are not my father.’ She squirmed to get out of his grasp but it was like iron.
‘Be careful Ilene, I’ve been out in the world and know men, and that one is not worthy of you. How could you let him paw you like that? You are shaming yourself.’
Ilene did not know how to respond. Her joy was seeping away. He was taking something wonderful and making it seem tawdry and wrong.
‘It was just a kiss,’ she lied, hoping that what she’d just done didn’t show on her face.
‘I should kill him for putting his hands on you.’
‘What if I want his hands on me?’
His grip tightened as he pulled her against him. His face was livid and his eyes cold with contempt. ‘You’re a fool then, a shameless little fool.’
‘Why do you not like him?’
‘Because you do,’ he snarled.
‘I can choose who I want Murray.’
‘I suppose you can, but my instincts are rarely mistaken and that one is a viper. If you wish to practice seduction Ilene, believe me, you can find a far more worthy partner than Aidan Grant.’
‘Oh, someone like you I suppose,’ she replied, the words spilling out before she could stop herself.
He let go of her as a sneer twisted his face. ‘Don’t flatter yourself Ilene, and don’t let your Campbell arrogance get the better of you. All I am saying is that you could do better and you should be more careful.’
With that he stalked off, leaving her with anger burning her cheeks. What did he know of her, of Aidan, of love? Murray was cold and hard and miserable. Oh, how he would eat his words when her betrothal was announced.
That night Ilene was unable to sleep through her feverish excitement. She came down to break her fast only to find that all the Grants had left at first light, with no word of when they would return.
***
‘Why did the Grants go so suddenly, without taking their leave of us?’ Ilene asked her mother. Aidan had not bid her farewell nor had he spoken with her father, despite his promise to do so directly. She was hurt and confused but had no one she could tell of her feelings.
‘I don’t know. You must ask your father,’ said he mother in a hard voice.
‘I suppose it is because of Uncle Hugh’s death. It is uncertain when Father will return from Dunslair. I suppose the Grant’s have better things to do than cool their heels here.’ Yes, that must be it. When her father returned so would Aidan, to ask for her hand in marriage.
‘Ilene our allegiance to the Grants is complicated. Things have cooled between our two clans since Cromwell’s death. I fear that the Grants may use all this uncertainty, this talk of another war coming, as an opportunity to test your father’s power. And with Hugh’s death…’
Ilene could only look at her mother in horror. ‘But we have been allies for years against rival clans. Surely that allegiance would not disappear overnight.’
‘I don’t know Ilene, but if we do become enemies then you must give up any foolish infatuation with Aidan. You must put it behind you.’
