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‘Why, the curse of the Moncur’s, Kenna. And you may think if you run far enough, you can escape it, but it will always catch up with you in the end.’
‘I don’t believe a man can die of fright, Ross.’
‘Not all men no, and certainly not Euan, for we found him too, and I am sure someone strangled him, and that someone is Conall Campbell.’
Kenna gasped.
‘Didn’t tell them about that, did you? Shall I tell them that the Laird’s son murdered a man in cold blood?’
‘He tried to dishonour me, Ross. He got what he deserved.’
‘Did he now? Whether or not he deserved it, I know damn well you couldn’t have managed it. So that leaves Conall Campbell the guilty one, doesn’t it?’
‘You haven’t changed, have you, just as loathsome as I remember.’
‘Aye, I know you have no love for me, but what about your clansmen. We are in dire straits, owing money all over to our creditors. You know what our father was like. He was no father to me either, squandering my inheritance or what’s left of it, on drink and gambling, throwing away our future. We need Menzies to give us that money. The old fool’s taken a shine to you, but he won’t pay up unless you come back with me.’
‘Your troubles are of your own making, Ross, and I’ll not come back with you to that hell, not for anything.’
‘So you’d rather stay here as Campbell’s whore.’
‘I am not that, and I never will be.’
‘Fancy yourself in love, do you? I can see it on your face. Such a fool you are for Conall Campbell will never look favourably on a Moncur. He has used you to escape us is all it is, and you think it is love.’
‘You should go now before he comes back and deals with you once and for all.’
‘Father always said we were a cursed family and you most of all. Said you were a hell-born creature, murdering your own mother on the way out of her. And now Euan is dead, and our father is dead, all because of you. Did you plan it all, cast some evil spell to weaken and kill them, to destroy all of us.
‘Get out.’
Rory came up beside her. ‘You need to leave. You have delivered your news. Don’t ever come back here again if you value your life.’
Ross did not take his hateful face from hers. ‘This is not over. I will bring so much trouble down on you that you will rue the day you ever turned your back on the Moncurs. From this day on, you are dead to us, Kenna.’
He turned, with one last glare at Rory, and stalked away. At the doorway, he shouted back, ‘And you will belong to Donald Menzies. I will go to the law and make sure it happens whether you want it to or not.’ He spat on the floor. ‘If you don’t wed him, well, once a murderess, always a murderess, and I will see you swing.’
Kenna tried to be strong, but she couldn’t stop her hands from shaking, and Rory saw it and gathered her into his arms.
She looked up at him. ‘Please don’t tell Conall that Ross has come. He will be so angry I don’t know what he might do.’
‘I can’t tell him, at least not for a while. He has gone, Kenna.’
‘Gone?’
‘Aye, he left this morning to cool his heels at Cailleach for a while. He didn’t say when he would return.’
Chapter Twenty-Two
The wind was fierce, ruffling the bright feathers of the hawk clinging for dear life to Meyrick’s gloved hand. The hilltop overlooking Dunslair had a glorious view. It was not the sunniest of days, but still, the light was beautiful, gleaming on the loch and gilding the surrounding hills. Kenna breathed the air deep into her lungs and felt her mind relax for the first time since Conall had gone.
Meyrick was staring again, he often did that, and when she told him off about it, he always said, ‘How can I help but stare at someone like you? Your beauty humbles me,’ and she would blush and look away, saying he should keep such thoughts to himself. He would always laugh and give her his winning smile, kind, warm but somehow bland. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something that was there in Conall was not there in Meyrick, something Conall made her feel deep inside that Meyrick couldn’t.
Conall had been gone for almost four weeks now, and Kenna fretted that he wouldn’t come back. She had hurt him deeply and hurt herself too, in refusing him, but it had been the right thing to do. Duncan had followed his son back to Cailleach almost immediately, and then a few days later, Murray and Ilene had gone too, and she missed them. Seeing them together and the deep, abiding love they had for each other had shown her what marriage could be. Every time their eyes met, it was as if the room had caught fire. She wanted a man to want her that much, to look at her like that.
If Conall felt obliged into a union with her, not entirely of his choosing, done out of duty, she would always be unsure of his feelings for her. What if he later found someone he truly loved? She could no more see him locked in a prison of a marriage he didn’t want as she could leave him in a dungeon at Sgathach Dun. Conall was wild and beautiful, and he didn’t deserve to be caged and unhappy after everything he’d done for her. How could she be his wife, knowing he didn’t really want her or love her, that her family name shamed him? Eventually, Conall would despise her for it. Oh, he would not show it. He would be kind in that gruff way of his, but she would know deep down inside that he didn’t love her. He might look elsewhere for solace, and that would tear her apart.
But doing the right thing was so very hard when every time she heard hooves in the yard she would look out to see if it was Conall. Every morning she would wake with him in her thoughts, and every night she went to sleep imagining him beside her. Was that one stolen night all she was to have of love and desire in her life? If so, she would live on it for the rest of her days.
