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“I will be keeping a watch on ye,” Lena hissed. “Ye have fooled my brother, but ye have nae fooled me. I dunnae believe ye kinnae remember who ye are.”
“I kinnae,” Sorcha replied, forcing herself to keep a civil tone.
Lena snorted. “Seems a verra convenient memory loss to me, given ye were seen with the party of men who killed the king’s mistress.”
“Lena,” Alex growled from the other side of her, “Cameron is a grown man.”
“One blinded by lust,” Lena snapped, glaring at Sorcha. “As ye have blinded my brother, I will be his eyes so that he will nae destroy himself.”
Lena’s words struck too near Sorcha’s fears of hurting Cameron. She jerked her arm out of the woman’s hold, and just as she did so, Cameron came thundering toward them, a man and a woman riding beside him. He pulled to a stop in front of Sorcha, giving Lena a reproachful look as the man and woman also came to a stop.
The man swept his golden-brown gaze over Sorcha. She thought she noted a gleam of interest and caution there, but when his gaze settled on Lena, it turned friendly and filled with obvious love. “Sister,” he said, “it’s verra good to see ye well.”
“Aye,” the pretty brown-haired woman by his side said as she urged her horse forward toward Lena’s. “I have so longed for ye to come for a visit, Lena. I’m so glad ye are here!” The woman turned to Sorcha next and smiled. “Ye must be Sorcha,” she said. “Cameron tells us that ye are here with him by the king’s edict.”
“Aye,” Sorcha replied, wondering if Cameron had told them anything else yet.
“I’ll explain all shortly,” Cameron interrupted, giving her a reassuring look.
She started to smile at him when Lena said, “Perchance ye should explain now, Brother, that ye bring trouble to their door.”
“Lena,” Cameron growled, even as his brother’s eyebrows quirked upward.
“Is there something of importance we should ken?” Graham demanded.
Cameron nodded. “I’ll tell ye when we are alone.”
“That can be now,” Graham said, turning his horse and starting back toward the castle. He glanced behind him with an expectant look at Cameron.
“Sorcha—” Cameron said, a question in his voice.
“Of course,” she insisted. “Speak with yer brother. I’ll be fine.”
“I’m here,” Alex assured Cameron, moving his horse to Sorcha’s side, which garnered an almost murderous look from Lena.
As soon as Cameron rode off, Lena said, “Come, Isobel. Let us see what has come to pass with each other as we ride to the castle.”
The woman, Isobel, nodded to Lena, then looked to Sorcha. “Would ye care to ride with us?” she asked.
Sorcha shook her head. Even if she had wanted to, she feared it would only worsen matters with Lena, who clearly did not want her around. “I’m sure there is much the two of ye wish to speak of in private.”
“Nonsense,” Isobel replied, clearly unaware of Lena’s hostility toward Sorcha.
“Actually,” Lena said, “I do have some private matters to discuss. Shall we?” She turned her horse away from Sorcha as Isobel gave her an apologetic look.
As the women rode away, Sorcha felt suddenly more alone than she had since she had awoken that first day at Dunvegan. Lena’s accusations were false, but her worry was well placed. Sorcha could well lead Cameron to his ruin and not mean to do so at all.
“It’s nae ye she hates,” Alex said. His words mirrored the ones Marion had told her before, yet the agony in Alex’s voice made Sorcha’s breath catch. She glanced at him. He looked as pained as he sounded, his gaze firmly on Lena’s back as she rode away.
“It certainly seems that she hates me,” Sorcha replied, not even sure Alex would hear her, but he turned his gaze upon her.
“She hates herself. Iain told me she had conquered the feelings when Isobel helped her face her past, but I was with her a short time when we had to travel together and she did things that made me suspect she had simply learned to suppress her anger. And since I’ve been at Dunvegan for a spell, I see that my instinct was right. She still harbors great anger, and I believe she is searching for a way to gain the control over her life that was taken from her.”
“How does turning her anger upon me help her gain control?” Sorcha asked.
“Let us ride to the castle and I’ll tell ye my thoughts.”
She nodded, and as they started to move, all the men a distance behind them did so, too. She realized then, rather embarrassed, that they had been waiting on them to ride. “Were they waiting on ye?” she asked.
