Chapter 1
Chapter One
Arthur’s hand was on his sword before Innes could react as he sprang to his feet.
“Ye take that back, ye wretch—”
Lachlan did not budge an inch, but Innes dove out to stop her brother, not wanting this to devolve into a fight. She did not know what Lachlan was capable of, and she would never have forgiven herself if something had happened to him because of her.
“Ye’ll take her as a wife over my dead body,” Arthur snarled.
The room was silent, everyone focused on the clash between them. Lachlan’s smile flickered, sharp as the edge of a knife.
“Kill you and take yer sister, you mean?” he remarked, and he cocked his head to the side. “An intriguing proposition, Arthur.”
Gasps sounded around the room. Arthur let out a grunt and pulled his sword out, the flash of the silver in the corner of Innes’ eye bringing her back into the moment.
She dove between the two of them, lifting a hand to press into her brother’s chest. She did not like being so close to Lachlan again, the heat of his breath on her neck. Or perhaps she liked it more than she cared to admit, she was not entirely sure.
“Out of the way, Innes!” Arthur ordered, fingers flexing around his sword. “I cannae let him threaten ye like that.”
“No!” Innes cried out.
She could only imagine what revenge the mad Laird would take on her brother if he dared raise a sword to him. Arthur was kind at heart, without the madness that so seemed to plague his opponent, and she would rather not condemn him to whatever fate Lachlan had tried to coax out of him.
He had come here to provoke, and he knew that this was the worst thing he could do, insult her, Arthur’s sister. If he could not get his revenge through Isobel, then, it seemed, he would do it through her.
“I willnae let blood be spilled over—”
“Over yer honor?” Arthur snapped.
“Over something as silly as that!” she exclaimed, turning to him, her eyes pleading.
“He’s only doing this because he wants to get back at me,” Arthur growled, pointing his sword at Lachlan. “Look at him. He could never deny it.”
She turned to him. She did not know why, but there was a strange part of her that wanted him to argue the matter. To prove that this was not merely about Isobel, that Innes was nothing more than a pawn in his game.
But Laird MacFadden was suddenly upon them, his hands raised, careful to keep things from boiling over.
“Now, gentlemen, please,” he told them, dismissing them so that there was more room between them. “I willnae have any of this fight at one of my parties. Please, resolve yer differences.”
Innes took the chance to grab her brother’s arm and steer him away from a confrontation, which was so clearly what he intended to do. He could not take his eyes off Lachlan, glowering back at him as if he thought he might move into action at any instant.
But the moment they were alone, his eyes fell to Innes again, and he shook his head at once.
“If you think fer an instant that I’m going to let you leave here with that man—”
“Please, Arthur, listen to me,” she begged him. “I ken how it seems. But you’ve already taken one thing from this man, and we cannae say what he might do if we allow this hurt to go any deeper.”
“So I’m to let him marry you, is that it?”
She did not reply. He cast his eyes skyward, the disgust obvious on his face.
“He’s only doing this because of Isobel!”
“Aye, because he loathes you, Arthur!” she exclaimed. “And if you humiliate him again like this, who knows what he might do? What he could be capable of?”
“You think this will sate him?”
“I think it will give you a chance,” her voice dropping precipitously. “I’ve seen how happy you are wi’ Isobel, and you deserve a chance.” She swallowed hard. “You deserve a chance to see where that takes you. To live without fear of him striking back.”
His face was drawn tight.
“I’ll send a guard to break you out,” he promised her. “He willnae come for our family again after that.”
But she shook her head once more. She could see it now, so clearly; if she did not do as Lachlan wanted, then her brother would walk into a trap that would cost him his life.
He deserved to be happy; he was the one who would continue the family name anyway, not her.
It would have been selfish for her to ask for anything else from him, not when she knew she could diffuse the terror that the mad Laird might rain down upon him if she did not agree to his proposal.
“It has to be this way,” she told him, drawing all the courage into her voice as she smiled at him.
She was not sure it was an entirely convincing one, but, with the way he was looking at her in that moment, she had to try.
“If my leaving keeps you alive, then so be it. I willnae fight it.”
He stared at her for another instant, and she looked back at him, trying to commit his face to memory.
“You raised me, Arthur,” she reminded him, lifting a hand to squeeze his shoulder. “You deserve a chance to be happy.”
Something in him seemed to give, and he finally pulled her into a tight, fierce hug.
The kind of hug that felt distinctly like a goodbye, though she did her best not to ponder too long on it.
She drew back from him, hardly daring to look at him again, knowing that to do so would be to risk her resolve.
She strode back towards the hall. Laird MacFadden was there in the doorway, his brow furrowed, clearly concerned that things might have spun too far out of his control.
“Where is Laird Fraser?” she asked, lifting her chin, mustering all the pride she was able. “I believe I am to leave with him tonight.”
“He’s… waiting in the courtyard,” MacFadden explained, his voice tinged with shock.
She was sure that everyone in attendance tonight would have plenty to say about the choice she had made, but she couldn’t find it in her to care much. Let them think what they wanted. If doing this meant that her brother could finally have the life she knew he so deserved, then she would do it.
Isobel stood just outside the alcove she and her brother had been talking in. She could not see Arthur, who had no doubt taken off so that he would not have to witness his sister riding out with a man like Lachlan Fraser.
She eyed Innes for a moment, poised as she was poisonous, a cup of wine dangling from between her slender fingers.
Innes could not help but wonder, though she knew Isobel had been the one to reject Laird Fraser, if she was rather jealous knowing that his attentions seemed to have turned to someone else, however briefly.
“I suppose he’ll be taking my leftovers home now,” Isobel remarked.
She brushed past Innes, a little closer than she needed to. Her wine cup caught on the ridges in the wall, sending a spray of dark liquid over Innes’ lilac dress. Isobel lifted a hand to her mouth.
“Oh, sorry,” she remarked.
But there was not an ounce of apology in her voice.
Innes felt tears prick her gray eyes, and she blinked them back swiftly.
She had to believe, somehow, that her brother saw a side of Isobel that was worthy of carrying on the family name.
She trusted him to do what was best, and she could only hope that he would not be fool enough to question this choice that she was making now.
Outside, Lachlan was waiting for her. A smirk curled up one corner of his lips as he laid eyes on her, like he had known all along that she would join him.
“Lady Anderson,” he remarked, ducking his head low.
She almost laughed.
How ridiculous that this man who had backed her into such a corner now played the gentleman.
He opened the door to the carriage and gestured for her to get inside. She could not hesitate any longer, no matter how much she wished she could. Without looking back, she set her face and made her way towards Lachlan, brushing past him to get into the carriage.
But, before she could vanish inside, she felt a sudden grip on her arm. She turned to him, about to protest, but the look on his face knocked all the air from her lungs.
“Very noble of you to sacrifice yerself for yer brother,” he remarked, his eyes darkening. “Let’s see how long yer courage sustains you when I have you to myself.”
She pulled herself away from him, clambering past him into the carriage, his words ringing in her ears. She could not tell if going with him was a mistake or not.
But now it was too late to worry about such things.
She sank down into the leather seat, and Lachlan moved opposite her, slapping the top of the carriage to pull it away from the MacFadden feast. By this time, the feast would have reached its peak.
People would be dancing and laughing, maybe even meeting the love of their lives.
And Innes cast one last look behind her, at the remains of what had once been her old life, and bit back a lump in her throat.