Nineteen
He was alive.
With a soft, glad sigh, Constance leaned against Gordon, reveling in the solid, very real feeling of him.
This was the man she loved. The only man she could ever be with. What had made her think she could marry another, even to give their child a father?
And he was happy to see her. Just when the kiss should break off, he’d come back for more.
If she could have swallowed him whole, she would have.
He wore coat and breeches—and this time even a neck cloth.
The Sword of the MacKenna was on a belt around his waist. It bumped her hip as he gathered her close and kissed her more deeply.
He smelled of the Highlands, the fresh, clean air and the magnificent forests.
At last they became aware of Fiona tapping them on the shoulder.
“Are you mad?” she whispered furiously. “Do you not realize where we are? Gordon, why didn’t you stay over in the park?”
He ignored his sister’s frantic questions. “I missed you,” he said to Constance, a wealth of meaning in every word.
“I love you,” she answered.
Gordon brought his head down for another kiss.
Fiona stopped him by placing her hand in the path between his lips and Constance’s mouth. “Do you not hear me? We must leave now,” she said, enunciating each word. “Ardmore is inside.”
“Ardmore? That bastard—” Gordon let go of Constance. Placing his hand on the hilt of the sword, he said, “And what is this about you and another?”
“After that kiss, Gordon, do you truly think I could consider another man?” Constance said, pulling him back to her.
He would have kissed her again, but Fiona tugged on his coat sleeve. “Please, Gordon, don’t be foolish. You must leave.”
“I’m not going anywhere without Constance.”
Constance melted in his arms. “Nor will I let you.”
“So there is no duke waiting to marry you?” he asked.
“Even if there was, I’d let him wait,” Constance said. “I’ve loved only one man in my life, Gordon Lachlan, and it’s you.”
“Please,” Fiona begged, “do not kiss. We need to leave now.”
But what truly helped her case was the sound of scratching close by and a whimper. “Tad,” Gordon said. “Grace is holding him but he’ll start barking if we don’t go to him.”
“Grace is here, too?” Constance asked happily.
“Aye, she’s become the closest I have to a sister,” Fiona answered.
“Which we won’t be much longer if someone doesn’t help me with this dog,” Grace said in a harried, hushed voice from the other side of the wall.
They all laughed. Gordon sobered enough to say, “Are you ready, Constance? Will you leave with me now?”
“Where’s the gate?” was her answer.
It was close by, hidden behind some shrubs. Gordon pulled back the branches and lifted the latch, but before he could let the women through, there was a male grunt and a heavy-sounding thud. A man cursed the garden’s uneven ground. Constance recognized the voice.
“It’s Colster,” she warned.
Gordon started to swing open the door but Constance didn’t move. She knew they were seen. Their light-colored ball gowns had to stand out in the moonlight.
She was right.
“Constance? Is that you? We’ve been looking for you everywhere. You disappeared from the ballroom. What are you doing out here?” he asked as he moved closer.
She moved to stand in front of Fiona and Gordon. “Please, Justin, keep your voice down.”
“Why—” he started, then stopped as he recognized Gordon, who held the garden gate half open. “So the devil does live.”
“’Tis good to see you, too,” Gordon replied, his voice guarded.
Tad chose that moment to push his nose through the partially open gate.
He sniffed and then shouldered the gate open, breaking free of an exasperated Grace so he could attack Constance with a glad, joyful run.
Coming up on his hind legs, he embraced her with so much force, she fell back against Justin. There was a rope around his neck.
Grace followed him, blowing on her palm. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t hold him, not once he heard Constance’s voice.”
“I’m glad to see you, too,” Constance told the wolfhound, who had the good manners to come back down on all fours after his initial happiness was registered.
“Glad to see who?” Phillip asked. He was moving toward them, and would momentarily join their growing band beneath the protection of the trees. “Justin, did you find Constance?”
Gordon groaned his frustration while Justin said in a low voice, “I found her. She’s here.”
Phillip came closer and stopped dead in his tracks when he realized Constance wasn’t alone. “Lachlan,” he said coolly. “Are you mad?”
Gordon frowned his response.
“This is Fiona Lachlan, Gordon’s sister,” Constance said to fill the sudden silence. “And this is Grace McEachin.”
“Scots,” Phillip said, pressing his lips together with distaste. “Have you come to try and take Constance with you?” he demanded, not bothering to lower his voice.
“Yes,” Gordon said. He held out his hand and Constance went to him. Tad moved around to nudge her hand and let her know he was there, too.
Phillip shook his head. “We can’t let him, Justin.”
“Yes, we can,” Colster answered. “Do you not see, Phillip? They belong together with the same fierce passion you and Charlotte have.”
For a long moment Phillip stood still. “But what of Constance? What life can he give her?”
“The only one I want,” Constance said.
“I’m leaving the country,” Gordon informed them. “I want her with me.”
“Where are you going?” Justin asked.
Gordon’s hold around Constance tightened. “Wherever a ship will take me.”
“And the sword?” Phillip wondered. “What will happen to it?”
“I won’t use it against the English, if that is what you are asking,” Gordon said. “Colster’s offer to the clan has been a godsend. Most of my clansmen are resettling on his lands. I don’t want to disrupt their chance for peace. I’ll take the sword with me.”
Fiona stepped forward, her exasperation clear.
“My brother must leave tonight,” she said.
“Please, Captain Ardmore is in the ballroom. He was the one who attacked our camp. If he finds Gordon, he’ll see him hanged for the reward.
But is my brother leaving? No, he insists upon standing here gabbing instead of fleeing to safety the way he should. ”
“Growing cranky, Fee?” Gordon wondered with that charm only a brother could exude.
She answered with a sound of complete exasperation.
It was Phillip who took charge. “She is right. You can’t stay here. Almost every member of the government is inside.” Tad had wandered over to give Phillip a sniff. He absently scratched the dog behind the ears as he worked the problem in his mind.
“I was going to leave by the gate,” Gordon said.
“And go where?” Phillip countered.
“Portsmouth.”
“How?” Phillip asked. “Do you have horses? Or transportation?”
“We’ll manage” was Gordon’s tight response.
“But you don’t already have plans, do you?” Justin asked.
“I’ll find a ship,” Gordon said, hugging Constance close. “I’ll see to both of us.”
“It’s been hard,” Fiona said. “There have been those looking for Gordon to claim the reward. I tried to convince him to leave the country in Scotland, but he had to see Constance.”
“Don’t be a fool,” Phillip said with his customary bluntness. “Accept help. We are two powerful men. Furthermore, Alex Haddon has a fleet of ships. If we work together, we can see you are safe.”
“Absolutely,” Justin agreed.
Constance couldn’t believe her ears. “You would help us?”
“Of course,” Phillip said. He shook his head. “I know I seem stiff to you. But I don’t act on impulse and I take my responsibilities to my sovereign seriously. However, you are my sister by marriage. I would let no harm come to you or anyone you loved.”
Constance crossed to Phillip and hugged him to show her appreciation. “I have been so unfair to you,” she said. “I nursed a terrible grudge because of the way you hounded us after Miranda jilted you…but I was wrong.”
“No, you were right,” Phillip said. “I was nursing my pride. I felt it was all I had. However, Charlotte’s love has changed me, as I see your love has changed Lachlan. If this is what you want, Constance, then my brother and I will help.”
“We’ll bring the coach around,” Justin said. “No one inside must see you.”
“But first we need to gather our wives,” Phillip agreed. “Wait here and we shall return.” With that they left.
In what felt like an eternity but was truly no more than a half hour, the Duke of Colster’s well-equipped coach rolled to a halt before the back garden gate. Constance, Fiona, Grace, and Gordon climbed in to squeeze inside with the two couples already sitting in the cab.
At a soft command from Justin, the coach began to roll off, Tad running alongside the wheels.
Constance made introductions. Charlotte recognized Fiona’s dress as the one she’d chosen and sent to Constance at Madame Lavaliere’s academy.
“It looks much better on her,” Constance assured her all-too-quiet sister.
“And Fiona adores the dress,” Grace said. “Even when the camp was under attack, she made certain she saved it.”
Charlotte didn’t say anything but regarded all of them with suspicion. Constance glanced at Phillip. He, too, had noticed his wife’s silence.
At the ducal mansion, a servant took Tad to the kitchen for table scraps, while Constance and the others went in search of Alex and Miranda. They found them in the back sitting room, enjoying the fire in the hearth.
Alex recognized Gordon immediately. Constance hurriedly told him and Miranda what had happened at the ball.
“And now what?” Miranda asked when she finished.
“Now I’m leaving with him,” Constance said.
At last Charlotte spoke. “No. You mustn’t.”
“Charlotte—” Constance started to protest, but her sister cut her off.
“I can’t let you go with him,” Charlotte said. “He doesn’t have any idea what direction he is going to take. Or what he is going to do when he arrives there. It’s too risky. Too dangerous.”
“But she loves him,” Miranda said. She had been sitting in a comfortable chair but now stood. “I won’t stop her, Charlotte. And I will fight you on this issue.”