Page 26 of Highlander’s Beautiful Liar

Entering his room, she shut the door and thought briefly about bolting it. She could lock herself in and make her escape out the window, but as she glanced down, the mere thought of the height brought her to a dizzying panic. She’d never been much of a climber.

Unwilling to sit on the bed, she pulled out a chair and perched primly on it. There was only one course of action left to take, so she began weaving a realistic tale that would show Alec that she was not Cora Isles and therefore no threat to him.

When the door banged open, Alec strode in with fire in his eyes. “Miss Claire,” he growled. “I believe that ye have some explaining to do.”

“As I’ve already explained, I did not seek the King’s counsel. He caught me in your room and demanded that I joined him at dinner. I did not go out of my way to embarrass you, and I did not tell him that I was thief.”

“But yer not a thief!” Alec roared as he slammed the door shut behind him. “Are ye, Cora?”

“My name is Claire,” she said hotly. Standing, she crossed her arms and faced him. “You want to hear my story? Just over six months ago, Seth MacKay visited England and swindled my father out of the family ring. I managed to track him down here, but he caught me before I took it back. Rather than have me hanged, he decided to take an interest me. He kept me in the prisons in hopes of breaking me.”

He stared at her. “There was no ring on his finger when I killed him, and there are no reports of a ring in the inventory.”

“I can’t explain that. I had hoped to get my hands on it before I left, but it’s not worth my life.”

“It’s a nice story,” he muttered quietly. “Did ye come up with that just now? Ye’ve a quick mind, but there’s just one problem.”

“What’s that?” she asked nervously.

“When I look at ye, I can see Duncan MacKay staring back at me. Ye have his eyes. So it would seem to me that the only thing ye plan on stealing is the MacKay clan, and I wilnae let that happen!”

“I don’t want it!” she shouted suddenly. Surprising them both, she began to beat her fists against his chest in anger. “Over six months ago, a man that I’d never met before turned my entire life upside down, and I spent months being tormented by the likes of Seth MacKay, my supposed half-brother. I don’t want your stupid clan. I don’t want anything to do with this place! I just want to leave!”

Alec caught her wrists in his hand and forced her to sit back down. “Cora. Cora,” he said in a low voice. “For God’s sake, calm yerself.”

Embarrassed by her admission and her outburst, she jerked her hands away from him. “I do not belong here.”

“If yer Duncan MacKay’s daughter, ye do.” He pulled a chair up to the bed and sat down. “Tell me what happened. From the beginning.”

Cora stared at her hands. “My mother was a beautiful woman. She was coveted by many, and she was so charitable. No matter what anyone calls her, I’ll always love and admire her. I’m not ashamed of where I come from.”

Looking up, she saw the question in his eyes, but he didn’t interrupt. Taking a deep breath, she plunged into her story. “My mother was a whore. Not a desperate and poor woman on the streets, but a wealthy and independent one. Her door was open to any woman seeking asylum, and many poor families brought their older children to her. She would train them in whatever they wished. Those that wanted could follow in her footsteps, but she also secured them jobs as maids and cooks. If a woman decided to follow in her footsteps, she would know that she’d never be treated unfairly. My mother even made men sign contracts before they could take them out as mistresses, and if they were mistreated in any way, those contracts allowed the woman to leave.”

Alec stared in amazement. “They wouldn’t have held up in a court of law.”

“On the contrary. My mother was well-known in the justice circles. They were honored. She didn’t just provide safety to women. If a man found himself wounded in an embarrassing situation, such as facing his lover’s husband, he could come to my mother for healing. She had a gift for making people better.”

“That’s how you learned?”

“I wanted to apprentice with a doctor, but my mother wouldn’t have it. She wanted me to marry well and have everything for free that she had to work so hard for. She died before that could happen. I was thirteen years old.”

“Duncan didn’t claim ye?”

“He probably didn’t know. Lady Thistle was one of the benefactors of the home. She was the daughter of the Duke, but rather than marry for status, she married far beneath her station for love. Still, she had tons of money and spent it and her time with my mother helping those in need. She adopted me quietly until arrangements could be made for the women in the home. Without my mother’s status, Lady Thistle feared that the courts would no longer protect them. It was months before word finally got out. Lady Thistle had hoped that her status as a duke’s daughter and the money that I had inherited from my mother would help me find a husband, but without my mother’s protection, I was simply the daughter of a whore. Still, my family loved me, and I knew that even if I never married, I’d be secure and happy.”

Alec sat quietly while she continued with her story. “Several months ago a strange man showed up on our doorstep. He had a letter from the King of Scotland naming me the heir to the MacKay clan provided I marry Innes Campbell. The Thistles were so shocked that they wanted to go to the King of England to disband the contract, but I knew there was no reason for him to intervene on my account. Despite the Thistles’ love for me, I knew my station in life.

“My father gave me time to say my goodbyes. I could tell that he wanted a relationship with me, but I was stubborn. I couldn’t understand why he would leave my mother if he truly loved her as he claimed. I could only be convinced that there was nothing but desire between them, and I despised his claims otherwise. But that night, when we left, Seth MacKay attacked the carriage. And after he’d killed our father, I felt guilty that I hadn’t done more to give the man his due.”

“Seth killed Duncan?” Alec whispered. “’Tis a good thing that he’s already dead. The MacKays are no friends to the Sinclairs, but Duncan was a good man. We mourned his passing. Why didn’t he kill ye?”

Here was the moment of truth. She could admit that Innes was involved, but it was her word against the brother of a laird. If no one believed her, Innes would be free to take his revenge.

She didn’t know Alec. She couldn’t trust him with the whole truth. “He was fascinated by me. He took more pleasure of my torment than he would my death.”

“Does Innes know who you are?”

Vehemently, she shook her head. “I don’t think Seth disclosed the truth to anyone for fear of the King’s missive. No one recognized me until your king. He must have suspected when he’d learned how long I’d been here.”