Page 31 of Highlander’s Beautiful Liar

Swearing inwardly in a way that her family would not approve of, she turned and dipped into a curtsy. “Your Majesty.”

“Will ye come walk with me in the courtyard? I could use a little sunshine.”

Grateful for at least some air, she took his arm and led him to the small courtyard. “I appreciate you accepting my hasty marriage to Alec,” she began softly. “I had not realized—”

“Careful,” Edward interrupted. “Lying to me is an offense that I will not be able to forgive.”

Immediately, she clamped her mouth shut. She walked a thin line. He expected them to display the face of true lovers in public, but he also knew the truth even if he wasn’t allowed to admit it. “What can you tell me of my father?”

At that, he smiled softly. “Duncan was a good man. Even with the mistakes he made, he was a good husband—despite his indiscretion—a good father, and a good laird. I respected him a great deal.”

“A good father?” she echoed with just a hint of disdain. A father who had ignored her and raised a man who would be a monster.

Edward sighed heavily. “Ye are thinking of Seth. I know ye witnessed and experienced horrors at his hand. How a man could grow up to be so different from his father, I will never know.”

“You allowed him to take over the clan after my father’s death,” she said hesitantly. She couldn’t go around accusing him of being a bad king, but she had to know why. She couldn’t wrap her head around Scottish politics.

“We place a great deal of emphasis on bloodlines as does the English,” he reminded her. “I had heard rumors of Seth’s true nature, enough to allow the rule to fall to Innes if he were to marry ye, but when Duncan died, and ye had supposedly died, I had no evidence to deny Seth his heritage. When I saw what he had done to this clan, I acted as quickly as I could.”

“The Sinclairs. Why them?”

“The Sinclairs’ father was a good friend of mine, and I have been pleased to see that Connor and Alec are just as strong and honest as he was. Connor has made an excellent laird, and I believed that Alec will as well.”

“But Innes?”

“Aye, he was displeased with my decision, but in the six months that Seth abused his own people, Innes did nothing to bring their plight to my attention. So I passed the title to Alec, and now that he has Duncan’s blood to support him, I believe he’ll find his rule much smoother here.”

Cora stopped their slow walk to take a minute to study the older man. “Despite everything that you know now, would you still have upheld your decree and forced me to marry Innes?”

“Aye,” he said without batting an eye. “I rarely go back on my word, and I will be most unhappy if this marriage does not work out.”

A shiver crawled up her spine, and she swallowed hard. The warning was still there. He would still uphold his decree if she gave him reason to.

“Ye had family in England. Ye didnae want to invite them to the celebrations?” he asked mildly.

Tears threatened to well up in her eyes, and she blinked them away. “They thought me dead. It is easier for them to continue thinking so.”

Edward studied her for a few minutes before he sighed. “Scotland can be harsh for someone not used to our climates and temperaments. Ye might find it difficult to acclimate if ye are not surrounded by people that ye love.”

She stared at him coldly. “I was chained to a wall and brutalized for six months. I imagine that being the mistress of a keep will be far easier for me to manage in comparison.”

With a strange smile on his face, he bowed his head. “Forgive me, Lady Cora. Ye may be delicate looking, but ye have the spine of yer father. I believe that Alec has finally found himself the perfect wife.”

Before she could answer, shouts exploded from the great hall, and they had nothing to do with the festivities.

“We should return,” he said. “It seems as if the Campbells are here to offer their congratulations.”

11

Alec was furious that Innes had come unannounced with a dozen armed men, but he wasn’t surprised. It only served to prove what he’d already feared.

There was a traitor on his lands. Someone was feeding information to Innes.

After receiving word of his arrival, Alec allowed Innes and his men into the keep. If he decided to draw blood in the presence of the King, it would be on his head. Alec lost nothing by letting him in.

“Campbell,” he greeted softly. The music had died down as soon as Campbell stalked in, and when his men drew their weapons, his own stood, even in their drunken stupor, and armed themselves while they awaited orders. “Are ye here to congratulate me?”

“Ye bastard!” Innes hissed. “Ye dare take what is rightfully mine? I demand that ye drop this folly before ye sully my woman!”