Page 100 of The Scot’s Secret

Alex looked around them and nodded ahead to a thicket of trees. He sped up, and she followed. Moving away from the dirt road, they entered a grassy clearing between two massive oaks. He dismounted, tied his mount quickly and efficiently, and came to assist her. Clara took his lead and did the same, reminding him she was quite capable of handling both herself and the mare he had lent her at Brockburg.

“What are we doing?” she asked.

“This.”

He pulled her into his arms, and Clara immediately wrapped hers around him. She inhaled deeply when an afternoon breeze blew a tendril of hair between them. He moved it away and brought his lips to hers so tenderly, she forgot to close her eyes.

He pulled away just enough to see her face.

“We found her,” he repeated. And the rest of his words rushed out. Alex told her of his initial anger—and how it had wilted in the face of his mother’s explanation of the events that had unfolded after his father’s death. When he spoke of her English husband, he broke contact, likely not even realizing it. His fists clenched as he paced back and forth, clearly infuriated by his mother’s mistreatment.

When he mentioned the look in his mother’s eyes—the fear and sadness—Clara’s chest tightened. She was shocked when she realized Alex’s eyes swam with unshed tears, and she went to him, holding him close, eager to ease some of the pain.

“You didn’t know, Alex. How could you have known?”

“I should have kept looking for her. We could have protected her.”

She lay her head on his chest and listened to the rapidly beating heart of a man in pain. She willed it to slow, for Alex to begin to heal after believing for so long his mother didn’t love him.

“I’d convinced myself it was my fault she left,” he said quietly.

Clara didn’t move.

“Toren was always the bravest and strongest. Surely she wouldn’t leave her first-born son. And even now she and Catrina look so much alike. There is no doubt they are mother and daughter.” His voice cracked. “Reid was the baby, innocent and beloved by everyone. But I…”

Oh, Alex!

“But I was none of those. A second son who had to spend every waking moment training to be as good. . .”

Though he stopped, Clara knew he had been about to say, ‘as Toren.’ Alex loved his brother dearly, but he clearly felt lesser than him. Though she could never understand why. To her, Alex was perfect.

“She loved us, me, all along.”

That simple truth had clearly changed everything for him.

She looked at Alex, her gaze unflinching. “You are as strong, as honorable, and as witty as you’ve been since the day we met. Any person would be honored to know you. Any mother would be honored to have you as her son.”

She nearly added, ‘Any woman would be lucky to love you,’ but something stopped her. She’d vowed to Emma to consider a life with Alex, and she’d been thinking of naught else. But she could not forget the risks. If he came to harm while protecting her, she would never recover. She understood, all too well, his mother’s decision to leave her children.

Clara and Alex stood like that for a long while, wrapped up in each other’s arms. If only she could spend the rest of her life in this wooded spot, somewhere between her home and the one she was not brave enough to make with Alex. . .

But eventually, he pulled back.

“I promised you a ride to the village, though I must admit, it was a bit of a shock to learn you’d agreed to go there at all.”

Clara would have been content to call off the trip entirely. She’d only relented after an entire morning of goading by Sara and Emma. They both believed that Alfred was firmly a part of her past. Sara had made some discreet inquiries, she’d said, and there was every indication the peace agreement between the king and his errant barons was being honored.

Even so, Clara was hesitant. She’d tried to explain what Gilbert had told her, but neither woman wanted to listen. They were so convincing that Clara had finally agreed, though she was adamant they continue to call her Lady Susanna in public.

“Sara and Emma convinced me it was safe.”

“Geoffrey told me the countess has been making inquiries.”

She didn’t wish to discuss Alfred right now. . . or her family’s past.

“Alex—” something had just occurred to her, “—your mother. Where is she now?”

They walked toward their horses and mounted them.