Page 26 of Wild Wicked Scot
“Calm yourself,” her father said sternly. “You are needed.”
“Needed!How could I possibly—”
“Yourhusbandis a traitor.” He said it suddenly and acidly, as if she’d brought him a diseased piece of meat, in spite of his having brought Arran to her.
“What? That’s not possible. There has obviously been some mistake—”
“The mistake is that you fled your marriage bed like a child and came crying home,” Bryce said angrily.
“Bryce,” her father said quietly. He stood up, walked to the sideboard. He poured a glass of port and held it out to Margot.
She shook her head, but he still held it out. “Drink it. Calm yourself.”
Margot refused to take it. She would notcalmherself. “Who has said it?” she asked. “Who has made you believe such a foul thing?”
“I have heard it from a reliable source. Don’t look so shocked—I warned you there would be consequences for fleeing your husband.”
She blinked at him in disbelief. He’d never warned her of anything! “You told me he was a barbarian,” she reminded him.
“I did not make your match lightly,” he continued, as if she hadn’t spoken. “I staked my reputation on that match, vouching for the honor of all of Scotland for the sake of your children and my heirs.”
For her children! He had vouched for it to line his own pockets. Margot looked at her brothers. Bryce was watching, but Knox was staring down at his feet. “What has happened?” she demanded.
“I swore to the queen that a union with Scotland would bring her wealth and power. That every bloody man in that godforsaken land would be her loyal subject,” her father said sharply, pointing north. He sounded like the vicar now, preaching from a pulpit. “I believed it so wholeheartedly that I gave my consent to the marriage of my only daughter to a Scottish chieftain. Do you know that it wasmyword that helped tip the balance to uniting Scotland and England? I made your match to make this nation strong and invincible. I was indispensable to the agreement. Nowyourhusband seeks to make mequitedispensable!”
But that was not at all how it had gone. Her father was speaking as if Margot were completely ignorant of what had happened before. “You told me the match was meant to increase our holdings and provide for our future heirs. You said it was imperative that I do it for our family, Pappa. You never said anything about England and Scotland.”
“There were many advantages to your marriage, which is why I agreed to it. That’s whyyouagreed to it, if you’ve forgotten. It was your duty to this family.”
“But I didn’t agree to it! Youforcedme. You said, ‘A woman’s place is to bear sons to whomever her family decrees, and nothing else,’ as I recall!”
“Thatisa woman’s place! But then you disobeyed me and came home,” he said. “I was too lenient with you. I could hardly blame you, I suppose, knowing how the Scots are. But it has caused quite a lot of trouble for us all, and now you must repair it.”
Margot began to feel ill. “Whattrouble?”
“What trouble, what trouble,” Bryce mimicked her. “Men who have been made a fool will take their revenge, Margot. The husband you have left is in bed with the French. They are plotting to invade England and put James Stuart on the throne. Do you understand, Margot? They mean to take the throne from Queen Anne and install aCatholicwith the help of England’s mortal enemy.”
That made no sense. Why would Arran involve himself in that? “But...he trains soldiers for the queen,” she said uncertainly. “What proof is there?”
“You’re a fool,” Bryce snapped.
“Bryce,” Knox said. “Be gentle.”
Bryce turned away from Margot.
Her father took Margot’s hand, much like he’d done the night he had introduced her to Arran, his plan already in place. “There is quite a lot you can’t possibly understand, darling,” he said, gentle once more. “When you left, you relieved him of any loyalty to our agreement. An Englishman would not go back on his word, but a Scot?” He shrugged. “Now, who do you think will be made to pay for the sins of your husband?”
Margot’s head was spinning. “Me?”
“You?”Bryce exploded, and then laughed. “Who the bloody hell are you?”
“No, Margot,” her father said calmly. “Iwill be held accountable. I am the one who brought that bastard into England and into this family, and if he is a traitor, the queen and her men will look to me, as well. We will lose everything. We will be accused of conspiring with the rebels and the French and—” he squeezed her hand so tightly that it hurt “—and I might very well hang.”
Margot’s breath lodged in her lungs.
Her father was suddenly looming over her. He cupped her face, forcing her to look up at him. His eyes were bloodshot, as if he’d been drinking. “There is only one way to know if he plots against us without drawing attention to ourselves. And that is for you, his precious wife, to go and discover what he’s about before anyone else. You must go with all due haste, Margot. You must make him tell you what he is about and then come back to me.”
Margot stepped away from her father. She needed to breathe, tothink. “If it is true, he won’t tell me, Pappa. He despises me. I’ve not had a word from him in three years.”
