Page 75 of The Highlander's Auctioned Bride
Maisie’s eyes hardened. “Ikentye suspected her, why did ye nae tell me?”
He shook his head. “I didnae want it to be true. I didnae wish for ye to be burdened by it.”
“Why must ye be so secretive, this ismelife.”
“Ye were barely awake, and ye nearly died, Maisie, what was I meant to dae, list all of me suspicions while ye were barely coherent?”
Maisie crossed her arms over her chest and James felt the same skitter of desire he always felt at her defiance. He tried his best to focus, holding out his hand and waiting for her to take it before continuing.
“Did she tell ye somethin’?”
Maisie opened her palm, showing him a small angular bottle of some kind of viscous black liquid.
“What is that?”
“The poison,” she replied. “Lillian found it by Marcus’s bed.” James straightened, drawing his sword as he opened his mouth to call the guards. “James!”
He looked back at her and lowered the sword at her stern glare.
“Thinkabout this,” she said, putting the vial down beside her. “Would any man be stupid enough to try to poison the lady of a castle and then leave the poison on his bedside table for anyone to find?”
James paused, then shook his head. “Nae,” James conceded. “Marcus wouldnae be so foolish.”
“Exactly,” Maisie said. “I dinnae think this is Marcus’s doin’.”
“What? Why?”
“I dinnae ken, but Lillian wasnae herself. It’s almost as though she is fulfilling tasks someone else has given her. I think she might be bein’ used by another in order to get to me.”
James snatched up the bottle, his mind working a mile a minute. Even if Marcus wasn’t the threat, he could still make an example of him.
“This is evidence enough. He’ll be under lock and key before the sun sets.”
“But I dinnae think it is Marcus at all!” she insisted. “I think someone else is behind this.”
“Ye should rest,” he said automatically, his mind blocked by his need to get to Marcus and send a message to Lillian in the process. If he locked Marcus up in the dungeons whoever had tried to hurt Maisie might believe they had got away with their actions and do something rash.
Maisie glowered at him furiously.
“Ye arenae listenin’ to me, and I have done quite enoughrestin’for a lifetime. I want to help ye.”
James shook his head, his stomach clenching at the idea of putting her in yet more danger.
“I shall station Harris outside yer room and ye are nae to go anywhere else alone.”
“James! I am nae a child, stop treatin’ me as though ye must wrap me in blankets and send me off to bed. I can help ye.”
“I dinnae need yer help,” he snapped, desperate for her to see that all he wanted was her safety. “I must protect me people, that is me duty nae yers.”
I would kill them all. Burn down the world, just so that ye were safe, can ye nae see that?
But he did not say anything of the kind to Maisie. He had other plans for her.
“Even after everythin’ I have been through, ye are still puttin’ yer clan before me?”
His gaze snapped to hers, desperate to tell her that was the opposite of what he was doing. Indeed, for the last two days, he had done nothing for his clan, his mind solely focused on making sure she was safe.
“I am the laird,” he said darkly. “That is all ye need to remember here.”
