Page 20 of Highland Renegade
Lorelei’s eyes rounded. “She has. Said something, that is.”
“About a ghost?” Juliana laughed. “Let me guess. Somebody was murdered—actually, a lot of somebodies, considering this place was used for battle—and some old warrior cannot rest.”
“No. Fiona told me it was a woman who was murdered.” Lorelei gave her sister a reproachful look. “Her stepmother.”
“What?” That Ian had a stepmother was news to Emily, but then it wouldn’t have been in any financial reports sent and she was hardly on personal terms with Ian or his family.
Lorelei nodded and sat up straighter now that she had their attention. Emily suspected she was about to launch theatrically into a lengthy telling of the story and that wasn’t why she’d asked them to come up here. “Just tell us what Fiona said. No embellishment please.”
Lorelei frowned. “Fiona said her own mother caught a fever shortly after she was born and that her father was miserable—at least that is what he told his children—and that—”
“Please,” Juliana said. “Fiona’s version?”
“I am getting to it. Fiona was four when her father remarried. She remembers that the lady was blond and English—”
“English?” Emily asked in surprise.
“Yes. Her name was Isobel. She was the daughter of a dragoon officer. It is all rather romantic,” Lorelei said with a sigh. “They eloped to Gretna Green because her father did not want her marrying a Scot, especially a MacGregor, since they were—”
“How was she murdered?” Juliana interrupted.
Lorelei stuck out her bottom lip. “You are ruining my story.”
“One that we really do not have time for right now,” Emily said gently. “I have matters to discuss with you, so just tell us what happened.”
“Oh, all right. She was murdered in her bed.” Lorelei paused for effect. “Stabbed. Blood everywhere.”
In spite of trying not to look interested, Juliana finally gave in to the silence following that remark. “Who did it?”
Her sister gave her a triumphant look. “Nobody knows.”
“Was Ian’s—Fiona’s—father not here?”
Lorelei shook her head. “He had gone to Dalmally and did not return until the next morning. He is the one who found her.”
“There were no suspects?”
“Oh, yes. There werelotsof suspects.” Lorelei started warming to her subject again. “Isobel was much younger than her husband and very pretty.Andvery friendly. Fiona remembers whenever her father was away, gentlemen would call—”
“I think that is enough,” Emily cut in. “We do not need to gossip about the dead.”
“But—”
“No more.”
“So how does it end?” Juliana asked. “Does Isobel wander the halls crying or something?”
“No. It is Fiona’s father that is said to wander, searching for whoever murdered his bride.” Lorelei glanced from one sister to the other. “He opens and closes doors. Sometimes the door to her bedchamber is left open.”
Emily pursed her lips. “Are you going to tell me that I am sleeping in the murdered lady’s bedchamber?”
“No,” Lorelei answered. “It is the one next door.”
Emily released a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. How silly to get absorbed in such a tale! “Well, that is a relief then,” she said briskly. “And now I would like to tell you about the uncles I met today, since they will be arriving at the castle later and Mr. MacGregor has invited us all to dine in a smaller room.” She looked at both her sisters. “I want each of you to be on yourbestbehavior.”
“Did they act like eejits, too?” Juliana asked.
“Eejits?” Emily replied. “Are you taking to the Scots language?”
