Page 91 of Highland Sword
“Perhaps while he was dining at an event like the one at Captain Kenedy’s house,” he continued.
She brought a hand to her chest in shock. “Highlanders attacking the brother of the king? It would mean war.”
“Precisely.”
Madame Laborde looked at them in silence as she pondered this. Finally, a smile pulled at her lips. “I understand. If Sir Rupert were to thwart such an audaciousplot, he would emerge as the hero. He wouldsavethe duke and seize Cinaed Mackintosh in one fell swoop.”
“Can you do it?” Morrigan asked.
“I can play this part.” The artist pursed her lips. “But I have one condition. I must be taken from here the night of Captain Kenedy’s reception.”
CHAPTER32
AIDAN
““El amor y la guerra son una misma cosa,” Aidan said to Morrigan as she stormed into the library. He rose from his chair by the desk as she came across the room.
“What did you just say to me?”
She was an open book to him. He knew all her moods now. He knew the difference between the blush in her face when she was angry and the blush when he kissed her or whispered all the things that he’d do to her once they were married.
Right now, she was definitely angry.
He read the passage from the book he held open in his hand. “‘Love and war are all one. As in war it is lawful to use sleights and stratagems to overcome the enemy, so in amorous strifes and competencies, impostures and juggling tricks are held for good to attain the desired end.’”
“I just spoke with Isabella,” she told him. “You can’t do this.”
“Thomas Shelton’s translation of Cervantes’sDon Quixote.” He closed the volume and offered it to her. “It is a wonderful tale. Life changing. You should read it.”
“I’ve read it.” Morrigan took the book from him and put it down on the desk. None too gently. “She told me that Charles Forbes has decided to give up his seat in Parliament earlier than planned. The election will take place in early spring.”
“I heard the same thing.” He picked up the book. “Did you know Cervantes is Sebastian’s favorite author? I think it has to do with both of them losing an arm in battle, though I believe the author only lost the use of his left arm, ‘for the greater glory of his right,’ or something.”
Morrigan was not to be deterred. “But you went to Cinaed this morning and withdrew your name as a candidate.”
“It’s true,mi amor. What else can a man do when the woman he loves refuses him?” He laid the book gently on the desk, touching the leather binding. “I’ve decided that my brother and I shall give up the law and travel the world. I shall be the noble knight-errant, Don Quixote, and he’ll be my Sancho Panza, though I think he might be too tall.”
She placed herself between him and the desk. “I never refused you. We talked about this.”
“We never settled anything.”
“I need to get my father’s letter back first.”
“We’ll keep trying. But what happens if we can’t retrieve it? And none of Sir Rupert’s threats are about the letter. He is weaving his own tales.”
Morrigan paled. “I know.”
“Think of everything that is being circulated about Cinaed. Is any of it the truth? Is there any document that justifies all the lies? None. If their plan is to ruin me because I’ve been fortunate to make them look like fools in court, they’ll come up with all kinds of falsehoods about me, anyway.”
She hugged her arms around her middle. “I refuse to give them a scandal they can use to ruin you.”
“Nothing they know about you can ruin me. And we’re talking about Parliament. Public life,” he reminded her. “To pursue that as a career, we have to be numb to the gossip. We can’t run away and hide. Instead, we have to show them we’re not afraid of whatever obstacles they hurl our way.”
“So youarestanding for the election,” she said, sounding relieved.
“Not without you at my side.”
“We’ll talk about this later.”
