Page 34 of Honour Bound
He was probably right and I felt affronted on Byron’s behalf. Sure, I knew he was using her because of his Clan’s financial situation but she didn’t know that. What if he was also in love with her? She was waltzing around behind his back, canoodling with a Wild Man … and a Wild Man who worked for Byron, at that.
‘Uh Integrity,’ Bob piped up. ‘Your face has gone a most curious shade of purple.’
There was a sharp knock from the far side of the cabin. ‘Lexie is still out there,’ I said, glad of the diversion.
‘I’ll go and get her,’ Speck said.
I gave him a tight smile of acknowledgment. Unbelievable. I couldn’t even muster an appropriate joke.
*
A couple of hours later, still reeling from the revelation that Tipsania was tiptoeing around behind Byron’s back, I met with Chieftain MacBain. She still maintained the taut pout of disapproval but curiosity no longer lingered behind those sharp eyes. I felt a faint trickle of foreboding down my spine which was confirmed when her first words had nothing to do with her missing uncle.
‘Was it you?’ she demanded. ‘Because if there is any evidence that it was, you will be thrown out of here before you can so much as say Clan Adair.’
I blinked. ‘Excuse me?’
‘You know exactly what I’m talking about.’
I took a step back and folded my arms. ‘No,’ I said coolly. ‘I don’t.’
She pointed to her neck. She was dripping in finery in much the same manner as Tipsania. Clearly this opening ceremony called for grander clothes than I possessed.
I shook my head. ‘I’m not very good at charades. How many syllables?’
‘My necklace,’ she sneered. ‘I took it off last night before I went to bed. Now it’s nowhere to be found ? and there’s only one thief here, Ms Adair. What have you done with it?’
Actually there were five thieves hanging around the Cruaich but I didn’t think she’d appreciate me pointing it out. I immediately wondered if one of the others had taken a midnight jaunt to line their pockets but I knew none of them was daft enough. They wouldn’t risk this entire escapade for the sake of some silver and pearls. Nah: forget five thieves – there were at least six.
‘I didn’t take your necklace,’ I told her. And then, because I wanted to be honest, ‘I only take pretty things.’
Her mouth twisted angrily. ‘You…’ She seemed unable to get the words out.
‘Bitch?’ I shrugged. ‘I’ve been called worse.’
‘You’re almost as bad as your father,’ she spat.
‘Really? Because I understand he was really something of a good man.’
‘Apart from the time he murdered over a thousand of his own Clan.’
‘Did he really, Chieftain MacBain?’ I asked. ‘Did he really do that?’
She didn’t answer. ‘Just give it back.’
‘I didn’t take it.’ Understanding was beginning to dawn, however. Apparently Aifric Moncrieffe had decided that killing me at the Cruaich was too dangerous, even for him. Why assassinate someone and leave a bloody mess to clean up when all you have to do is discredit them by stealing a few choice items and letting others point the finger at your victim?
‘I don’t believe you,’ Chieftain MacBain sneered.
‘Until you’ve got proof I took it, your accusation is demeaning,’ I told her, using the Sidhes’ own warped sense of honour against her. I’d have offered to let her search the cabin if I didn’t think that the necklace had probably already been planted there. At least Bob had returned the place to its original squalid state before we left that morning. It paid to be careful; unfortunately, we’d not been careful enough.
The calm demeanour which MacBain had shown yesterday had vanished and turmoil was written all over her face. This necklace must be important to her. She wanted to clap me in irons but, without evidence to back up her claims, she didn’t dare.
‘Look,’ I said patiently. ‘I didn’t take your necklace and I’m not here because of it.’ I dug into my pocket and pulled out Matthew MacBain’s signet ring. She didn’t give me the chance to show it to her.
‘Until you return my necklace, I have nothing to say to you. Get out.’
‘But…’
