Page 85 of Taming the Heiress
"And the bankers and solicitors were good men, well intentioned if not accustomed to dealing with young women outside their own families. They honored Lord Strathlin's wishes and brought me up to the task, holding my hands like a child that must learn to walk. Including," she added, looking up at him, "Sir Frederick."
Dougal nodded, frowning. "You mentioned that he has been helpful to you."
She nodded, faced the window, where clear afternoon light showed her deeply creased brow. "My grandmothers on Caransay believe that the inheritance came to me through... magic," she said. "From that night we spent together on the rock."
"Aye, magical indeed," he murmured. Then he realized that something greatly disquieted her, for her posture was taut and her eyes had darkened to a stormy blue-green.
"The legend," she said, "of the kelpie of Sgeir Caran who comes for his bride on the sea rock. He grants good fortune on his bride and on Caransay...." She paused, turning to look at him, her eyes wide with that look of haunted emotion that he had seen when something troubled her greatly.
"What is it, love?" He reached out his hand to brush at her hair, which was loosely caught up in a black net after their lovemaking; a few wayward curling strands had slipped free. "It seems almost as if there is some truth to that legend."
She nodded. "I came by much good fortune after I spent the night on the sea rock, just as the legend says," she murmured.
"Even though the kelpie did not really appear to you," he said with a soft chuckle.
She did not smile, remaining so somber that it puzzled him. "My grandmothers believe it. And they... they have their reasons. Dougal, I need to show you something."
She slipped a finger under the high neck of her plaid bodice and drew out her small golden chain with its dangling locket. Wordlessly, she flipped the tiny catch and opened the twin oval frames.
He saw the ring made of threads and golden and brown hairs that she had woven that morning and beside it a tiny portrait, a towheaded infant whose sweet face reminded him of her. He thought it must be a picture of herself as a child, perhaps commissioned by her mother.
"Aye," he said, his voice roughened, low. "The ring. I know." He pulled out his pocket watch and opened the hidden compartment in it, a false backing lined with thin glass, then held it out to her. She gasped.
The glass circlet pressed his own woven ring, which she had made for him and slipped on his finger as he slept. "I've carried it with me everywhere," he said. "It was all I had of you, those years... and all the while, I was not sure you existed. I had this, which was real, but I wondered if it could be a bit of fairy thread, woven of magic."
"While I always knew that youwerereal. Too real," she said. "But my grandmothers thought you were the kelpie of the reef. They still believe it. They believe... that we were married that night and that the ring proved it. And..." She paused, looked at him, her eyes lustrous and tormented.
"And what? What other proof could they have of it?" He almost smiled, but for her solemn mood.
"They say the kelpie of the sea rock bestows unusual good fortune if his bride pleases him greatly," she said, fingering the little open locket with its ring and its portrait, "and gives him a child."
He frowned, baffled. "But you—you did not—you are not—"
She gazed up at him. "I did."
He grabbed her by the shoulders. "What do you mean? What are you saying? A child came of that night? Our child?"
She nodded, her eyes swimming in new tears, some of them spilling free down her cheeks.
"For the love of God, woman," he said, nearly shaking her. "Tell me!"
"Iain," she whispered. "He's... Iain."
"My God," he breathed. "How could you not tell me that!" He nearly shouted, stepping away. Shoving a hand through his hair, he turned back to her, stunned. "Iain?"
She nodded, her lower lip wobbly. "I have kept the secret of it for years, and I knew I had to tell you, but I... I could not, until I trusted you and knew you would not try to take him away from me."
He stared hard at her, not certain how he felt—angry, elated, still shocked. "My God. I would never do that."
"I know that now. I did not know it then."
"Fair enough." He rubbed his brow, thinking. "Who knows about this?"
"Very few people. My grandparents on Caransay and Fergus, of course. And Mrs. Shaw and Mr. Hamilton." She paused. "And... and Sir Frederick knows."
Dougal felt a cold chill run through him. "Sir Frederick?"
She nodded. "Somehow he found out from a doctor who tended me in the early months. Frederick told me that he knew and that he would tell everyone that I had an illegitimate child being fostered with a family on Caransay. So I..."
