Page 100 of To Wed a Wild Scot
Logan struggled to take in a calming breath. “I’m not going to ask you again, Juliana. Where did you take Grace this afternoon?”
“The rose garden, then the bluebell wood,” she whispered.
The bluebell wood, just as James had said. If he’d simply gone to the wood he would have found them there, but instead he’d rushed off to Cowden’s like a damn fool. He saw his mistake now, but at the time he’d been so hazy with panic he couldn’t think at all. “Did it occur to you, even for a moment, I might be worried when I couldn’t find you?”
“I—I didn’t think you’d wake up so soon.”
“But I did wake up, Juliana. I woke up and found you, Grace, and Lord Cowden’s vowels all missing. I thought…” Logan didn’t want to say what he’d thought, or ever think about it again.
She took a hesitant step toward him. “I’m sorry. I never meant to worry—”
“You gave Cowden Rosemount.” Logan’s voice was flat, his chest heavy with anguish. “Damn it, Juliana.Why?”
The words tore from his throat. Juliana recoiled at his harsh tone, his clenched fists. Once again Logan fought for breath, fought for calm, but he knew it was futile. There wasn’t enough air in all of Surrey to reconcile him to what she’d lost.
No, not lost. Given up. Forhim.
“I didn’tgiveit to him, Logan. I traded it for the land in Perth. I was going to explain everything to you this evening, after you woke. I never intended to keep it from you.”
Logan let out a bitter laugh. “You could hardly hide it from me, could you? According to Cowden, you have the deed to the Perth land!”
She reached out a hand to him. “Look at me, Logan. Why are you so angry?”
Logan did look at her, and the plea in her green eyes nearly undid him. He ached to take her hand and draw her against him, but he didn’t move. “I told you I’d take care of this business with Cowden, Juliana. Did you think I couldn’t manage it on my own? Is that why you went to him behind my back?”
Juliana looked shocked. “No! How can you think so?”
It hurt Logan to think she’d doubted him, but even that wasn’t the worst of it.
The worst part, the part he couldn’t bear thinking about, was that Juliana had endangered herself for him. She’d lost her mother’s estate—a place that had been a home to her, a place she cared deeply about—forhim.
He was supposed to take care ofher, to protecther.
That she’d lost something so precious to her for his sake was unbearable.
“You and Fitzwilliam want the Perth land, and I knew Benedict would never give it to you.” Juliana’s voice had gone high and thready. It was the voice of someone who was desperate to be understood, and was afraid she wouldn’t be. “Don’t you see, Logan? You could have bested him in wager after wager and won thousands of pounds, and he still would have found a way to keep you from getting that land. It never would have ended.”
“Why were you so desperate for it to end, Juliana? Was it because you knew I wouldn’t leave England until I got the Perth land? Are you that anxious to be rid of me, that you’d give up so much?”
His words landed with a deafening crash between them. Juliana’s throat worked, but she said nothing, and a heavy silence fell between them. For the first time since he’d come into the room, she didn’t look distraught. Her shoulders went rigid, and the paleness in her cheeks gave way to bright spots of color.
She wasn’t sad or distressed or confused anymore. She was angry. “Is that what you think, Logan? That I gave up my home to a man I despise because I want to berid of you? You truly can’t think of any other reason why I might have done such a thing?”
Juliana wasn’t just angry, she was furious. Her eyes were on fire, and her entire body was trembling. Logan ran a weary hand through his hair, then let his arm fall limply back to his side. Christ, he didn’t know anymore what he thought. His chest was bleeding again, his arm hurt like the devil, and he couldn’t make sense of any of this. “I don’t pretend to understand why you did it, Juliana, but if it was a ploy to get rid of me, you’ve made a grave miscalculation.”
“A miscalculation?” A bitter laugh fell from her lips. “What does that mean? That my nefarious plan to be rid of you has failed, and you’re not going back to Scotland?”
There was a strange, hard quality in her voice that worried him, but Logan was too exhausted to work out what it meant. “Oh, I’m going. We all are. You, me, and Grace.”
She stared at him, too stunned at first to say a word. “Logan,” she began, but he cut her off.
“If you think I’m going to leave you and Grace here where Cowden can get at you, you’re mistaken, Ana. You’reminenow, and I take care of what’s mine.”
Juliana said nothing, but her beautiful green eyes were so shadowed with hurt he had to look away from her.
“As soon as Grace and I are healed enough to travel, we leave for Scotland.”
Chapter Twenty-six
