Page 46 of In the Highlander's Bed

Fiona all but sneered with triumph. “Because he has won you over. Don’t trust him.”

“But he’s your brother,” Constance said. “You should support him.”

“Do you support your sister in everything? Is that why you are runningawayfrom her?”

Turnabout wasnotfair play. “The relationship between Charlotte and me is different.”

“Is it?” Fiona shook her head. “Why do you want to return to America?”

Constance crossed her arms around her waist. “It’s my home.”

Fiona nodded as if that had been the answer she’d expected. “It’s what you knew. You had dreams there, didn’t you? I had dreams once, too. I had a place in society. I was to go to London for a Season. I would have married and been happy.”

“How can you be so certain?”

With a shrug Fiona said, “It was expected. I’d been groomed to be the wife of a fine gentleman. Idreamedof that day.”

Constance caught herself before she madea face. Charlotte had always gone on about what a lady should know and how she should behave. As the granddaughters of an earl, albeit a disreputable one, Charlotte had insisted that they learn the proper manners so that some day they could return to England and claim their birthright.

Well, here they were in England, Constance thought, and she hadn’t met a single man she’d considering worthy enough to marry—save for Gordon Lachlan.

“What?” Fiona asked, suspicious. “You don’t believe I’m telling the truth, that I was to be a great lady?”

“Great ladies are made in how they think,” Constance said. Those words felt good to speak aloud. She’d had to hold her tongue too often with her sister and Headmistress Hillary. “If you want to be a great lady, then do great things.”

“I can’t,” Fiona said, her eyes narrowing. “Myhalfbrother decided to take part in a rebellion. He made me an outcast.”

“No, the men who murdered your father did that. Gordon wants justice.”

Fiona threw down the lead rope and bundle she’d been carrying. “I know that. He wasmyfather, too.I was just as affected.”

“Then why aren’t you as angry?”

“Iamangry,” Fiona countered. “My blood boils with anger. But there is nothing I can do about it. Father didn’t think of the impact his stand against ourfriends, ourneighbors,would have on Mother and me. He was like Gordon, always so concerned about fairness and justice—for everyone else.His wife, his daughter didn’t matter.”

“Your mother is here also?”

“No.” Fiona crossed her arms, gathering the tartan close around her shoulders. “She died shortly after they murdered Father. It was grief that took her. Gordon placed me with Sir Dougal MacLeod’s family. Sir Dougal had been a close friend of my parents. Lady MacLeod had offered to chaperone me during my London Season after the mourning period was over—not that I would have had any prospects. Gordon used my dowry for this rebellion. He’s used everything we owned.” A shadow crossed Fiona’s face. “And then one day, after the rebels were discovered at Nathraichean, English soldiers took me away from Sir Dougal, who didn’t dare put up a protest. He just handed me over.”

“What did the soldiers want?” Constance asked.

“Gordon.” Fiona took a step away from Constance. “You can think what you like about my feelings toward my brother, but I didn’t give him up. They tried to make me tell them where he was. I wouldn’t.”

And she’d paid a terrible price for her loyalty.

Constance’s heart broke for the woman. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Don’t be,” Fiona said with a bitter laugh. “Just leave. Go, so that this will all end. We can’t fight the English, and if Gordon persists, we will all die.”

“You are already in danger,” Constance countered. “And they will never let him go. He has a price on his head. He has no choice but to fight, and I’m a key to his claiming the Sword of the MacKenna. Is that why you want me to leave, so he can fail? Would you choose the opportunity to go to London and marry some man over your brother’s life?”

“There is no marriage for me,” Fiona said, her voice brittle. “I’m ruined. No decent man would have me. I’m not even fit to be a scullery maid. Gordon is wrong to carry this rebellion forward. People are hurt by it.”

“People are hurt by the cruelty of others. And that is all the more reason to fight,” Constance answered. She approached Fiona, stopping justshort of taking the other woman by the shoulders and giving her a shake. “Gordon isn’t fighting for his own vanity. He wants justice for the wrongs done your clansmen. If that’s not worth fighting for, I don’t know what is.”

“You don’t understand becauseyoucan leave at any time,” Fiona said.

“Idounderstand,” Constance said. “And I’m attempting to make you realize that you don’t need to be ashamed—”