Page 53 of In the Highlander's Bed

Only this time Gordon wouldn’t let her. He stepped into her path. She pulled up short, her eyes widening not in surprise but in fear.

Gordon hated the fear. Fiona pivoted, ready to flee. He caught her arm. “Please, don’t run. Not any longer.”

“Let me go,” she said, her voice coming from deep within her. It was the voice of her anger, her loss,hisbetrayal.

“I can’t,” he said. “I won’t. Fiona, what the soldiers did was wrong, but you can’t let them beat you.”

Her body stiffened in alarm. “You don’t know anything—”

“I know they raped you.”

She pulled back, her eyes wild. “How didyoufind out?”

“I knew, Fee,” he admitted, ready to face all. “They made certain I would know.”

For a second she seemed paralyzed, and then she started to crumple as if overcome with shame. Gordon caught her in his arms before she fell.

“I’m not fit for anything any longer,” she whispered desperately. “I was to marry, to have a Season in London, a home and a place in society…”

“They were wrong, Fee, not you. You were the innocent. I would never have left if I’d thought such a heinous crime would be committed.”

For a second he thought he’d reached her, but then she pulled back. “Well, it doesn’t matter, does it?” she said, her voice tight with hostility. “Because you did leave, Gordon. You went off toplayat war.Ihad to live it.”

She was right. She had paid a terrible price.

“If I could go back, Fee—”

“Don’t say it.” She met his eye. “You wouldn’t have done one thing differently. I’m just another reason for all of this. You’ve set your course andyou see no other way.”

He opened his mouth, ready to apologize again, then stopped. “You are correct, Fee. There is no other way. I didn’t ask to lead a rebellion, but someone has to stand for justice.Honoris more important to me than life itself. Without it, the actions we go through day-today mean little. But I didn’t shatter your childhood dreams. Perhaps if you had been born five years earlier or five years later, you could have gone to London, married a rich man, and ruled the world. But it would be a very narrow world, Fiona, and aselfishone. Trust me, someplace else there would be a Scottish lass being abused by a band of English buggers and no one would give a care. But you’d have your shoes, and your dresses, and your silver.”

She flinched at his words as if he had physically struck her.

He took a step back. “We are different, you and I. I don’t know how. We have the same sire, but you want to follow the English, while I can’t rest as long as there are soldiers in this country with the power to murder, to rape, to steal, andno one say nay.”

Gordon spread his hands, offering no solutions. “And as for you, this is where we are. I can’t erase the past. I hate them for what they did to you. I do love you, Fee. But I can’t change what is. The price would be my honor, and you are right—I can’t give it up.”

He dropped his hands, his heart heavy. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, and turned to leave.

He had not taken more than a few steps when he heard her whisper his name. He turned, uncertain.

She stood, so alone, and as defenseless as a sparrow.

They were all each other had. Whether he was right or wrong, he knew he couldn’t allow her pain, her anger, to stand between them any longer.

“Fee, come to me,” he pleaded. He took a step toward her, and that was all it took. She flew into his arms, sobs racking her body.

“God, Fee, I would that no harm had ever come to you. But you can’t let them beat you. You can’t let them rob you of your spirit.”

She cried so hard, it took her a moment to catch her breath. “I don’t know what to do,” she said into his shoulder, wet with her tears. “I have no future. I’m ruined. There’s no one who will want me.”

“Yes, there is,” he said quickly. “There is going to be a wonderful man for you. He’s going to be noble and love you more than life itself.”

She pulled back to look up at him. “And what do I have to offer him?”

“Your heart, Fee.”

Fiona shook her head. “I was scared, Gordon, so frightened—” “If I could find the man who did this to you, I’d have his head on a pike,” he vowed.