Page 47 of This Laird of Mine

“Penelope,” she whispered. “Do you hear me? It’s Claire.”

There was not the slightest response on her face.

She had not really expected a reaction, but it made her feel better talking to the girl. Her gaze travelled down Penelope’s arm to her hand, and the clean bandage that concealed her missing finger. Claire reached out and put a hand on Penelope’s arm and stroked the length from her shoulder to her elbow. Merciful saints, her skin was cold.

Jules strode forward then stopped at the bedside across from her. “What are you doing?”

She lifted her gaze to his ice-blue eyes, met them with a boldness she did not feel. “I must wake her.”

“She is ill.” The words were sharp.

“She is the only one who can tell me where Anna and Eloise are. They are in every bit as much danger as Penelope herself.”

Jules’s hands opened and closed at his sides as his gaze shifted to the girl on the bed. “Why didn’t you tell me you had a family?”

A family. She had never really thought of the girls as such before, but he was right. They were her family, her only family. And she would do anything for them. Even lie. “I could not risk losing them. I have no idea who is threatening me, or why, and I had no resources to battle whoever threatened the girls. My only choice was to cooperate.”

“You could have trusted me.”

She shook her head sadly. “The risk was too great.” She returned her gaze to her charge. “They only cut off Penelope’s finger. But that they cut off the one she valued most means they do not want to murder the girls, they want to torture them, torture me.”

“There is more to this than that.” Jules’s gaze narrowed. “Why force you to marry me? How do I figure in to all of this? Unless—” He paused. His eyes darkened. “Unless this is some sort of plot against me. But who would want revenge against me?” His accusing gaze connected with hers.

“I have no knowledge of revenge or anything else. I simply did what I was told to do in order to keep the girls safe. And even that did not guarantee their safety.” Claire’s gaze returned to Penelope.

“Whomever it was harmed her.” His voice softened. “They did not kill her. It was a warning.”

“A warning we should heed.” Claire shook Penelope’s shoulder. “Penelope, if you can hear me, please open your eyes. I need to talk to you for Anna and Eloise’s sake.”

The young girl stirred. Her eyelids fluttered. “C-Claire?”

“Dearest, I am here.” Her voice broke with emotion.

Familiar blue eyes stared up at Claire. “The woman . . .”

“We need to know who she is, and where Anna and Eloise are hidden.”

“Don’t know her name,” Penelope whispered. “The girls are . . . in Edinburgh.”

Claire straightened. “Then that’s where I must go.”

“Not alone, you won’t,” Jules replied with an edge in his voice.

Penelope turned her head toward Jules. “Your husband . . .”

Despite the words, Jules’s face miraculously softened. “Shh. You must rest. We need you to help us find the others.” He looked almost boyish as he smiled down at Penelope. Claire’s heart constricted at the sight, and a twinge of envy moved through her. He might never smile at her like that again.

Claire forced the thought away. “We need to let her rest if we are to leave for Edinburgh at first light.”

His smile vanished, but he did not look at her. “We will leave when I say we will leave.” Jules’s voice was harsh.

Claire forced back the threat of tears. It was difficult to believe that only last night they had lain contently in each other’s arms. In one moment, everything in her life had changed. She had touched true happiness only to have it ripped away.

Well, she would not stand by and whimper or cry. Her change in circumstances might not be as bad as it seemed. Jules had not cast her out of his life, not entirely. He would go to Edinburgh with her and search for the girls, along with whomever had threatened them.

They both needed answers, answers that would either heal the divide between them or cast them apart forever.

Claire knew which alternative she preferred.