Page 17 of Highlander’s Beautiful Liar

“I find this place unsettling,” Jamie muttered.

Alec eyed his old friend. “Ye want to go back to SInclair land.” It wasn’t a question. He knew things weren’t easy for them here. It wasn’t easy for him either.

“Mebbe eventually,” Jamie said with a shrug. “I don’t mean it’s unsettling because it’s filled with MacKay men. There is something unnatural about these stones.”

Alec snorted. “Ye and yer superstitious nonsense.”

“Ye don’t believe in ghosts?”

“’Tis an old castle, Jamie. I have no doubt that there are plenty of spirits still hanging around. The same can be said about the Sinclair lands as well.”

Jamie shook his head. “There’s just something about this place. I think it’s Seth. His evil nature still haunts the halls.”

“Seth was only laird for six months. Before that, it was Duncan, and while we didn’t get along, he was a good man and a good laird. There’s a good feeling in this place. I have a good feeling about it. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t. I wouldn’t ask ye and Shane and Stephen to stick around if I didn’t. I hope ye know that.”

Jamie grinned. “We know that. I’ll get used to the place. Don’t worry about me. Biscuit?”

Alec eyed the biscuit suspiciously. “Who did ye seduce to get biscuits this early?”

“Mary might have her eyes on ye, but she’ll settle for me,” he said with a wink. “I’ll share if yer nice.”

Rolling his eyes, Alec snatched the biscuit out of Jamie’s hand and took a bite out of it. “What do ye think of Claire?”

“So ye aren’t calling her the thief anymore?”

“I saw her talking with Innes Campbell last night. They looked intimate.”

Jamie raised his eyebrows and waited a beat. “Were ye going to ask a question?”

“What am I supposed to think? I find her in the prisons. No one in the clan can vouch for her. She lies about her name. She’s English, and last night she was pressed against Innes and the wall. She’s a spy for him.”

“No.” Jamie shook his head. “Innes is a scoundrel, and he’s seduced his fair share of women, but I doonae get a bad feeling from Claire. I doonae think she’s done anything wrong.”

Normally, Alec trusted Jamie’s instincts. The man had a strange power to read other people, but this time, there were just too many things that didn’t add up. “Why doesn’t she tell me the truth? Why doesn’t she at least lie and try to leave?”

“Maybe something is keeping her here,” Jamie suggested. “Maybe she really is a thief, and she hasn’t gotten her hands on what she wants.”

“Ye just said that ye didn’t think she’d done anything wrong.”

“Maybe she took something that belongs to her. It should not surprise ye that Seth MacKay would take anything he wanted, whether it belonged to him or not. The point is that it does not matter. She is just a lass. She can do no real harm. You can continue to stand here and be consumed by her, or ye can get a few practice rounds in before the rest of the men join us.”

Was Jamie right? Was his obsession for nothing? Whether she was innocent or not, how much damage could she inflict? Even if she were a spy for Innes, he could easily thwart her by ensuring that no real information reaches her ears.

Determined not to let the beautiful enigma consume him further, he followed his man outside the castle. Part of the reason that Alec wanted to stay was that the MacKay lands were breathtaking. He’d always be partial to the lands he’d grown up in, but the MacKay fields had a breathtaking view of the cliffs and the valley below. It made half the castle impregnable, and supposedly there were secret tunnels beneath the lands so that the MacKay people could never be trapped. So long as the laird could protect the other side, the MacKays would never surrender. Every clan on this side of the valley wanted these lands.

And now they were his, but only if he could keep them. He wasn’t about to let the liar and Innes Campbell take them from him.

“Mary!” Louise bellowed. “Why were there a dozen biscuits left out on the counter?”

Mary grinned and winked at Cora. “Why are ye asking me? Earlier ye were calling me a lazy cow for sleeping in a few minutes.”

The plump cook narrowed her eyes and studied the pretty servant. “I know yer little tricks. Ye think the fastest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”

“Among other things,” Mary said with a sly smile.

Cora couldn’t help but feel her stomach tighten. Was she talking about Alec? Had Mary found a way to the man after all?

What did she care? Alec didn’t belong to her. He could bed whomever he wanted. It didn’t bother her any.