Lyon's Gift (16 page)

“
My what!” Meghan narrowed
her eyes at him. “Just what is it you’re implying, Sassenach? What
do you mean, my reputation?”

“
Naught at all.” He winked
at her once more, then returned to perusing his blasted papers,
vexing her with his evasiveness. Och, but he couldn’t leave it at
that! He couldn’t simply tell her she had a reputation and then not
explain what he meant!

“
What sort of
reputation?”

He turned the pages of his manuscript,
seeming wholly engaged with the volume, and Meghan wondered if he
was ignoring her on purpose.

Wretch.

At the very least he was prolonging her
distress.

“
Only that I was warned
that Brodie women are all mad, and that their mates all end up
dead.”

“
Me?” Meghan gasped in
surprise, lifting her head up from the pillow. “I am mad?” It was
one thing for her to say it, and another entirely for it to be said
of her. “They think I am mad, as well?”

He turned to her and winked again. The
bloody misbegotten wretch!

“
Who would say such a
thing?” Meghan demanded.

She wasn’t witless; she knew her mother and
grandmother had oft been fodder for gossip, but she’d never
imagined they would think such a thing of her as well! The prospect
disheartened her at the very least.

Good lord, what had she ever done that
anyone should think her mad?

Then again, what had her mother and
grandmother ever done? Her mother had grieved over a dead husband a
little too devoutly, and, well, they’d simply never understood her
grandmother!

“
How dare they say such a
thing!” Meghan exclaimed, and despite the fact that she wouldn’t
have to try so hard to convince Lyon she was mad if he believed the
rumors, her feelings were hurt. “Well! It does not seem to keep
them away!” she said, and knew she sounded petulant.

He frowned at her. “Keep who away?”

She glared at him. “Men! Silly
creatures—singing odes to bloody faces and slobbering all over
themselves at the mere mention of breasts!”

He lifted a brow. “And when do you mention
breasts?”

“
Och!” Meghan exclaimed.
“I have no need to talk about breasts when I have my
own!”

He lifted his fingers to his lips and Meghan
knew he was trying not to laugh. Well, she didn’t particularly find
this amusing!

“
Well, maybe they’ve a
death wish?” he suggested. “The rumormongers swear all men married
to Brodie women end up with cocked toes.”

“
What silliness!” Meghan
replied. She studied him, searching his face for his thoughts. She
couldn’t read them.

What did he want from her? “And what of
you?” she asked baldly.

“
What of me,
Meghan?”

Meghan wished he would stop saying her name
so; the mere sound of it upon his lips sent quivers down her
spine.

“
Have you a death wish,
too, Sassenach?”

“
Not particularly,” he
answered, “though I vow I would die a happy man after a single
night in your arms, Meghan.”

Meghan’s heart jolted.

Their gazes held.

Something stirred deep within her at his
words… over the way he looked at her.

Dare she reach out... remove a single brick
from the wall encircling her heart?

“
Why?” she
demanded.

“
You’re a beautiful
woman,” he said simply.

“
Mere flattery!” Meghan
replied and glowered at him. Why did that answer seem to make her
heart sink to her toes? “You men are all alike!” she vowed, and
laid her head back down upon the pillow, disappointed.

He stared at her a long instant. Meghan
lapsed into silence, and he returned his attention to his papers.
It wasn’t long before curiosity got the better of her and she
asked, “What are those?”

“
Papers.”

Meghan rolled her eyes. “I can see that
verra well.”

He didn’t reply.

“
What sort of papers?” she
persisted.

He set them down upon the desk, his
expression harassed, and assured her, adding insult to injury,
“Naught of interest to you, Meghan.”

“
Oh, really!” Meghan
clenched her teeth. “And how would you possibly know what interests
me?”

He cast her a look that reminded her of
Leith’s barely tolerant glances. “Because they are merely dull
treatises, that’s why, and naught of significance.”

“
I see,” Meghan retorted,
gripping the pillow within her fist. “Naught a silly woman could
possibly comprehend? Is not that right?”

“
I did not say
that.”

Meghan glared at him. How could she possibly
care what he thought of her? She scarcely knew him. And yet she did
care. She wasn’t certain who she was angrier with—herself for
caring, or him for patronizing her! “Aye, Sassenach, but you did! I
heard you verra clearly!”

“
Meghan, dear, I did not
mean to offend you,” he said gently.

“
Of course not!” Meghan
exclaimed. “Whyever should I be offended simply because you’re an
overweening mon!”

He lifted his brows. “If the light bothers
you,” he said, “I shall put it out.”

“
Oh, nay!” Meghan replied,
incensed. “I am merely a prisoner here!” She turned over, facing
away from him. “And a silly, brainless female at that! Dinna
concern yourself with me!”

She had a few other choice words for him as
well, but held her tongue and drew the pillow angrily over her
head.

Bloody arrogant man!

CHAPTER 14

“
She’s ruined!” Dougal MacLean
raved. His fury boomed through the hall, unsettling even the dogs
who rose prudently and slunk away with their tails tucked between
their legs.

Alison wished she could join them.

“
How dare you deliver her to me
compromised, Mac Brodie!” her father raged.

Alison winced at the anger apparent in his voice.
He’d been ranting more than an hour’s time now and still his tone
had not softened in the least. She wholly dreaded the moment when
Leith took his leave because she thought her da might very well
wield his strap against her bottom. The very thought of it pained
her already, and she cowered at the thunder in his voice.

Poor Leith had taken the brunt of his furor with
nary an angry word in return. Alison watched him, admiring his
self-possession. His expression was neither belligerent nor
diffident, but rather stoic, and the set of his wide shoulders
resolute.

“
I have already explained the
circumstances,” Leith said once more. “And I have offered to make
amends in whatever manner I may. I do not know what more I can
say.”

Her father’s face was florid. He slammed his fist
down upon the table, and Alison flinched at the sound of it. “She
is ruined!” he shouted once more. “There is naught you can bluidy
well do!”

“
There is little need to belabor
the point, Dougal. I am well aware of the circumstances!” Leith
leaned forward in his chair, trying to make her father comprehend.
He cast a solicitous glance at Alison. “But it could not be helped,
I tell you. My sister is missing,” he reminded him once more. “She
is still missing, Dougal! And Meghan is my first responsibility, as
she is my sister. Can you not understand? I could not leave the
search to bring Alison home.”

“
My gaddamned daughter had no
bluidy business there to begin with, Mac Brodie!” her father
countered, shaking his jowls furiously.

“
I-it was my choice to go!” Alison
interjected, speaking up at last, startling them with her avid
declaration. In the heat of their discussion, they seemed to have
forgotten her presence entirely. Both turned to look at her
now.

She peered at her father, beseeching him. She simply
couldn’t allow Leith to take all of the blame. “Meghan is my
friend,” she said. “She would have done the same for me, Da.”

“
I dinna give a damn!” her father
roared, slamming his fist yet again.

Alison winced, but didn’t cower this time.

“
You had no bluidy business
staying until the wee hours of the morn, daughter of mine! You
should not have come home at all after that!”

Alison straightened her shoulders, a little wounded
by his implication. She narrowed her eyes at him. “Would you rather
I had made my way home alone, Da? Even after what happened to
Meghan?” Never in her life had she spoken so disrespectfully to her
father, but she couldn’t seem to help herself just now. “Is that
what you would have preferred?”

Her question seemed to startle him as much as her
angry outburst. He didn’t seem to know how to respond; he looked at
Leith and then down at the table. “Did you not think I would
worry?” he asked Alison after a moment’s silence. And his eyes were
suspiciously moist when he met her gaze once more.

Alison blinked at his unexpected response. “You were
worried about me, Da?”

His brows collided. “Aye,” he said bearishly and
peered down at the table again, suddenly unable to face her.

Alison felt like weeping at his admission. She
wished so much for the nerve to embrace him, but didn’t dare move
from where she sat.

It was not her father’s way, she knew.

“
I didna mean to make you worry,”
she told him. “I was only thinkin’ of Meghan, Da! I did not
consider the consequences!”

He shook his head. “You should have come to me
first, lass. You should have come to me.” He continued to stare
down at the table, scratching the wood with his ragged nails.

“
I was afeared to, Da.”

His gaze flew up to meet hers. “Afeared? You were
afeared... of me, Alison?”

Alison swallowed, and nodded.

His brows collided and his eyes grew moist once
more. “How could you be afeared... of me, daughter?”

“
I—because—”

Leith slammed his hand down upon the table suddenly,
startling her. “Alison, you dinna have to say it,” he told her.
“You dinna have to!”

Her father glared at Leith, suddenly furious once
more. “Aye, Mac Brodie! She bluidy well does!”

And for once, Alison had to agree with him. “My da
is right, Leith.”

Leith’s gaze sought hers, held hers, reassured her.
“Are you certain, lass? I swear to God you dinna have to!”

Alison nodded. “Aye, but I do, Leith Mac Brodie,”
she said, “but I thank you for protecting me, anyhow.”

He nodded, seeming to understand, and she turned to
her father and said, “Da... I had to go to them, you see... because
I had a confession to make.” Her eyes filled with tears she refused
to shed. All of this was her fault and it was time to make
amends.

His eyes narrowed, scrutinizing her. “Confession?
What bluidy confession would you have to be makin’ to a Brody,
Alison? And why didn’t you come to me instead?”

Alison lowered her head, unable to face her father,
unable to speak for the shame.

“
You’re a good lass,” she heard
Leith whisper at her side, and it gave her the strength she needed
to lift her gaze once more to meet her father’s glare. “I stole the
goat!” she blurted.

Her father’s face contorted. “What bluidy damned
goat, Alison? What the devil are you speakin’ of?”

Alison took a deep breath and then proceeded to
confess all. Everything, from her unrequited love for Colin Mac
Brodie, to her stealing the goat that started the feud, to her
reasons why, to her failed attempt at making amends and her desire
not to wed Piers Montgomerie. All of it, every last degrading
detail.

Her father listened to the story quietly, his
normally florid face turning the color of new parchment. He shook
his head gravely when she finished, and said after a time, “Och,
Alison... what have you done... what have you done?”

“
I followed my heart,” Alison said
despairingly, wanting desperately for him to understand—not to
condone, but simply to understand. “I followed my heart, Da! I
didna wish to end like Mairi, you see!”

He licked his lips and raked a hand over his thick
jaw, then raised a hand to his breast, looking as though his heart
were aching him. His eyes grew red-rimmed and welled with tears. Of
all things she might have said to him, Alison knew this one made
his heart bleed, for Mairi had been his favorite daughter, and he
missed her so. She could never seem to measure up even to beautiful
Mairi’s memory. And yet, knowing she would fail, she had never even
tried.

Her sister had wedded the MacKinnon against her will
and on the night she had borne him a son, she had taken her own
life, plunging from the highest tower window onto the rocks below.
Her death had been a terrible blow.

“
Well,” Dougal began when he could
speak once more, “you need not fear wedding Montgomerie, daughter
of mine. I doubt he would have you now. All is lost,” he murmured.
“I dinna know what to do, Alison. All is lost.”

“
I’ll wed her,” Leith
announced.

Alison lifted her gaze to his in shock. He couldn’t
possibly wish to…

“
You?” her father asked, sounding
as aghast as Alison felt. “Why should you wish to do such a thing,
Leith Mac Brodie? I dinna mean to disparage my own daughter, but
you only just heard her tell us that she loves your own brother.
Why would you wed with her knowing that?”

Leith held Alison’s gaze, assuring her without words
that he meant every word he uttered. “Because I have great
affection for Alison,” he said quietly.