Beloved Imposter (7 page)

“Archibald said you needed a bride.”

His expression did not change as the lie was exposed.

He shrugged. “Archibald has fantasies. I hope Moira has made you comfortable. I will personally escort you to your father tomorrow. We will leave at dawn.”

She merely nodded.

“If there is nothing else I can do, I would leave you to your rest,” he said stiffly.

“There is nothing.”

He did not leave immediately. Instead, his eyes studied hers even as she did the same. She found it difficult to tear her gaze from his compelling face, his watchful eyes. She doubted he missed much.

It did not make sense. None of it did. Why did his clansmen feel they had to go to such extraordinary measures? Their lord was not ill-favored, though there was a sense of aloneness about him. Most women, she was sure, would find him appealing.

She flushed as warmth washed through her. Blithely ignoring reason, she did not want him to go. She wanted to know about this Maclean. It was madness, she knew.

He was an enemy. And she was plain Felicia Campbell. Pledged to a monster.

He hesitated at the door as if he wished to say more. Again their gazes met, held, and she felt a rush of her heartbeat. She had a wild desire to feel his arms around her again. For that brief moment in the courtyard, she had felt safe. More than safe.

She didn’t understand her conflicting feelings. She had the desire to linger, to learn more of him, while he expressed nothing but an urgency to rid himself of her. Reason told her he had likely known of the abduction and simply had been disappointed in her.

In spite of reason and his insistence that she leave on the morrow, she thought she saw a flash of awareness in those wary eyes, a glint of masculine interest.

Impossible.

She only wanted it to be true. More the fool, she.

“I wish you a restful night, my lady,” he said again.

She closed her eyes as he left the room, but his presence lingered, a strong masculine power that made her wish she were not a Campbell and that she had Janet’s fair countenance.

Wishing would not make it so. She could not change the facts. She must have mistaken the sudden glint in his eyes.

She had to think of a way to prevent her departure in the morning. She could not be taken to the Camerons and exposed, and ultimately returned to her uncle.

She had to find a way to leave the keep alone. Undetected. There must be a private exit somewhere.

She would find it. She had to.

Chapter 5

Janet Cameron was the most puzzling female he’d ever met.

Rory went down to the great hall to sup, even as the lass remained in his thoughts. It was the first time in several years that a woman had raised more than a fleeting physical reaction in him.

He didn’t understand why. Though she had been hailed as a beauty, she was more intriguing than lovely. No quaking lass, she.

Her face was interesting, if not beautiful. None of the parts went together—the wide eyes, the button nose, the square chin—and yet they were appealing to him. The bulk of her clothes had been deceptive. The robe had swayed when she moved and could not conceal the graceful outlines of her slender body.

God’s breath, but those eyes held challenge.

She was as unlike Maggie as any woman could be. Maggie had been gently rounded and her nature had been kind, She had been a dreamer who saw the best in everyone. She liked everyone and expected everyone to like her. They always had.

She’d loved flowers and sun-filled May days. She rejoiced in the moon and stars and even the cold Highlands rain. And when she was carrying his child, she would sing to it and tempt him into playing the lute.

The world had been enchanted then.

Loneliness pierced him. He thought he had conquered it. Now he realized he had not.

The woman revived memories he did not want, that he had held at bay for years. Why had they flooded back now?

By all that was holy, the sooner the Cameron woman left this hall, the better.

Douglas met him at the entrance of the hall and walked in with him. “Should I put a guard on her door?” asked his steward.

“No,” Rory said as he stretched his long legs out at the table. “She is not to think she is a prisoner. She will be gone tomorrow. Why should she try to escape?”

“She may not believe you.”

“I think she did. She appeared to accept my explanation.”

“Will you not reconsider, my lord? I saw her expression. She was not displeased with you.”

Rory stared at his steward. “Do you not remember how my mother died, and Lachlan’s? My Maggie and, God help me, Anne.”

“Maggie died in childbirth,” Douglas said, “and Anne of a fever. Half of Leith died.”

“Anne was there because of me. Waiting for me to come home.”

“It was her choice, my lord,” Douglas said. “Not yours.”

“It does not matter. The Cameron lass goes back,” Rory said firmly, weary of the subject.

“Aye, my lord.”

“In the morning.”

“Aye.”

“No more tricks.”

“Nay, my lord.”

Rory did not like Douglas’s agreeability. He never gave up that easily. Still, what could he do? Rory planned to escort the lady himself. He drained the tankard in front of him. He would take his rest and prepare to leave early.

Felicia waited until all sounds ceased.

Judging the hour to be well past midnight, she took the candle and tried the door.
Unlocked.
She said a brief prayer of thanks.

The candle flickered from the air in the hallway. She shivered in the cold air, but then stiffened her resolve. She needed to know more about this place.

The adjacent chamber to hers was much like her own, more dusty, but truly grand. When she stepped on the elaborate carpet, a cloud of dust rose.

Rory Maclean was laird. All those she’d encountered acknowledged him as such. Why did he not use the chamber obviously intended for the chief?

She studied the interior, wondering if it, like some in the Campbell home, had secret chambers and passages.

But she found nothing that would indicate such. It was richly furnished with tapestries and exotic floor covering, unlike the rushes used throughout her home.

She wondered again why the laird did not use the chamber, though she was grateful he did not. The thought of his proximity sent a new shiver down her back. The fact that it was not one of fear frightened her in an entirely different way.

She found nothing and left the room, following the stairs up to the next floor. She continued up as she heard voices. On the fourth level there were more chambers, all of them had obviously been unoccupied for a long time. They had minimal furnishings: bed, table.

Then she found a chamber that appeared to have been sealed off. Shrouds covered the furnishings. She lifted one and saw an intricately carved cradle. A nursery. Another shroud covered a large box half filled with both new and worn toys. She regarded the box thoughtfully. It was large enough to secret a body her size, if need be.

Her gaze went back to the cradle, and she felt a sudden pang. She adored children. Now it was unlikely she would ever have any of her own. She banished the thought as she inspected a connecting chamber, plainer than any of the others. It would have been for a child’s nurse.

Melancholy seemed to linger here. It shouldn’t. This should be a happy place. She shivered and went to the window. It faced the sea, much like her own room at home, and she glimpsed a rock far from shore. Was this where the Maclean had attempted to murder his Campbell wife in the sea? Had he watched her struggle?

The light from a half moon bounced off the wild waves. Felicia wondered whether that woman had looked at the sea from here. Had she dreamed of having a child? Had she loved the man who had ultimately caused her death?

Fate had played a strange trick bringing Felicia here. Yet she had an odd feeling of belonging, of familiarity. A shudder ran through her. She had not come here to indulge in fantasy. She needed to find places to hide.

She could not go to the Camerons tomorrow and have her identity revealed. She would be returned quickly to her uncle. She needed time to find a way safely out.

She left the room, oddly reluctant to do so, and continued her exploration. Everyone in the tower seemed to be asleep, though she knew there were guards on the ramparts.

Felicia combed the rest of the rooms, stopping only when she reached the steps leading to the ramparts and the guards.

She started back to her chamber, her slippers making only a whisper of sound.

She passed her room. Hesitated. The lower floors would have more activity. Yet she needed to know more. If she met someone, she could always say she was still hungry.

She stopped when she heard voices in the passageway below her.

One belonged to the tall laird. She recognized the deep, authoritative tone.

“Have twenty men ready at daybreak.”

“I think you should take more. There will be parties looking for her. They may act before you can explain.”

“Explain what? That we took their heiress? Damn it, Douglas, you should have stopped this. But now I will no’ have killing over it.”

“If you would but consider wedding her… even handfast. They would be bound then to help us against the Campbells.”

A silence. Then the man called Douglas said, “Perhaps the Camerons will be grateful.”

“I doubt it,” the Maclean said. “You will have the men saddled and ready to go. I will not use a woman in that way.”

“Aye, my lord.”

She moved swiftly back to her room.
Help us against the Campbells
. Against Jamie. Her blood curdled at the thought of a combined force of Macleans and Camerons.

It wouldn’t happen. Janet loved Jamie. And Felicia was not a Cameron. They would not fight for her.

She’d heard her Campbell kinsmen talk about the raids on Maclean properties. The old laird had died, and the heir had disappeared in foreign lands. The middle son had been at sea. A good opportunity to grab Maclean land and cattle and crops.

The hatred was obviously reciprocated. She heard it in Maclean voices every time her clan was mentioned.

She would be safe if they took her to the Camerons. The Camerons would protect her, but then they would see her delivered to Edinburgh.

No, she had to continue with her original plan. Reach Jamie. Or a nunnery where no one knew her family. Either would be preferable to the marriage planned for her.

But she had to delay tomorrow’s departure. She needed time to find a way to leave on her own and travel to Edinburgh—and Jamie.

She opened the door to her chamber again. No sounds. She had another mission now. She found her way down the steps and moved silently across the great hall to the kitchen. No one had stirred yet, though a great log was burning in the giant fireplace.

Using the candle for light, she found what she needed, then swiftly returned to her chamber. She closed the door and leaned against it for a moment. She had a plan and it was every bit as desperate as her last one.

“Milady is ill!”

Rory had risen long before dawn. He had shaved and bathed in ice-cold water, then dressed in his white shirt and the plaid. He wore more constrictive—and fashionable—clothes when he sailed and visited foreign ports, and he appreciated the freedom of the plaid.

He’d been ready to leave his room when Moira had knocked.

Moira was more family than servant. She had helped raise him, along with Douglas. His father, like himself, had not wanted to take and lose another wife. Alexander Maclean had married for love three times and had watched each bride die.

As Rory had twice.

He followed Moira along the passageway, his soft shoes barely making a sound on the stone floors.

The door was open. He entered, Moira trailing behind him. A servant was beside the slight figure in the large bed.

Her cheeks were flushed with fever, her eyes hollow, and she sneezed.

“My lady,” he said with a frown.

She looked up at him with clouded eyes.

God’s blood
. If the Cameron lass were to sicken in his care…

He looked helplessly at Moira.

“The poor lass canna be traveling today,” she said. “I will be making a potion for her.”

“When will she be able to travel?”

“I do not know,” Moira said.

“I should send word to the Camerons,” he said.

Janet Cameron began to cough.

” Tis no’ a good idea,” came Douglas’s voice from the doorway.

Rory whirled around, saw Douglas’s concerned face.

“I will be back,” Rory told Moira and stepped outside with Douglas, closing the door behind him. “Why is it not a good idea?”

“Archibald claims that no one knows we took her. No one knows she is here. I think it best if we return her in good health.”

Rory knew instantly that Douglas was right. If anything happened to the lass, the blame would fall on Maclean heads.

She would not worsen. She could not.

A cold knot formed in his stomach. He did not know if he could bear to see another woman die. Especially by his hand, or that of his clan. They were the same, he knew, and would be judged so. Intentions did not matter.

He could not allow it to happen.

He turned to Douglas. “Is there a physician?”

“Not in fifty miles.”

“Send someone for him. Take two horses and change them on the way.”

“Moira—”

“Moira is a fine healer, but I will not take any chances with the lass’s life.”

Douglas nodded. “I will send one man and tell the others to dismount.”

“Nay. I want them to scout the area. And I want more sentries on the walls. There is always the chance that someone did see her taken.”

Rory watched him go down the steps, then stared at the closed door of the chamber again.

He hated indecision. He did not like feeling helpless. Nor did he like the feeling that he had been here before. He had watched two wives die. Pain rushed through him at both memories.

He vowed that if the fever worsened, he would send a rider to the Cameron keep. She should have those who cared for her nearby.