Tamed By Your Desire Part 21

She quickly averted her eyes, her mouth thinning. She shook her head and seemed about to speak, but she said nothing. However, her expression was unmistakable. Regret. She regretted what happened and the pain she had caused.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"I didn't know that so many would die... I thought-"

"You didn't think! Otherwise it would have been obvious!" He was angry suddenly-at himself, at her. Had he not been so eager to bed her, believing her absurd fiction about being a wh.o.r.e, no one would have died. He would have stayed alert, she would not have knocked him in the head with a jug, and no Grahams would have penetrated Annancreag.

Her regret vanished, replaced with resentment. She stared into the fog, silent, stoic.

Alex's anger dissolved. Well, he'd lost that opportunity. She wouldn't speak to him when he was raging at her and he didn't blame her. After a pregnant pause he asked, "When I came upon you in the forest and again at Lochnith... you were trying to escape. Surely you had a plan for a new life. Or will you pretend to be a boy forever? Riding alone or with outlaws?"

"I have a plan." Her voice was stiff and she still refused to look at him, staring instead into the swirling darkness.

He nodded thoughtfully. "Very well. What plan were you advancing when you proclaimed yourself my nephew?"

"I was hoping to discover my stepmother's whereabouts."

"Your stepmother...? The dowager Lady Graham?"

She slid him a sideways look. "Yes. The one who ran away with your brother, Sir Patrick."

"The one who bewitched my brother."

Fayth made a disgusted sound. "She did not bewitch him."

"Oh, aye, she did. I've proof."

"Proof?" she scoffed. "Please, share. I'm beside myself."

"After you and Wesley kidnapped Caroline, we went to Graham Keep, hoping Caroline was there, as well as Patrick, since Ridley had promised to release him when Rob and your sister wed. But he never did. Ridley swore he had neither of them and let us search Graham Keep to prove it. I found a small sack in your stepmother's chambers. It contained nail parings and a lock of Patrick's hair." It contained another item that Alex was not about to share with her, that he'd shared with no one but Rob. "What else could it be but bewitchment?"

"Your brother had been a prisoner for nearly a year. Why would it be necessary for Mona to bewitch him? Wouldn't he already be indebted to her for helping him escape?"

"Perhaps. But Patrick hates being beholden to anyone and I have a hard time envisioning him selling his sword arm to protect a woman."

"Who says she needed him? Why must women always need men?"

"The Clachan Fala."

She rolled her eyes. "Not that rubbish again."

"It's not rubbish. Well, at least your brother doesn't believe it is."

"What about you?"

Alex shrugged thoughtfully. "I don't know what I believe. Legends are oft based on truth. Even if she's not the keeper, she might believe she knows where it's hidden and she'd need protection in her quest. So she put a spell on Patrick that made him her servant."

Fayth let out an incredulous breath. "What a fantastic story. I would never have thought it of you."

Irritated, Alex said, "Obviously you believe them traveling together, otherwise you wouldn't be asking after Patrick. What's your theory?"

"Oh, I don't doubt it has something to do with that cursed Blood Stone. Sir Patrick is probably just like Ridley, obsessed with that stupid legend and determined to find the Clachan Fala." She spat the last, as if it were a dirty word. "Your brother probably kidnapped Mona. I can't imagine her going with him willingly. Just like my father, and Ridley after him, he will use her and hurt her as if she were a tool, rather than a person."

"That's why he married Caroline to Rob, isn't it?"

She nodded. "According to the legend, there must be a marriage between a Maxwell and a Graham to bring the Blood Stone forth."

"Doesn't it seem odd to you that after Rob and Caroline wed, your stepmother runs away?"

Fayth's mouth thinned. "Not at all. You know not what it's like, living under Ridley's rule. And Mona's lot was far worse than mine... Ridley l.u.s.ts for her... is obsessed with her. He held her prisoner, trying incessantly to bed her."

Alex inspected her color. She was paler than when she first woke, her lips taking on a whitish cast. He should make her rest again, but he was learning much from this conversation and was loath to end it. He supposed her skepticism over the legend was warranted, and yet, Alex wasn't so sure. Somehow, he felt there was something to the tale. Perhaps it had been embellished over time, but he was certain there was a grain of truth in the story. He wore one of the grains around his neck. He placed a hand on his chest, feeling the stone bead through his shirt.

"Well... my brother has never needed to kidnap a woman," Alex said. "They go with him willingly, as I'm sure Lady Graham did."

"Clearly you don't have the same effect on women."

Alex scowled at her and leaned forward, so his face was close to hers. Her eyes widened, but that was the only indication he unnerved her. "But you're not exactly a woman, eh, Hugh? Not the best judge of my effect on proper females."

Her lips clamped shut and her cheeks reddened. "I may not be a proper female but plenty of men find me acceptable. More than acceptable." Her chin tilted defiantly. "You certainly didn't hesitate to paw at me."

Alex shrugged, leaning back nonchalantly. " 'Tis true, I'll admit. But I thought you were a wh.o.r.e-not the finest cla.s.s of women. You get what you pay for, eh? And I don't remember rendering any coin."

The air left her in a whoosh. "I took my fee from your scalp, you filthy toad! I wouldn't stoop to pleasure the likes of you! You-you're beneath me!"

Alex rubbed the scar on his temple, which ached at the memory of their first meeting. He knew she was lashing out in anger and humiliation-humiliation he had caused-but her barb stung. As a third son and an outlaw, with nothing to his name but what he'd taken by force, he was beneath her. And suddenly, he didn't know why he bothered with her. He'd been through this before and come out with his pride in shreds. And this one had a more finely honed tongue than the last.

After a fitful silence, she said, "You didn't deny it."

"That I'm beneath you? Why bother? You'll believe what you must."

She looked surprised and slightly embarra.s.sed. "Uh, no. That's not what I meant. You didn't deny that your brother seeks the Clachan Fala."

"Oh... no, I don't deny it."

"Well? Where do you think he's looking?"

Alex gave her a narrow look. "Doing your brother's spying again? You think I'd tell you so you can run back and inform him?"

"I don't think I'm running anywhere for a while."

"You'd think, aye? But with you... well, I'd not be surprised if you sprouted wings and flew."

Her face reddened. He'd angered her again. He sighed and started to stand, ready to give up on this impossible woman, when she burst out laughing. The laughter stopped abruptly as she clutched her arm and grimaced, but when the pain apparently subsided, she glanced over at him and chuckled softly, shaking her head.

"What?" he asked, trying not to return her smile, inordinately pleased she couldn't remain angry at him.

She shrugged. "I'm just wondering if I'd be a bird... or a b.u.t.terfly?"