by Paula Quinn
He looked at her and smiled. “What?”
“That in her last moments, Anne spoke of an abbey, or your sister. Either way, it can tie in with your family. Your grandfather mentioned that Abby had visited the queen, though you never mentioned it. But why would Anne call for your sister on her deathbed? And unless Anne also knew your mother, why would she give importance to an abbey?”
Adam continued leading her down the stairs, trying to maintain his composure. How many people knew about his mother? Could Standish put Anne’s cryptic words together? “Did ye discuss any of this with William?”
In the light, her eyes sparkled with challenge. “No. Will you continue to deceive me?”
“No,” he exhaled. He didn’t want to deceive her…or tell her the truth. If she had stayed at Camlochlin, she would have been told. But she hadn’t stayed.
“Why did the queen send me to you, Adam? Did you know her?”
Could he trust her with the biggest secret of his life? If he wanted to win her, he needed to win her trust first.
“Adam, did you know her?” she asked again as they reached the bottom of the stairs.
What difference did it make if he told her now or later?
“Aye,” he said quietly, with hesitancy. “I knew her.”
She slipped her arm from his and stopped to turn to him. Looking into her eyes was difficult. He could see everything in their luminous sea-green depths. Anxiousness, dread, curiosity, and a glint of anger.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Her first question surprised him. It proved this was more about him than about how he knew Anne. He’d kept this from her. His entire family had. He felt like hell for it. He wanted to mend what he’d broken.
“Let’s take a walk in the garden.”
She looked down the hall at the dining room.
“Unless ye’re hungry. We can always—”
She shook her head. “’Tisn’t that. We will be missed. Lord Nottingham and his sister know you were to escort me to dinner.”
“Aye, if ye’re worried aboot what they’ll think, we could speak aboot it another time.” He turned to lead her to the dining hall, eager to postpone the inevitable. She pulled back, tightening her arm around his.
“You won’t get out of it that easily.”
He ground his teeth and switched direction. She let go of his arm, and they made small talk about Laurel MacGregor and Ula until they came to the entrance of the garden.
Goliath seemed restless, as if he could hear Adam’s racing heart.
“If what I tell ye gets oot, it could mean the end of my mother’s life, and mine, as well.”
Her skin grew pale beneath the moonlight. “’Twill never get out,” she vowed.
“I hope ye’ll understand the gravity of it and why I kept it from ye.”
She nodded while they strolled toward the alcove. They passed a handful of others heading toward the palace and nodded in greeting.
Finally alone, they reached the bench, and she waited while Adam drew his hands down his face and exhaled a long breath.
“My mother was hidden away in an abbey from birth until it was attacked by Dutch soldiers sent there to kill her. They burned it to the ground, but my faither saved her.”
“Why were they sent to kill her?” she asked on a breathless whisper.
He looked at her and sighed again. “Because she is the firstborn daughter of James II.”
Her expression went blank for a moment, and then broke on a short laugh. “You’re telling me there is a royal heir whom no one knows about and she is your mother?”
“Aye, lass,” he told her. “She has lived in secret her whole life.”
She sank to the bench as things became clear to her.
“Oh. Anne’s last words. They make sense now.” She brought her hands up to her chest. She spoke so softly that he could hardly hear her. “Oh, Adam.” Her eyes opened wider, drawing him to sit beside her. “You are the prince,” she breathed, “your mother, the true queen.”
“We denounce those titles,” he told her. “We will denounce them in writing. If marryin’ the prince holds any influence over yer final decision, let it go.”
Her eyes narrowed at him. “My final decision has been made.”
“Aye, so stop denyin’ me, and agree to marry me withoot any royal title.”
“I should slap your face for thinking me so empty-headed as to be swayed by titles. That is my parents’ task.” She turned her face from him, shielding herself in moonlight and shadows.
He wouldn’t argue by reminding her that she thought him a savage without knowing him. “Fergive me, lass.” He touched his fingers to her hand in her lap. Her body stiffened as if lightning had struck her. “So, then, we agree? Ye’ll return with me to Camlochlin as soon—”
She leaped from the bench and spun around to face him. “You’re infuriating, Adam! How many times must I tell you I don’t love you?”
“Until yer lips say what’s in yer eyes.”
She shook her head. “Don’t ask that of me, I beg you. Especially now. If the king ever found out who you are, who you truly are, he would try to have you killed—your mother—”
He stood up before her and reached out to move his fingers over her jaw. “Should I go, then, lass?”
She closed her eyes and turned her face toward his hand.
He leaned in close enough to feel her breath across his mouth. “I’ll save myself from the king’s wrath and then spend the rest of my life makin’ ye happy.” He spread his fingers over her soft cheek, behind her ear, into her hair. “I’ll give ye everything ye need, everything ye desire.”
She didn’t deny or resist him when he covered her mouth with his. He slipped his other hand around her waist and drew her closer. Never had a woman felt so perfect in his arms.
He parted her lips with his tongue, and she drew in a little breath before giving him entry. He smiled. She’d missed him. Everything in him went soft and then hot and hard.
He pulled her closer, spreading his hands along her back, molding her to him, breathing her, tasting her.
She lifted her arms around his neck and buried her fingers in his hair as he deepened their kiss. Her firm, yielding body tempted him to madness. He never wanted to let her go. He wished they were home so he could carry her up to bed. He would keep her there for days, making love to her day and night, in every way.
The thought of her naked and wild in his bed made him stiff against his breeches. He swiped his tongue over hers and bit down on her lower lip as she withdrew, wide-eyed and breathless.
She took a moment to compose herself and then drew back her hand and slapped him across the face. “You must not do that again. Do you not care what’s at stake?”
She hurried away, leaving him smiling after her. She wasn’t worried about William. She was worried about Camlochlin. So was he.
He headed back with Goliath, talking to his friend on the way.
Chapter Thirty-One
Sina swept inside the palace and stopped inside the cavernous foyer. She looked around and began to tremble, not knowing what to do. Her nerves were already raw from having Adam back, but this knowledge of Davina, graceful, kind Davina…it was too much. And then, after all that, to be kissed as though he meant to devour her, it was all too much!
She was in love with him. She wanted to go back to Camlochlin with him, but if Claire was such a threat to her father, Davina would surely cause a war. Adam needed to leave before William discovered anything else! And he needed to leave without her.
“Ah, Miss de Arenburg!”
She turned at the sound of Lord Nottingham.
“How is your ankle?”
She’d almost forgotten…“Much better.”
“Are you alone?” he asked, his eyes wide with confusion. “I thought Lord Hamilton was escorting you to dinner.”
She held up her hands and smiled. “I thought so too.” She looked toward the doors. He’d be coming soon, tempting
her to cast away the weight of her worries—no matter how monumental they had just become, just by smiling at her.
“Will you escort me, my lord?”
“Of course.” He offered her his elbow. She took it, needing help to keep going.
Adam’s kiss had drained her, robbed her of her strength and logic. She wasn’t sure she would ever recover. She knew for certain that William would never kiss her like that—his body, a living flame, consuming every part of her.
She needed to think clearly so that she could absorb all that Adam had told her.
Davina was Anne’s sister. Her older sister. Was it possible? The chief’s wife looked twenty years younger. They’d lived very different lives.
If not for the Act of Settlement prohibiting Catholics from taking the throne, Davina MacGregor would be the true queen of Great Britain. With a Tory parliament, that act could be repealed.
Sina felt ill with the knowledge of it. She’d wanted the truth, and Adam had given it to her.
“You look lovely with your hair a bit disheveled,” Nottingham paused and pointed out. “But we can take a moment for you to repair it if you like.”
God help her, her hair was disheveled? As if someone had been kissing her? Did Lord Nottingham know? “Thank you.” She managed a smile while she tucked some loose strands back under her cap.
“Do you think Lord Hamilton is a poor fit for Catherine?” he asked, offering his arm again.
“Yes, yes, I do think he’s a poor fit,” she replied as they approached the dining hall. “She can do better, and as her brother, ’tis your duty to see to it.”
“I’m afraid she has her heart set on him.”
Sina turned to face him, her hands balled into fists at her sides. “And what about what Lord Hamilton wants?”
“What does he want?” Nottingham asked. “Do you know?”
“No. How would I?” She saw her chair and Eloise sitting beside it. She’d had enough of this conversation. She didn’t want to think about Adam with Catherine. She uncurled her arm from Nottingham’s and offered him a pleasant smile. “Thank you.”
“Let me bring you to your chair at least,” he insisted.
“’Tis just a few steps away. I won’t keep you any longer.” She moved away before he had a chance to stop her and stormed toward her chair.
When she fell into it, Eloise put down her cup and gaped at her. “What’s the matter with you, and where have you been?”
“Nothing is the matter.” Sina spotted Catherine Newton and brooded. Her heart was set on Adam, was it? Oh, Sina could have marched over there and tore out her hair.
“You haven’t been the same since you came back,” Eloise told her, turning in her chair to look at her. “What happened to you while you were away? Why do you always seem so melancholy?”
Was her pining over Adam so transparent? “Oh, Eloise, forgive me. I keep thinking of Anne and how I wasn’t here for her.” It wasn’t untrue, but it wasn’t the only thing weighing heavy on her heart. Sadly though, Eloise wasn’t one to share secrets with. Where was Poppy? She looked around.
“I know, dear,” Eloise repented. “Forgive me for being insensitive.”
Sina began to smile, but her eye caught Adam entering the hall with Goliath and she forgot everything else. How could the very sight of him make her belly tighten and ache with a need that felt more primitive than anything she’d ever called him? How could his kiss make the ache even more painful?
He saw her and kept moving. Was he angry with her for slapping him? She was the one who should be angry with him for kissing her as if he had every right to and to hell with the consequences. She wasn’t angry with him for not telling her about his being a prince. She understood the magnitude of that secret.
Nottingham rose from his chair and called Adam over to the other end of the table, where he was sitting with his sister.
Sina bristled and then forced a smile when she felt Eloise’s eyes on her. She wanted to leave. Was she supposed to sit here and watch him flirt with Catherine? She could do it. In fact, she told herself, it was better this way.
She ignored the plate set before her and rubbed her knotted belly. She did her best not to look in his direction, but she found her defiant gaze on him more than once. He was smiling! Enjoying himself while Catherine batted her long lashes at him.
The night wasn’t going to go well. Thankfully, Poppy arrived and slipped into the seat next to her.
“I see Catherine got her claws into Lord Hamilton.”
“He doesn’t seem to mind them,” Sina muttered sourly and sipped from her cup of warm wine.
“Would you have him treat her poorly?” Poppy asked her.
Sina rolled her eyes. Poppy knew her too well to ask her such a question. “In truth,” she told her friend, “I really don’t care. They are no concern of mine.”
Poppy quirked her lips at her. Her eyes shone with amusement. “Very well, love, if that’s where you’re keeping this…”
“Eloise.” Sina turned to her. “I believe Lord Somerset just tipped his drink to you.”
Eloise immediately primped her curls and waited for him to look at her again so she could smile back.
Sina knew it would keep her attention off her and Poppy.
“’Tis the truth,” she whispered leaning in. “He means nothing to me anymore.”
“What are you so afraid of?” Poppy challenged. “Your father might rant and rave a little, but he’ll accept things in time.”
Tears burned Sina’s eyes. “How do you know that, Poppy? What if he throws Adam in Newgate? What if—”
“Let’s go for a stroll, shall we?” her friend offered, setting down her drink. “Before Catherine sees a glimmer of moisture in your eyes and thinks she caused it.”
“What about Eloise?” Sina asked in a hushed tone. She didn’t have to. Eloise was already on her way to Lord Somerset’s side of the table.
“Come, then, love,” Poppy prodded. “He won’t let Catherine beguile him.”
Sina hesitated, not wanting to go somewhere and open up the floodgates. What if she let Adam’s secret slip? He’s the prince! His mother, the queen! If the Jacobites ever found out…
“Come.” Poppy took her hand and pulled her out of the dining hall. “I know this is very difficult for you, my darling,” Poppy told her, looping her arm through Sina’s. “But the truth is in your face when you see him, when he sees you.” Her friend tossed back her head and fanned herself. “’Tis all I can do to keep from swooning at the sparks between the two of you.”
Sina felt sick to her stomach. How hadn’t William seen it if it was so obvious? She fought back her tears and bit her lip. She was going to shatter her friend’s heart.
“He’s offered his service to my father, thinking to win him before he tells him who he truly is. In return, he asked that my betrothal to William be postponed so that he can court me.” Sina pressed her palms to her cheeks and shook her head. Hearing the words coming from her mouth shocked her. This was really happening.
“Even if my father doesn’t do the worst when he discovers the truth, I…I can’t leave William completely and go live in the mountains somewhere, never to see him again, knowing I broke his heart.”
“Sina,” her friend said as they walked the long, wallpapered corridors. “You aren’t his nursemaid, or his protector. If you have a chance at happiness with your Highlander, take it. William will find someone in time.”
“This will be the second time he’s lost me. I fear he may do something drastic.”
“I agree,” Poppy sympathized, “’tis cruel, but better a quick kick to the guts than a lifetime of misery and regret for you. Don’t you agree?”
“I don’t know what I think anymore,” Sina lamented.
“Are you in love with William?” Poppy asked her. “Do you want to spend the rest of your life with him?”
“No,” Sina said without hesitation. She didn’t know him anymore, and what she remembered lacked the
passion she wanted in a husband. “But I don’t want to do this to him. He’s always needed me—”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Sina!” Poppy threw up her hands and fell into one of the many settees and chairs lining the grand corridor. “We used to talk about this all the time. William is not your responsibility. He did fine on his own for three years.”
Sina slumped beside her on the settee. Poppy was right. But there was more…so much more.
“And your father,” Poppy said, sensing her distress. “Perhaps Adam has a point in gaining his trust first. I don’t think there is any other way for him to accomplish what he came here to do.”
“Oh, I don’t deny ’tis the only way,” Sina cried, “but my fear is that it doesn’t go well.”
Poppy rested her head on Sina’s shoulder and sighed. “Did I tell you he called you a sparrow?”
Sina smiled. Poppy often referred to her as little bird. “No.”
“Has he kissed you since he returned?”
Sina blushed and smiled, then looked away. “Yes. Tonight as a matter of fact.”
“And?” her friend prodded.
“I slapped him when ’twas over.” Sina sighed. “But every part of me felt alive and on fire. ’Twas thrilling and frightening to know someone else could hold such power over me.”
“Imagine what the rest of him will make you feel.”
Sina blushed even darker and felt a rush of warmth course through her.
They heard footsteps approaching and giggled into their hands at almost being caught talking about bedchamber things.
They stood from the settee just as Adam turned the corridor with Goliath and faced them.
What right did he have to look so damned good either put together in a tight cravat or wild and untamed in a flowing plaid?
“Ah, Lord Hamilton, we were just discussing you,” Poppy greeted, ignoring the pinch to her side from Sina.
His silvery-blue gaze dipped to Sina. “I’m pleased to see whatever ’twas made ye smile.”
Sina felt extremely warm and pinched her friend again when she giggled behind her fan.
“Well, I’m off to bed!” Poppy barely spared them a smile before running off, leaving both Sina and Adam looking after her.
