The Highlander's Woman (The Reckless Rockwoods #3)

by Monica Burns

  “She’s my wife. She belongs with me,” Julian exclaimed out with angry frustration.

  “And she’s my sister,” Sebastian said with an implacable coldness and stubbornness reminiscent of Patience’s temperament. “I’m abiding by her wishes. Patience has made it clear she wants to remain here at Melton House.”

  “For how long? It's been six months since the fire. She’s refused to see me since the day she—since the day she first woke up.”

  “I’m sorry, Julian,” Sebastian said with a disgusted shake of his head. “Our coaxing her to change her mind only seems to make her all the more adamant in her refusal to see reason.”

  “Aye, tis no’ a surprise,” he bit out. “She’s always been stubborn, but no more than I. If I thought it would help matters, I’d simply drag her out of the house and take her to Crianlarich.”

  “I am glad to hear ye have no’ intention of doing something as foolish as that.”

  Matilda Stewart eyed him with disapproval from her seat on the couch. Julian met the Scotswoman’s gaze and grimaced as her condemnation dissolved into sympathy. He didn’t want anyone’s commiseration. He wanted Patience to come home.

  “Staying locked up in her room isn’t healthy,” Julian ground out.

  “Don’t you think we know that?” His brother-in-law eyed him with irritation. “Aunt Matilda is the only one allowed in her room on a regular basis. She’s convinced herself she’s a monster people will run from.”

  “Bloody hell,” Julian muttered with frustration. “I had no doubt her burns would leave her scarred, but no’ so bad as to have her believe that others will think her a monstrosity.”

  “Her burns are disfiguring, but no’ to the extent she believes. Give the lass time, Julian. She’s been through far more than any of us could imagine. She still blames herself for Caleb and Devin’s deaths.” Matilda Stewart met his gaze with an expression of sympathy. He shook his head.

  “She cannot continue to hide from the world or me. I don’t care what she looks like. I love her. I simply want her to come home so I can take care of her.” Julian heard the same amount of stubbornness in his voice that matched Patience’s, and Sebastian uttered a sound of frustration and sympathy.

  “Your feelings for my sister are without question, but I have reason to believe Patience’s refusal to see you isn’t simply about her scars.” His brother-in-law pinched his nose and closed his eyes for a brief moment before meeting Julian’s gaze. “I don’t know—nor do I wish to know—what happened between the two of you before the fire, but she’s asked me to begin proceedings for a divorce.”

  “I won’t give her up.” Julian’s hard-edged response made his brother-in-law nod in understanding.

  “I didn’t think you would, which is why I’ve not done anything about it,” Sebastian said with a wry twist of his lips. Before he could say another word, the salon doors opened, and Percy strode into the room, his expression dour.

  “Helen and I have managed to convince Patience to come out of her room.”

  “Thank God,” Aunt Matilda said with a relieved sigh, while Sebastian and Julian stared at Patience’s brother in amazement.

  “How the devil did you and my wife manage that miracle?” Sebastian asked with an open display of heartfelt relief. Julian didn’t bother to look at the patriarch of the Rockwood family as he studied Percy’s troubled expression.

  “How did you convince her? Is she coming down now?” Julian asked as an overwhelming relief swept through him followed by an uneasy sensation.

  He didn’t expect Patience to speak to him, but just seeing her again would be enough for the time being. Impatiently, he waited for his brother-in-law’s answer. The other man avoided looking at him, and Julian’s gut twisted with dread. One hand rubbing the back of his neck, Percy finally raised his head to look at Julian with a wary expression.

  “She has a condition.” At Percy’s words an uncomfortable silence filled the room.

  “She’ll come out provided I’m not here.” Julian clamped down on his teeth until his jaw felt as though it would crack under the pressure. Percy grimaced as his gaze met Julian’s.

  “Actually, she said you’re never to come here again.”

  “Saints preserve us,” Patience’s aunt exclaimed in horror.

  “Bloody hell,” Sebastian muttered as he looked in Julian’s direction.

  The moment his brother-in-law shared Patience’s stipulation, Julian went rigid. Despite Patience’s rejection of him shortly after the fire, hope had kept him going over the last several months. But the condition she’d just tied to her agreement to leave her room had pulled the rug right out from beneath him.

  “I’m sorry, Julian,” Percy said with obvious frustration. “We’ve been arguing with her for more than a week now. But God help me, she’s as obstinate as a mule.”

  “I see you’ve told them,” the Countess of Melton said as she entered the salon. She looked directly at Julian with compassion and shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Julian. I know we’ve been saying this for months, but I really do believe she simply needs time. The doctor says her reaction is not unusual, we simply need to be patient.”

  Julian’s gaze flitted from one Rockwood to the next, before he stalked across the salon to one of the windows overlooking the street. Outside the avenue was busy with the day’s traffic, but all he could see were images of that terrible night. The images still had the power to make his muscles tighten and grow hard as a tree trunk.

  The memory of the anguish and fear on Patience’s face as they’d all watched Devin and Caleb plummet to their deaths. Then her screams of grief and fear afterwards. The sound of her cries still echoed in his head whenever he thought about that night.

  What had been all the more gut-wrenching had been the expression of surrender he’d seen on her face only seconds after her brother fell to his death. She’d been terrified, but resigned to dying like her brother. The memory of it made him fold his arms across his chest and dig his fingers into his biceps.

  It had been his bullying that made her jump through the flames, but he wasn’t sure she’d forgive that or anything else he was guilty of. The thought filled him with a despair he’d not felt since the day his mother had died. If he lost Patience, life would hold little meaning for him. He turned to face the people he’d come to cherish as a part of his own family.

  “If it means Patience will come out of her seclusion then I’ll abide by her wishes,” he said through clenched teeth.

  “It will pass, Julian,” Aunt Matilda said quietly. “Patience is a strong woman, she will come around, and all will be well.”

  “No,” he said with a vicious shake of his head. “Percy said it well, she is as stubborn as a mule, and I can no’ make her forgive me. I’ll leave and will no’ return unless she asks for me.”

  With a nod, he walked toward the salon door. He had little doubt that his current state of unhappiness could have been avoided if he’d simply been honest with her. But he’d been so exhausted the day they’d argued, that he’d not been thinking clearly enough to realize Caitriona had only made him swear to not to tell her father. She’d not sworn him to keep the truth from anyone else.

  He could have told Patience everything that day without really breaking his word to Caitriona. It would have stretched the boundaries of what was honorable, but at the moment he’d gladly give up everything he owned, including his honor, just to take his words back. His failure to stretch the confines of his vow had cost him everything he held dear. Every inch of him ached as if he’d been in a boxing match. A competition he’d lost. But he had lost. The only woman in the world he would ever love had condemned him to a prison he would never escape from unless she produced the key.

  “Julian.” The manner in which Aunt Matilda called his name made him stop, but he didn’t turn around. Silk rustled quietly as the Scotswoman moved to his side to touch his arm. “The lass loves you. I’m certain of it.”

  “Does she? She’s ma
de her decision, and I will abide by it,” he said as the words ripped at his insides. Julian drew a harsh breath into his lungs and looked over his shoulder at Sebastian. “I have a condition of my own. I will never give her a divorce. I’ll fight it with everything I own.”

  “I’ll make that quite clear to her, Julian.” Something akin to satisfaction crossed his brother-in-law’s face.

  Nodding, Julian didn’t say another word, and left the room. In the hallway, he accepted his hat from Madison, the Rockwood butler. A brief whisper of sound made him jerk his head up as he saw Patience’s unusually slight figure in the dark shadows of the second floor landing. Christ Jesus, she’d lost weight. It was impossible to see her face in the shadows, and he longed to see her.

  Without thinking, he crossed the floor to the staircase, his hand on the bannister as he put one foot on the steps. Her horrified gasp fluttered down to him, and in a flash of movement, she disappeared. Frozen in place, he heard the sound of a door slamming. He didn’t have to hear the grinding of a metal key to be certain she’d locked her door. Locked him out of her life for what he feared would be a lifetime. The thought was enough to bring him to his knees. His body rigid with pain, he walked out of Melton House leaving his heart behind him.

  § § §

  The train rolled to a stop at the Crianlarich station. Jerking his bags down from the overhead rack, Julian threw open the car door and stepped down onto the narrow, roughly hewn platform. In front of him, craggy hills rose up above the forest that made up the rest of the landscape. The gray sky cast a pallor over the hills giving the land a stark appearance that was as ominous looking as it was hauntingly beautiful.

  Whenever he came home to Scotland, he was always in awe of his country’s harsh, yet resplendent majesty. The few people who had gotten off the train with him had already begun their walk into the village. His gaze fell on the carriage that had been sent to bring him home. It carried him one step further away from Patience and one step closer to the man who’d help destroy his life.

  The vehicle’s door swung open, and he saw the Laird of Crianlarich step out onto the road. Fergus MacTavish’s plain brown work kilt was offset by the MacTavish tartan fly plaid he wore on his shoulder. His father was a tall man, falling just shy of Julian’s own height. With his neatly trimmed, peppered beard and glengarry dipped low over his forehead, Fergus MacTavish was a handsome, but stern-looking, man. His stern, weathered features eased slightly as he directed a small smile at Julian.

  “Tis good to have ye home, lad,” Fergus said as he shook Julian’s hand then gestured toward the carriage.

  Julian quietly thanked Drummond, their driver, as he handed his bags off to the man. The longtime servant touched his cap in a deferential manner as he accepted the baggage. The vehicle’s interior was cramped, and seated across from his father, the combination of their long legs made it all the more confining.

  The carriage rolled forward with a jerk, and Julian stared out the window. Why had he come back to Crianlarich Castle? Because the house he’d shared with Patience had become a tomb without her.

  “I take it your wife will no’ be coming any time soon?”

  “No,” he said crisply, unwilling to listen to the Crianlarich belittle Patience.

  God, how he missed her. The memory of how she’d fled from him yesterday when he’d caught a glimpse of her on the second floor landing of Melton House still haunted him. He’d always loved Patience’s full curves and lush thighs. The silhouette he’d seen standing in the dim light of the second floor corridor was a mere shadow of the woman he’d married.

  His father’s indiscretion, was why he was no longer with his wife. His jaw clenched as he remembered the lies he’d told Patience to protect Caitriona’s shame. He’d had a choice not to lie, but he’d done what he thought was the right thing at the time. It was difficult enough knowing the lies he’d told were one of the reasons Patience would never return to Crianlarich or the house they had shared in London.

  If he’d not lied, he would have had a much better chance of convincing Patience of his innocence and that Una was a liar. He had no idea how the woman knew about his birthmark. Not even when he’d unleashed his wrath over her head more than a month after the fire had she offered up any explanation as to how she knew about the mark.

  “Where’s your head, lad. I asked you a question.”

  “My apologies, sir.” At his stilted reply, Fergus shook his head slightly.

  “I asked how well Patience was mending?”

  “What?” Julian stared at his father in amazement before he narrowed his gaze at The Crianlarich. “Since when did you give a damn about Patience?”

  “I am no’ always a hard-hearted man, Julian,” Fergus said in a strained voice. “I might no’ have liked ye taking her as a bride, but I have never wished her harm.”

  “I find that surprising, since you did your best to convince her that she wasn’t good enough for me,” he bit out as he glared at his father. The Crianlarich flinched before an implacable mask of stone hardened his features. Silence drifted between them for several moments as Julian returned his gaze to the landscape outside the carriage.

  “I received a note from Lady Westbrook thanking me for the flowers I sent to her husband’s funeral. The fire was a terrible thing.” His father’s attempts at conversation puzzled him as he bobbed his head without looking at Fergus.

  “And Patience’s scars? Are they—”

  “Why this sudden interest in my wife, Crianlarich,” he snarled as he used one of his father’s less formal titles. He glared at the man who’d played a part in his unhappiness.

  “Because ye are my son, and I know ye love the woman. I also know tis no’ been easy on ye or any of the Rockwoods. Two deaths and Patience’s injuries is no’ something to heal from quickly.”

  “It’s hellish,” he said sharply. “The family has found it extremely difficult to deal with Caleb’s and Devin’s deaths as well as their concern about Patience.”

  “I do no’ envy Lady Westbrook left alone tae raise her children,” his father said with a note of sorrow in his voice. “When I lost your mother, I did no’ know what tae do.”

  “I doubt your cock remained soft for too long.” Julian’s crude comment made his father jerk his head back in astonishment before his face reddened in anger.

  “I loved your mother, lad, and do no’ ye ever forget that,” the Crianlarich snarled. “Do no’ confuse love with a mon’s baser needs.”

  A small nugget of regret lodged in Julian’s throat at the insult to his father before he remembered Caitriona. He gritted his teeth and jerked his gaze back to the passing scenery. Caitriona had loved her father deeply, and Bensmore had always doted on both his daughters.

  In her confession to him, Caitriona had made it clear that Julian was never to tell her father about the child. She’d told Julian that she’d left home because she believed it would have killed her father to know what she’d done. Her worst fear had been what her father would say when he discovered the child’s father was Fergus MacTavish.

  “How is the boy faring,” he asked quietly without looking at Fergus.

  “He’s going to be a strapping lad just like his older brother.” There was a note of pride in his father’s voice that filled Julian with anger.

  “You should have married her the moment you bedded her,” Julian said with outrage and disgust as he turned his head back to meet his father’s startled gaze. A split-second later, the Crianlarich narrowed his eyes at Julian.

  “I did no’ pursue the lass,” Fergus said. “She entered my bed without invitation. I had no wish to marry again, and I told her that.”

  “As I said your cock has no’ remained soft.”

  “Caitriona did no’ tell me she was carrying my son. If she had, I would have done the honorable thing by her.” His father’s voice echoed belligerently in the air as he refused to accept any blame for what had happened to Caitriona.

  “And have you told
Bensmore the truth?” At the question, Fergus moved uncomfortably in his seat.

  “Tis been hard enough on the mon, losing Caitriona. I see no need to add tae his pain.”

  “In other words, you have no’ had the courage to tell him you were the one who sullied her, left her with child then abandoned her.”

  “I did no’ abandon Caitriona. I did no’ know the lass was with child until ye sent the bairn to Crianlarich with the letter that I was the father,” Fergus said indignantly. “I have done my duty by the child.”

  “But no’ to Bensmore. The man deserves to know his grandson,” Julian said between clenched teeth.

  “Ye can tell him the truth,” Fergus said with a crafty look. Julian glared at him.

  “You know damn well I gave my word to Caitriona no’ to tell her father.”

  “And yet ye had no problem breaking ye word when it came to telling me the boy was mine,” his father sneered.

  “Caitriona did no’ ask me to hide the truth from you—only her father, and I’ll no’ break my word to her. But you’re a coward for no’ telling the man the truth.” Julian’s scorn made his father’s face grow dark with the rage.

  “Do no’ judge me, boy. Tis better that Robert believe Caitriona and her child died in childbirth. The mon has been humiliated enough.”

  “And what about Aiden? Has Bensmore not even questioned Aiden’s sudden arrival at Crianlarich Castle?”

  “I told him the child is yours and Patience’s. He thinks ye sent the boy here because of the fire and Patience injuries.”

  “You did what?” he snarled.

  Julian stared at his father with raw fury. The bastard had no shame. Worse, he’d made Patience a pawn in his charade. He wanted to wrap his hands around his father’s throat and squeeze until the man was on the brink of death.

  “I thought it a perfect solution,” Fergus shrugged. “Ye and your wife have yet to have a child, but Bensmore and everyone else do no’ know that.”

  “And what do I tell Patience? Do you really think she’ll accept the child as her own?” Julian ground out with the fury he’d only ever wielded over Una’s head for her part in destroying his marriage.