Page 20 of Kilgannon #1

“No, but it’s close.” He took a deep breath and I did the same.

“Lass, the message I received earlier was from him as well. Do ye ken the brig I’ve been worried about, the one that’s been missing?

” I nodded, thawing despite myself. He looked exhausted.

“Well, it’s gone down off Cornwall and is lost with all its crew and cargo.

They were not Kilgannon men, but I must discover what happened.

And that means I must leave as soon as possible.

I have to meet with the agent and then I go to Cornwall.

” I nodded, and he frowned again. “But I couldna leave without discovering what made ye so angry. I dinna understand what happened here this morning, Mary. Why are ye so angry with me?”

I wondered if any man had ever been more impossible.

“Why am I so angry? Only a saint would not be. You’re marrying Morag, Alexander MacGannon, and you’ve been seen all over London with women, including Rowena, and you have the gall to shop with her and buy a nightdress that you give to me and you tell me you cannot wait to see me in it.

Why would I not be angry?” I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him. “Tell me why I should not be angry.”

He blinked, then laughed. I watched some of his tiredness melt away as he shook his head and laughed again. “If any of that were true, lass, I’d agree with ye and be angry at myself along with ye. But it’s no’true. None of it.”

“You’re not marrying Morag?”

“No. Nor do I wish to.”

“Who is she?”

“Morag MacLeod. From Skye. My friend Murdoch Maclean is in love with her. Has been since we were lads.”

“And you’re not? And haven’t been?”

He paused. “I was. But it was a long time ago.”

“You were in love with her?” My voice was shrill, and I winced.

He nodded, shifting his weight. “When I was sixteen I convinced myself that I loved her and that I wouldna marry Sorcha. ”

“And what did Morag say?”

He looked uneasy. “She was in agreement.”

“I see,” I said, and sat down on the couch heavily. This was all wrong. He was supposed to hotly deny it and reassure me. I didn’t want to hear more. “So it’s true.”

He shook his head. “No. I was shipped off to France for a year, and Morag was shut up in Skye. Neither my father nor hers would have any of it. And when I saw her again, she dinna seem so wonderful. And then I discovered that Murdoch felt the way he felt, and I had to marry Sorcha, so …” He shrugged.

“It was just a youthful fancy, is all, Mary, nothing more. I haven’t seen her in a while. She’s nothing to me.”

“But I heard—”

He made a sharp gesture. “Ye heard wrong. Morag MacLeod means nothing to me, lass. Nothing. Whoever’s been talking to ye has filled yer head with nonsense.

I willna marry Morag, not now nor ever, and I havena been out in London with women.

I saw Rowena when I was shopping, aye, and she was there when I was looking at the nightdress.

I am the world’s greatest fool not to have realized that she would tell ye and make the most of something that was a chance meeting.

I dinna spend any time with her, lass. It’s not her company I desire. ” “I see,” I said.

“No, ye don’t.” He took a deep breath. “Mary, ye canna always believe what ye hear. I have done nothing improper nor have I spent any time with Rowena. Do ye not ken that she’s jealous?”

I looked at him in surprise. “Jealous?”

“Aye, because yer beautiful and much younger.”

“I’m younger, Alex, but I’m not more beautiful.

” “Aye, Mary, ye are. Ye win the contest, believe me. I’ve seen many Rowenas.

If I wanted a woman like her I’d have one.

I don’t.” I felt my cheeks flush and saw him note it.

His expression softened. “Mary, is that what was bothering ye? That ye thought I was courting ye and betraying ye at once?”

“Are you courting me?”

“Lass, how could ye not ken I am? Did ye think I was always seeking yer company because I couldna abide ye? What did ye think I was doing if not courting ye?”

“Seducing me.”

“Seducing ye.” He looked at me for a long moment.

“I knew you liked me, but I thought I’d frightened you away after I went to your brig or that I’d led you to believe by my behavior that seduction would be acceptable to me. And there was the poem. And the nightdress.”

His eyes widened and he paced the room, shaking his head.

“I’ll never understand a woman’s mind. Do ye think me such a fool or such a cad that I’d try and seduce ye in front of yer aunt and uncle and with the blessing of the Duchess of Fenster?

” He stopped and faced me. “Mary Lowell, ye credit me with much more intrigue than I am capable of. I told ye, lass. I’m direct.

It’s ye I’m courting, and ye I’m here with.

” He pulled out his watch again and frowned.

“But not for long.” He watched me for a moment, then extended his hand.

“Mary, will ye come along with me to the agent’s?

I must go, lass, and we’d have a chance to talk in the coach. Please.”

I nodded and I threw convention to the wind once more.

Alex’s agent was not at his office near the docks but at his house, not far from Louisa’s.

Bronson and Ellen had watched us with worried eyes as we left, Ellen handing me a cloak without a word, and Bronson nodding at my explanation that I would soon return.

I shuddered to think what Louisa and Randolph would say, but I could not refuse Alex.

We talked more in the coach he’d hired, and I was soon completely convinced that Alex had been maligned by Rowena, who had access to all those who had helped spread the tales about him. It seemed that despite my notion that I knew London society, I still had more to learn about the wars of love.

At the agent’s house I told Alex to go inside without me.

It was enough that I was with him again without a chaperon.

If the agent recognized me or knew my name, the word would soon be out.

I waited patiently for a while, hugging myself as I reviewed our conversations.

Alex was courting me. He’d still not spoken of love or marriage, but I was content for now.

What a difference a few hours made, I thought, and ignored the coachman’s movements.

He seemed to be moving a lot and making strange noises.

This is why Louisa insists on having her own coaches, I thought.

One never knows what one will get with a hired one.

When the door of the coach flew open I was surprised that Alex was so hurried. But it wasn’t Alex. Two men faced me in the gathering gloom, silhouetted against the outside light. They wore kilts and plaids, and I relaxed, thinking they were Alex’s men.

“He’s got a woman in here,” said the man with his hand still on the door handle.

“Kilgannon’s got a woman for us.” He laughed, and my blood froze as I cringed back into the cushion.

Surely Alex’s man would not say such a thing nor leer at me so.

Behind him the second man craned to see me, and a third dropped from the roof of the coach, dragging the bloodied body of the coachman behind him and showing his companions.

He threw the coachman onto the road. The three men laughed and kicked the lifeless form to the gutter. And then turned to me. I screamed.

The first man lunged at me as I screamed again and turned my head out the window to scream a third time.

A rough hand clamped over my mouth and I bit it.

Cursing me, he yanked me in from the window, smashing my head against the frame as he pulled me backward.

I thrashed about and he cursed again. Behind me I heard a second man climb into the coach and the door slam shut.

And then the coach began to move. No one would ever find me if they drove away, I thought.

Alex, oh, please. Or had they already dealt with Alex?

Was he now in the agent’s house injured or worse?

They’d known his name, so this couldn’t be a random attack.

I screamed and struck the man in front of me.

It took only a minute for the men to subdue me.

A swift slap across the face left me stunned and bleeding, and I soon stopped struggling.

I lay on the floor of the coach, the first man lying heavy atop me, panting, the second sitting on the seat above us.

I looked up at the open window and realized we were no longer moving.

We could not have gone far, I thought. Maybe I could still escape.

The thought was no sooner formed than the man on top of me laughed and lifted himself off me.

“Might as well have some fun, eh?” he said to his companion, who laughed.

With one hand pressing against my throat, he put the other at the neck of my bodice.

And tore it in half. As the air hit my skin I started fighting again.

I still had my corset and shift but knew they would not last long.

I screamed, and he hit me on the side of the head.

And then I felt the second man grab my left leg at the ankle and laugh as he pulled it up on the seat.

The first man fumbled at my skirts as I writhed against him, twisting away.

There was no doubt what he planned and I probably could not prevent it, but I wasn’t going to submit.

“No, no, no!” I screamed, and beat at him with my arms. He pressed against my throat again.

I couldn’t breathe. I saw a bright light over his head and felt as though I were falling, I thought I heard Alex’s voice, but that seemed impossible.

Still, it was comforting to think that his voice would be the last thing I’d ever hear.

A man’s hand was on the skin of my leg and moving upward, but I could no longer fight it. I closed my eyes.