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D uncan slammed open the door to his bedchamber and stopped still. Cold gushed through the room, and one of the windows gaped open, making the tapestries flap and flutter against the wall.

Something was amiss. Aileana had vanished, as surely as if she’d melted into the misty air. He took a step forward, his gaze slipping around the chamber, noting each piece of furniture, every square of blanket and covering. Nothing was out of place. There’d been no struggle.

Damn her. She must have escaped right after her bastard of a—

A flash of color at the window caught Duncan’s eye. Fiery. A waving mass of light auburn, shining with glints of gold. The figure moved into view of the casement, standing on the wrong side of the wall…perched on the ledge. Poised. Waiting.

Waiting? For…what the devil?

Duncan’s mind seemed to slow to a maddening pace. Each moment lingered an eternity. He saw Aileana twist to look at him. Her cheeks were streaked with tears, her expression grief-stricken.

He bolted forward, lunging for her as he realized her intent.

It was like that day at the cliffs all over again.

She was going to go over the edge, and he had to stop her.

Catch her before she fell to the grinding stones of the loch below.

But as he thrust his hand through the open casement to grip her, she tipped forward, throwing herself away from him.

His gloved fingertips barely brushed the fabric of her skirts as she slipped from his grasp.

“Aileana! Nay!” The words ripped from his throat. Shock filled his chest and pressed the breath from his lungs. Frantic, he threw himself against the casement, reaching over as far as he could, only to see her fall away from him, down, down, down. To the cold, gray waters and rocks below…

Before coming to a jerking halt that forced an unladylike grunt from her lips.

A faint trickle of curses drifted up to his ears, and relief flooded Duncan with a stabbing sensation. His heart pounded heavy and hard. Painful. But with the rush of feeling came strength. And fast behind it, renewed anger.

Taking hold of the knotted cord that held Aileana suspended ten feet above the water, Duncan pulled.

He grated his teeth, scowling and concentrating on hoisting her back inside the room.

His muscles flexed and contracted, and he forced himself to focus on the satisfying ache that radiated through his arms and back.

When she clambered into the chamber again, she looked meek and bedraggled; her hair and clothing were disheveled, the cord hung limp around her waist, and she held her arm around herself there as if her ribs pained her.

It would be no surprise if they did, he thought, waiting for her to speak.

But her gaze was fixed to the floor, and with each passing second, the silence weighed heavier between them.

“Damn it, Aileana,” Duncan murmured at last. “Why did you let him get to you?”

She looked up at him in surprise, her eyes shadowed and her lashes clumped with tears.

“Aye,” he said softly, “I know very well about Gavin’s visit.”

“How?” she breathed.

“I saw him swimming to shore.” Duncan took a step forward, taking her chin in his gloved hand to make her meet his gaze.

“I know it has been difficult for you here, but after everything I told you, after everything we—” He broke off and dropped his grip from her, adding in a husky murmur, “By the Rood, Aileana, I never thought that you’d be so quick to do something like this. ”

“What did you expect?” she retorted. “It was you who betrayed our agreement.”

He didn’t rise to the bait of her challenge. “Did Gavin devise the plot to sneak into my castle for you, or was the idea yours?”

“Do not turn this on him, Duncan. I was as surprised to see Gavin as you. My attempt to escape had nothing to do with him.”

“Then mayhap it was a reason even more insidious,” he answered, ignoring her protests before stepping back. “Tell me—if the plan for your escape wasn’t just now hatched between the two of you, then what was your brother’s foul purpose in coming here?”

Aileana’s face looked ashen. He watched her swallow, saw the flicker of pain in her beautiful eyes. “We had the same idea separately, that is all. He came, intending to take me back to Dulhmeny with him, but I refused him in favor of my own means of escape.”

Duncan arched his brow in surprise; he was silent for a moment before adding, “I know something of Gavin MacDonell, Aileana. Even had the both of you conceived the same idea of securing your freedom from Eilean Donan, he would insist on doing it his way. He’d have thrown you over his shoulder and carried you away no matter your protests, if such had been his purpose.

” Duncan’s face sharpened. “I want to know what else was discussed. What else was plotted or planned that would give him cause to agree to leave you behind. What was it, Aileana?”

“It isn’t important now. I made Gavin agree not to pursue it further.”

“I’ll hear what it was anyway.”

“Fine, then,” Aileana retorted hotly, her expression sharp. “It is nothing you wouldn’t expect of a brother whose sister had been dishonored. Gavin told me that he was planning to kill you.”

Bitter laughter grated from his throat. “How original. A plot against my life.” He smiled grimly. “Not much has changed in thirteen years, it seems. But pray tell, how did your foolhardy jump from the window play into Gavin’s plans for achieving my murder?”

Aileana sounded exasperated. “I’ve already told you; my attempt to escape had no tie to Gavin.

I was only trying to leave because I thought it might prevent you from raiding Dulhmeny and spilling innocent blood.

” Her eyes glistened with tears, though whether they stemmed from anger or latent regret, he couldn’t discern.

“If you wish to know the truth, then you should know that be fore I let him go home, I made Gavin give me his oath that he wouldn’t harm you. ”

“Please, Aileana, wanting to kill me is bad enough. Don’t go so far as to insult my intelligence, too.”

Her hands fisted at her sides. “I’m telling you the truth, Duncan—my escape had nothing to do with Gavin. It had to do with us. With you and me and the threats you made not an hour ago to attack my clan if I didn’t give you the Ealach .”

Duncan couldn’t prevent his sardonic expression.

“Then your timing is more than unfortunate.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “You’ve wanted me dead for as long as I’ve known you, Aileana, and since poisoning me a few weeks past didn’t work, I think you were plotting with your brother to find a way of completing the deed. ”

She shook her head, and he felt a jerk of surprise at the desolation in her eyes.

“I never wanted you dead, Duncan. When I dosed you with those herbs, it was only to make you realize—” She choked to a halt.

“The reason doesn’t matter now. It is enough to say that they were not the kind of herbs to kill you, even had you taken thrice the amount I gave you. ”

He leveled a glare at her. “For the hours I spent suffering their effects, I wholeheartedly wished that they were.”

“Aye, well, I am sorry for that now.” She had the good grace, at least, to look ashamed. “But I never wanted any real harm to come to you.” She turned away and added more quietly, “I only wanted you to stop thinking about her .”

“Who?” Confusion made him scowl.

Aileana glared back at him. “Nora MacKenzie. The brazen woman who flaunts her charms in your face every chance she finds.”

“Nora?” Duncan grimaced as he thought of Nora’s cloying scent and groping hands. “What the devil could that woman have given you to fret about?”

Aileana made a scoffing sound in her throat.

“Pretending ignorance doesn’t become you, Duncan MacRae.

” She flicked him a glance potent enough to shrivel a tree.

“Nora takes every chance that comes to throw herself at you, and you encourage it. You will not trick me into saying more by acting like you know nothing of it.”

Duncan’s body suddenly felt numb. All thinking vanished as his mind latched onto the one possibility in all this he’d not dared to allow, except in his most secret thoughts.

Kinnon had suggested something of the sort weeks ago, but he’d refused to believe it.

He stared at Aileana again, looking deeper this time, taking in her outraged stance, her tousled, fiery hair, eyes that flashed heat and annoyance… and something else.

The hollow feeling in his gut opened wider.

“Tell me about Nora,” he murmured, finally, not taking his gaze from her. “Tell me what you feel when you see her being friendly with me.”

She paused, then frowned and shook her head.

“Nay, I’ll be your sport no longer. You can humiliate me with your clan and disgrace me in my family’s eyes.

You can even imprison me here. But you cannot command me to speak of my feelings.

I will not demean myself more by giving you another weapon to use against me. ”

“I’m not commanding you, Aileana; I’m asking you.

” He clenched his gloved fists. God, how he wanted to trust, how he needed to believe.

“Tell me. Give me a reason for dosing my food and cutting holes in my clothes. For hiding mice in my boots and moving my furniture so that I didn’t even recognize my own chamber.

Christ, just tell me the truth of how you feel about me. ”

She breathed in, her eyes widening slightly. All was still for several agonizing seconds. Then, like a beach washed smooth by the ocean, her rigidity crumpled. Her expression softened, and her eyes took on a telling sheen. She shook her head. “I do not think that I can.”

“You must.” Duncan’s voice broke with husky entreaty. “Ah, lass, tell me if what I’m thinking—what I am feeling—is true. Please .”