A Beautiful Lie (The Camaraes) (7 page)

“
I
’
ll just go and-
”
whatever Cait was going to go and do Muira didn
’
t quite catch it.  Her friend jumped up from the seat beside Muira
’
s bed and scurried out of the room, a harsh scowl from Ewan following her as she went.

“
It
wasn
’
t
Cait
’
s fault, Ewan,
”
Muira repeated for her brother to hear.

He shrugged his shoulders wearily. 
“
I can
’
t help but think that if only she hadn
’
t left you-
”

“
Then he would have- hurt both of us,
”
Muira said carefully, which earned a start from her brother that he quickly tried to hide.

“
Well, regardless,
”
Ewan sighed, her sat down in the seat Cait had jut vacated while James leant on the edge of the bed not knowing where to look. 
“
Father
’
s talking to Tavish,
”
he said, as if this was a good thing.

“
What?
”
Muira choked, sitting up quickly.

“
It
’
s okay- it
’
s okay,
”
Ewan shushed her gently, taking his sister
’
s hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. 
“
He
’
ll still marry you.
”
  Muira felt the bottom drop out of her world. 
No!  She had thought
- 
“
Tavish-
”
Ewan cleared his throat awkwardly. 
“
Well, Tavish does want father to increase your dowry,
”
he frowned, but gave his shoulders a helpless shrug. 
“
He is within his rights to do so I suppose.  Uncle said he
’
d help.  He says it
’
s his fault for letting a MacRae inside Castle Cameron in the first place,
”
he growled. 

“
Where
is
Lachlan?
”
she asked fearfully.

“
He won
’
t hurt you again!
”
James piped in vehemently. 
“
He can
’
t.
”

“
He- can
’
t?
”
Muira gasped, her blood turning cold, her heart almost stopping.  She looked frantically from one brother
’
s face to the other. 
“
What do you mean?
”
she demanded. 
“
You haven
’
t- he
’
s not-
”

“
He
’
s not dead yet, no,
”
Ewan spat. 
“
Uncle Douglas wouldn
’
t let us rip him limb from limb, he said we
’
d perform the execution properly tomorrow morning, said that we wouldn
’
t lower ourselves to behaving in the manner of the MacRaes.
”

“
Execution?
”
  The word fell from Muira
’
s numb lips. 
“
You can
’
t kill him!
”
she cried.

Ewan and James exchanged a puzzled look. 
“
Why the hell not?
”
James blurted, which earned him a harsh glare from Ewan.

“
Muira-
”
he began, but she interrupted.

“
What if there
’
s a baby?
”
she whispered quietly.  She couldn
’
t bear to look at Ewan
’
s face after she had said this; he looked crushed, and guilty, and as if for the first time in his life, he didn
’
t know what to do. 

“
Muira, what are you saying?
”
he asked gently.

“
For God
’
s Sake, Ewan, don
’
t make her say it,
”
James barked at his older brother. 
“
He must have- have
done it
this afternoon when he found Muira out by the roadside, and gone back for seconds this evening.  We were lucky Tavish caught him!
”

Muira gave a small, dumb nod, but she was for once grateful for the rash nature of her younger sibling.  She didn
’
t know how she would have answered Ewan
’
s question.  She wasn
’
t even sure from where her own lie had sprung!  She just knew that she couldn
’
t let Lachlan die, and that she would do anything to escape from Tavish
…
and the shadow of a very dangerous plan had started to take form in her mind.

“
I knew Uncle Douglas should have let us finish him off there and then!
”
James, a completely headstrong sixteen-year-old, was spitting. 

“
No!
”
Muira cried again. 
Weren
’
t they listening to her?
“
I don
’
t- I don
’
t want him dead!
”

“
Why not?
”
James railed.

“
What
do
you want, Muira?
”
Ewan asked, much more in control of himself than their brother.

“
I want-
”
she took a very deep breath. 
“
I want to marry him.
”

Muira didn
’
t think that anything else she could have said would have produced such a completely stunned reaction from her two brothers.  They positively gawped at her.

“
You
’
re
not
serious?
”
Ewan finally mustered the self-composure to splutter.

“
Of course she
’
s not serious!
”
James answered for her. 
“
She
’
s clearly taken a knock to the head.
”
  He pointed to her bruises. 
“
See, obviously not in her right state of mind.
”

Muira glared at James, and waved his hand away. 
“
I
’
m completely serious,
”
she argued. 
“
I want to marry Lachlan MacRae!
”

..ooOOoo..

Lachlan groaned.  He peered around the dark cell he
’
d been thrown into some hours earlier as well as he was able, which really wasn
’
t very well at all, given the fact that it was almost pitch dark, and that both of his eyes were so bloody and swollen he could barely see out of them anyway.  He wondered why he was still alive.  He couldn
’
t believe that the Cameron
’
s meant to let him live.  He just wondered how long they would draw out their torture.

You
’
re innocent you fool!
A voice whispered in his head.  Lachlan didn
’
t know whether to nurse that flicker of hope or extinguish it.  He
’
d thought that Muira would have explained things long ago.  From what he could judge of the passing of time it had to be near dawn. 
What
was keeping her?  And then he started to consider that the Camerons had never really needed a reason to kill a MacRae in the past
…