“Perhaps you had better enlighten me as to your anticipation of the impact of our arrival,” he drawled, watching warily as two men, both wearing the Cameron plaid and mounted on fine horses, rode out to intercept the carriage. “I am armed, but don’t care to start trouble by appearing to be looking for a fight. After all, you are a Cameron, and you did marry without the permission of your laird. Resentment of your new husband is both likely and expected.”
“Adain won’t be happy,” Julia said with an edge of steel in her voice, “but then again, if he hadn’t murdered my father and brother, he could have had me himself, so his feelings are not an issue.”
As Robbie inherently disliked that notion, he disregarded it. “He has guards posted. Is that usual?”
“I suppose he thinks that I have
disappeared
. Much like what he wants us to believe about Randal.”
“You didn’t tell anyone you were leaving?” Robbie settled back in his seat, gazing at his wife in amazement. “By the devil, lass, Cameron is probably tearing the countryside apart.”
“That’s his problem. I owe him nothing.” Julia’s soft mouth had a stubborn set.
“Will he openly challenge me?” Older and more experienced, Robbie wasn’t as certain of dismissing the unknown Cameron male’s sense of outrage. As acting laird, Adain wielded a good deal of power.
Julia shrugged her slender shoulders. “I doubt it. Adain isn’t so much hotheaded as he is . . . proprietary.”
That wasn’t very reassuring. “You belong to me,” he commented without equivocation, loosening his dirk in his boot as a shout slowed the carriage.
Across on the opposite seat, Julia sat sedately, but her green eyes sparked. “Watch yourself, McCray,” she said tartly. “This is a marriage of convenience, but that means for both of us.”
Cocking a brow, he readied himself to get out and face the Cameron clan troopers. “Odd, last night you called me ‘Robbie, my dear. . . .’ It must have been when I was about to rupture the barrier of your maidenhead. . . . Oh, yes, I recall, just after you were wild with release with my mouth on your very tasty—”
“Stop it.” Her cheeks stained with color, Julia sat bolt upright on the seat and glared at him, her incomparable beauty only accentuated by her obvious chagrin.
Though he admired her physical appearance, he definitely also liked her spirit. Attraction was based on many things. He’d met beautiful women who didn’t interest him at all because of their personalities, and others who might be considered plain, but their inner sparkle drew admirers like moths to a flickering flame. His new wife had both beauty and a lively intelligence. It was a bewitching combination.
With a deliberately cheeky grin, he remarked, “Let’s greet your kinsmen in perfect accord, my lovely Julia. It wouldn’t do to start off on the wrong foot. I’m a damned good swordsman, but there
is
only one of me.”
Even though there was a fire leaping in the huge hearth that was the focus of the main hall, it felt cold under the vaulted ceiling, as if frigid air seeped from the stone floor beneath her feet. Next to her, Robert McCray, a man whose famed dangerous pursuits were not limited to bedding lovely ladies, fairly radiated male possession, the tensile strength of his hand at the small of her back. Their reception had not gone well so far, and Adain had ordered the room cleared so they were alone, just the three of them. Servants had scattered gladly, and even the housekeeper, Mrs. Dunbar—the only motherly figure Julia had ever known, as her own mother had died giving birth to her—had left quietly in shocked silence over the news of her unexpected marriage.
The two men facing each other so grimly were two of a kind; Julia wasn’t sure she quite realized that until now. Both were dark, tall, good-looking, and muscular; both were self-assured and confident. They were even dressed similarly, in white shirts, fitted doeskin breeches, and knee- high boots. Adain didn’t have her new husband’s dashing aura of careless charm, but was instead more serious, with an air of grave responsibility.
Only that impression was false. Adain Cameron was treacherous and evil, while Robbie McCray might be many things—arrogant, too handsome for his own good, undoubtedly reckless—but she still didn’t think he would ever murder someone for personal gain.
Of course, she hadn’t thought it possible of Adain either until offered proof so convincing it forever shattered her faith in the man she’d thought she’d marry.
The main hall of the castle was huge, but still did not seem big enough for the two men looking at each other with such open enmity. Adain fairly snarled, “You are . . .
what
?”
“As I said, Julia’s husband,” Robbie answered smoothly, but there was a warning implicit in his dark eyes that no one could miss, and his stance was tense. “We’re here so she can collect her belongings and settle things before we travel to Cray House. Don’t worry, Cameron; we’ll be gone in a day or two.”
Her cousin’s eyes were a light gray, almost silver, and when his glance flicked to her, Julia saw the fury there mingled with an unmistakable pain. “You
married
him? Tell me, Jules, I want to hear
you
say it out loud.”
The raw sound of his voice and the use of the nickname he alone used nearly made her flinch, but she stiffened her shoulders, reminding herself she didn’t truly know this man. She’d thought she did, but the Adain she had once admired and even loved didn’t exist. “We were married in Edinburgh,” she said evenly, tilting her chin and looking her cousin in the eye. “I am Mrs. Robert McCray.”
“Why?” Adain shoved his hand through his hair, rumpling the dark strands. “By the gods, I wasn’t aware the two of you even knew each other. When you turned up missing, I feared the worst. Men have been out looking for you for four days. I’ve barely slept or eaten.”
“Just like you looked for Randal?”
Adain stiffened at the scathing tone of her voice. “
You
were here when Randal disappeared. I came at once, abandoning my own affairs to help organize a search for him. Yes, exactly like we looked for Randal. I did everything I could.”
It was true. He did look tired, she registered involuntarily. There was the slight shadow of dark stubble on his lean jaw, and lines she had never noticed before around his mouth. “How odd he has never been found when you so competently directed the hunt,” she murmured ungraciously. “Or perhaps it isn’t odd at all.”
“Jules, we have had this discussion before.” His voice held weary reproach, and his eyes were shadowed. “How can you believe I would ever harm Randal? He is like my brother.”
“And what am I? The sister you never had?” she asked sweetly, her gaze burning with contempt.
“Not even close, though I don’t deny I love you.”
At one time, she’d thrilled to hear those words. Now they rang with the hollow sound of deceit.
Adain switched his focus once again to the man by her side. “I’d like to see the marriage lines, McCray. For some unfathomable reason, Julia thinks I am a villain, but the truth is, her welfare is my responsibility, and despite her hatred, I would not see her shamed by a false ceremony.”
To her surprise, Robbie didn’t seem to take offense, but instead inclined his head. “Aye, Cameron. I would do the same in your position. You will find it was all legal and . . . now, irrevocable.”
His meaning was absolutely clear. Their marriage had been consummated. Recalling the erotic details of that union brought heat into her cheeks, but Julia didn’t flinch from staring her cousin in the eye, letting him see the truth.
“Damn all,” Adain muttered, his mouth tightening, those telltale lines deepening. “I suppose I am not surprised on that score, given your reputation, McCray.”
“I am not one to disappoint a lady.” Robbie lifted one dark brow suggestively.
“Especially when she is not only arrestingly beautiful, but also an heiress like Julia?” Irony weighed heavy on the words, as if Adain felt every bit of his defeat. “I assume you know she will inherit half her father’s wealth, and that is the purpose of this hasty union. Word has it the English commandeered two of your ships recently. What an inventive method of recouping your loss.”
“Let us not forget also a pleasurable one,” Robbie drawled in a casual voice, but his gaze was watchful.
Adain didn’t flinch outwardly, but his eyes glittered. That silver gaze came over to rest on her one last time, as hard as diamonds and as bleak as winter. “I hope,” her cousin said quietly, “that in your zealous pursuit to damn me to hell, you haven’t also sent yourself there, Jules.”
Then he turned on his heel and stalked away, through the large main entrance into the courtyard.
A little shaken, Julia took in a breath and said caustically into the resulting silence, “That went well, didn’t it?”
The huge room was now deserted except for the two of them. Robbie turned to look at her, his regard penetrating. “You might have mentioned, when you said Cameron was pressuring you for marriage, that he is deeply in love with you. I was under the impression he wanted your inheritance.”
His dark gaze was speculative and, unfortunately, discerning. Julia steadied herself and replied curtly, “A man who kills members of his own family for coin does not know the meaning of love, McCray; keep that in mind.”
Her husband’s brows lifted a fraction, a rueful smile on his mouth. “I haven’t yet heard of any proof of this venal, murderous action on the part of your cousin, sweet Julia. You seemed so certain he was the one that I didn’t question your convictions, but truth to tell, upon meeting him, aside from his understandable current desire to run me through with the nearest weapon he could find because I have bedded you, I don’t sense that side to the man. Are you certain he is the one who killed your father and brother?”
With complete assurance, Julia said bleakly, “Absolutely.”
“Care to tell me why?”
“No.” She turned to where a long stairway curved up the left wall. “My room is upstairs. . . . I suppose we will be sharing it.” She could not help it; she blushed, recalling the night before and his scandalous use of her body. “Right now I wish to bathe and change after our journey.”
From the expression on Robbie’s face, she had the distinct feeling he was not satisfied with her refusal to explain, but he merely inclined his head. “I need to see to Solomon, for he won’t let anyone touch him but myself. Stabled in an unfamiliar place, he can cause quite a stir unless handled properly.”
With a nod, she turned away, grateful he didn’t press her further about Adain’s perfidy.
“Sweet Julia?”
Glancing back, she saw him standing with a cocky grin on his beautiful mouth, his dark eyes gleaming. “What is it?” she asked warily.
“Don’t hurry,” her husband said softly, “for I will be up to help you with your bath in just a few moments.”
Traitorous excitement shot through her veins at the open sensual promise in his eyes. “I am perfectly capable of bathing alone, McCray.”
His grin widened. “Yes, but my way is infinitely more enjoyable, lass.”
“So
you
are Julia’s husband.”
Glancing up as he measured out oats from a wooden bin, Robbie saw a young man in the doorway of the stable watching him with a slight frown. He was slim to the point of being almost girlish in appearance, dark haired with a pale complexion, and unmistakably a Cameron. Straightening, Robbie said neutrally, “I am. Robert McCray.”
“My brother didn’t murder anyone.” The young man leaned heavily on a crutch fitted with a small leather saddle under his arm, his expression not precisely hostile but definitely not friendly.
“It certainly sounds like someone did,” Robbie commented, dumping the grain into a trough and reaching up to rub Solomon’s sleek neck. “Your uncle is dead and your cousin missing. Understandable conclusions can be drawn, since your brother profits from their deaths.”
“It isn’t profit to lose the man you loved like a father, a good friend, and the woman you desire, now, is it?” Not more than sixteen or seventeen, Adain’s younger sibling certainly sounded bitter.
“Nay, not if it isn’t at your hand.”
“Julia didn’t think it was him at first.”
Thoughtfully Robbie regarded Cameron’s younger brother. “That has occurred to me. She waited almost a year to do anything about trying to preserve her inheritance. She claims she hoped her brother would return.”
“We all hoped so . . . but it has been so long.” The boy paused and added in a rush, “There’s more than one who has claimed to see his ghost. It haunts the cliff path after dark. People avoid that way now.”
Robbie wasn’t much interested in superstitious rumors. If one were inclined to believe every report of a restless spirit, Scotland would be fairly overrun with apparitions. He was more interested in the living, and his wife in particular. “Tell me when Julia changed toward your brother.”
“Had it not been for her mourning, she and Adain would have wedded months ago. Then suddenly, rumors spread he was implicated in the murder of her father, but no one really seems to know how it all started. Randal’s disappearance made it worse. At first she stood by Adain, but then . . .” The boy trailed off and made a helpless gesture with his hand. “He doesn’t know why she turned against him, but it happened all at once.”
“That’s my impression.” Something Julia was reluctant to talk about, if her reticence just a few moments ago was any indication. And while she hadn’t directly misled him, Robbie had the sense this was all a great deal more complicated than he first assumed.
“I’m not denying there’s a shadow over this family, for I may be crippled, but I’ve got eyes and ears. Still, Adain is suffering more than anyone.”
“And my marriage to Julia is a twist of the knife already slipped between his ribs, is that it?” Robbie could feel the enmity radiating from the doorway halfway across the stable.