The Seduction of Miss Amelia Bell (7 page)

Finally, and with languorous reluctance, he withdrew. Amelia watched his eyes drift
open, the residue of passion still smoldering within their depths. It made her head
spin. Oh, she couldn’t marry Walter. Not after that!

“Come away with me,” he whispered, not letting her go.

“Away?” She giggled against his mouth. “Where would we go at this hour?”

“Ye’ll see.”

“All right then, I…” She didn’t remember much after that, only a cloth coming over
her face, Edmund’s cool blue eyes looking down at her, and a single thought.

She knew something terrible would happen for behaving so recklessly with him. She
was right. He was kidnapping her! The lying, scoundrel bastard.

Edmund lowered an unconscious Amelia into Darach’s arms. Just for a moment, he let
his gaze linger on her face, the smudge of her lashes resting on her cheeks. He ignored
the battering of his heart against his ribs. He liked her. He’d wanted to kiss her
and he did. Now it was over and time to get serious about what needed to be done.
He wished there was another way.

There wasn’t. He would stay his course, steady and relentless, seeing his duty to
Scotland through. Nothing would stop him. He was born to do this and no mere lass
would get in the way.

“Follow the road to Canongate,” he told Darach. “Luke will meet ye there.”

“What aboot ye?”

“I must leave the letter fer Queensberry and Seafield. Once that’s done, I’ll retrieve
Grendel and catch up with ye. I don’t know where Cal is, but he knows the plan. He’ll
be there.”

Darach nodded and hefted Amelia over his shoulder.

“And Darach,” Edmund called out before Darach left the garden. “If she awakens before
I get there, reassure her that no harm will come to her, aye?”

Darach nodded again, then left without another word.

Edmund watched him go. He would make certain that no harm came to her. She was a valuable
pawn in Edmund’s cause. But there was more to it than that. He’d kidnapped her. Now
she was his responsibility. He hoped he didn’t regret it.

All that was left now was to pen a note to Amelia’s uncle and one to her betrothed.
If they wanted to see her alive again they should disband their commissioners and
publicly denounce the Treaty of Union. He would be in touch with them after that about
her return. He would write it in French just to throw them off and keep them guessing
for a while.

He smiled as he headed for the duke’s study. Soon, Scotland would be liberated.

E
dmund narrowed his eyes on his troupe waiting for him in the distance. He was glad
for the dawn and the light it afforded. He could see Amelia sitting straight up in
Darach’s saddle. What would he say to her? How would he explain what he’d done? Why
he’d done it? Would she understand, when her own uncle was the one rallying for the
act to be signed? Her father had even fooled himself into believing Scotland would
be better off in subjugation to England. Then again, mayhap Edmund was being too kind.
Mayhap all John Bell cared about were his coffers and that was why he’d secured a
wealthy husband for his daughter.

Edmund gritted his jaw. What did he care about the lass and whom she married? He planned
on never seeing her again when this was all over. Still, the memory of her sweet lips,
her soft yielding body against his, her easy laughter…

He shook his head, trying to rid his thoughts of the memory.

Grendel, cantering at his horse’s side, took off at a full gallop when he heard Lucan’s
voice. In the early dawn Edmund saw Amelia recoil at the dog’s approach. He called
out and Grendel screeched to a halt and returned to him.

“Where the hell is Cal?” Luke asked when Edmund reached them. “We need to be away
from here before the sun comes fully up.”

Edmund nodded. Damn Malcolm for doing whatever he was doing instead of being there
with them. Edmund would have words with him later. Right now, he set his eyes on Amelia.
The fury in her gaze almost made him look away.

“I know ye’re—”

“Please.” She held up her hand, then grimaced with pain and cradled her hand in her
lap. “Do not speak to me. I’ve heard enough lies from ye fer one night.”

“What is the matter with yer hand?”

When she didn’t answer him, he turned to Darach, then to Luke.

Luke answered first. “She refused to let me relieve her of Darach.”

“I didna’ even know she was hurt.” Darach shrugged. “She tried to take a bite out
of me and leaped from m’ horse.”

“I didn’t leap,” Amelia corrected him sharply. “I’m not a fool. I fell off when I—”

She squealed with either surprise or fright, or both, when Edmund reached over his
saddle, fit his hands under her arms, and swung her onto his lap.

“Let me have a look.”

“Get yer hands off me!” She tried to push him away with her good hand. When he didn’t
budge, she swung at him, missed, and almost tumbled to the ground.

Grendel leaped up and snapped at her.

“What in God’s name is that thing?” she screeched, lifting her face away from the
beast’s dripping fangs and wedging herself deeper against her captor.

“A dog. He doesn’t like it when anyone tries to strike me. Now give me yer hand and
quit being stubborn.”

“I will not give ye my hand. These two were discussing what needs to be done with
it and I’ll not let ye touch me.”

“Amelia.”

When he spoke her name, she looked up at him and her eyes glistened large and bright
in the soft luminance of the morning.

His heart broke a little for her, for what he’d put her through, and for what he was
about to put her through. He wanted to protect his country. That didn’t make him a
heartless rogue.

“Yer fingers need tending. It must be done.”

She closed her eyes, fighting back the tears threatening to spill out. Silently, she
held her hand out to him and squeezed her eyes tighter. When he touched her, she startled
and opened her eyes. “Wait! Make me sleep like ye did before.”

“I have nothing left. What I had, I stole from one of yer mother’s alchemists.”

She cast him a sour look, then closed her eyes and readied herself again. He took
her hand gently and examined it. Two fingers needed readjusting. He knew the pain
would be intense and he hated having to do it.

“There’s Cal,” Darach informed them, peering over Edmund’s shoulder. “It appears he
has someone with him.”

Amelia opened her eyes to look and Edmund drew her close and popped one finger back
in place, and then the other. He did it quickly, ignoring her first cry. When she
buried her face in his chest to muffle another cry, he cupped her head in his hand
and held her closer, more gently than he thought he could ever touch anyone.

“There now, lass,” he whispered into her hair. “’Tis all done. Fergive me. Fergive
me, Amelia.”

She shook against him, sobbing quietly and soaking his shirt. He turned his mount
away from Darach’s and Lucan’s watchful eyes…and came face-to-face with Amelia’s handmaiden,
Sarah.

“By the saints!” Luke shouted, bringing his horse close to Malcolm’s. “What the hell
were ye thinking bringing her?”

Edmund had to agree. “Cal, bring her back,” he warned, while the woman in his lap
and the one in Cal’s reached for each other and began a high-pitched dialogue Edmund
did not understand.

“Nae time. The guards are wakin’. We’ll be discovered.”

Lucan whirled on Edmund. “This is madness. Fighting fer Scotland is one thing, kidnapping
lasses and bringing them to Ravenglade is something entirely different. There’s nae
honor in this.”

“’Tis too late fer integrity, Luke,” Malcolm told him, his arm looped around Sarah’s
middle as if he meant to keep her forever. Edmund knew him better than that. “We have
our kin to think about, brothers and sisters we dinna’ want enslaved by England’s
laws. We’re doin’ the right thing.”

“And what does this fair lass have to do with our duty to Scotland or our families?”
Luke asked him, pointing to Sarah.

Malcolm smiled and shrugged. “Verra little, I imagine. She’s here to keep me in good
humor.”

Edmund glared at him. He loved Malcolm like a brother, but sometimes the frivolous
Highlander thought entirely with his groin and not with his head. “Malcolm, ye can
saunter into any village or tavern from here to Perth and have a dozen lasses at yer
beck and call. Why her?”

“Och, Amelia, what have they done to ye?” The handmaiden looked up at Edmund and shook
her head like a disapproving mother. “Ye did not have to kidnap her, ye brute. She
was pinin’ fer ye all night.”

“Sarah!”

Sarah cast her friend an apologetic look.

“Ye see how they care fer each other?” Malcolm pointed out. “That could work to our
advantage if the lady here”—he motioned to Amelia—“tries to escape or warn her uncle.”

“Remind me to beat yer head into something hard when we reach Ravenglade,” Luke said,
then turned his horse away.

“What’s done is done,” Edmund said, knowing that if this was going to work, his kin
needed to stay calm, determined, and focused. The last thing they needed was another
woman to distract them, but it was too late to bring Sarah back. “We need to go before
discoveries are made.”

“Why?” Amelia asked as they rode away from Edinburgh. Her soft voice drew Edmund’s
attention to her. He gazed down at her profile, aimed straight ahead. He fought not
to regret what he’d done. “Why did ye kiss me and then cover my face with a poisoned
rag? What kind of barbarian does such things?”

Hell, what could he say? She didn’t shout at him this time. He wished she would. She
sounded defeated and betrayed, and he felt like a cad because he was responsible for
it.

He leaned down closer to her ear so she would hear him. “I would speak with ye about
it later, when we make camp and…”

She turned in the saddle, and he closed his arms around her to keep her from falling
again. “I am in my nightdress, ye bastard!”

“Undress is the fashion, lass.” He wanted to tell her how completely ravishing he
found her with her hair loose and tumbling down her creamy, gauze-draped shoulders.

She shook her head at him. “I was terribly wrong about ye.”

He knew she’d be angry with him. But he still didn’t like it. “Aye, ye were.”

“I would know yer intentions now. Do ye intend to force me to lay with ye?”

“What?” His eyes opened wide. “Nae, of course not.”

She turned away, refusing to look at him. He hated himself for thinking it, but there
had to be another way to save Scotland. “We have no such heinous plans fer either
of ye. This is a purely political move against the duke. Unfortunately, ye were caught
in the crossfire.”

“My uncle?”

“Aye.”

“Ye’re kidnapping me to get to the duke?”

“Or yer betrothed. We wish to stop them from signing the Treaty of Union.” He might
as well tell her everything.

“I see, so this is about the signing, and nothing else. What happened between us tonight
was just…”

Her voice went so soft he almost didn’t hear her and leaned in closer. A breeze swept
a few loose tendrils of her hair across his face. He inhaled the scent of her. Wildflowers.
Honeysuckle, mayhap.

“…a clever deception to get what ye wanted. None of it meant anything to ye.”

He thought about dancing with her, laughing with her, kissing her. “That isn’t entirely
true.”

She turned and looked at him now, allowing him to see the disappointment and hurt
in her eyes. “Nothing ye say can be trusted. Is yer name even Edmund Dearly?”

He shook his head. He would lie no more. It was best if she knew the truth about everything
from the beginning. Besides, he was proud of who he was. He would never deny his name.
“I’m Edmund MacGregor of the clan MacGregor.”

Her eyes widened on him. “The
outlawed
clan MacGregor?” When he nodded, she narrowed her eyes on his wig. He quickly pulled
it off and released a tumble of golden waves over his eyes.

She snatched the wig, slapped him with it, and then threw it to the ground, where
it was promptly seized by Grendel and torn to shreds.

“Speak to me no more, Edmund MacGregor,” she warned. “I want no more lies passing
my ears.”

Edmund was relieved not to have to explain anything else at present. There would be
enough time for that later.

They rode for a few more hours with Amelia twisting to look for Sarah over her shoulder—about
as many times as Luke glanced back at the ginger-haired servant. Edmund should speak
to his cousin about his obvious attraction to her. These women weren’t here for sport
or for anything deeper. They all had to keep that in mind.

Still, it hooked him in the guts just a little when Amelia continued to refuse him
a word and twice, when he would have spoken to her, she stiffened in his arms as if
the mere sound of his voice repulsed her. He understood. He’d kidnapped her. She had
every right to hate him. He left her alone and let her sleep against his chest for
a little while.

They stopped later that day to eat and make camp on the outskirts of Perth. Sarah
seemed more excited to be in the company of infamous ruffians than frightened by them.
Edmund let the women sit together while they ate. He didn’t worry that they would
run. They were about nine leagues from Queensberry, a long way back by foot. From
his place standing against a tree, he watched them share words, heads tilted together
while they watched the men in return. Edmund tried to hold her gaze when he caught
Amelia’s eye, but she looked like she would rather shoot him full of musket balls
than give him an instant of her attention.

“It feels good to be back in my plaid.”

Edmund looked at Malcolm, who was bending to pluck an apple from his discarded saddlebag.
“I ask ye this as a friend and a brother. Do not break the handmaiden’s heart.”

Malcolm looked up at him, straightened, then tossed the apple up in the air and caught
it again. “What concern is she of yers?”

“She is Amelia’s dearest friend. Ye should not have brought her along.”

Returning with firewood, Lucan paused on the other side of Edmund and joined them.
“I agree.”

“Steady, Luke, nae harm will come to her,” Malcolm promised. “She might have heard
us speakin’ aboot keepin’ our ransom at Ravenglade. I dinna’ want the duke’s and the
chancellor’s men at the doors of m’ castle. It took m’ grandsire years to repair and
m’ father more years after that.”

“Ye might have mentioned that earlier,” Luke told him.

“Speaking of Ravenglade,” Edmund said. “Everything is ready fer us there, aye?”

Malcolm nodded. “Aye. I’ve kept on a few of our servants to help keep the place livable
between m’ visits. Chester, m’ steward, still resides there, as well, to keep the
Grants’ affairs in order. Och, and ye’ll be happy to know that I was able to find
Henrietta, m’ parents’ auld cook. I thought she left fer France after we moved to
Skye, but turns oot, she was still livin’ right here in Scotland. We’ll be eatin’
good tomorrow, lads.”

“Dear Henrietta,” Darach groaned, stepping out from behind a tree and replacing his
bonnet where his wig had been. “The thought of her cream puffs and tarts makes my
innards quaver like a virgin’s—”

“I was speaking more in terms of yer guardsmen,” Edmund said, cutting Darach off.
“Damnation, Cal, do ye ever think in terms of battle and protection, or is yer head
filled only with thoughts of women, food, and comfort?”

Malcolm flashed them all his best smile. “What’s wrong with a satisfied cock, a full
belly, and a soft place to rest my arse?”

Edmund and Lucan shared a tedious look. Why did they expect more from him?

Catching their reaction, Malcolm laughed and gave in. “I hired a dozen mercenaries
to guard the castle until our arrival. Does that make ye both feel better? Though
the only trouble we may run into is from the Buchanans. Those bastards will never
give up their claim to Ravenglade from the time of m’ uncle Connor Stuart’s days with
the traitor James Buchanan.”

“And we’ll continue to make their clan smaller,” Edmund promised with a clap to his
friend’s back. “We’ll rest here tonight and travel the rest of the way at first light.”

“What are we goin’ to do with a pair of lasses?” Darach complained. “We canna’ stay
at Ravenglade forever. I want to go home and those two will likely do nothin’ but
complain all the way to Skye.”