David would kill her himself.
She opened her eyes, lost, disoriented. A fire crackled. She felt the clean smoothness of sheets beneath her. Her mouth was so dry.
She tried to focus, but she couldn’t quite do so. She had been laid on a bed. Her purple riding habit loosened from her throat to her breast. She was in Sabrina Connor’s bed, she realized, and Sabrina, looking very well in her anxiety regarding Shawna, was curled upon her knees at her side. Shawna’s head was still spinning. The room seemed to lie in shadowy darkness, except for the two of them. She was grateful to be alone with Sabrina.
“Sabrina, it can’t be, oh god…”
“Shush, it’s all right…”
“Oh god, Sabrina?—”
“It’s all right, it’s all right. I’m here. You’re safe.”
“Oh god!” she gasped, grasping Sabrina’s sleeves. She had to get a grip upon herself, her emotions, but she couldn’t. She felt hysteria rising within her.
“It can’t be…it can’t be. Oh, Sabrina, don’t let terrible things happen to you. Tell everyone about your child. Oh! The father is an Indian, that’s what Edwina meant, isn’t it? ‘A breed bairn.’ Oh! Oh god, Sabrina, is it Hawk’s babe?”
“What?” cried a voice from across the room.
It was Skylar.
With dismay, Shawna realized that she wasn’t alone with Sabrina Connor. Sabrina stared down at her with stunned dismay as her sister, along with Hawk and Sloan, came forward to stand at the foot of the bed.
“Sweet Jesus, Hawk!” Skylar gasped.
Hawk’s glance toward his wife was one of fury. “Skylar, what in God’s name has come over you? I guarantee you that your sister’s child is not mine!” Hawk sounded deeply offended.
“Of course not!” Sabrina gasped out, still staring down at Shawna.
“But, Sabrina,” Skylar said quietly, “you didn’t say a word to me. Are you—expecting a child?”
Sabrina hesitated, staring at Shawna.
“I thought we were alone!” Shawna mouthed softly. “I’m so sorry?—”
“I know,” Sabrina returned. “I doubt if it matters. David was in the tavern the day Edwina spoke to me about the babe. And they’re all blood brothers,” she added bitterly. “Especially now, he would have felt compelled to tell my brother-in-law eventually.”
“Sabrina, I don’t understand why you couldn’t tell me,” Skylar admonished softly. “And if the child is of blood, and it’s not Hawk’s?—”
Sabrina tensed, not turning around, continuing to stare down at Shawna.
“Quite obviously,” Sloan Trelawny drawled from the foot of the bed, “the child is mine.”
“Oh god!” Skylar gasped. “Sloan, you needn’t take responsibility if there’s some mistake?—”
“The child is mine,” he repeated.
And it was true, Shawna knew. She saw it in Sabrina’s eyes as she kept them glued to her own.
“Oh, Sabrina, I’m so, so sorry—” Shawna began again because there was another presence in the room, one she had so nearly forgotten…
David.
Whiskerless and clad in black denim pants and a black, full-sleeved cotton shirt, David came to stand by her side. He swept her up into his arms despite the wave of dread that filled her and her protesting hand upon his chest.
“It seems to me the time has come for private discussions,” he said. “A little late, perhaps, since we’ve managed to give away the secrets of others and nearly destroy my brother’s marriage.”
“I asked for no audience—” Shawna began.