“Rule?” he mocked.
“You are a liar if you say that you are surprised to find the MacGinnises here. Castle Rock has always been the point of protection and administration in Craig Rock. We do not rule, we administer!”
“So, you and your clan administrators have made my castle your home. Indeed, MacGinnises do rule here.” There was a curious twist to his voice. Aye, he had expected to find the MacGinnises within Castle Rock. He was bitter. He wassuspicious. And very aware he was outnumbered by her family. He did not seem to care.
“Yet you’ve come here—challenging me!”
His eyes focused on her again in a way that sent shivers racing through her. “I’ve business to settle.”
“Then—”
“With you. First. Then, of course, there is the matter of your clan. Those who have taken over my life.”
“Be that as it may. You have been—dead. Gone. We have cared for the place. My kin live within these walls now. David, nothing was taken from anyone. Your family chose America.”
“After my ‘death.’ But I think that you and your kin have failed to remember one fact. While one Douglas draws breath, this is Douglas land.”
She had never forgotten that. Nor had she ever coveted Douglas property in any way. She’d spent the past five years in pain and confusion, wishing that she could go back, wishing that she could do anything to bring David back to life.
Well, he was here.
Unforgiving. Menacing. Threatening.
“You, my lady,” he reminded her, in a surprisingly soft, husky tone, “have taken over my very bed.”
“I’ve still only to shout, and my kin will come to slay you here and now for daring to so much as threaten me in the intimacy of—she broke off, stuttering suddenly—“these chambers where I sleep.”
He arched a brow. “You’re referring to my chambers, right? We must never forget the obvious—that you’ve chosen to take up residence in my chambers. Will your kin have the gall to slay me in my own castle, within my own room?”
“It matters not where. You’re threatening me! My kin could easily slay a man for less.”
“I can well imagine they might want me dead in truth at last,” he said dryly. “Especially considering the fact that you and your kin are all so very well positioned in my house, you, dear lass, I must again point out clearly, within my very bed.”
“If you’ll let me up, I’ll no longer be in it!”
“Umm…I think not. Not at this moment. Indeed, it seems you have been happy enough to be here in the past.”
“The care of the castle was left to the MacGinnis clan by your father, proper laird.”
“The proper laird—who had no heart for his own ancestral home once his son had died so violent a death within it!”
“You’ve come back in violence, assaulting me?—”
“I—a dead man. What harm can a ghost do?”
“Since you are dead no longer, pay heed to my warning. If you do harm to me, my kin will kill you!”
“I’m quite difficult to kill. Surely you realize that now.”
The way that he looked at her made her afraid.
Afraid of what he would do to her. Afraid as well of what she might want him to do…
“Get up and away, Laird Douglas. One shout will bring them to me.”
He did not move. For the first time, it appeared that he was capable of smiling, even if only in a mocking manner.
“Have you gone quite daft? What is the matter with you?” she demanded. “Move, man!”