She hesitated, not quite ready. This was probably the best possible place to have a truly private conversation with him. She turned around to wag a finger beneath his nose. “If that adorable little Anderson child is actually yours, I want you taking full responsibility.”
“Oh, now you’re going to preach to me! You, fair cousin, after what you did?—”
“What I did!” she gasped. “I should hit you in the jaw and blacken your eye!” she informed him. “What I did, I did for you!”
“What you did, you did because David Douglas always attracted you like a moth to a flame, and you thought that you were powerful enough to get what you wanted out of him without risking anything.”
She gasped, unable to admit his words were true.
“Why, you ungrateful wretch!” she accused him.
“Shawna, Shawna, I’m sorry, truly, I’m sorry, I had no right. It’s just that you’re so quick to jump on me. The lad isn’t mine, so maybe you need to speak to our pious cousin Aidan—or my good serious brother, for that matter. Then again, half of Craig Rock is populated by Highlanders with blue MacGinnis eyes and black hair, while the other half seem to bear green Douglas eyes and auburn hair. Maybe we have a few variations of each, what do you think? Shawna, I am sorry, please do forgive me?”
They were alone. Even their whispers echoed eerily. It seemed that the mine shaft was closing in around Shawna. “You are, indeed, a sorry wretch, but I keep forgiving you, so I might as well do so again now.”
She started to turn away. He pulled her back. “Shawna,” he said, speaking quickly, “I was always grateful for what you did for me. And I swear, I have spent the time since that tragedy trying to make up for what I did. I keep the books meticulously. When Andrew Douglas arrives from America,” he said somewhat bitterly, “he’ll discover that his funds have been managed with more care than he would have given them himself. And I swear to you, I come into this mine often enough with the men. God’s truth, Shawna.”
She studied his eyes, so like her own. She nodded. She realized that it was important that she not betray the fact thatDavid Douglas lived. David needed to see how Alistair had changed.
“I oversee the bookkeeping for both estates, Alistair. I know that you have been scrupulously honest.”
“Penance,” he said.
“For me?”
“For what happened to David.” He hesitated, then took a deep breath. “I wasn’t so upset that he might take out charges against me. I wanted to talk to him myself because he was a friend.”
Startled, Shawna asked softly, “Why didn’t you?”
“You know Father. And MacGinnis honor.”
“God, Alistair, if I only knew what truly happened!” she exclaimed passionately.
“It’s all in the past,” he said firmly.
She found herself shivering. “Please, let’s do get out of here now.”
They left the mine shaft together. Just outside of it, Gawain stood talking with Lowell, Aidan, and Alaric. The women had returned to their homes. The men were organizing for the day’s work.
“Shawna, we’ll have a conference in the Castle Rock great hall,” Gawain said firmly. “Now.”
“Aye, Uncle, we’ll have a conference if that’s what you wish,” she said, but his autocratic way disturbed her.
She was determined not to act like a child or to let her great-uncle bend her to his will, as he had once done. “But you’ll notice I’m covered with mine soot. We’ll meet in the great hall in the early evening over supper. I’d like to bathe and attend to a few other business matters now.”
The mines were no more than a mile around the loch from Castle Rock, but it had seemed a long mile that morning, and Shawna had ridden to the blessing. She hurried past Gawainthen for her horse, not willing to give her great-uncle a chance to change her decision.
Mounted, Shawna turned back.
Her male kin were all assembled together. Gawain, Lowell, Aidan, Alaric, and Alistair. They stood tall in their Highland stances, legs slightly parted, backs very straight, shoulders squared, arms crossed over their chests. Together they were a handsome, powerful lot. Men in whom she could take great pride.
For some strange reason, she shivered.
She lifted a hand and waved.
They waved in return.
She turned her horse and rode hard for the castle.