Page 61 of His Secret Highland Bride

How could he hurt her in this way?

…

Lindsay wasn’t sure how she was still standing. It seemed this day was not through with her yet. After finding the dog, she took him to the stable and entered the castle through the kitchens. The women had been too busy getting ready for the late meal to notice her as she continued toward the hall.

She’d stopped when she recognized the voice in the corridor.

Her father was here.

She’d been ready to step out and call an end to his threats against the MacPhersons, but then she’d been stunned into silence when she’d heard Shane’s promise to end his current marriage and marry per the agreement.

Neither Shane nor her father had seen her in the shadows as they clasped each other’s forearms and slapped backs as if they were old friends. While the warriors from both sides cheered and toasted Shane on his marriage, Lindsay slipped away toward the steps.

It seemed everything was in order now; however, she was in so much pain, she didn’t think she could make it upstairs. As her thoughts twisted to the point of making her dizzy, she only wanted to go back home.

No. Not home. Not anymore. It was nothing but the small cottage on the edge of the trees where she’d once been happy. Where she’d tried to start a life with a man who had wanted her without knowing who she was.

And, apparently, she hadn’t known who he truly was, either.

They’d both lied. She couldn’t spite him for hiding who he was when she’d done the same thing.

But her heart hurt.

He’d known all along everything between them had been temporary. That he would eventually need to give her up to do his duty. He’d allowed her to care for him, when all along he’d known he would leave her to marry another. She realized the irony, that the woman he was contracted to marry was her. They’d married each other to avoid marriage to…each other.

She’d thought he might come to love her someday. She’d seen something true in the way he’d looked at her, and she’d felt it in his touch. But he’d just offered to dissolve their marriage as if it was an easy thing to do.

The dog wiggled in her grip, but she held on to her as she searched for the room that would be hers. She found a maid, who directed her to the lady’s chamber. Inside, she set Tre down so she could look around.

In the cottage, they’d shared a bed, but here they wouldn’t. She wouldn’t lie next to a man who so easily planned to cast her aside. Breathing in the scents of lamp oil and cloying perfume, she recalled the smells of her home. Baking bread and woodsmoke. She remembered every touch and laugh.

Every lie.

When she wiped her tears away, the little dog whined and Lindsay picked her up.

“He’d planned to leave us all along. This is our life now,” she told Tre. “This is my duty.”

…

The great hall was full to overflowing with the Wallaces. Tory raised her brows at Shane from across the room. She wanted answers as to what had happened, but Shane couldn’t move to tell her.

He was too numb with shock.

When faced with no other options, he’d made the best decision he could to save his people.

The mood of celebration in the hall conflicted with the misery in his soul.

Shane managed to slip out into the bailey and breathe in the cool evening air. Without consciously thinking about it, he called up to the guard on the gate to open it for him so he could go home. He’d put off telling Lindsay the truth long enough. He’d run out of time.

Taking the familiar path to the cottage where he’d learned to live again, he tried to swallow back the tears that threatened. He didn’t know what words he’d use to end his marriage, but she deserved the truth. She always had.

He briefly considered how he might keep her in his life while also doing his duty, but he could not disrespect her in that way. He wouldn’t suggest she become his mistress, not when she deserved so much more. She should have a full life with a husband who could love her in the way Shane should’ve been able to.

He worried what man might offer marriage to a woman who’d been cast aside by the laird. And if she returned to the Camerons, would it ruin any chance they had for peace between their clans? He would find a way to help if he could. He had no money, but he’d see she was cared for properly.

His steps slowed and eventually stopped. He dropped to his knees there in the soft, dark earth of the forest and screamed his frustration and pain out to the trees. He’d once thought his heart had been broken and lost in France, but somehow it had survived that loss only to be faced with another.

His anguish echoed back to him, and with it, he heard something else.