Page 40 of A Kilted Marriage of Convenience

“Hm... and where is this letter?”

“In yer study, in the second drawer. The seal is unbroken, of course, I dinnae ken what it is about.”

With that, Darragh left to resume his duties.

What could ye possibly want to say, MacNeil?

Aidan rushed to finish his tea and stormed out to his study, determined to face the words of his enemy. The sun had broken in the sky by the time he got up to his desk, and bright sunlight was pouring into the room through the window behind his chair.

He reached for the folded letter on top of a stack of accounts and reports. There was a short note inside that looked like it had been written hastily, and the ink ran in several places on the paper. It had not been allowed to dry before it was folded up and delivered.

Aidan took a steadying breath as he read.

Laird Aidan MacDonald,

Tell my little lass, Ciara, that her escape attempt was a brave one. I will give it to her: I did not expect that she would be so foolhardy as to actually run away from me. I commend her for getting as far as she did. I did not think it would be possible for her to survive on her own, let alone recruit the help of her own father’s sworn enemy.

But playtime is over. Inform the child that she is to come back home immediately and marry her betrothed, Laird Morrison. There will be hell to pay for her stupidity should she delay in returning, for my patience is at its end.

And as for you, Young MacDonald, I would advise that you make haste in returning her to me. Should you fail to do this, prepare to face the full might of both myself and Laird Morrison, the rightful husband to my daughter. Let’s see how well you fare when you are caught between two armies.

You have only one week or deal with the consequences. Your time runs short.

Laird Keir MacNeil

Aidan stared at the sheet of paper in his hands for a long moment, struggling to make sense of all he had just read.

He was overcome with feelings of shock and disbelief.

How could Ciara be betrothed? This was probably naething more than Keir MacNeil being a lying bastard. Ciara would definitely have an explanation for all these false claims... Wouldnae she?

Yet things started to align in Aidan’s mind. The letter explained why Ciara had been found in the water in the first place. He had always known that her explanation did not make sense, but he had assumed that she was keeping the truth from him because she did not trust him yet, but this...

It also finally gave Ciara a reason to run away, and even attack her father’s own men, who had come to save her from her captivity the night before. Could she have lied about everything last night? Was this whole thing just a huge lie that she was using to her advantage?

Still, Aidan could not allow himself to believe the words of Keir, regardless of how many questions his letter answered. Feeling a mounting sense of dread, he folded the crumpled paper and left to seek out Darragh’s advice.

He found his brother in the courtyard his expression darkened the moment he saw the distress on Aidan’s face. Taking the letter from his hand, he got to reading.

A mixture of emotions passed through

“Well,” Aidan prodded, “what dae ye think of all this? There’s nae way Ciara could have been lying to us all this time, is there?”

His brother remained silent. He had a distant look, his expression downcast. And in that silence, Aidan found the answer he feared.

Ciara had played them all.

The realization brought with it a furious, burning rage. But underneath the anger was something worse, something Aidan hadn’t felt in a long time. Pain.

Ciara had set a plan into motion to escape her betrothed, and Aidan had been caught up in her plot so damned easily! The feeling of betrayal was so overwhelming that he had to steady himself on the wall.

Did she ever have love for me, or was this all a lie? I ken now that this was all a ploy for her, but is it possible that somewhere down the road it became the most real thing in her life? Just as it has become to me?

Not feeling up to the task of confronting Ciara at the moment, and not wanting to jump to conclusions, Aidan chose to retire to his chambers. His legs felt leaden as he walked away from his brother, who had remained silent the whole time. He would find some answers later, all he needed now was to hide away from the world.

If only he could hide forever.

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