The Wild Rose of Kilgannon by Kathleen Givens Page A

feel the now."
    "I'll tell them the truth, Alex. I'll tell them their father was a man of courage and honour who was betrayed."
    He kissed me softly , lingering, then leaning back to look at me. "I was afraid of yer opinion of me when we returned," he said.
    I stroked his uninjured cheek. "Alex," I said, "I never had any doubt that you did what you thought best. Always. You acted out of a sense duty and honour and love for your people. Your only sin was that you trusted the wrong men. Theirs is the wrong here, Alex, not yours. Not yours. To ask men to risk all and when they do, to leave the job half done is a cruel thing. It's James Stewart and the Earl of Mar who should be asking your forgiveness. And the MacDonald. And Malcolm. Not you of me. I admit I was very angry when you left and hurt that you didn't choose mine above all other claims. All this Gaelic pride and clan duty seemed so very unnecessary to me then. But I've had a lot of time to think these months you've been gone. I never doubted that you would do the right thing as you saw it. Never."
    "Ah, lass," he said. "Thank ye for that. Ye have no idea what a gift you've just given me." I kissed him again and he returned it and for a moment the world went away.
    After I made sure the letter to the bishop had been burned, we returned to our room again. Alex stirred the fire, then came to me by the window while we waited for dawn. He stood behind me, his hands slipping forward to cup my breasts, and when I turned to face him our desire ignited once again. We made love before the fireplace in a frenzy and then climbed into bed to lie together dozing. After a while he sat up and stared across the room. In profile he looked unbattered and I savoured the moment to watch him. Few men were so handsome and this one was mine. For another few moments.
    "Tell me about Malcolm," I said softly.
    He looked at me in surprise. "Do ye not ken?"
    "I want to hear it from you."
    He nodded. "So ye will, then." He told me the same story I'd heard before, but paused when he talked about Malcolm arriving in Perth. "I realized then that we will never be reconciled." He looked into the distance, his voice quiet. "It's as though I saw him for the first time, lass. I've been making excuses for him for so long that when I saw him again, smirking and lying and manipulating as he does, I was shamed that we had the same blood and I could see him for what he was, for what he's always been. I couldna stay longer. I dinna ken how long I could control myself, so I left." He spread his hands before him and stared at them, his v oice a whisper. "I was afraid to kill him." He looked at me in horror. "My own brother. If he'd opened his mouth with one more lie I might have killed him. So I left."
    "Angus was furious."
    Alex nodded. "Aye. Angus was ready to murder him. I never should have agreed to meet him." He stared into the flames. "I dinna think he'd hand me to them, though." Blue eyes met mine. "I dinna think it true until I saw it for myself."
    "How did they capture you, my love?"
    "Well, ye ken we were at Lachlan's house?" I nodded. "We got that damned letter and something dinna ring true. I thought perhaps Malcolm had written it but I dinna want to believe it. I preferred to think it was Robert." He paused, then met my eyes evenly. "But Robert wouldna have asked a boy to deliver his terms. He wouldna risk a child's life." Alex rubbed his chin as he stared across the room. "Mary Rose, yer Robert Campbell has been most generous. When I saw him in the glen with Malcolm I assumed he wanted my death and that was why he was after me. But he could have killed me many times and he dinna. He has been a gentleman. I dinna understand why he brought me home to ye, lass, but I’m grateful. In another time I would have been proud to call him friend." He smiled wryly. "Except that he wants my wife."
    "Alex," I said quietly, "he has been my friend, nothing more."
    His eyes met mine. "On the surface, aye," he said.