When a Scot Ties the Knot (Castles Ever After #3)(64)

She took the other handle and tugged back. “I can. And I will. You can’t stop me.”

“What will you live on?”

“Anger, for the present. It feels as though I have enough to fuel me for some time.”

Her eyes were as determined and brave as he’d ever seen them. This was just the fire he’d been wanting to see from her. The strength he knew she’d possessed all along.

And of course, it would come just as she’d resolved to leave him.

He pushed a hand through his hair. “Forget about me.”

“Oh, believe me. I intend to.”

“None of this has been for me. My men need a home, and you know that. I know you care about them, too. Think of Callum, Rabbie, Munro, Fyfe. Think of Grant.”

“I will miss them all. Especially Grant.” She paused, a clutch of striped woolen stockings in one hand. She pressed the stockings to her heart. “Grant is my favorite person. Do you know why? He made me feel beautiful on my wedding day. No matter how many times we’re introduced, he’s always impressed. He makes me laugh.” She stuffed the stockings into her valise. “He thinks you’re a lucky bastard to have me. What a poor, addled fool.”

“Grant might be addled, but he’s no kind of fool. And neither is he the only one who found you beautiful on our wedding day.” He took her in his arms. “I canna let you leave.”

“Why should I stay?”

“Because I . . .”

Logan knew what she wanted to hear. But somehow he just couldn’t force the words. He didn’t believe in those words. Not coming from anyone else, and not from his own lips, either. Sooner or later, they were always a lie.

She gave him a sad smile. “That’s what I thought.”

“Maddie.”

A shrill, high--pitched scream propelled them two steps apart.

His protective instincts kicked into a gallop. But before he could gather his wits to investigate, Rabbie’s head appeared in the doorway.

“Found her!” the breathless, red--faced soldier reported. “Or rather, she found Fyfe’s finger. One lobster, alive and well.”

“Excellent. Thank you so much, Rabbie.” Maddie gave him a smile that faded just as soon as he’d left the room. To Logan, she added, “Just in time. Now she can leave with me.”

“You’ll finish your drawings elsewhere?”

“No. I’m going to do Fluffy the favor I should have done myself. I’m going to set her free.”



Chapter Twenty-one

“Madling?” Aunt Thea poked her turbaned head through the door. “Becky told me you’re packing your trunks. Is everything all right?”

“Aunt Thea, do sit down. We need to talk.”

She steeled her nerves. It was time. Long past time.

This bog of lies had sucked her in further and further over the years. She had landed in it up to her neck, and this time she wasn’t going to have any assistance from Logan.

It was up to Maddie to get herself free.

First rule of bogs: Dinna panic.

“What is it, Madling?” Aunt Thea asked.

Breathe, she told herself.

“I . . . I’m going to have a great deal to say. May I ask you to bear with me until I’ve said all of it?”

“Of course.”

“When I was sixteen years old and came home from Brighton, I told you I’d met a Scottish officer by the seaside.” Maddie swallowed hard. “I lied.”

There it was. The grand confession, in two syllables. Why they’d been so impossible to say aloud for so long, she could not fathom.

But now that she’d said them once, it seemed no trouble to say them again.

“I lied,” she repeated. “I never met any gentleman. I spent the entire holiday alone. When I came home, everyone was expecting me to go to Town for my season. I felt panicked at the thought of society, so I invented this wild falsehood about a Captain MacKenzie. And then I just kept telling it. For years.”

“But . . . unless I’m going demented in my old age, there is a man in this castle. One whose name is Captain MacKenzie. He looks quite real to me.”

“He is real. But I’d never met him before.” Maddie put her head down on her crossed arms. “I’m so sorry. I’ve been ashamed, and afraid of you learning the truth. I wanted to tell you years ago, but you were so fond of the idea of him . . . and I’m so fond of you.”

“Oh, my Madling.” Aunt Thea rubbed her back in soothing circles. The way she’d done when Maddie was a young girl. “I know.”

“You know that I’m sorry? You can forgive me?”

“Not only that. I know everything. The lies, the letters. That your Captain MacKenzie was merely whimsy and imagination. I’ve always known.”

Stunned, Maddie lifted her head. “What?”

“Please do not take offense at this, dear—-but it wasn’t a terribly plausible tale. In fact, it was rather preposterous, and you’re not especially talented at deceit. Without me vouching for you, I don’t think the story would have lasted a month with your father.”

“I don’t understand what you’re telling me. Do you mean that you never believed me? All this time, you’ve known that my Captain MacKenzie was a complete fabrication, and you never said a word?”