Highland Outlaw (Campbell Trilogy #2)(108)
Lizzie also had Caitrina to thank for Jamie's apparent softening of his stance against the MacGregors. So caught up in her own pain, Lizzie hadn't thought about what her brother had actually done in allowing Patrick—chief of the outlawed clan—to go free. Initially, Colin and her cousin Argyll had been furious, but after a few hours in the laird's solar with Jamie, her cousin had changed his mind. Argyll had traveled to London not long after they'd arrived at Dunoon (much to Caitrina's relief), and Colin had returned briefly after the short trial where Gregor and his men had been sentenced to death then disappeared.
If she'd needed any further proof of the love Jamie bore his wife, however, she'd received it when she heard what he'd done in allowing Caitrina's outlaw brother Niall to “escape.” No one escaped her brother—ever. That he'd allowed Niall to do so demonstrated Jamie's fair-mindedness to the plight not only of the Lamonts, but of the MacGre-gors as well.
With Niall Lamont on the loose, Lizzie could understand why Colin had made himself scarce following the executions. If her brother wasn't worried about Niall or Patrick exacting revenge for what Colin had done to Annie Mac-Gregor, he should be. The irony wasn't lost on her—the hunter would learn what it felt like to be hunted.
Lizzie dropped the book she'd been reading—or trying to read—into her lap and gazed up at her brother with a questioning look on her face. “What is it, Jamie? Is there news of Duncan?”
She'd been shocked—but enormously pleased—on her return to Dunoon to discover from Jamie that their brother Duncan was rumored to have returned to Scotland. She smiled. Perhaps the blatant nudge in her note about Jean-nie Gordon's recent loss had helped. Jeannie was the woman Duncan had once loved who'd betrayed him— though Lizzie was no longer so sure.
Despite the treason hanging over Duncan's head, he'd made quite a name for himself as the leader of a fierce group of warriors on the continent. It was about time he returned and proved his innocence. She'd missed him.
Jamie shook his head. “Nay. I've sent out scouts, but there's been no sign of him. It's probably nothing more than rumor.”
“Then what is the problem?” Lizzie asked.
Her brother gave his wife an angry glance, to which Caitrina responded immediately with one of her own. “I swear I will give you nothing but daughters,” she warned, her voice heavy with foreboding. “So that all of your overbearing, overprotective male ‘wisdom’ can be put to good use.” She smiled wickedly. “Girls. A whole bevy of them. Just like me. For you to worry about and fret over”—her eyes gleamed—“forever.”
Lizzie could have sworn she saw her fierce, not-scared-of-anything brother pale. “What is this about, Jamie?” she asked.
“Tell her,” Caitrina ordered.
Lizzie's pulse spiked as she waited for him to continue.
Not one to be intimidated, even by the wife he loved, Jamie drew himself up to every inch of his six-foot-plus frame, towering over his petite wife. “I'll not be raked over the coals, wife, for doing what I think is right. Nor will I apologize for trying to protect someone I love.” Looking none too pleased, he turned to Lizzie. “I was only thinking of your happiness.”
Caitrina's mouth quirked, and Lizzie could see that she was softening. For all her brother's fierce overprotective-ness, it was difficult to stay angry with him in the face of such equally fierce emotion.
“Does she look happy?” Caitrina asked softly.
Jamie gave Lizzie a long look. Though she'd been trying to hide it, her unhappiness was palpable. “What I told you about Patrick MacGregor was true,” he said. “However, I did neglect to mention one thing.”
Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. “And what was that?”
“When I first offered MacGregor the land and his freedom, he refused. Quite adamantly, actually.”
Lizzie felt as if a weight had just been lifted from her shoulders. He did care for me. I knew I couldn't have been that wrong. It wasn't just about the land.
“Then how did you convince him to take the offer?” As if she needed to ask. She glanced at Caitrina in shared understanding.
“We thought—” Jamie started, but was cut off by a sarcastic scoff from his beautiful wife.
“That was your first mistake.”
Lizzie had an inkling of the source of her sister-by-marriage's irritation and felt her own temper rise. She'd warned Patrick not to make decisions for her, but it seemed he—and her interfering brother—couldn't resist. Men. Was there a more protective breed around than a proud Highland warrior? “Let me guess. You and Patrick decided that I would be better off not married to a MacGregor—”
“An outlawed MacGregor,” Jamie clarified.
“Not any more,” Lizzie quipped back. “So you decided to make me believe that he didn't want me.”
Jamie shrugged uncomfortably. “Something to that effect.”
Lizzie felt her face flush with anger. She rose to her feet and crossed the room to stand toe-to-toe with her overbearing lout of a big brother. “How could you! How could you let me sit here in misery for weeks believing that the man I loved cared so little for me that he turned his back on me at the first opportunity? How could you both be so high-handed and cruel? I love him, Jamie. And if that means I live in a hovel, I will gladly do so. Wouldn't you do as much for your wife?” He had the good grace to grimace guiltily, but Lizzie wasn't finished. “How could you let my child grow up without a father?”