Highland Scoundrel (Campbell Trilogy #3)(118)

Aye, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. That was the Highland way.

Argyll smiled deviously. “Though perhaps having your case settled will make up for his disappointment.”

Archie's tone gave no hint to his thoughts, but Duncan remembered his cousin well enough to know he was up to something. “Did Jamie bring you the documents I found?”

“Aye, your brother and sister descended on me en masse a few days ago with Grant's missive and the missing map.” Argyll dismissed them with a wave. “The note could be interpreted many ways.”

Duncan flexed his jaw. “Then you are determined to see me hang for a crime I did not commit.”

“Duncan.” Jeannie tried to interrupt, but he brushed her off.

He took a few steps toward his cousin, towering over him by a good half foot. To his credit, Archie didn't give an inch. “Hell, Archie, how could you even think I would betray you like that?”

Argyll's mouth twisted. “I don't.” “You don't?” Duncan repeated, confused. Jeannie stomped up behind him. “If you'd let me finish, I would have told you that you've been pardoned.”

“What?”

Shocked would be putting it mildly, Jeannie thought. Incredulous better captured the expression on his face.

The door opened and this time it was Lizzie who came bursting into the room, followed by her husband, Jamie, and Caitrina. Lizzie threw herself into Duncan's arms. “Isn't it wonderful?” she gushed.

Jeannie laughed. “I'm afraid he hasn't heard the whole story yet.”

When she'd asked for five minutes in private first, she hadn't planned on that kiss. Next time it might be safer to ask for an hour.

She looked at Duncan. “You never asked why I went to the castle.”

He shrugged. “I figured you had a good reason. To be honest, I was just grateful you weren't at the inn when Colin and his men arrived.”

So was she. She shuddered to think of how differently it could have all happened. She supposed her instincts weren't always wrong. She explained about the maid's mentioning of Kathrine MacDonald's hair.

He frowned. “The old lady was confused?”

“That's what I thought, but it didn't make sense. It seemed an odd mistake to make, but it turns out your mother did have black hair.” She pulled out the piece of parchment and handed it to him. It was a page from a church registry. “Your mother's name was Anna. Anna MacDonald.”

Duncan's eyes narrowed. He took the page uncertainly and scanned it. What he saw there drew the color from his face. His eyes gazed into hers. “I don't understand.”

“Your father and mother were married. Your mother was Catholic and they wed secretly in a church on the other side of the island.”

She could see the confusion, the conflicting emotions traverse across his face and hurried to explain. “Your mother was Mary MacDonald's baby sister, though with nearly twenty years between them she could have been her daughter. She was the youngest daughter of the old chief. She and your father met at court, but the vicious blood feud between the clans prevented them from seeking permission to wed so they did so secretly, with only the nurse and Mary as witnesses.

“Eventually, they hoped to be able to tell their families, but until then they were forced to meet in secret. Your father wanted to run away, but Anna refused. She didn't want to be forever cut off from her family. But the stress of the situation finally caught up with them and they had a horrible fight. By the time your father returned, intent on claiming his bride, it was too late—your mother had died in childbirth and the family had gotten “rid” of her bastard, sending you off to be raised by the nurse. Your mother had refused to name the father. But your father tracked the nurse down and brought you to live at Castleswene.”

Duncan was remarkably calm given what Jeannie had just told him, but his emotion revealed itself in his voice. “But how could my father do this? How could he lie about something like that?”

It was Jamie who answered. “Because of our grandfather.” Duncan turned to him. “He hated the MacDonalds. Think how he was when he thought you were simply the bastard son of a maidservant. He would never have let a MacDonald be in line to inherit the chieftainship.”

“Your father must have been trying to protect you,” Jeannie said. She could well understand the lengths a parent would go to protect their child. Duncan's father's lie had deprived his son of an inheritance while hers had given one.

She could see the anger burning in Duncan's eyes and her heart went out to him. No matter his father's reasons, it was a horrible betrayal.

“That might explain why he lied initially,” he said. “But not why he let it continue.”

“To claim you, he would have had to disinherit another son. And there was my mother to consider,” Jamie said.

“He must have changed his mind,” Argyll broke in. “I only realized the significance when Lady Gordon brought me the document, but Auchinbreck had told me the night before the battle that he'd decided to make you his tanaiste.”

Jeannie could feel the muscles in Duncan's arm bunch under her fingertips as he waited for Argyll to continue.

“It wasn't unheard of to make a bastard an heir, but I told Auchinbreck there would be trouble. He said not to worry about it, that he would explain everything when the time was right.” Argyll shrugged. “After he died and you were accused of treason, I was glad he hadn't made his intentions known.”