Highland Hearts. Eva Hamilton Maria

the darkness. Sheena and Cait stood motionless. Waiting. Someone obviously had set off quite an alarm, because everyone who slept in the Montgomery household now stood outside on the soggy grounds in their nightclothes.

      “Cait? Sheena?” Jean’s voice shattered the quiet of the night as soon as she spotted them. “What is going on out here?”

      Tavia came around to her sister’s side. “Sheena, what on earth are you doing out of doors at this hour?”

      Tavia didn’t even finish her words before her sister broke in. “Cait, you foolish girl. You are not to be out of the house. You may as well stay out.”

      “Aunt Jean,” Sheena rushed to Cait’s defense. “Please, you cannot send Cait away. She was out here because of me.” Sheena couldn’t let Cait take the blame. Her inability to resist talking with Logan caused all this. Why couldn’t she just walk away from him? He’d hurt her too deeply and her life had shifted course.

      She shook her head, putting her thoughts at bay, as her mother pointed a finger at her. “Cait’s out here because of you?” Tavia’s voice hit a high note of accusation.

      “Aye, Mother.”

      “Sheena, I am out of patience with you. It is not even dawn yet. I need my sleep. Instead, I am standing outside in the dampness. I could catch my death.” She tugged at the red woolen blanket that almost swallowed her tiny frame whole.

      “I’m sorry, Mother,” Sheena said, only vaguely listening to her mother’s lecture. Her attention remained fixed several feet away. She prayed God would help Logan stay hidden behind those rocks. Her mother would go crazy if Logan appeared. And then what would she do to Sheena?

      Tavia already thought little of Sheena. They’d never nurtured anything resembling a close mother-daughter relationship. Sheena always seemed to disappoint her mother. They thought and acted as opposites in nearly everything, and though she knew her mother wanted nothing more than for Sheena to behave just as she did, Sheena never could.

      “Explain yourself, child,” Jean bellowed and Sheena panicked. What explanation could ease the situation? She couldn’t lie and yet she couldn’t tell them the truth, either. “We’re waiting.” Jean stamped her foot.

      “Why are you not speaking?” Tavia raised her right hand and slapped Sheena firmly across the face. “Such insolence. Answer your aunt.” The blow knocked Sheena off balance.

      Touching her flaming-hot cheek, Sheena felt tears swell at the sting and pain, but she stood bravely to face her mother and aunt. She had endured worse. A slap would not stop her from seeing to Cait’s well-being.

      “I needed some fresh air.” Sheena didn’t lie. Leaving a rock to keep the door ajar for Cait didn’t quench her need for the open air. It beckoned to her, making her go outside to sit and think about Logan. Forcing her to confront her upside-down life.

      “Is the air in the house not fresh enough for you, child?” Jean pressed. And Sheena had barely glanced at her aunt before her mother started again.

      “Why didn’t you just open your window?”

      “I’m sorry. I will do that next time.” With spring advancing she would need to, because soon enough the midges would come out in droves and make it impossible for people to sit still outside in the dark, unless they wanted to get bitten repeatedly by those annoying insects.

      Sheena looked around at everyone’s faces. “I apologize for having caused such commotion and awakening you all.” Some servants looked too tired to care, obviously longing for their beds, while others seemed full of sympathy. But a few, all of whom belonged to Jean, seemed completely amused, and that callousness irked Sheena.

      “Can you imagine what would happen if news of this incident reached Ian Mackenzie? I will not have him thinking you are a wild Highlander who runs about in the night. Until you are married to Ian, this foolishness of yours must stop. I will not tolerate it. Then I don’t care what you do. Ian will have to deal with you on his own. However he sees fit.” Tavia’s words stung, just as much as her slap.

      “Aye, Mother.” Sheena bit her lip. “I’m sorry.” She bowed her head not wanting to look at anyone. The only person who mattered couldn’t see her face anyway. Even though he likely heard every word. And although she wished she could, she couldn’t prevent that. She knew she’d hurt Logan deeply only moments before and now her mother forced him to hear about her betrothal again.

      Her insides felt as if osprey hawks dove into them. Logan’s stricken face flashed in front of her eyes and would likely remain permanently etched into her memory. He had looked utterly devastated. For him, for her, for the future they’d planned so many years ago that now lay in ruins.

      As angry as she was, she never thought she would be the one to deal such a savage blow. Tears pricked at the thought.

      But hurting Logan served a purpose. Maybe now he would understand she could never love him again. He needed to know she belonged to another man. She couldn’t hide that from him. He needed to forge a life for himself without her. Just as she did when he hadn’t come back two years ago.

      She’d begun to believe that Logan had never intended to marry her in the first place. That he’d never planned to come back to Scotland at all. Maybe his guilt in telling her lies had caused him to flee the country.

      “Let us all go back to bed and not talk of this ever again. I will not have word of this incident getting out.” Tavia eyed the staff, much of which were on loan from Jean to keep their house functioning.

      “If word of this does get out—” Jean stared them down “—all of you will be dismissed. You are all replaceable.” At that, Tavia grabbed Sheena’s arm and dragged her into the house, as Cait scurried into the throng of servants.

      Hastily, Sheena wiped tears off her cheeks. Tavia would never know the true cause of those tears.

      Logan remained painfully still. He knew if anyone saw him, Sheena and Cait would face a much more brutal fate. Crammed against a rock, his anger raged, steaming into the cold night air.

      When Tavia hit Sheena, he almost ran to her defense, but something held him back. Even if it killed him to stay hidden, he’d rather give up his own life than sacrifice her future status.

      Not being able to defend Sheena filled him with hate. As a Christian, he shouldn’t feel that way toward anyone, but he couldn’t help it. Tavia slapped Sheena when Sheena did nothing to deserve such punishment. What kind of mother behaved like that? One who didn’t care whether her daughter’s husband beat her or not. And one who seemed to welcome that fate for her daughter.

      Logan remembered Tavia being cold toward Sheena her entire life, but never to this extent. At least Tavia had never conducted herself in public this way before. But maybe she couldn’t in front of Sheena’s father. He wouldn’t have allowed it. But now with him gone, Tavia’s true feelings were revealed, and Logan feared them for Sheena’s sake.

      Chapter Six

      As the door to the Montgomerys’ house closed, Logan thrust himself from the rock to stand at his full height. Only then did he realize his hands bled. He stared at them for a moment in disbelief. He’d injured them on the jagged edges of the rock that separated him from Sheena as he leaned against it, pushing with all his strength to maintain his self-control.

      The bloody cuts annoyed more than they hurt, serving as a reminder of the hate coursing through his veins. He held his hands up trying to stop the bleeding, using his sleeves to dab at the blood as he made his way home.

      “Logan?” Angus’s voice whispered from the dim light of the fire when Logan came through the door.

      “Aye.” Logan went over to his brother’s side by the dying flames and sat on the wooden stool next to him. He welcomed the solitary walk home, for it had given him time to calm down.

      But in place of the anger came despondency. He felt like a soldier on the losing side of