Highland Heiress - By Margaret Moore Page 0,54
just imagine it, Mr. McHeath. Suddenly this huge manor is my home, not our little town house in Glasgow, and we have so many servants and tenants we can hardly remember all their names.”
“How long has it been since this change of fortune?”
“A little more than a year, and there are still days I wake up and wonder if I’m dreaming. Or in the middle of a nightmare,” she finished grimly, looking down at her feet.
Because of Robbie. And because of him, because he had agreed to help his friend bring a legal action against her.
He threw back the covers and, holding his side, cautiously put his feet on the floor.
“What are you doing?” she cried, rushing to his side and putting her arm under his shoulder for support. “You must go back to bed.”
“I’m all right,” he said, masking the pain, because this was not a conversation he wanted to have lying down. “I don’t need any help.”
He didn’t know if that was true or not, but he didn’t want to feel like an invalid when he was with her. Nevertheless, he missed the feel of her body against his as she moved away. She stayed close enough to touch, though.
“I’ve told Robbie I won’t represent him anymore. I can’t,” he said, putting one hand on the bed to steady himself.
“Because you don’t think the suit will succeed?”
“No.”
She took a step back. “Because you feel beholden to me?”
“That’s one reason.”
She flushed, but didn’t move away. “Because he might not be able to pay you?”
He felt as if he’d been stabbed again. Did she really think he was that mercenary? And if she did… If she did, he was as wrong about her feelings for him as he’d been about Catriona McNare’s. “No, that isn’t a factor in my decision.”
Her blush deepened. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply… It’s just that I’ve heard something that makes me think he may be having financial difficulties.”
Gordon was both relieved and anxious to learn the source of that information. “What did you hear? From whom?”
“Sarah Taggart told me he wants to sell McStuart House. That’s why he went to Edinburgh. Why would a man as proud of his heritage as he do that, unless he had to?”
He wanted to be honest with her, and yet…
“Even though I won’t be representing Robbie in the future, I can’t tell you what he said to me in confidence, either as a friend or a lawyer,” he said. “It wouldn’t be right, and it wouldn’t be ethical.”
She frowned and turned away. “Then don’t—but I think Robbie is seriously in debt. I believe that’s why he wanted to marry me in the first place, and that’s why he’s suing me now.”
Whatever happened, whether she made him leave at once or let him stay, whether he was right or wrong about her feelings for him, this might be the last chance he had to speak with her alone, and he had to broach one other subject, come what may. “Does your father lose his temper when he’s in his cups? Does he strike you?”
She whirled around and stared at him, aghast. “My father has never hit me in his life! He loves me and would never, ever hurt me.”
That was good to hear, especially since he was sure she was being truthful. “But he does drink too much, doesn’t he?”
Lady Moira drew herself up. “That, sir, is none of your business.”
“No, it isn’t,” he agreed. “I have no right to pry, except that I owe you my life, and anything that hurts or upsets you must therefore concern me. But that isn’t the only reason I’m worried about you, my lady, although that would be enough.
“I’ve seen what drunkenness can do to a family. I’ve witnessed how men—and women, too—can make their families dance to their tune, as if they’re puppets on a string, with promises and guilt, making their lives miserable and uncertain, worrisome and troubled.
“That’s another reason you wouldn’t marry Robbie, isn’t it? It wasn’t just the women. You already know what it is to live with a man who drinks too much, and didn’t want to have to endure the same trials and worries for the rest of your life.”
She met his gaze with admirable steadiness. “Yes, that was partly why, but it was the women, too. That’s something my father has never done. He loved my mother very much and was utterly loyal and devoted to her. He never drank to excess while she