Highland Heiress - By Margaret Moore Page 0,81

father and concerned about Gordon, wondering what would happen if and when Robbie was caught, Moira wandered down the corridor, her steps instinctively taking her to her morning room.

For so long, until they’d come to Dunbrachie, it had been only her father and her. She remembered their happy times together in Glasgow, before he inherited a title he’d never known he had any right to. Before she’d met Robbie McStuart, or Gordon.

She couldn’t leave her father now. Her school would have to wait. Her future with Gordon would have to wait. She hoped he would understand. Surely he would understand.

She walked to the window and looked out at the vast lawn and garden and wood beyond. She would trade all this if her father could be well again.

And then she saw Gordon coming around the yew hedge, walking slowly and holding his side. She didn’t care that he was alone, or wonder where Robbie was as she threw open the door leading to the garden and rushed out to meet him. “Gordon!”

He held out his arms and she ran into his embrace, nevertheless taking care of his obviously sore side. “What happened? Are you in a lot of pain?”

“I’m all right, just tired and rather sore.”

“You shouldn’t have run after him!”

“Never mind that,” he replied. “Your father…?”

She wanted to tell him everything then and there, about her father’s illness and that he was responsible for the fire and everything else, but more than that, she wanted to be sure Gordon would be well. “The doctor is with him, and when he’s finished, Dr. Campbell can see you, too. In the meantime, you must lie down and rest.”

“Soon,” he said, taking her hand as they walked slowly toward the manor house. “I must tell you about Robbie.”

Although she was anxious to hear about that, Robbie’s fate was less important than Gordon’s health. “That can wait if you’re tired.”

“I’m not too tired to tell you what happened,” he replied as they entered the morning room and sat together on the sofa. “I caught up to Robbie, in a tumbledown building in the wood.”

“Then you made him come back with you? Where is he?”

He shook his head and sighed. “No, he got away from me again.”

“How? By hurting you?” She jumped to her feet. “Let me call the doctor.”

Gordon reached out and grabbed her hand before she could. “He knocked me down, but that wasn’t the only thing that made it possible for him to get away. There was another man already there and he was seriously injured. I stayed with him.”

“Another…? Who? What was he doing there?” she asked as she sank back onto the sofa.

“One of the men who attacked me and burned down the school, I think the one who was the dog’s master. That red-haired fellow was there, too, but he was dead.”

“Dead?” she gasped, trying to make sense of what he was telling her. “How? Did Robbie…?”

“If anybody had a hand in it, it wasn’t Robbie. He was as stunned as I when we came upon them lying on the ground,” Gordon replied.

He took hold of her hand in both of his. “It looks as if they were up in the loft of the building and fell. The red-haired man must have broken his neck. The other man has broken ribs and one of his hips was dislocated. We brought him back here. The doctor should examine him, as well, although I don’t think there’s much that can be done. I think the internal damage was severe and he’d been lying there too long.”

“Oh, Gordon!” she cried softly, her voice trembling. This was terrible to hear, but she had something to tell him, too, and she would, as difficult as it was. “My father paid those men to destroy my school.”

For a moment, Gordon simply stared at her in stunned silence. “Why?” he finally asked.

“He told me he was worried that the people who were against my school might try to hurt me. He wanted me to stop, but didn’t think he could convince me, so instead he hired those men.”

She pulled her hand away and rose, pacing in front of Gordon, too upset to sit. “I knew he was concerned about my safety. I was aware that he feared my idea for a school in Dunbrachie was going to cause trouble for me. I even knew he feared it would prevent me from finding a suitable husband—but I never, ever imagined he would go so far as