My Heart's in the Highlands by Angeline Fortin (best english novels for beginners .TXT) 📗

one as well. There’s another to the StateRoom, and then at the two eastern corners of the castle, theLibrary up to the Blue Drawing Room and the Dining Room up to theLong Drawing Room.”

“And everyone knows of these?” he asked,thinking of the futility of his every action. He might easily havebeen killed in his sleep. “Everyone but me, that is? How could I beso stupid?”

“Goodness, Ian. It’s not your fault,”she said in practical tones. “Jennings is to blame for not givingyou a proper introduction to your new home.”

Itstruck Ian then. Aye, that was how the intruders had slipped pastthe guards. There weren’t merely hired thugs at work; there wassomeone in his household assisting them. When Daphne had been inresidence, he had assumed she was the one doing so, but there hadto be another in her employ as well. Someone like Jennings.Jennings would have known that Ian was unaware of the passages.Perhaps he was assisting Daphne in her efforts to expunge him fromCuilean. Boyle had said that his steward had supported Daphne’sclaim to the title. Perhaps she had promised the man much more thanHero had even insinuated in exchange for his help.

Itmight even be that the mysterious man the arsonist and Cravet hadbeen hired by had been Jennings himself. It would explain theapparent foreknowledge of the attackers and how they seemed to knowwhere he was and what he was doing. It would also explain why noalarms had been raised against strangers lurking about the castleuntil tonight.

Akiller in their own ranks.

Ianbristled at the thought. Betrayed by one of his own. By someone hehad trusted.

Hewould put Jennings and tonight’s intruder face to face and seewhether Jennings was identified, Ian decided. Perhaps, all thiscould finally, truly end tonight. With a determined nod, Ian took astep into the staircase, only to have Hero pull himback.

“Where are you going?” sheasked.

“I have to …” Ian’s brows rose at thelook on her face. She had a look that his old nanny had once usedon him that froze him in his tracks. Hero’s was just as effective.It was surprisingly daunting, and unexpected enough to lift awaysome of his frustration with a trace of humor. “I suppose you wouldlike your explanation first.”

“Indeed, I would.”

Chapter Thirty-One

“So these accidents haven’t been inadvertentat all?” she said sometime later, after Ian had reviewed the longlist of events that had occurred over the last week. The verythought that someone was targeting Ian sent a shudder of forebodingthrough her. He had eluded Death’s grasp again and again! Hero sankdown on a chair near the small fireplace in astonishment. She mighthave lost him in a half dozen different ways and would never haveknown it was the result of deliberate malice. “Now I am the one whofeels the fool. Why? Why would anyone want to harm you?”

“What else do I have but a title?” he askedsimply.

Hero’s eyes widened. “You think Daphne didthis? Is that why you sent her away? Because you thought she wastrying to hurt us? You? Ah, I see, you think that Daphne was tryingto kill you.”

“Don’t you?” Ian gestured to the bedchamberbeyond the wardrobe door. “She essentially admitted that she hadyou run down in Glasgow.”

Hero slowly shook her head. “I can’t see it.You know I have little affection for her, but I can’t see Daphnedoing anything so … well, messy.”

“Her methods would have left her with littleblood on her hands,” he pointed out. “Taking you out as well wouldhave left her with few people to point the finger at her. Besides,who else would benefit?”

Ian had a point there. With Daphne’s mother’spassing, she was the next in line for the title. Hero could thinkof no one else who would directly profit by Ian’s death. Shethought again of Daphne’s reading of Villette. She had beenpassionate about the story and had vocally declared to her brotherthan she was taking control of her future.

That she was making things happen.

Is this what she had meant? Hero had thoughtDaphne was speaking of her pursuit of Ian’s person. She had plannedto marry him to take the title, but with that option taken fromher, would she truly resort to murder to get what she wanted?

Then she recalled the glint in Daphne’s eyeswhen she had looked at Hero. The jealousy. The hate. Hero wanted todeny it all but could see few flaws in Ian’s deduction. While shestill didn’t think that Daphne was the sort to take a hands-onapproach in enacting such a drastic solution, Hero could see thatthe detachment of hiring someone to do it for her might allowDaphne the buffer she needed to have it done. That sort ofdisassociation might allow her to think that her fate truly was tobecome the Marchioness of Ayr.

“Why not go to the magistrate?” she asked,and Ian told her about those trials as well.

Huddling into her dressing gown, Hero lookedabout her, not seeing just Ian’s wardrobe but the whole of thecastle that had long been her home. She had always been safe there.Felt secure within the thick stone walls. Now she didn’t know whatto think. “You should have told me, Ian,” she scolded, holding up ahand to halt his defense. “Yes, I already gathered that you did itto protect me, but that is not reason enough to keep something ofthis magnitude to yourself. You might have died and I never wouldhave known the reason, never expected the truth.”

“I would do anything to spare you heartache,my love,” he maintained. “Anything to keep you safe.”

“The truth would accomplish either,” Heroinsisted. “Promise me you won’t lie to me again.”

“Very well,” he said, then sighed at theimpatient look in her eye. “I swear.”

Hero released a sad sigh as well, shaking herhead. “So what now?”

“I plan to interrogate the man who was hiredto set the fire,” Ian said simply. “I will need a confession forthe magistrate to press charges. Daphne had help in this. He saysthere was another man who hired him as her agent. I think that manmight have been Jennings.”

“Jennings!” Hero exclaimed in surprise. “Whysurely …”

It seemed Ian