She clenched her teeth and narrowed her eyes. He’d murdered them.
She knew—even if he hadn’t come clean with her when she’d asked him before—that he had killed her parents. “You… murdered… my… parents.”
“Lass,” he said, coaxing her to see him for what he truly was. “You cannot still believe that. I never harmed your parents. I was there to pick up the pieces of your shattered life after they had that unfortunate carriage accident.”
Unfortunate. Her thoughts were whirling around and around as if in a tidal pool, threatening to drown her. He’d had so much control over her life once her parents died. What if her uncles had survived?
Her mouth dropped open. How had Lord Whittington known to arrest her uncles? Who had told him they would be arriving at port?
She’d always suspected that someone they’d stolen from had recognized them when they disembarked from the ship. What if Lord Whittington had prior warning instead? What if Rafferty had known all along where her uncles were going? And had planned to murder them to ensure they didn’t get in the way of him mating with her?
Rafferty had been furious when her uncles said they were taking her with them instead of allowing him to marry her right away. But why not have a ship accost them at sea?
Because she would have known it was Rafferty’s ship, his men, his plan. He had already set the wheels in motion to destroy her uncles in another way.
He would have known where they were going. She could see him planning this from the start. He could have sent word ahead to let Lord Whittington know her uncles were arriving in St. Andrews on an approximate date.
“You knew about my uncles. That they were hanged,” she said.
“Aye, of course. When I caught up with you, you were beside yourself with grief. Though you would not share with me what had happened, I learned soon enough what had become of them.” He shrugged. “They met their fate as so many of our kind do.”
“You had nothing to do with it?”
He didn’t even attempt to hide the wicked way his lip curled up. He stretched his hands out in appeasement and sighed. “They knew not to take you with them. I warned them.”
“You murdering bastard. You would have had them killed anyway, whether I had joined them or not.”
He sighed and changed the subject. “I’ve been here all along. You are my mate and now we are finally together again. You cannot have another. I encouraged Robert Kilpatrick to entice you to come to Scotland to find the Hawthorn treasure—’tis me, lass.” He looked demonically pleased with himself.
“You… you paid him?” Her cousin was even in on this? He had known she was still mated?
“Aye. Only he disappointed me. He stranded you with one of the MacNeill brothers. You cannot know how infuriated that made me. By the time he learned that you were his cousin, the same one he was to bring to me, it was already too late.”
Rafferty folded his arms, still too far away from her, but as soon as he drew close enough, she could only think to do one thing. Jam her knee into his naked groin. Bring the murdering bastard to his knees.
“Can I tell you how encouraging it was for me to spy you on the ramparts late last night and how discouraging that I could not reach you?” he asked.
“Why have you come for me now? Why not earlier?”
His gaze narrowed on her. “I thought you might have paid my men to mutiny on the ship. That you paid them to have me killed. I know you wanted to. They murdered my quartermaster first as he came out of my cabin, thinking it was me. He didn’t stand a chance. Poor Terrance.”
“Ha! You cheated your crew. You and your quartermaster.” She remembered clearly that day, hearing the men talking about the spoils and how the captain and the quartermaster had cheated their crew. One of the men guarding her had overheard, too. He’d glanced her way as he escorted her to the parlor, as if wondering if she’d tell her mate that one of their men had learned the truth. Then the man gave her a small smile, as if to say that if the men mutinied, she would be free of her husband and not to stand in their way. If she warned her husband, there would be dire consequences for her also.
“Your men wanted vengeance. Their actions had nothing to do with me,” she said.
“I nearly died,” he said, as if he hadn’t heard her, caught up in the past, a faraway look on his grizzled face.
She realized then that he’d thought he was invincible. That by ruling with an iron fist, he could force his men to do as he bid, no matter what. He’d been wrong. The money his crew thought they were owed had been enough of an incentive to mutiny.
“You were dead,” she said again.
“Nay, Elaine, my love. I nearly died. Vengeance was mine. After years of tracking down my would-be murderers and learning that you were not behind the mutiny, I finished the last of them off and contacted your Kilpatrick cousin, recalling he had some interest in you.”
She wanted to close her eyes and reopen them to see him gone.
“Tell… me… the… truth. My parents. You murdered them. It wasn’t an accident.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know why you insist on learning the truth. There were too many of us in competition. I wanted their ships, their manors, and you in the bargain.”
“You didn’t really want me. You wanted the properties that my parents bequeathed to me.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, love. I wanted you. Desperately, I wanted you. Your father would not agree.”
Her lips parted in surprise. Her father had tried to protect her?
“If you wanted me so badly, you wouldn’t have waited that long to come for me,” she growled.
He let out a heavy sigh of exasperation. “You’re right. You always were a canny lass. I was shipwrecked on that blasted island. And then I didn’t remember who I was for over a century. I didn’t recall that I had a mate, or that I was the captain of a fleet of pirate ships, or that my bloodthirsty crew had thrown me overboard to fend for myself.
“I didn’t even remember I was born in Ireland, but everyone said I had an Irish accent, and I had to be from there. So when I was able, I returned to Ireland. I recalled having been a sailor, so I began to work aboard ships again. Then the memories came flooding back. All of them at once. You. My men. The treasure. The mutiny. I had to make things right. First, the men had to go.” He stalked toward her again.
Her heart beat frantically. She had to keep her head. If he struck her, he could knock her out. He’d done it before. One blow to the head.
She would be defenseless against him. What did he plan to do? He couldn’t spirit her away from here. Not like he was now, naked, not with the castle defended by the MacNeill clan, who would fight him to the death.
The dogs in the kennel were still barking wildly about the commotion outside, though a few were quiet, watching her through the gates of their kennel rooms. No one but the dogs would even hear her scream.
Would she have enough time to turn and unlock the door, or could she catch him off guard and knee him where it would hurt most?
“Your solicitor told Robert you mated a MacNeill. You can’t have another mate. If you come quietly with me, I won’t have him killed like I did the others who dared approach you with the notion of mating. Wolf law, Elaine. I was first. The others who wanted you are all dead. In this case, I have every right to take my pound of flesh. Remember that.”
Unless you are dead.
“He’s not the only reason you should leave here, Elaine, sweeting. You remember Calla? The pretty wolf whose wedding you attended?”
Elaine’s stomach fell and Rafferty smirked. “Aye. Lady MacNeill called her to arrange your wedding to her son, and she was on her way here when I… stopped her. The she-wolf is conveniently tied up. I don’t care anything about her, so if you’ll leave with me, I’ll release her unharmed. The time to make a decision is running out.”