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.Meredith, as to what happened to the Duchess? Someone must have seen her the day she disappeared.”“I saw her, miss, and waited on Her Grace, as I always did.”“Did she seem quite normal – not upset or anything?”“Not in the least, miss.Chattering away, she was, about a ball that was to be given here the followin’ week.”“A ball,” Fiona murmured as if to herself.She was thinking how The Castle seemed made for such festivities and to entertain a large number of people.Mr.McKeith had shown Mary-Rose and her the ballroom, which he said was originally called the ‘Chief’s Room’ because it was where the Chief of the Clan gathered his Clansmen when they planned their offensives either against the English or against other Clans they were at war with.The late Duke had renovated it as he had the other parts of The Castle and it now had a beauty and a grandeur that Fiona was sure made it very different from the way it had been in the days when it had been a closely fortified room with doubtless only arrow-slits to let in the light.“Her Grace was very undecided as to which of her beautiful gowns she would wear,” Mrs.Meredith was continuing.“At first she thought she’d wear white, so that the Rannock diamonds would sparkle on her dark hair, but Lady Morag felt that she should wear green.‘Green!’ she objected in my presence.‘But I think it’s unlucky.Whenever I wear that colour I seem to have a row with Aiden’.‘Green will suit you best,’ Lady Morag said firmly, ‘and the emeralds will look magnificent with it’.”“I thought Lady Morag was very superstitious,” Fiona murmured, remembering the fuss she had made about witchcraft.Mrs.Meredith shrugged her shoulders.“Her Ladyship says one thing one moment and another the next.But there, Her Grace never had a chance to prove whether green was unlucky or no.”When Mrs.Meredith left her, Fiona sat thinking.Was there any significance to be found in the fact that Lady Morag, while loving her sister, had apparently not minded when she quarrelled with her husband?It was perhaps in character with her obvious possessiveness and yet Fiona could not help thinking that there was something deeper behind the information she had received from Mrs.Meredith.‘Whatever I do,’ she told herself, ‘I must not let the servants think I am spying or being over-inquisitive, but their point of view is interesting and I doubt if anyone in The Castle has asked them what they felt about the Duchess’s disappearance.’She could not imagine the Duke discussing such personal matters with his valet and she was quite certain that Mr.McKeith, in his position, would think it beneath his dignity to gossip with the staff.‘I must find out all I can,’ Fiona told herself, ‘but I must be very very discreet about it.’As she climbed into bed, she was thinking how wonderful it would be if she could discuss with the Duke everything she heard and everything she thought.But she knew he had been right when he said that they must be very careful and she was sure that even the walls in The Castle had eyes as well as ears.‘But I want to see him,’ she told herself and felt an irrepressible need for him.It was not only that she yearned for the security of his arms and the touch of his lips.She knew already in so short a time that her love was much deeper than that.There was an affinity between them that made her feel when they were together that they were complete – one person instead of two, joined by their minds, their instincts and the very beat of their hearts, until it seemed to Fiona as if she had no life of her own apart from him.“I love – you!” she whispered into her pillow and wondered how they could go through life separated by a dead woman.*Mary-Rose was resting after luncheon and Fiona was playing very softly on the piano in the schoolroom when the door opened and the Earl came in.“I was looking for you,” he began.“I heard your music and it guided me here.”Fiona took her hands from the piano keys and laughed.“You are becoming very poetical, my Lord.”“You know the reason,” the Earl replied.Fiona rose.“Where is the Duke?” she asked to change the subject.“He has a crowd of old men, wrapped up like bundles in their tartans, who have come down from the North to consult him on some knotty problem they cannot solve for themselves.”“I think the Clansmen’s faith in their chief is very touching,” Fiona remarked, as if she challenged the somewhat disparaging note in the Earl’s voice.“It is extraordinary how soft your heart is for people like that and how hard where I am concerned,” he replied.“As you are here, let’s talk about something interesting,” Fiona suggested.“I can imagine nothing more interesting than you.”Fiona threw out her hands with a little gesture of helplessness.“Please, you are making things very difficult for me.”The Earl looked at her and then said quietly,“I suppose I had better face the fact that you are in love with Aiden.”Fiona looked at him wide-eyed and felt the blood sweep up her face.“What do you – mean?”“Exactly what I say and don’t bother to deny it.I have seen you together.”Fiona clasped her hands.“What – am I to – say?” she asked.“Nothing,” the Earl replied.“I suppose it was inevitable that such a thing should happen and because I love you both I might even be glad that Aiden has found happiness at last, if it was not such a hopeless situation.”“I like you for saying – that,” Fiona said in a low voice.“I want a great deal more from you than liking and because I love you, I cannot bear to see you break your heart over Aiden as you are bound to do.”“I thought that you might – help him to be – free.”“Help him?” the Earl questioned.“I have done everything I can.”“There must be something you have missed,” Fiona insisted.“Something so obvious that nobody has thought of it.”“Heaven alone knows what it can be.”There was silence for a moment and then he said,“The best course you can take, if you are sensible, is to marry me and forget Aiden and all the misery that exists here in his castle.”“Even if I wanted to marry you,” Fiona answered, “you know that I could not leave Mary-Rose.”“I am perfectly prepared to look after her.”“Do you think the Rannocks would allow that? It would start up another Clan war.”The Earl sighed.“Why could I not have met you in the ordinary way in the South and fallen in love with you? I could have persuaded you to marry me before you even set eyes on Aiden.”Fiona did not answer and after a moment he went on,“I know what you are thinking and if you had never seen him I believe I could have made you love me.Where women are concerned they are always bowled over by his looks, his prestige and, of course, his indifference to them.No woman can resist that!”He spoke bitterly and Fiona gave a little cry.“Please – please,” she pleaded.“I could not bear to spoil your friendship with the Duke, which, as you well know, is the – only thing he has – left.”She moved across the room to stand beside the Earl.She put her hand on his arm and said,“I admire and respect you for the way you have been so loyal to your friend and, whatever – happens in the – future, he must never – lose you.”As if she appealed to something within him that the Earl found slightly embarrassing, he looked away from her
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