“He knows,” she whispered for only the women to hear.
“Nonsense,” Rowena said.
“How could he?” Piper asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” Megan said.
“She’s right,” Hester agreed. “It doesn’t matter. Your home is here and here you’ll stay.”
While he approached them with a lazy gait, his dark eyes told a different story and Terese knew trouble brewed.
She decided to take control from the start. “You told me you wouldn’t be returning. What brings you back?”
“No greeting, glad to see you, missed you?” Lachlan asked with a teasing glint.
“Speak your piece, Lachlan, for I have no time for your playful charm this day.” Though truth be told it was difficult not to smile at his teasing charm, or get lost in his good looks, or want to desperately melt into his strong arms.
“You’re sounding like a bit of a shrew there, Terese.”
“Is it a shrew you’re looking for?”
“So Angus Bunnock tells me and a beautiful one at that, long blond hair, blue eyes that match the summer sky.” He glanced up at the sky and then back at Terese. “And Angus tells me that Alyce never got sick and was a born leader. Sound familiar?”
“We all helped bury Alyce,” Megan said with a sharp tongue.
“I’m sure you did,” Lachlan said. “You buried her so good that no one would question.”
“There’s nothing to question,” Rowena insisted.
“I think differently,” Lachlan said and looked directly at Terese, “and so does her father. He’s sent me to confirm that it is his daughter who rests in the grave. Her height being a good indication if it is her, for Alyce stands at least eight inches over five feet.”
“This is church land,” Megan declared. “You have no right to disturb a grave.”
“This is no longer church land,” Lachlan informed the startled women. “And I have permission from the laird who now claims it.”
Terese was no fool. She knew exactly who the new laird was. “Everagis now belongs to the clan Sinclare?”
“Is this true?” Andrew asked with a smile as he approached from behind Lachlan.
“It is.” Lachlan nodded. “And Cavan has appointed you leader.”
Terese stopped Hester with a hand to her arm when she stepped forward to protest.
“This is wonderful news,” Andrew said excited, though tempered it once he saw how the women glared at him. He wisely remained behind Lachlan, his mouth clamped shut.
Lachlan looked to the sky. “There’s enough light left to dig up the grave.”
Terese pushed past the women to stand only inches from Lachlan. “You haven’t come to dig up the grave. You have come to confront me.”
“Tell me the truth,” Lachlan said.
“You already know it,” she challenged.
“I want to hear from you.”
She knew somewhere deep in her heart that she wouldn’t be able to maintain this ruse forever. Someday, somehow, someone would learn the truth and her charade would be revealed. She had taken a chance and for a while it had been good. Now she would face the consequences of her actions, and the only thing that mattered to her was the babe that she carried.
Terese tossed her chin up and with a spark of defiance said, “I am Alyce Bunnock.”
Andrew reacted with a gasp and Evan, who approached, stopped dead in his tracks. The women, however, closed ranks around Alyce.
“Your father wants you home,” Lachlan said.
“My father can go to hell,” Alyce said sharply.
Lachlan grinned. “Perhaps he should, but presently he has the power to order you home.”
“Why? To wed someone I don’t want to wed?” she asked, her tongue remaining sharp, mostly in fear of what would happen when her father discovered her pregnant.
“What has been decided is in your best interest,” Lachlan said.
Alyce laughed then assaulted him with a prickly tongue. “My interest is best decided by me.”
“You know you will return with me, so why fight it?” Lachlan asked, much too confident to her way of thinking.
Megan stepped forward. “Alyce remains here with us.”
“Afraid not,” Lachlan said.
Megan looked to Andrew.
Andrew appeared perplexed and torn. “Perhaps it would be wiser for Alyce to remain here.”
With a sharp snap of his head, Lachlan looked to Andrew. “Our mission was to retrieve Alyce Bunnock and return her home. Do you suggest that I ignore our laird’s edict?”
Andrew looked helplessly to Megan.
Megan turned sorrowful eyes on Alyce.
“Enough,” Alyce said. “I will not have you pitting people against each other.”