The Highlander's Woman (The Reckless Rockwoods #3) by Monica Burns Page B

no’ my lover,” he bit out. It was as if he were a large fish caught in a fisherman’s net and the more he tried to escape the tighter the net encircled him.
    “The woman knew about your birthmark, Julian,” she said quietly. There was a note of deep pain in her voice that belied the contempt on her face. “How could Miss Bensmore know about the mark unless you’ve shared her bed?”
    Stunned, Julian stared at her as if he were dull-witted while his brain whirred with a dozen questions all at the same time. He fought through them to the one that seemed the most important. How had Una known about his birthmark when he’d never slept with her? Patience was right. The only way someone could know about his mark was if they saw him naked, and he knew he’d never been naked in Una’s presence. Worse, if he couldn’t make Patience listen to reason—believe him—he was damned for certain. Julian shook his head.
    “Patience, I do no’ have an explanation for how Una knows about my birthmark, but I have never been with the woman.”
    “I don’t believe you,” she spat out with a quiet, cold fury. “The only explanation is that you were in her bed last night, and God knows how many other nights. You were at Crianlarich for two months. Perhaps the dinner parties your father likes to throw for his close friends, the Bensmores, encouraged you to take advantage of my absence.”
    “Bloody hell, do you no’ know me at all. Are you willing to let the words of a spiteful witch come between us?”
    “A woman who says the two of you are lovers.”
    “ She is no’ my lover. ” His words thundered in the salon so loudly he thought the walls would shake. “How many times do I have to tell you that?”
    “Then explain where you were last night if you weren’t with her. Explain what you were doing so late that you couldn’t come home to me? Tell me why you lied about Lord Mayberry. Tell me why you came back to London, but didn’t come home to me.” The soft plea snagged at his heart as a tear slid down her pale cheek, and the pain in her gaze sliced through his chest.
    “I can no’ explain, mo ghràdh ,” he said with a shake of his head. “Tis no’ my secret to tell.”
    “Do you have any idea how that sounds, Julian?” She closed her eyes for a moment, and he saw her throat flex as if she were trying not to cry. Patience looked at him again. “How can you expect me to believe you weren’t with her when I know you’ve lied to me once already? What am I supposed to think?”
    “I expect you to have a little faith in me—to believe I would no’ lie to you,” he ground out fiercely as he took a step toward her. Patience raised her hand to stop him.
    “Don’t come near me. I don’t want you to touch me.”
    The words knotted his muscles tight with something he’d not experienced since he was a child—fear. Julian swallowed the anger rising in his throat. He turned away from Patience and walked to the window to stare out at the street. Hands clasped behind his back, his brain churned madly as he blindly grasped for an explanation that would ease Patience’s fears and honor Caitriona’s request.
    The burden of Caitriona’s secret on his shoulders was causing a deep chasm between him and the woman he loved more than life itself. The most crippling thought was that he didn’t know what he could say to close the growing gap between them. Bloody hell, why hadn’t he simply written to her that an old friend from Crianlarich was desperately in need of his help?
    Patience was the most compassionate soul he knew. She would have understood. Instead, he’d lied to her, and agreeing to Caitriona’s final request had only made things that much more difficult for him when it came to making Patience believe he was innocent of any betrayal. Slowly, he turned to face her.
    “Things are no’ what they seem, mo ghràdh . I should have come home last week, but I had to conduct my business in the more sordid parts of