The Highlander's Thief

Chapter Seventeen

Well, he thought with new determination, he wasn't going to let Rodd ruin everything his father and he had been working towards for the last fifteen years. He wasn't going to let anyone else die on his watch!

* * *

As he neared the third floor, McWilliam heard raised voices. They seemed to be coming from Rosa's room. He ducked inside to see Cameron standing in the threshold and Rosa, with hands on hips, glaring at his uncle from across the room.

"What exactly are you accusing me of?" Rosa demanded, glancing towards McWilliam without taking her attention off Cameron.

"I'm not accusing you of anything," Cameron hissed, oblivious to his nephew's arrival. "I'm stating the facts. Rodd was obviously working with someone. We only found some of the stolen money."

"And you think that someone was me, sir?"

"Why else hand yourself over to that Runner?"

"You've been against me from the moment I arrived," she snapped, not backing down. "You were never going to believe me, no matter what I said."

"You're a sassenach whore, of course I don't believe you."

"Don't call her that ever again," McWilliam growled, stepping around his uncle and into his view.

Cameron jumped. "How long have ye been there?"

"Long enough to know that you've stepped out of line."

"Och nay." He prodded a finger against McWilliam's chest. "You're the crazy one. Your head's been filled with all the wild tales this liar's been spinning. Your father would never have believed—"

"Uncle." McWilliam knocked his hand away from his chest with a light flick of his own wrist. Aye, he respected his uncle and valued his advice, but lately Cameron had been butting in where he wasn't wanted. And right now, McWilliam really didn't want Cameron's sensibilities. "I'm sorry Duncan's dead. I know he was your friend. He was mine too. But this is no way to express your grief. Rosa's innocent. Everyone knows that now."

"Do they?" Cameron glanced between him and Rosa.

"There's no possible way Rosa and Rodd were in league," McWilliam returned. "They'd never even met before yesterday."

"Rodd travelled to London several times to find a buyer for our wool. They could have teamed up then."

He opened his mouth to say that it was Cameron who'd recommended Rodd for the job, but before he could retort Rosa spoke up.

"I've been living in Bradford for the last two years. There's no possible way I could have met Rodd. In case you didn't realize, governesses don't really get out into society very often." She seemed to have calmed down since he'd first arrived and was watching Cameron with concern. "I'm really very sorry Duncan was killed, but I didn't have anything to do with it. I've been framed."

Cameron jumped at that. "By who?" he demanded.

Rosa shrugged.

"We're not sure yet," McWilliam said, "but I intend to find out." And save Amelia. And then make love to Rosa, again and again. And again. God, he was enthralled. The woman was in his blood.

"You're going to regret this." His uncle glanced between them one last time, bristling with anger, then he strode from the room.

"I'm sorry," McWilliam said, moving closer to the delectable, irresistible Miss Rosa. "He was always the cautious one, but his panic seems to have gotten worse these last few years after his wife's death. And this whole business..." He raked a hand through his hair. "It's got everyone on edge."