No Other Woman by Shannon Drake

Author:Shannon Drake
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Romance, Erotica, Historical, Fiction
ISBN: 9780380781362
Publisher: Avon
Published: 1996-05-31T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Shawna wound up searching through Castle MacGinnis with her great-uncle Lowell and Aidan. Since Castle MacGinnis was far smaller than Castle Rock, it had been involved in far less political maneuvering throughout the years than the Douglas stronghold at Craig Rock. While Lowell methodically went room by room through the ground floor and the crypts beneath, Shawna searched the upstairs rooms and turrets with Aidan.

Working the main turret in a circular fashion, Shawna met up with Aidan in Castle MacGinnis's master's chambers, composed of an office area with desk and file drawers beneath one of the great windows, bedchamber, library area, and dressing room. Aidan looked beneath the desk while Shawna searched the wardrobes.

"This is madness," Aidan said with exasperation at last. "Why would she come here?"

"I don't know, but she must be somewhere," Shawna replied, equally frustrated. "Either that, or Edwina is right, and she has met with some terrible fate, but even if that is so..." she began, her voice trailing away with a catch.

"Even then, we should find her body, is that what you mean?"

"No, of course not!" Shawna cried. She sank to the floor, staring at Aidan. "Oh, God, Aidan, I pray so desperately that nothing has happened to her!"

"We're searching the wrong place."

"Maybe not."

"Why would she come to Castle MacGinnis?" Aidan demanded.

Shawna hesitated. "I don't know. I did show the place to her when we went riding. Maybe she needed to get away from her family. I mean, we all need to get away at times, right?"

"She could get away at Castle Rock."

"Who knows what she might have been thinking—or feeling. Maybe she wanted to get away from the Douglas household. This remains the MacGinnis stronghold."

"That it does," Aidan muttered, and she thought there was a note of bitterness in his tone.

"Is something wrong, Aidan?" she asked quietly. "I had thought that Gawain was the only one really bitter about the return of the Douglas."

"Should we be bitter?" Aidan asked, his handsome features curled into a wry grin as he sat by her, his back against the bed. "Let's see, the Douglases hold the choice land and we work it to reap the benefits for others. We tend their cattle, collect their rents, and give them the larger portion of the proceeds from the mines at every turn."

"Most of their income from the mines is turned back into the property."

"We are little but tenants here, no better than the Andersons."

"How can you say that? We do hold our own property."

"Well, you are Lady MacGinnis."

"If you're angry with me for that, Aidan—"

He exhaled a long, weary sigh. "I'm not angry with you for anything, and in truth, all I begrudge Laird Douglas is America."

"What?" Shawna said, stunned.

"I want to leave," he told her. "I want to see the wild American West, I want to see massive herds of buffalo on the plain, I want to be a part of a new world."

"Dear God, Aidan, I'd had no idea—"

"No one does."

"But why don't you go to America?"

"Because my father is old, and I am all that he has.

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