"Surely, you expected no less?" he pressed.
This, Marcus suddenly realized, was to be his revenge. She would have to live the rest of her life with him loving her, no matter her faults. Mayhap she would love him in return, despite his faults. Love him, aye. Forgive what had happened in Boston… what had happened to Steven? Perhaps not.
She reseated herself. Marcus sat beside her. He placed a hand on her shoulder. She stiffened, but he recognized the reaction as fear not loathing.
"I must know what happened," he said. Then we shall see what you think of my sins.
He waited. Her sobs at last subsided into a deep sigh. She faced him but avoided his gaze. "I left Whycahm Hall. Mary told me—" Her gaze abruptly jerked to meet his. "Oh, Marcus," she cried in a voice so full of sadness it startled him, "Mary—" She choked.
"Aye," he said quickly. "I know."
"No! Mary was the spy. She was giving the Campbells information."
"What?" Blood pounded through his veins, the rushing sound in his head making it hard to think.
"Yes," Elise went on hurriedly. "She argued with Price. I heard enough to understand she had been passing information to the Campbells. That's why they were on MacGregor land. I didn't believe you when you said their presence had something to do with me. I am at fault, and I don't deserve to be here, but I swear, I wouldn't have left Whycham house if not for her urging."
"What happened?" Marcus demanded.
"After Sophie showed us to the guest chambers in Whycham House, Mary told me about Ashlund and how the stables were too close to the main house. I remembered Winnie telling me of her uncle who died of terrible burns, and Mary was so vivid in her descriptions of Ashlund—"
"Mary had never been to Ashlund," Marcus cut in savagely.
The anguish in Elise's eyes nearly did him in. "How could I know?"
Aye, how could she know? "I was wrong not to understand how little of us you understood," he murmured.
"You can't blame yourself, that is—"
Marcus leapt to his feet. "You are ignorant of a great many things here, Elise. Don't make the same mistake you made before."
She blinked and he knew he'd hurt her, but he wouldn't allow her ignorance to go unchecked this time. "Mary has received her just rewards. Forget her. What happened next?"
"About forty-five minutes after we left Whycham House, we were accosted by highwaymen—or I thought they were highwaymen." Elise shuddered with such obvious fear Marcus clenched his hands at his sides to keep from slamming a fist through the solarium's glass wall. "I thought they were simple highwaymen so threw my wedding band out the window of the carriage." She looked at Marcus. "I am sorry. Sophie told me the emerald was in your family for centuries, but I meant to give you a clue."
So, Sara McPhee hadn't taken the ring. "You did right," he said.
Gratitude flickered across her features, then she went on. "When we reached the point where they were gaining on us, more men appeared from within the trees and intercepted us." Tears streamed down her cheeks. "Your men fought valiantly. Price shot Richard and Taylor."
Two of the men he had planned on hunting down and killing. "They were good men."
"Price pulled me from the carriage. He left Mary inside. The men…" Elise faltered. "Three—no—four of them, they were beaten half senseless, then the carriage was run off the cliff."
Marcus's mind raced. The woman who he thought was Elise must have been put in the carriage after it crashed into the water. What poor soul had Ardsley snatched from her life to take Elise's place?
"The other man," Elise rushed on, "I don't remember his name." She turned an anguished look on him. "I should remember his name."
"What happened to him?"
"I don't know. Price forced laudanum down my throat. I awoke aboard a ship. He made threats. I didn't fear his threats against me, but…"
"He threatened me?" Marcus asked quietly.
"Yes. But…" she halted and he saw the agony on her face.
"Kiernan?" he pressed.
"Not him…" Her gaze dropped again and she said in a whisper, "Your other child."
"My other—" Marcus fell back a pace, feeling as though he had collided headlong with a horse racing toward him at breakneck speed. "What are you saying?"
Elise was shaking. "I-I couldn't be sure so early on. I had missed my monthly flux by only a week. When Price told me he knew, I was so startled that he instantly knew."
Marcus grasped Elise by the shoulders. "You are with child?"
She slumped in his grasp and began crying so hard that Marcus was shaken to the core.
"Elise," he insisted with more gentleness.
"The laudanum." She forced back the tears. "They fed me laudanum every day—every hour, it seemed." She appeared to deflate even more. "I lost the child."