“You can ride better than I can,” she said. Her lower lip was quivering. She was so very afraid that when Alex saw his wife that he’d fall in love with her all over again, and Cay would never again see him.
“I can what?”
Cay didn’t answer him.
“Please repeat it, lass. I want to hear you say that you know there’s anything in the entire world that I can do better than you can.”
She put her arms back around his neck. “I hate you and you can’t go without me. I’ll stay in a hotel all day long. I won’t leave our room.”
He kissed her earlobe, but when she turned her lips to his, he pulled her arms from around his neck. “I have to go. Nate is waiting for me.”
Cay sat back on her heels on the bed. “You’re going to see her now, aren’t you?”
“Aye, I am. But not because I want to. If it were up to me, I’d never see her again, but I must.”
“After you see her, you’ll go back with her to Charleston. And you two will be alone.”
“No, I told you that Nate will be with us.”
“I don’t understand why Nate is going with you. He doesn’t do things with other people. Certainly not strangers. He—”
“I’m Merlin.”
Cay sat there blinking at Alex in disbelief. “You’re Nate’s Merlin?”
“Aye, I am. Until you told me so, I didn’t know that your family knew anything about me, except your mother, of course. She’s the one who got the correspondence between Nate and me started back when we were children, just after my mother died. My father’s grief was bad, and he dealt with it in silence. I needed someone to talk to. During that first year, I wrote to Nate every day, and he wrote back every day. I used to get his letters in big packets. They saved me. I owe him and your mother a great deal.”
“Merlin.” Cay wasn’t sure whether she felt betrayed or happy that Alex had such a firm connection to her family.
“That’s what Nate called me after your cousin said I was a ‘magician’ with animals.”
“Why didn’t you come to visit us when we were in Scotland?”
“I wanted to, but my dad said that all the riches of your family made him nervous. Lairds and former lairds living in a castle wasn’t what we were used to.”
“Nate never told us anything about you,” Cay said, still looking at him in wonder.
“It seems he told me even less about you. My first question was why he didn’t tell me you were an artist.”
“He didn’t think it was important,” Cay said.
“That’s exactly what he said. Years ago, he told me he wanted something private that he didn’t have to share with his family and I was it. Was it Tally who found out about us?”
“Of course. You can’t keep a secret from Tally. He probably snooped through Nate’s things. They share a bedroom.” She took Alex’s hand and looked up into his eyes, pleading. “Please let me go with you. I’m Nate’s sister, so I have a reason for being there.”
Alex smiled at her, but she could see that he wasn’t going to relent. “I have to go now, lass. Nate is waiting and we’re going to go see Lilith. I’ll come back tonight and tell you what happened.”
“What kind of perfume does she wear?”
“I have no idea.”
“If you come back smelling like a woman’s perfume, I’ll—”
“I know. Make me sorry. But, lass, don’t you see that right now I already am sorry? Now, come and give me a kiss, then I have to leave. Nate is—”
“Waiting. Yes, I know. You don’t have to worry about him. He takes care of himself. By now he’s probably read three books about some obscure subject no one can pronounce, much less understand. If you want to help Nate, introduce him to a woman he can love.”
“A lady scientist?” Alex asked, smiling.