Free Duchess Beware (Secrets & Scandals Book 2) by Tiffany Green

because of their greed, many people were suffering, even dying.
    His esteem for the MacLaren’s rose, and he suddenly became aware of how protective they were of their own.  But that thought made him frown.  He turned to Morgan, and the question leaped out before he thought better of it.  “Why did you allow Silver to live with her aunt and uncle in England after her mother died?”
    Morgan’s brows shot up, then shook his head.  “Tha’ was Da’s doin’.”  He sighed.  “When Gracie died, Silver retreated from the world,” he continued softly.  “The lassie dinna eat, she dinna sleep, she dinna even talk.  She just stayed in her room and stared at the walls.  Da thought she would dae better in England, away from where her mama died.”
    Daniel recalled Silver’s pale face and the scared look in her eyes when they first arrived.  “I imagine it was hard for her to return,” he said softly, glancing at the stone manor in the distance.
    “Aye.  But I dinna ken why she came.”
    He turned sharply, startled by the concern in Morgan’s tone.  “What do you mean?” he asked.
    “Silver began pennin’ us letters a few years ago.  We always wrote back, always askin’ if she’d come an’ visit.  She always refused.  An’ now the lass is here.”
    “She didn’t come for your father’s funeral last year?” Daniel asked, growing even more confused.  Something just didn’t make sense.
    Morgan shook his head.  “Pennington responded tae our letter saying Silver was unwell and needed tae stay in bed an’ heal.  It was just as well,” he said, the sadness deepening within his eyes.  Then he glanced up the road and smiled.  “But she’s here now.”
    Daniel followed the direction of Morgan’s gaze, and the muscles in his stomach clenched.  Silver sat on a tuft of green grass under a tree by the road, holding a small lamb in her lap.  Hardly noticing Duncan and Jamie near, he centered his attention solely on the hand stroking the animal’s curly, white coat.  He swallowed, envisioning that same hand stroking his body and averted his gaze.
    God’s teeth, why did he have to see that?  “Thank you, Morgan, for the tour,” he said a bit more abruptly than he had intended.  But he needed to get away.  Fast.  “Now if you will excuse me, I must get Fiona back.  She seems anxious to return.”  Daniel prodded the horse forward, moving quickly beyond Silver and her brothers with just a nod.
    ****
    Two days after Daniel had raced by her as though he could not wait to get away, Silver sat within the cool obscurity of the gazebo, drinking in the garden’s beauty.  This had been the first time since her arrival she could push past her grief enough to visit the lovely area.  Just as she remembered, varying sizes and colors of roses surrounded her, creating a fragrant multihued cocoon.  The entrance, the only gap in the lush bushes that wove around the structure’s wooden beams, kept the interior from complete darkness.  Many years ago, she believed the garden magical and housed every fairy in Scotland.
    She closed her eyes and inhaled the sweet perfume hanging heavily in the air, her heart tearing into a hundred pieces.  She remembered everything.  Helping her mother tend the flowers, working side by side in the garden, chatting about nothing and everything.  Like the best of friends, they laughed and told secrets.  They amused themselves with fantastic stories or off-tune songs.  But always, they shared something wonderful.
    Tears pricked the backs of her eyes and clogged her throat.  Sliver willed them to fall.  That was the only way she would ever heal.  The only way she would be able to say good-bye to her mother.  Tears cleansed the soul.  But the tears would not come.  Even now they would not come.
    She slumped forward, exhausted.  Would she ever get past her mother’s death?  Her father’s abandonment?  Her guardians’ hatred?  Her brothers’ ignorance of