Saving Sabine

Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

Sabine watched as Connor looked between her and Heather. He looked like he wanted to just run out of the fine dining room and all she wanted to do was follow him. Heather had heard Connor’s voice from upstairs and had immediately launched from the settee to see him. Sabine had felt so happy that he’d followed her, but so ill to her stomach that Heather was about to be heartbroken.

“She’s English!” Mungo repeated in an outraged voice. “Ye marrying one of them?” he spat.

Sabine was offended. He’d just referred to her as if she were something completely disgusting. Yes, she was English, but were they all not British? Scotland was part of Britain … but perhaps that was what Mungo resented.

“Marry?” Heather gasped, looking at Sabine with hard, brown eyes. “There must be some mistake.”

“There is no mistake, Heather,” Connor breathed. “An’ yes, da’, she’s English, an’ your objections are based on a battle tha’ happened centuries ago. We’re part of Great Britain now, ye need to get over it.”

Sabine didn’t know where to look. Beside her Heather looked as if she were about to faint. Mungo was turning several shades of red and Connor looked distressed. It was a mistake to push him so much. It was a mistake of her to run. If she hadn’t she would not have brought him back to face judgement.

Heather’s death glare found Sabine. “He loves me,” she seethed. Sabine saw her fists clench as she ground her teeth together. She took a step back for her own safety. As she did so, Connor stepped in between them, making sure Sabine was positioned safely behind him. “Ye love me! We were to be married! Ye were the heir an’ I was supposed to be your lady!” she exclaimed icily.    

“Ye never loved me, Heather,” Connor said exasperatedly. “Ye loved the idea of me. Ye loved the title and ye loved the castle. I don’ doubt that there was feelings between us, but it was never love.”

Sabine couldn’t see Heather, but she could hear her scoff. Connor’s hands were still firmly holding her behind him, making sure she was safe.

“Ye don’ know my mind, of course I love you!” she spat. “Is she who ye left me for?” she demanded to know. “She has a thicker waist then I do, my skin is clearer, an’ her hair just looks dull, it matches her personality.”

Sabine was taken aback at the successive insults. How quickly Heather had changed and how quickly she’d found Sabine’s faults.

“Don’ be cold, Heather,” Connor snapped. “I know ye are no’ like tha’.”

Sabine peered out from behind Connor. Heather was crying. Tears were rolling down her cheeks and her face was red. She was hurting. She had honestly believed Connor was coming back for her. Sabine completely empathised. When she was old enough to notice her father’s absence, she always thought he was returning for her. It took a brush with death for him to come back. If she had not contracted scarlet fever, it could have been several more years.