Her breath was being squeezed from her lungs and the rush of blood in her head was deafening. At any moment, she would either faint or strike her father. “You have used me ill, my lord,” she said, her voice shaking as she clung to the chair with impotent rage.

“For God’s sake,” he said impatiently.

“You convinced me to marry him. You gave me no choice! You convinced me to return to him—to save this family, you said! I did as you asked. I tried as best I could to forge a marriage with him. And now that I have, you’ve thrown him away like so much rubbish and with no regard for me, your only daughter.”

Her father sighed. He looked impatiently at her as if she were a naughty child. “Of course I have regard for you, Margot. But sometimes we must do things we don’t want to do for the good of the family.”

“Oh? And what have you done? Or Bryce? What has anyone here done for the good of this family? I’m nothing but a pawn to you!”

Her father’s gaze turned as cold as winter ice, and for once, Margot saw the sort of man he truly was, and it was devastating. Everything she thought she knew, everything she thought she was, now seemed a lie. Because he was a lie.

“If you say so,” he said deliberately.

“Margot,” Bryce said. She had forgotten he was here at all, but now his hand was on her back. “Come away,” he said, and put his hand on her arm, forcing her from the room. Margot allowed him—she was so stunned, so shattered that she couldn’t think for herself in those few moments. Neither could she bear to look at her father, a man she had once respected. Had believed.

But once outside the study, she jerked away from her brother.

“Don’t make trouble,” he said quietly.

“What sort of man are you to allow this to happen?” she asked acidly.

“What do you want?” Bryce asked, his voice calm. “Do you want us all to lose our heads? Our lands? Everything of value? Or would you have us protect a Scot with nothing to recommend him?”

“Nothing to recommend him? He has more honor in his finger than any man in this house,” she snapped. “If we could expose Thomas Dunn—”

“We can’t,” he said emphatically. “We risk too much. Dunn has connections in London. He is an intimate of the queen. It’s impossible—”

Margot whirled around, intending to storm away from him, but Bryce caught her arm and held her tightly. “Heed me, Margot—don’t make trouble. It will not go well for you if you do.”

She glared at him. “Are you threatening me?”