“Listen to me,” she said. “You have got to listen – but if you touch me again I – cannot tell you – for I love you-love you with all my heart and soul – but it is because I love you so – so deeply that I cannot do – what you ask.”
Her voice faltered for a moment and then she went on,
“Your Grace has a great position, you have a name respected and honoured throughout the length and breadth of Scotland. People look up to you and honour you as – indeed I do – and because of such things, and – because you are who you are – I can never be your wife.”
“And why not?”
For a moment Iona shut her eyes. For one despairing moment she wished she might die before she need answer the question she had most dreaded to hear from his lips.
Then, not looking at him, her long lashes veiling her eyes as th
