14Iona rose from the table, her face very white.
“I am Iona Ward,” she said in a low voice.
“Then I must request you, ma’am, to accompany me immediately to Fort Augustus,” the captain replied sharply. Iona looked over his shoulder at the two soldiers standing stiffly at attention but with their eyes fixed on hers. For a moment the room seemed to swim round her and she turned back towards Lord Niall.
“Can you account for – this, my Lord?” she stammered.
It was a cry of help although she would not humiliate herself to make it, but even as the words came from her lips, she saw the expression on Lord Niall’s face and the glint in his eyes and knew the answer.
Yes, indeed, he could account for it, though she had not meant her question to be answered so literally. He was responsible for her
