COSWOLD WAS ENRAGED. IT WAS TRUE. IT WAS ALL TRUE. Gabrielle was a whore. She had tricked him. She’d tricked them all into believing she was pure. Her appearance made it so easy for her to dupe men. Her angelic face and those eyes, those bewitching violet eyes…she was so beautiful. What man would even consider that she might be anything but innocent?

What a fool he had been to want her. How many men had she given herself to? It made him sick to think about it.

Coswold looked at Percy to see how he was taking the news. A look of horror seemed frozen on his face. His mouth was open as though he were about to speak, but he uttered not one word.

Even if he had said something, he wouldn’t have been heard over MacKenna’s roar. The laird was ranting about his good name and the shame Gabrielle would have brought to it. With each statement in his tirade, he’d look up at the wall. Did he expect the Highlanders watching to applaud his refusal to marry Gabrielle?

“She has no value now,” Percy said when MacKenna paused to take a breath. “King John won’t give her a dowry. Finney’s Flat is no longer yours for the taking, MacKenna. The same goes for you, Monroe.”

“Do you think I still want her?” Monroe spat on the ground in front of Gabrielle. “The devil take her.” He turned and walked away. As he passed MacKenna, he said, “She’s all yours, MacKenna, as long as you don’t mind the mocking behind your back. You heard the baron. You can have the whore, but you won’t be getting Finney’s Flat.”

MacKenna had never felt so humiliated. His wrath turned on Coswold. “Did you know she was a whore when you struck your bargain with me? You did, didn’t you?”

Indignant, Coswold responded, “I most certainly did not. I believed her to be innocent, as everyone else did. I knew you wanted Finney’s Flat. You were already calling the land Glen MacKenna before I even suggested the bargain, and I wanted—”

He stopped in the middle of his sentence before he accidentally blurted out the promise he’d forced MacKenna to give to seal the bargain.

MacKenna didn’t want anyone to know the particulars of their agreement. He pulled Coswold aside and turned his back to the others. “You demanded that I agree to let you see her whenever you wanted, but you refused to explain why. Tell me, were you one of the men she’d already given herself to? Were you planning to continue to bed her? Was she your mistress?”

With each question he posed, his complexion turned a darker shade of purple.

Coswold had almost forgotten about the gold. Gabrielle’s shocking conduct had pushed every other thought aside. Coswold didn’t want her any longer, but he was still determined to get the treasure. His mind raced for a solution. If he was ever going to find out where the treasure was hidden, he needed access to Gabrielle, but if he took her back to King John, she would be lost to him. The king would probably be so furious he’d order her execution, and if he were in one of his rare forgiving moods, he would most likely use her until he became bored and then pass her on to his favored underlings. Either way, Coswold wouldn’t be able to see her.

Percy wasn’t as worried. While he would have preferred to have Gabrielle in marriage, he was prepared to take her as his mistress. His obsession did not require a public ceremony. If Gabrielle were banished, she would be free for the taking, and he could have her whenever and however he wanted. All he had to do was wait until Coswold washed his hands of her.

Coswold had devised a plan, too, and knew exactly what he would do. He had to act quickly because Gabrielle was still in a state of shock. He feared that she would react with a vengeance and perhaps even try to escape to her father for protection. He couldn’t let that happen.

“I think it’s a waste of my time to take the woman back to England and wait for King John to return. Since I speak on his behalf, I will decide her fate this very minute.”

“You will not kill her,” Percy shouted.

Isla’s hand flew to her chest. “Why do you care what happens to her?” she cried. “You can’t possibly still want her.”

“Can’t you shut her up, Coswold? No one wants to hear anything more from her.”

“Be silent,” Coswold ordered as he shoved Isla away from him. “Percy’s right. You’ve said enough.”

“I mean what I say, Coswold,” Percy warned. “You cannot kill Gabrielle.”

Coswold sneered at his adversary. “No, I won’t kill her. I want her to suffer for the rest of her life, however short that might be.”

He turned his full attention to Gabrielle then and took a step toward her. The crowd gave him a wide berth.

“With the power bestowed on me by King John, I hereby banish you.”

The assemblage cheered the punishment. Some clapped, others shouted approval. “Good riddance.” “She’s getting what she deserves.”

Coswold waited for everyone to settle down before he continued.

“Do you understand what this means, Gabrielle? From this moment on, you are an outcast. You have no home, no country, no king, and no title. King John and his faithful subjects no longer acknowledge your existence. You are nothing.”

“Does she answer to the king?” someone shouted.

“She does not, for she has no king,” Coswold answered.

“What about Baron Geoffrey?” Percy asked. “Don’t you wonder what he’ll do when he hears his daughter has been banished?”

“By the time he finds out, it will be too late.”

Percy was desperately trying not to show his joy. Gabrielle would be forced outside the walls, and he planned to follow her. Once she was far enough away from the abbey and no one could see her, Percy would take her. He had enough men to ambush her guards and overwhelm them. No one would even know or care what happened to her, and if Percy wanted to, he could lock her in the bowels of his castle and keep her there for as long as he wished.

Coswold had the same intention. “Isla, go and tell my servants to prepare to leave,” he commanded in a whisper.

She nodded and hurried to do his bidding. But as she passed the scorned woman, she slowed her pace and turned her head so that only Gabrielle could witness her sly smile.