Page 6 of A Bride for the Wicked Highlander (Daring a Highland Laird #2)
Betty-Ann had been sent forth as messenger yet again, her wrinkled face scrunched into a deep frown that didn’t bode well. “M’laird, Mr. Blaine, Lady Madeleine, I’m sorry to interrupt yer breakfast.” She gestured back over her shoulder. “The council have started arrivin’.”
“Now?” Ryder rasped, rolling his eyes as if to say, This day couldnae get any worse.
“Aye, Mr. Blaine.” Betty-Ann nodded. “I’ve had ‘em sent through to the chamber. Thought about tellin’ ‘em it isnae polite to show up so early, but I didnae think they’d appreciate the chidin’. There’s a... mood about ‘em. Somethin’ brewin’.”
Oscar huffed out a frustrated breath, for he’d already conjured a plan of how his morning would go: he would finish his breakfast, invite Maddie to watch him train in the yard, then take her for a walk through the gardens to discuss their nuptials before the first councilman even entered the courtyard.
She might have been impervious to his usual tricks and charms, but she wouldn’t be able to resist the sight of him in the training yard.
“Very well,” he grumbled, getting up. “Tell them I’ll be along shortly.”
Betty-Ann bobbed her head. “Very good, m’laird.” She hesitated. “M’Lady, is there anythin’ else I can do for ye this mornin’? I found another gown that might be to yer likin’.”
“That is very kind,” Maddie replied with more warmth than she’d shown him as of yet, her smile soft and genuine. “But I think I will remain as I am for now.”
She must have seen the slight disappointment cross the old maid’s face as she added in a hurry, “Maybe, I will peruse what you’ve found later, if that wouldn’t be too much trouble?”
“Nae trouble at all, m’lady!” Betty-Ann chirped, her blue eyes brightening once more.
Ye can see through me charms, but ye cannae see through her tricks? Oscar shook his head, stifling a chuckle. Maddie had been manipulated by the sly old woman, and she didn’t even know it.
“Dinnae stray far from the castle lookin’ like that,” Oscar commanded sternly, setting aside his amusement.
“I dinnae want the council seein’ me bride so inappropriately dressed.
Only I, as yer future husband, should ken the shape of yer thighs, the true curve of yer hips, and the size of yer backside. ”
Maddie spluttered into her cup, while Ryder softly groaned his dismay at Oscar’s side, resting his forehead in the palm of his hand. Across the room, Betty-Ann hid a smirk behind her hand.
“You shouldn’t be looking!” Maddie protested, rising sharply.
Oscar raised an eyebrow, tilting his head to get a good, long look at her.
“How can I nae, when it’s all there to behold?
” He winked to annoy her and headed for the door.
“Ryder, stop gawpin’ at me bride. We’ve a council to placate, and they’re nae goin’ to swallow the news we have for ‘em too well.”
“I wasnae gawpin’,” Ryder hissed, dropping his chin to his chest as he strode toward the exit.
Oscar was almost out of the small hall himself when he heard footsteps clattering on the flagstones behind him and felt a tentative touch on the point of his elbow. The hesitant poke of someone who wasn’t accustomed to touching a man.
Is that why she doesnae respond to me usual flirtations? Does she nae ken she’s bein’ flirted with? He turned to give her his attention, doubting that could be true. She was a clever woman, she had been there through Hunter and Grace’s courtship; surely, she knew what a flirtation was.
“What?” he asked. “Did ye want to argue some more about what I should and shouldnae be lookin’ at?”
Maddie shook her head, her teeth grazing her lower lip in a way that tightened his stomach. “No, I... wanted to talk to you before you go and speak to the council.”
She put her arms behind her back as if she couldn’t trust them, oblivious to the pleasing effect it had on her bosom, pushing it out.
“I’ll contend with their complaints,” Oscar said firmly. “They’ll be relieved, despite where ye hail from. The fact that ye’re a Lady will only?—”
“Not about that,” she interrupted, pushing her spectacles back up to the bridge of her nose. “Rather, I wanted to talk to you about my education. You said we would discuss the details today, and... I’m anxious to know if you’ll keep your promise.”
He noticed the laces of her collar loosening and forced his gaze upward, curling his lip as he stared at her. “Just as I’m curious to ken if ye’ll keep yers, or if ye merely said what ye thought I wanted to hear.”
What manner of weak laird do ye think I am? He bristled with irritation at the veiled suggestion that he couldn’t fulfil her request, when he could have marched on St. Andrews University tomorrow and had them permit her entry by suppertime.
“I don’t make promises if I don’t mean to keep them,” she replied, his annoyance reflected on her face.
“Once I have the means to be a scholar, you will have your heir. In truth, I was thinking it might be an excellent opportunity for research, to catalogue the growth of a child from the ‘quickening’ to adulthood.”
His irritation transformed into a disbelieving laugh, wondering how such a woman had ever come to be. He couldn’t think of one other woman who would have thought of bearing children for its scientific potential, rather than the simple blessing of being a mother.
“Yer education will be taken care of,” he said, turning to leave.
She grabbed his sleeve more insistently, pulling him back to face her. “But how? When? I have planned this ever since I left London to attend Horndean and I haven’t been able to make it a success. How do you mean to?”
He removed her hand from his sleeve and placed it back at her side, his fingertips lightly skimming the swell of her hip. Taking a step away, he gave her a hard stare, for he had things to do; he couldn’t spend the morning calming her obvious insecurities.
“I wouldnae lie to ye, lass,” he said. “Trust that I mean to keep me promise as much as ye mean to keep yers.”
Her eyelids flickered behind the lenses of her spectacles, her head turning to the side, as if she couldn’t quite look him in the eye.
He’d suspected she might not be as willing as she’d proclaimed last night, no doubt thinking of ways to get out of it with that sharp mind of hers, so it would be up to her to decide just how much she wanted that education.
Beautiful as she was, fascinating as she was, exciting as she was, she wouldn’t gain that longed-for dream for nothing.