Page 5 of One Forbidden Kiss with the Laird (The Cinderella Shepherd Sisters #2)

‘S tay,’ Callum instructed Hamish as they paused outside the front door of Taigh Blath.

Hamish was a working dog, trained to follow commands in an instant, and as soon as the word was out of Callum’s mouth Hamish stopped, sitting down in the shade of the house.

‘I wish I could take you in with me, boy,’ Callum muttered.

‘But you don’t want to be subjected to this torture. ’

From the outside the house looked unchanged.

In the years since he had sold the land and property to Sir William the new owner had only visited a handful of times.

Normally a local couple were left in charge, airing out the rooms periodically and keeping everything ticking over.

It was a travesty for such a beautiful place to be locked up for most of the year.

It was meant to be a home, not merely a symbol of wealth.

He raised his hand and knocked on the door, surprised to see it opened immediately by a footman dressed in a smart livery, his hair slicked back from his face.

‘Lord Leven,’ he said. The footman waited a second, looking at his hand expectantly, and Callum realised he was expecting a card. He’d never understand the idiosyncrasies of London Society and he never felt the desire to either.

After a moment, when a card was not forthcoming, the footman gave an embarrassed little bow and led the way into the house.

Callum moved over the threshold, trying to ignore the squeeze in his chest as he stepped into the house that had once been his birthright.

There were good memories here, along with the bad.

For every night he had heard his father stumbling around in a drunken haze, throwing glasses at the servants, there had been another where his mother would sneak him down from his bed in the nursery to take him walking in the moonlight.

For a moment he felt as though the memories might overwhelm him, but with great effort he pushed them away.

Today was about the future, not the past.

‘Good afternoon,’ he said as he entered the drawing room.

The scene before him looked staged and he wondered if people really did spend their time posed in such a way.

Sir William was standing by the window, his stance wide and hands clasped behind his back, looking every bit the master of everything he surveyed.

Lady Kingsley was perched in a straight-backed chair, a square of embroidery laying on her lap.

In the centre of the tableau was Miss Catherine Kingsley, the young woman he had come here to meet.

The young woman he was set to marry despite today being the first time he laid eyes on her.

The ladies rose and Sir William turned, striding over to clasp Callum by the hand, squeezing and shaking firmly.

‘Lord Leven, a pleasure to meet you, a real pleasure.’

‘And you, Sir William.’

‘This is my lovely wife, Lady Kingsley, and my daughter, Miss Catherine Kingsley.’

Callum bowed to them each in turn, feeling ridiculously formal.

‘Please have a seat, we are eager to get to know you, Lord Leven,’ Lady Kingsley said, beaming at him.

The obvious spot for him to take was the one right next to Miss Kingsley. All three Kingsleys were looking at it, directing him there with his eyes. While Callum did not like to be manipulated, this wasn’t a battle that was worth fighting.

Today had been arranged so he could meet Miss Kingsley.

The negotiations had partly taken place over a lengthy correspondence between himself and Sir William and they would conclude in the coming days in private, but today was purely for both him and the Kingsleys to ensure there was nothing so terrible about the other that it would stop the deal that had been worked on for so long.

He sat, his large form feeling out of place on the dainty seat.

The furniture was new, although Callum was not surprised.

When he had sold the house to Sir William the contents had been sold alongside it.

Everything was sturdy and well made, and no doubt in the less public areas the old furniture had been retained, but the drawing room was the public face of the house.

It would be the first area to be updated.

Despite his mother’s best efforts his father had lost interest in entertaining not long after they were married.

The drawing room had not been used for its true purpose for a long time before Sir William had taken over the place.

The silence stretched out, long and uncomfortable, before Lady Kingsley and Miss Kingsley rushed to fill it at the same time.

‘My daughter is most accomplished at her needlework, my lord,’ Lady Kingsley said, motioning to the square of fabric in the young woman’s hands.

Callum knew nothing whatsoever about needlework, at least not this sort which seemed to be about sewing pretty flowers on a piece of fabric. He’d mended his own clothes before, pulling a blunt needle through frayed material in times of necessity, his endeavours always ending up looking rudimentary.

Once he had even stitched his own skin after sustaining a deep cut in the wilds of Canada.

He’d been three days from any sort of civilisation and the injury was deep and gushing blood.

The only way to stop it was to sew the edges together.

He now sported a ragged scar on his left leg, but he didn’t think Miss Kingsley would appreciate hearing about this.

‘Very accomplished,’ he murmured.

‘It is such a pleasant day, perhaps we could go for a stroll in the gardens,’ Miss Kingsley said, bestowing him with a little smile.

He inclined his head, suddenly eager to get out of the room.

‘A wonderful idea,’ Lady Kingsley said, clapping her hands.

As they stepped out through the doors that led on to a terrace at the back of the house Callum found himself looking around to see if he could spot the woman he had met the night before by the lake.

Despite only spending a few minutes in her company she had plagued his thoughts the evening before, distracting him when he was meant to be preparing for this meeting.

‘I am glad we are to spend a few minutes alone,’ Miss Kingsley said, looking up at him with an expression of innocent infatuation.

She was young, although not in the first flush of youth and must have been out in Society for a few years, and he sensed an air of calculation about her.

The innocent expression seemed curated, as did her every gesture, her every move.

Callum became even more convinced of this when her arm accidentally brushed against his and she let out a little gasp.

‘I am glad of it, too,’ he said, trying to release some of the tension he was holding in his shoulders. ‘The gardens are looking lovely.’

His companion glanced at the neat borders of flowers without much interest and then turned back to him.

Callum allowed his gaze to linger. This was why he was going through with a marriage to a stranger.

It would all be worth it when he regained control of his ancestral home.

His eyes rested on the shimmer of the loch in the distance and rise of the hills beyond. It was beautiful.

With his reasons for doing this refocused, he reluctantly pulled his eyes away from the view and regarded Miss Kingsley.

She was tall and slender with an expensive dress that had been carefully tailored to show off her best attributes.

Certainly there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with the young woman, although he did not feel anything except mild resentment towards her.

‘Tell me about yourself,’ he said.

‘Oh, where to begin?’ She hesitated just a moment before launching into a list of her attributes.

‘I’m a simple girl really. I love the whirl of Society and some say I am the finest dancer at our local balls, but I also enjoy the comfort and stability of a good home life.

I am excellent at keeping domestic staff in order and my mother has taught me to run a tight, disciplined household.

Once I am married I look forward to being a good wife and mother.

’ She glanced at him with momentary panic in her eyes as if she realised she might be scaring him off. ‘When the time is right, of course.’

‘Of course,’ he murmured. He wanted children, although at the moment the idea of them seemed like an abstract thought rather than something he could really picture.

He had been an only child, unusual among his peers.

The boys he had grown up with had all been from large, boisterous families and when he had been younger he’d yearned for that.

‘How about you, my lord? What is it you enjoy?’

Callum cleared his throat, wondering if this would get easier.

They were from different worlds, he and Miss Kingsley, and right now he could not imagine a time when they would be comfortable in one another’s company.

He didn’t have vast estates and multiple homes to allow him and his wife to lead separate lives.

They would be together from the very start.

The idea made Callum uncomfortable. For so long it had been just him and Hamish.

He wasn’t sure he would be very good at sharing his space with someone else.

‘I enjoy my work, Miss Kingsley, and spending time outside. I like walking in the hills and taking a rowboat out on the loch.’

Miss Kingsley sniffed, looking out into the distance at the hills he was talking about, a frown on her face as if she could not understand his enjoyment of the local scenery.

They had reached the edge of the small formal garden that was laid out to match the width of the house. It had been his mother’s pride and joy and he was pleased to see some of her favourite flowers still flourishing.