Page 28 of The Highlander’s Auctioned Bride

CHAPTER 28

Although the journey to her father’s townhouse was not so very long, it felt to Maisie as though it stretched out endlessly. As she left the beautiful countryside of Clan MacLennan the carriage slowly began to move through the busy streets and bustling thoroughfares of Larkhill.

I left as a Brown and returned as a lady; she thought wistfully as she looked out of the carriage. She tried to make sense of the barrage of feelings that were knocking about inside her head.

She would never have imagined that James’s only solution was to send her away. Watching his cold mask fall into place had been chilling. He had looked at her like she did not even matter to him

Yet he has sent me away to protect me. Surely he cares a little.

She would miss him. She had tried to deny it, but she knew it was the truth. She had grown attached to him. She missed him already and it had only been a few hours.

But what had been truly hard was seeing his indifference to her departure.

I understand, and I am sorry.

She scoffed under her breath at the audacity of the man to simply send her away to keep her safe, as though her very presence was a nuisance.

She felt as though her existence in his life had only brought him more trouble. A part of her wondered whether she would ever return to that beautiful castle on the hill again.

The carriage rolled to an uneven stop. She was surprised to see her father waiting for her in the doorway. A happy smile broke over his face as he descended the steps and opened the door for her.

“Me darling, Maisie!” he said with much joy. “Come, come inside, ye must be tired.”

She alighted and he embraced her, surprising her even more.

“Is all well, Faither?” she asked in confusion. He had never been so affectionate with her.

“Aye, I have missed ye, that is all.”

“Miss Maisie!” came a delighted cry from behind her and Maisie turned to see Dora running down the steps toward her.

She gave a happy laugh as Dora quite forgot herself and lunged into Maisie’s arms giving her a fierce hug under her father’s stern glare.

Dora disentangled herself from Maisie’s arms, looking rather sheepish, and swiftly grabbed one of Maisie’s bags and ran back inside.

Maisie chuckled as she looked at her father’s disapproving glare.

“Ye cannae blame me for making friends with some of the servants, Faither. She was a great comfort to me.”

He sighed and then he gave a little smirk of his own. “She has bothered me continually to replace the chess set ever since ye left.”

Maisie laughed. “Thank ye for giftin’ it to me. Did ye buy another?”

“I did.”

“And have ye played her?”

Her father shook his head. “Of course nae, Maisie, she is a servant and I am the master of the house. I couldnae sit and play chess with her late into the evening. Dae be serious.”

Maisie rolled her eyes and handed her gloves to a new butler, who was a robust sort of gentleman with a rather savage look to him.

“This is Villers,” her father said. “There are only two servants in the house, and many of the rooms are temporarily shut up, but I’ll have Dora air your bedroom.”

“I’ll have it just right by suppertime, Miss Maisie!” Dora assured her.

Once Maisie had dispensed with her travel cloak she followed her father into his study. As she closed the door, she couldn’t help recalling the moment only weeks before when all had seemed lost as she had knelt by his side in this room.

He took his seat at his desk and indicated the chair before him, watching her carefully as she sat down.

“Ye look very well, Maisie.”

There was a weighted silence. Her father was never one to leap into a conversation without proper thought.

“Ye look better,” she answered honestly. There were still heavy bags under his eyes, but his complexion was fresher than it had been. His hair was not looking quite so wild. “How have things been in Glasgow?”

“The warehouse is refurbished or will be within a number of days. I have a new client and a new shipment scheduled. If it comes off, which should be in three months’ time, I will be able to rebuild. We should be on an even keel by Yuletide.”

Maisie found herself grinning. “That’s wonderful, Faither, are ye nae happy? Ye seem downcast.”

“What has happened, Maisie?” her father leaned forward on his desk, his elbows settling into the worn grooves in the dark green leather.

Maisie sighed, leaning back in her chair, listening to the soft murmurs of the servants in the rooms above. The fire crackled, and it felt as though she had never left.

Perhaps I should stay here. James clearly doesnae wish for me to be with him. And yet I’m still the lady of his clan, there’s no changin’ that. She choked back a laugh as she imagined managing the castle from Larkhill .

“Nothin’ in particular,” she replied evenly, not wishing to disclose anything about the attacks. Her father would not allow her to return if she told him the truth, and she did not wish for anyone else to make that decision but her.

“Are things well with Laird MacLennan? Is he treatin’ ye as he should?

“For the most part,” she answered truthfully. “He is not an even-tempered man.”

Her father looked concerned suddenly. “Is he mistreating ye?”

“Nae, Faither. We are just both very stubborn. He is away with the clan a lot, and I felt I should return to see ye.”

Her father pinned her with a knowing stare.

“Ye have nae been married a month and ye have come to visit yer faither, Maisie. That doesnae sound as though things are as they should be.”

Maisie stood up, walked to the fire, and watched the flames dance before her eyes. There was silence behind her. Her father was good at waiting for other people to speak.

What would he say if I simply told him me marriage is over? I told me husband I might nae return, and he told me he ‘understood’.

She felt miserable at the prospect that James might be in his castle at that moment, utterly unconcerned at her absence. Perhaps he was already rejoicing at her departure. A cold wave of sadness flooded through her at the thought, and she did her best to hold back tears.

“How about a cup of tea and a bannock over a game of chess?” her father asked.

Maisie looked back at him laughing.

“Dae ye read me so easily, Faither?”

“Always,” he said happily.

“I should like that,” she replied softly.

As the evening drew to a close and the light outside died, Maisie spent a happy few hours with her father, alternating between chess and piquet.

Her father was in much higher spirits. Dora fussed about them, singing to herself and humming as she brought them tea and cake. Maisie invited her to stand and watch one of their chess games and give her father some pointers. He had never been particularly good at it.

When Dora helped him, it was the only game he won, and afterward, he seemed a little less scandalized that Maisie had asked a servant for assistance.

As night fell, they sat before the fire, her father with a whisky in hand and Maisie holding some tea. Her stomach was still not quite right and even the cake had been a little too much for her. The tea was soothing, though and she watched the gentle steam rise in tandem with the smoke from the fire.

“Will ye tell me what is troublin’ ye now?”

Maisie glanced at him, a little numb as she met his kind eyes.

She gave a heavy sigh. “I dinnae ken, Faither,” she admitted. “I dinnae think James is interested in havin’ a wife. He is focused on his clan, he doesnae want the distraction of a marriage.”

Her father did not speak for a long time. After a little while he hummed and put down his whisky. He leaned forward and looked at her with an expression she had not seen before.

“Neither was I when I was a young man,” he said. “When I met yer maither, it was an arrangement that suited my parents and her parents. We were not in love, and I had only just begun my business. I had nae interest in women or marriage or children, but I did what I had to do for me faither.”

Their eyes locked at the parallels within their lives, and her father stared into the flame moodily before continuing.

“I neglected her terribly the first year of our marriage, ne’er spending time with her, always away on business. Even when she was with child, I almost missed the birth.”

He shook his head at himself, looking guilty and unhappy.

“It took a great deal for me to turn away from me business and give ye the life ye and yer mother deserved. I realized after ye left how much I had fallen back into me old habits. I am sorry, Maisie. I neglected ye for many years, and ye were as patient and kind as ye could be. My own mistakes led ye to this marriage, and I am more sorry than I can say that it had to be yer fate.”

“Nae, Faither. James is a good man,” she said fervently.

“That’s as may be, but he reminds me of me.”

Maisie raised her eyebrows at him. “Ye are a laird of a castle I am unaware of, is that what ye are tellin’ me?” she asked trying to instill some humor into her voice.

“What I mean is, he is tied to his clan, just as I was tied to me work. It took me wife’s presence, and yer arrival, to remind me what life is about. Ye can work yerself into an early grave if ye wish, but it is the people in our lives that make them worth livin’. Yer mother taught me that, and ye will make James see it in time. If he is focused away from ye, bring his attention back to ye, Maisie.”

He took her hand in his and his gray eyes met hers with a determined and forceful look.

“He is so lucky to have ye, lass. Remind him of that every day.”

“And what if he doesnae wish to hear it?”

“Well, I might not know the man, but I didnae listen to begin with either. Yer maither always had ideas for the business that I ignored until she insisted, I tried something small that she had suggested. Over time she became me confidant in all things, and I can see that with ye and Laird MacLennan.”

He squeezed her hand gently. “Ye have a strong will, Maisie, and so does he. It willnae be easy livin’ together in harmony, but ye can make his life better. Ye might be the makin’ of the man, and I think he will be the makin’ of ye. I can already see it.”

Maisie watched the fire for a long while and was startled when her father stood up, looking down at her quizzically.

“Are ye here because ye wish to see me, or are ye runnin’ away from a man who is tryin’ to push ye away? Believe me when I tell ye, he doesnae ken what’s good for him. I ken I didnae.”