Page 10 of The Lady’s Reckless Abandon (Safely in Scotland #1)

F inn frowned after watching Lily— Lady Lily, for he needed to think of her as a guest and not an object of interest—flee from the table as soon as she finished eating. She’d been very quiet while she was in the room. Not the normal quiet he was accustomed to thinking of her. This was different.

His guest seemed tense. It was easy to discern by the way she’d speared her ham and eggs with more gusto than the staid meal deserved. Then she excused herself almost immediately after finishing.

Perhaps she’d felt the change in him the night before and she was making herself scarce because she was afraid of him. Not afraid in the sense of an attack, he’d given her no reason to feel threatened in that way. But she must have seen the way he’d looked at her.

The way a man looks at a woman he longs to touch, and kiss, and…well…much more.

Good God, she’d just been taken advantage of by a man pretending to love her, and here he was fairly in a lather for watching her play the pianoforte.

Perhaps it was this desperation to spare Lady Lily any further awkwardness that had him hire Mrs. Prichard as a chaperone only two minutes after she’d entered his study that morning.

He didn’t worry over the woman’s qualifications. If Mrs. MacDougal or Oliver thought she would do, he trusted she would as well.

The woman was rather stiff and slightly pinched about the face and eyes as if she was in constant danger of smelling something unpleasant, but she’d offered him a tight smile after he’d proposed she take the position, and he felt the relationship was off to a good start.

Besides, even if he didn’t grow to like the woman at all, it wouldn’t matter for she’d not be in his home all that long. A few weeks, a month at the most, and then Lily’s family would send for her and she and the new chaperone would be gone from Gealach Castle.

And he’d be alone once more.

If his stomach tightened at this information, he paid it no mind and went on about his day.

Or tried to, until Mrs. MacDougal bustled in and waited for him to address her before speaking.

“I see you’ve hired Mrs. Prichard,” his housekeeper said.

“Aye. Isn’t that what you expected after sending her to me?”

“I wasn’t the one to find her. Olly did. So if she doesn’t work out, I want it noted I am not at fault.”

“Do you have reason to think she won’t work out, Mrs. MacDougal?”

“Only that she is rather high on the hill, Your Grace.”

“I had noticed she was older, but I’m not asking her to win a race at the games or compete in a caber toss. She’s only to watch over a guest.”

“Nay, but people might question her use as a chaperone. Especially as she is in your employ. People might think it plausible that she be directed to look away since her livelihood is dependent upon pleasing ye, Your Grace.”

“Good lord. It isn’t as if Lily has the funds to employ her own chaperone. She needed a chaperone and I have provided one. What else am I to do?”

“I think you’ve done all you could, Your Grace. Mayhap just see that the woman stays awake when she is supposed to be looking after ye.”

Finn couldn’t stop from rolling his eyes. He worried he was hanging on by a thread of propriety. Just a few more smiles from Lady Lily and he would plummet into disgrace. If he needed to employ a sharp stick to prod Mrs. Prichard into protecting her charge from his interest, then he’d do so.

“Thank you, Mrs. MacDougal.”

When his housekeeper left, Finn slouched in his chair and let out a breath.

“’Tis only a few weeks. A month at the most.”

*

Lily’s first week at Gealach had gone by with relative ease. Lily still felt overheated when she noticed the duke watching her as she played each night, but having refrained from drinking anymore whisky, she did not require assistance going to her room.

Each morning Lily sat with equal parts eagerness and terror while the duke flipped through each piece of mail received that day. Who knew a duke received so much correspondence? Every day he managed to get through the pile and shake his head, Lily felt both forlorn and sparred. She was suffering quite the jumble of emotions.

Wanting to know her fate, while not wanting to miss a day here with the duke. Not wanting to overstay her welcome, while wishing she could stay there the rest of her life. She switched between a medley of feelings numerous times a day.

It was still early, perhaps her brother had yet to get her letter, or mayhap he had and was in the process of locating and interrogating their father as to what should be done with her.

It was daunting to think that at this very moment, her fate might be being decided in London while she was there with the duke.

The duke had kept his distance these last days and she did the same as well. Perhaps both of them understood the risk her loose morals posed.

Mrs. Prichard was a compact woman who wasn’t much for conversation. She generally sat quietly in the corner of the room with her knitting when she wasn’t snoring. Given her age, Lily didn’t wish to startle the woman to her death, so she often allowed the woman to sleep while Lily went off to do other things.

Mostly she stayed to the music room, quietly playing the different instruments, and imagining how they might all blend together if played at the same time. She coordinated different melodies and layers of music for each instrument.

Other than stopping by for a quick greeting, the duke had not requested her company for lunch by the lake or laughed with her over dinner. He was the picture of nobility, and she hated it.

Sitting at the breakfast table with him in silence was nearly more than she could take. But she let out a sigh and focused on eating even if she had lost all taste for her meal. And the day, and her time here at Gealach Castle.

“I’m sorry you are disappointed. I’m sure you will receive word soon. Mayhap tomorrow.”

Without thinking she shook her head.

“I am not disappointed,” she said when, in fact, she should have allowed him to think that was the issue.

He cocked his head, curiously. Silently asking her what was amiss.

She chose to provide him with a partial answer.

“I imagine I am used to being in London with an event each night. While I normally enjoy the country, I find myself thinking too much with no other distractions.” She shook her head. “Please ignore me, Your Grace, I sound like a spoiled girl, when in truth I am so grateful you have given me a place to stay while I wait to hear word from my family.”

He let out a breath not unlike the sigh she regretted.

Picking up the post again, he flipped past a few letters before stopping and holding one up toward her.

“This is an invitation to a dinner party at the vicar’s home in the village. I was planning to decline, but mayhap we should attend. It would get us out of the house and allow us the opportunity to converse with other people.”

“Would they not wonder how I came to be a guest at your home?”

“Whether is it right or wrong, you will find not many people contest the word of a duke. If I tell them you are a friend, and they see you are properly chaperoned, they will accept it as truth. And as matter of fact, it is the truth. I do count on you as a friend.”

A friend.

She should have been squealing with joy for an event to attend as well as having the duke admit to thinking her a friend, but for whatever reason she now felt the disappointment he’d accused her of moments ago.

She could not want more than friendship from the duke. Or rather, she shouldn’t.

The fact he only saw her as a friend should also give her some bit of relief that even if she were to let loose with her feelings, he would surely clamp them down directly and set her back. She could trust him to keep them in line.