Page 13 of The Curse of McMillan Castle
Cooper nodded. “Exactly.”
* * *
Madeline
Iate little over dinner. I was too busy listening to Duncan interact with Cooper. It had taken everything in me not to burst into laughter as I watched the look of shock and horror cross Duncan’s face as Cooper told him just who all he belonged to. While common in my own time, nothing of the sort was common here. But Duncan’s restrained and understanding response only served to increase my opinion of him further.
He was just as lovely with everyone else at the table. But while he engaged with all of them with just as much kindness as he had Henry earlier in the day, he seemed much less at ease with the McMillans than he had with my elderly patient.
It made perfect sense. We were an odd lot, and we all knew it. While I had exactly zero experience with the workings and livings of other Scottish castles, I knew that most of them didn’t run in the way ours did.
If Duncan did have such experience with other castle households, I imagined this dinner had to be an overwhelming juxtaposition. All of us women spoke freely and loudly, Baodan didn’t rule over us in any real way, and we interacted with those who served us as if they were real humans and not just silent animate objects moving in and out of the room.
I couldn’t tell as I watched him whether or not he found the oddity of us appealing or completely unnerving. Perhaps it was a little of both.
The dinner was nearly over when Duncan spoke to me for the first time since sitting down.
“Are ye well, lass? Ye havena said a word since we sat down. Mayhap I smell, aye? ’Tis likely I do. Me apologies.”
I turned toward him and smiled as I shook my head. He did smell, but not badly. He had a manly, musky scent that I honestly quite enjoyed.
“I’m perfectly well. And you don’t smell. I’ve just been listening, trying to decipher what you’re thinking about all of us.”
His expression was guarded as he narrowed his eyes. “The truth?”
I nodded. “Always.”
“The entire lot of ye are the bonniest clan I’ve ever spent time with, and I canna tell if that means I should sneak away in the night and ne’er come back here for something is afoot, or if I should rent some land from yer Laird and build up a home and ne’er leave.”
I liked the thought of him never leaving, even as stupid as the thought felt inside my mind. I didn’t know this man, but my judgment of him was as agreeable as his was of us. He was one of the bonniest men I’d ever met, as well.
“Which way are you leaning?”
He smiled again, and I smiled as I looked at the way the corners of his eyes crinkled when he did so.
“I doona ken yet. ’Twill take me a few more days among ye to decide.”
I chuckled. “Fair enough.”
“Might I ask ye a question, Madeline?”
Butterflies took flight inside my stomach at the sound of my name rolling off his tongue. Jesus, I was in trouble.
“You can.”
“Where are all of ye from? Many of ye are no’ from Scotland, and I ken well enough that most of ye are no’ related, so how did so many of ye end up here? And where precisely do ye hail from? I’ve ne’er heard such speech before.”
Shit,I thought to myself as I scrambled to come up with an explanation. Duncan wasn’t a permanent resident of McMillan territory. He wasn’t allowed to know the truth about any of us.
“Um...you see…you’re right, we’re not Scottish. Most of us are from outside of London.”
“London?” He frowned as he crossed his arms in disbelief.
“None of ye sound as if ye are from London, lass.”
“We’ve traveled a lot. Over time, a bunch of accents have just blended together, I guess.”
“I’ve traveled much, too. Me journeys havena caused me to lose the Scottish lilt in me voice.”
