Page 76 of His Highland Duchess
"Aurelia,” he said. “It is not as simple as you might think. I have told you this.”
“Liar!”
“You are coming home,” he said sternly.
“You cannot make me!”
He groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “Please, Aurelia… do not make this more difficult than it needs to be. Please…” His voice cracked with sadness.
No… not sadness. It was more than that. Margaret looked at Lysander – really looked at him. Although he was much the same, she could see the differences as clear as day. He looked tired and worn. Withered, like a flower denied light and soil. He was a shadow of the powerful, confident man whom she knew, and she understood why.
Her mind went back to what Aurelia had said just now. About how distant he had been. How removed and depressed. As she suspected, he did not want her to leave any more than she wanted to go, resigned to that fate because he was stubborn and believed his own lies.
Worse than that, I hurt him, forcing him to react the only way he kens how.
Margaret did not want to go back to Scotland. Nor did she want to beg for Lysander to take her back. What she wished was for him to tell her how much he cared for her, so that she might tell him the same. She needed him to admit it to himself because that was the only way that he would finally accept the truth.
“Catherine…” Margaret looked to her sister. “Perhaps you can take Aurelia inside.”
“No!” Aurelia cried. “I am not going.”
“Only for a few minutes,” Margaret said to her. “And I promise, I will nae go to Scotland without ye.”
“Really?” she asked hesitantly.
“Really.” As she spoke, she looked at Lysander, making sure he was looking back at her. She smiled softly, letting it reach her eyes, making himseeher so there would be no confusion about how she felt. “But first, your father and I need to have a talk.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
She looked even more beautiful than Lysander remembered. It had only been a few days, but in that time, he had worked so hard to forget Margaret that he’d forgotten just how stunning a woman she was. The auburn hair. The slender frame, which was also curvaceous. The round face, those full lips, and the green eyes…eyes that are filled with troubleand mischief,as if even now she is trying to frustrate me.
He did his best to look past all that because he needed to be strong.
“I am sorry about this,” Lysander said. He did not go to her, keeping his distance because he feared that if he came close enough to smell her, he would lose himself. “It will not happen again.”
“As am I,” Margaret said. She wore a knowing smile, her eyes glimmering in a way that suggested she was in on a joke thathe did not understand. “And I promise, I had nae intention of bringing her to Scotland with me.”
“I should hope not.”
It was undoubtedly tense between them. Lysander, doing what he could not to engage. Margaret, watching him with that look which suggested she knew more than he did. In a way, Lysander was reminded of when they had first met, how just a look from her could undo him and drive him wild.
“How… how are things, concerning Lady Brimstone?” Margaret asked next.
“Not as bad as they might be,” Lysander said cautiously. “You may not know this, but Lady Brimstone is not exactly well-liked. And she is a known gossip and instigator. Where some believe what she has said, many assume she is exaggerating.”
“That’s guid.”
“I have sent letters,” Lysander continued. “Julian also, and a few others. I suspect that in time, most of what was written will be forgotten.” A tight nod. “In the end, it did not cause nearly the problem that I had feared.”
“That I had feared too,” she agreed. “And I am heartened to hear it. I was worried about the girls. You ken that, I hope.”
“I do.”
“I would nae da anything to upset or hurt them. As strange as it sounds, I dae love them, Lysander. And despite all that has happened, that will nae change.”
He grimaced at the words, his chest tightening with guilt.I know this of her, how she feels for my daughters, how desperate she was to see that no harm befell them.That alone should have been enough to see him change his mind and tell her what a fool he had been, for Margaret was not a bad influence or anything the like. And his daughters — would having a stepmother who cared for them not be a boon? Was that not something he should have coveted?
Lysander was trying his best not to meet Margaret’s searching eyes. Still, he could not quite look past what had happened between them. The first time he had dared to open himself to another, he had hurt him. Could he risk suffering such a thing again?
