Page 45 of Sinful Scottish Laird
“No, nothing. Actually, something is right,” she said, trying to make herself smile. “I’ve received a letter from Captain Spivey.”
“Did you!” he said, clearly surprised. “And what did the good captain write?”
“He’s in London. And he feels the same for me as he did eleven years ago. He has come to make his case, and he is worried of my affection since he found me gone.”
Uncle Alfonso studied her face a moment, his expression inscrutable. “What do you want to do?”
“I suppose we should plan to return,” she said without equivocation. Of course they would. Anything less would be to risk her son’s future. She managed a smile. “My prayers have been answered, have they not?”
Uncle Alfonso frowned slightly. He slipped his finger under her chin. “If this is the answer to your prayers, then why do you look so forlorn?”
She wasn’t forlorn, really. She was...indifferent. She should have felt elated by this letter. That Rob went to such lengths to get word to her. That he confessed his feelings for her, which had been her most ardent hope from the moment she heard of him. “I’m not forlorn—I’m happy,” she said. “But I... I just finished the garden.” No, no, it wasn’t the garden that made her hesitate. It was her imprudent infatuation with Cailean and her very real desire to feel his rough hands on her skin again.
Uncle Alfonso put his arm around her shoulders and hugged her to his side. “We’ll build another garden, darling,” he assured her.
“But it won’t be the same, Uncle. Someone else will do the digging. Someone else will determine what to cut and what to plant and where to plant, and I shall be as useful as a statue.”
Her uncle squeezed her shoulders. “Darling...have you perhaps developed an affection for someone other than the captain?”
Daisy’s breath caught in her throat. She could feel her shame flood her cheeks. Sheknewit—when she’d returned to the lodge yesterday, no one had seemed to notice a thing about her, but sheknewit must have been quite evident what she’d done.
“I know Mr. Somerled has called a few times—”
“Somerled!” Daisy suddenly laughed with great relief. “Oh no, Uncle.No.You misunderstand me. I’ve enjoyed my freedom. I suppose my lack of enthusiasm is because I realize it is at an end.”
“But Captain Spivey is what you’ve hoped for,” he said. “He will be good to you.”
“He will. I know he will,” she said. “I do want to marry him.”
Uncle Alfonso smiled. “The bishop cannot settle a better match on you.”
Daisy snorted. “I’m sure he’ll try.”
“He does seem partial to his choices,” her uncle agreed. He dropped his arm and leaned forward, looking at something out the window. “I’ll begin to make the arrangements for our departure.”
Daisy followed his gaze. “Is that Ellis?” she asked, squinting at two figures on the shore.
“It is,” her uncle said. “Arrandale brought the escaped oar around today. He asked for Ellis.”
Daisy watched as Cailean’s dog plunged into the lake, then turned around, paddling back to shore. “I should thank him,” she said and pulled her wrap closer around her.
She left her uncle and made her way down to the shore to Cailean and her son. As she neared them, she heard Ellis’s laughter. She drew up, watching.
They were throwing rocks, she realized, skipping them on the lake’s surface. Ellis was throwing as hard as his young arm would allow...something Daisy had never seen him do. She watched how Arrandale stepped behind him and held his arm, showing him how to throw the rock so that it would skip across the lake’s surface.
Daisy and her sister, Marybeth, used to do that, too, when they’d played behind their grandmother’s dowager house. Marybeth had died of scarlet fever many years ago, and the sudden memory of her made Daisy feel quite nostalgic. She dipped down and searched the sand beneath her feet for a suitable rock. When she’d found one, she joined Ellis and Cailean.
She reached them just as Arrandale threw a rock that skipped five times on the lake’s surface before it sank. As Ellis admired the toss, Cailean noticed Daisy. His gaze seemed to soften, the blue eyes spilling into her. Daisy smiled.
“Look, Mamma!” Ellis cried gleefully. “Look what I can do!” He picked up a rock and hurled it. It didn’t go very far, and it sank without skipping. Ellis didn’t seem to mind—he was irrepressible, his face shining with pleasure. She was shocked by this boy. Her somber son didn’t laugh easily, and he didn’t take to physical activity.
“Remember, lad, you must throw it with a bit of a hook, aye?” Cailean stepped around behind Ellis to mimic the throw with him again.
“Watch!” Ellis said gleefully and threw it. The rock skipped twice. He whirled around. “Did yousee?”
“Yes, I saw, darling. It was a magnificent throw!”
Ellis squatted down and began to look for more rocks as Daisy moved closer. She frowned playfully at Cailean.
