Page 59 of Sinful Scottish Laird
Daisy’s heart ached. She sank down onto her knees before him and took his hands. “Of course, darling. You may always speak to me. You need not ask my permission.Never,” she said.
He nodded.
“The laird is not coming to dine, darling. But he came round to invite us to a festival.”
Ellis gasped. “May we?”
She smiled. “We’ll speak to Uncle Alfonso about it. Go and find him, will you? Ask him what he thinks.” She kissed his cheek. Ellis darted away, cutting a wide berth around Robert.
Daisy stood up before Robert could help her. “That wasn’t at all necessary. I have taught himproperly,” she said, struggling to control her temper.
“I have not implied otherwise. But there are some things only a man can teach a boy. I know you’ve done the best you could under the circumstances.”
Daisy opened her mouth to argue, but he shook his head and put up a hand. “I don’t expect you to understand, darling. You must trust me when I tell you that if you want him to be a respected viscount one day, he must possess the proper manners and demeanor. I’m only doing it for his sake.”
Her son possessed very good manners. And he had the demeanor of a nine-year-old boy, just as he should.
The bank of dark clouds in Daisy’s thoughts grew thicker.
“You cannot mean to attend this...festival,” Robert said with a dismissive flick of his wrist.
“I do,” Daisy said. “For Ellis’s sake, I do.”
“For God’s sake, Daisy,” Robert said. He pivoted away from her, his hands finding his hips, shaking his head to the heavens. “Will you not heed me? He is a dangerous man. Acriminalin the eyes of the Crown. Your...association with him not only tarnishes your reputation, but it is destructive to your son’s future prospects!”
“I don’t believe it!” Daisy argued. “How can anyone know of the summer he has spent here?”
“Because people come and go between Scotland and England every day. Because tongues wag. Because all it takes is one mention,” he said, shaking his finger at her, “of the Lady Chatwick at the home of a known smuggler, and talkfollows.”
He was angry with her, brimming with it. There was some truth in what he was saying, she knew—but she had seen her son flourish here in a way she’d never seen. She wanted to give him this. And she couldn’t bring herself to believe that someone would hasten back to London to tell where she’d been.
“I’ll speak to my uncle,” she assured him, but Robert was not mollified.
“I don’t want you to go,” he said sternly. “I can’t force my will on you,” he added.
Daisy thought,Yet.
“But I am asking you to consider my wishes,” he finished.
“And I am asking you to consider mine,” she said. “I have been in the man’s company on several occasions. If there are tongues to be wagged, it is too late for it.”
“That is not—”
“I beg your pardon, Robert, but I am unwell,” she said. “My head is hurting so.”
He pressed his lips together as if he was biting back what he would say to that. “Perhaps you should rest,” he said curtly.
“Perhaps I should,” she agreed and left him standing on the path, his dark gaze boring through her as she retreated to the lodge and her room.
She lay down on her bed and stared up at the ceiling.
Her head hurt, but it was the exhaustion of her emotions that had felled her and caused the tears that welled in her eyes. Robert was the man she thought she’d always wanted, a good man. She didn’t care for the way he’d corrected Ellis, but she was also painfully aware that it could be worse. It could be the edicts of a complete stranger with no regard for her at all. And if that stranger was indifferent to Ellis, or worse, cruel, she couldn’t bear it. She may not care for the way Robert spoke to Ellis, but at least she knew that he cared for her, and surely that devotion would carry over to her son. Wouldn’t it?
There had been only one man besides her uncle who had shown Ellis even the smallest amount of regard, and that was Cailean. And oh, how Ellis adored him.
A tear escaped her eye and slid down her cheek. Daisy swiped angrily at it. She had only herself to blame for turning an impetuous physical spark with a handsome man into something more than it was or could ever be.
It was time that she stopped daydreaming. It was time she faced her future. But by God, she was going to allow Ellis the pleasure of that festival before she did.
