Page 40 of The Last Debutante
He smiled, tossed his quill down, and stood, moving around the desk. His limp was growing less noticeable every day, thank heaven, and the wound in his side was hardly noticeable to him now. “I intend to invite you to dine at my table, provided we can come to terms.”
“Terms,” she repeated skeptically. “How odd. I cannot recall another time I was invited to dine underterms.Another Scottish custom, I suppose. Very well, what would you like? A fatted calf?” she asked, her hands finding her hips. “Or perhaps you mean to humiliate me in some way. Must I declare some oath of allegiance to my liege?”
“That sounds rather appealing,” he said, casually leaning back against his desk.
She gave him a look of exasperation. “What is it about the male sex that requires such adoration? One grows weary from it.”
“You sound as if you’ve done naugh’ but adore men, Miss Babcock. If you are practiced, I will no’ object.”
She snorted. “One can scarcely be a member of my sex and not be practiced, Laird Campbell.” She said his name as if he were a wee bit shy of a full brain. “This one must be admired for his hunting,” she said, flicking one wrist, “and that one for his prowess at the gaming hells,” she said, flicking the other. Aedus and Anlan seemed to think she was tossing scraps and began to dance around, sitting down on their rumps, their heads pointed up at her when she stopped moving, waiting.
“Those are cynical words for an English debutante.”
“Practical words,” she said confidently.
“I wonder why an English debutante as practical and pleasing to the eye as you is no’ married by now,” he said.
Her blush deepened and for once, the woman looked entirely at a loss. “That isquiteinappropriate—”
“You broached the subject—”
“I didn’t! You did!”
“Why have you no’ married, Miss Babcock? Do you hope for a title? A London townhome? It must be something of the like, for on my word, you are far too bonny to have been overlooked. And you kiss entirely too well.”
She gasped. He smiled. She gasped again and whirled around, her hands pressed to her cheeks. “That... that’s appalling!”
He laughed. “Did you think I wouldna remember, then? Aye, I was a wee bit out of my head, but a man does no’ forget a kiss like that.”
“Oh dear God,” she murmured, looking stricken.
It intrigued him. After all she’d been through, the kiss was the thing to unsettle her? “You didna answer my question,” he said curiously. “Why have you no’ married?”
“Why haven’tyou?” she demanded, quickly regaining her composure. “You are the laird here. Everyone waits for your heir—”
“Everyone?” he repeated, smiling.
“All of them,” she said, sweeping her arm grandly toward them “all.”
He must have looked surprised because she cried, “Aha! You would very much like to know who. You undoubtedly think a lass or two who would like the honor of being your wife.”
“Are there?” he asked, only mildly curious. He knew very well the speculation about heirs. There had been great hopes placed on his marriage to Isabella, and when that had fallen through, more mothers had hoped for a match with their daughters. He was only surprised that Daria knew it.
“Are there what?”
“Are there lassies who want to be my wife?Diah,I will hope they are bonny lassies with wide hips to bear me a passel of children.”
She blinked. Her cheeks bloomed. And then she smiled. “Would you like me to find you a wife, Laird?” she asked airily. “It’s really rather easy. The only virtue a woman here seems to seek is that her future husband be a Campbell.”
He laughed. “I donna need your help, Miss Babcock.”
“Don’t you?” she asked, folding her arms across her middle, drumming her fingers on one arm. “That’s just as well, for I am not inclined to help you, seeing as how you hold me captive here. Even if it would give me a much-needed occupation.”
“My marriage,” he said, “will be arranged soon enough, donna doubt it. But thank you for your most generous offer to arrange a match for a man whose only redeeming quality appears to be his name.”
She put her hand on her heart and inclined her head in acceptance of his thanks. “Well then, you may as well give me your terms for dining with civilization, and I will think on them.”
He’d forgotten the start of this conversation. “You’llthinkon them?” He pushed away from the desk and moved so that he was standing directly before her, so close that he could smell the rose scent of her perfume. “You are a clever one,leannan,but you have the unfortunate tendency to make demands of me. Donna make the mistake of believing you are in an English salon, aye? I owe you a debt for saving my bloody hide, and for that, I am granting you leeway I would no’ otherwise grant. The terms, which you will accept if you donna want to be restricted to your suite of rooms for the remainder of your stay at Dundavie, is that you will play the pianoforte for my family.”
