Page 87 of The Last Debutante
“I’ve heard enough.” Daria couldn’t look at her grandmother. She could scarcely even breathe. She walked out into the yard as Mamie rushed to the door behind her. She was aware that Mamie called her back, that Mackenzie was asking her if she was all right.
But all Daria could manage was, “I should like to go.”
“Aye. Where?”
An excellent question. There was no place where she might escape this disaster.
Twenty-six
MALCOLMBRODIE WASquite pleased to see Jamie. He walked out to greet him with a hearty clap on the back.“’S e do bheatha,”he said in greeting. “Come and we will talk, the two of us, aye?” He gestured to the door of his home.
“Thank you, Malcolm. Would you mind if I spoke to Isabella first?”
“Aye, aye.” Malcolm smiled as he opened the door of the house. Isabella was coming down the stairs.
“I’ll leave you alone for a wee bit, aye?” Malcolm said. “No’ too long, mind you, or the lass’s mother will have me head.” He laughed heartily.
Isabella smiled indulgently at her father and gestured to the salon. They entered, and she waited with her hands clasped tightly behind her back until he’d closed the door. “I havena said that I am gladdened to see you so recovered,” she said as she moved forward.
Was he recovered? He wasn’t entirely certain he would ever fully recover. From the gunshot, yes. But not from the engagement, the crying off.
When she stood before him, she rose up on her toes and kissed his cheek. “Thank you for coming, Jamie.”
Ah, but she was a bonny lass. She would bear beautiful children. Life would go on, winter turning to spring and summer turning to autumn, and Jamie would sit in his chair, rubbing the gash in the leather. He would determine whose goose it was, and the river of life would flow on, cutting deeper and deeper into its bed.
He took Isabella’s hand, pressed his lips to her temple.
Isabella was still smiling. “What are you thinking,mo ghraidh?”
My love.Those words clanged emptily about Jamie’s breast. “Do you love me, then, Isabella?”
She smiled at him as she had smiled at her father. Indulgently. Patiently. “Of course I do.”
He stroked her knuckles thoughtfully, then let go of her hand. “Do you truly?”
She sighed impatiently. “What is it you want, Jamie? Aye, I am quite fond of you.”
“As I am fond of you,” he said. “But I donna love you, Isabella.”
He expected her to be offended, but Isabella merely blinked at him. Then she smiled sympathetically. “Is that what is on your mind? Jamie, it will come. There is no reason it will no’. We are compatible in every way; we have a fondness for one another. One day, we will love each other.” She smiled reassuringly and stroked his cheek.
Jamie wrapped his hand around her wrist and pulled it away. “Two months ago, that would have been enough for me, lass. But it is no’ enough for me now.”
Isabella’s smile faded. “What are you saying?”
“I think you know,” he said quietly. “I canna marry you.”
The news clearly stunned her. “Are you mad?” she whispered incredulously. “We have a perfect match, Jamie. And you would throw it all away, risk your clan and your lands, because you do no’, in this moment,loveme?”
Those were the words. Those were the words he’d been trying to find in himself these last two days. It all came together now. Yes, he would risk all. But not because he didn’t love Isabella. He would risk it all because he loved Daria. She was worth the risk.
“Jamie?” Isabella said, demanding an answer.
He sighed helplessly. “Aye. That is precisely what I would do.”
She took a step back, her eyes wide with shock. “Do you love the Englishwoman?” she asked.
“Aye.”
