Page 23 of Highlander's Secret Heiress
His values had changed; he had never been hugely outgoing, but while he was with Sandrina she had brought out the best in him. He had become more sociable and able to hold his own in any conversation. Occasionally, especially after a few glasses of wine, his sense of humour had come to the fore, and he had actually been able to make his friends laugh.
But now those days had gone, and he realised that the people he had once valued now meant nothing to him; they seemed shallow, and their conversation centred mainly around social events and scandals.
However, Lachlan realised that he had no interest in those things any more—in fact, he never had, but Sandrina had encouraged him to stay on the right side of the social circle for the sake of Davina. As long as she had been beside him, he had complied, but now he found it impossible, he simply could not make himself fit in.
For the last three years, Lachlan had been a recluse, and he would have stayed that way if he had not had Davina’s future prospects to consider. For a long time, he had thought that she had not much of a future to look forward to.
Now, however, things had begun to change with the arrival of the new maid. He had spent hours thinking and wondering about what made Jeannie special, but he simply could not put his finger on it. One thing was certain, however. She was absolutely gorgeous, and made his body thrill with desire.
He was utterly confused, and realised that the best and only way out of his situation was to talk to her; anyway, he had not thanked Jeannie Dunbar properly for saving Davina’s life.
Accordingly, he waited outside Davina’s door that evening to intercept the maid before she made her way to bed. Listening closely, he heard Jeannie’s voice reading the story, but now andagain Davina put in a word; she was speaking more and more frequently now, and Lachlan was infinitely relieved and grateful. It had been years since anything had moved him so much.
As soon as Jeannie’s voice stopped, he opened the door and stepped through into Davina’s chamber. The maid looked up, and her eyes widened in surprise, then she glanced back at Davina, indicating that she was asleep.
Lachlan smiled and opened the door wider, signalling that she should come out with him.
Alyth was mystified, but she complied, and walked beside him silently, wondering where they were going. She was terrified. Had she done something wrong? Was she going to be dismissed?
Her suspicion was confirmed when they arrived at his study and opened the door, then stood aside to let her in. “Sit down, Jeannie,” he said, indicating one of the chairs in front of his desk.
Before he spoke, Alyth pre-empted him and said, “If you would like me to leave, M’Laird, I understand. I—” She got no further before he interrupted her.
“No. The last thing I want is for you to go. Davina adores you and would never forgive me for sending you away. Jeannie, I wanted to thank you… again. Thank you for saving my daughter’s life. It is a debt I can never repay, and as long as Davina needs you, you have a position here. I have asked Maisie about you, and she tells me you are well-liked among the other maids. I told her what you did for Davina, but I made her stay quiet about it until I had spoken to you again, although it has taken me a few days to work up the courage. I feel responsible for the whole incident, I should not have left you on your own, and I should have brought some guards with us.
Yet if I had left Davina with anyone else, I think she would be dead by now. You are an exceptional person, Jeannie, and Ihave often wondered if I should recruit you into my guards.” He laughed to show he was not serious, then stood up and went to pour them a glass of wine.
“I really know very little about wine,” he confessed. “I know what I like, so I hope you do too.” He handed her a glass. “Slàinte Mhath, and thank you again, Jeannie.”
“Slàinte Mhath, M’Laird,” Alyth replied, then took a sip of her wine. It was not the best she had ever tasted, but by no means the worst. “It’s delicious, but I am not an expert either.”
Lachlan smiled, and realised that it was something he was becoming accustomed to doing. At first, smiling had involved stretching his facial muscles in a very unfamiliar way, but then he had done it so little in the last few years, but now he was finding it much easier. Was it because of the woman sitting opposite him, or because of Davina’s improvement? Both, he concluded; this woman was the cause of the wonderful change in his daughter’s life.
“I have no way to tell you how grateful I am,” Lachlan went on, and the expression in his turquoise eyes was warm. “Again. Do you believe in intuition, Jeannie?”
“Do you mean meeting someone for the first time and liking them at once?” she asked. He nodded. “Yes, I do. It’s happened to me a few times.”
“I think that was what happened to Davina,” he remarked. “She saw you, and she liked you at once. It might have had something to do with the way you look, but I think it was more than that. She has always been able to read people, and she liked whatever she saw in you—something reminded her of her mother, Sandie.”
To her surprise, Alyth saw Lachlan’s eyes begin to glitter with tears as he said his late wife’s name.
“Her death was my fault,” he said huskily. “When the MacAdams attacked us, I was so blinded by rage that I went tofight them straight away and left Sandie and Davina behind. I am bitterly ashamed that I hardly thought of their safety—we had always had a plan to safeguard them, of course.
Yet in my haste to go to battle I left the responsibility to someone else, someone I thought I could trust, but who failed me. But that does not excuse me. I am the Laird, the leader, and I failed in my duty to keep my family safe, even though my castle was undamaged. I fought harder for it than I did for them. Yet, I would rather have seen the castle in ruins and have my wife back than have lost her because she and Davina were my whole world. Sandie and Davina were devoted to each other, and I loved my Sandie more than anyone else I had ever known, apart from my daughter, of course. I would give everything I possess to have her back, and for Davina to have been undamaged.”
Tears had begun to stream down his face, and his eyes were looking into the past as he relived what had been the saddest day of his life.
“When I came upon them, Sandie was lying on her back, and an arrow was sticking out of her chest. She had died defending our daughter. She had taken an arrow for her—stood in front of Davina, blocked its path and died,” he continued. “There was blood everywhere, but the worst thing of all was that Davina was standing looking down at her. She was completely still and silent, not moving, not saying a word.
I had a terrible feeling of foreboding and when I went up to her to ask her if she was all right, her face was expressionless, and still, she did not speak. She was pale as a ghost, and I thought she was going to fall down dead right there on the spot.”
When Lachlan looked up at her again, his tears were falling so heavily that they were dripping onto the desk, but he made no move to wipe them away.
“But she lived,” he went on, “although she has never said a word—until now.”
He looked up at Alyth, and suddenly, she felt so sorry for him that she moved around the desk and put her arms around him, gently stroking his chestnut brown hair and murmuring to him soothingly.
“Not everything was your fault,” she murmured. “It takes two sides to start a war, so there was responsibility on both sides. You were under pressure, and I understand completely what that is like. Stop blaming yourself.”
