Page 59 of The Groom Wore Plaid
Cat smiled from Owen to Maggie with such hope that it was painful when it faltered as she stared deep into Maggie’s eyes.
“It was as simple as discovering they were both fond of embroidery,” Riona said. “Lady Aberfoyle saw what Lady McCallum was working on, and they stiffly began to discuss it.”
“For two entire days we had to listen to that at every meal,” Hugh said, shaking his head.
“It was better than their arguments,” Cat pointed out.
Maggie was relieved to see that Cat was comfortable with Hugh now. Cat had been worried about her cousin Riona’s captivity turning into a good marriage. Apparently her fears had gone.
“Let us allow our guests to refresh themselves before the meal,” Owen said.
“Dorothy, Helen!” Maggie called, ready to foist them off on Owen.
Owen lifted a hand and Mrs. Robertson smoothly glided forward as if a signal had been arranged. “Aye, my lord?”
“Please show Maggie’s cousins, the Mistresses McCallum, to their bedroom.” To the women, he said, “We hope you do not mind sharing one room. Many guests are expected for the festival, and every room will be full.”
“We don’t mind,” Dorothy said forthrightly. “After all, we assume Maggie brought us here to consider men for our husbands. The more guests there are, the luckier we might be.”
Maggie looked everywhere but into Owen’s knowing eyes. Hugh was regarding her suspiciously, too.
Helen blushed again. “Dorothy, ye’re far too free with your words. Lord Aberfoyle doesn’t care about such things.”
“We aren’t offending him,” Dorothy insisted. “’Tis not as if we’re here expecting a trial marriage to begin.”
The sisters brushed shoulders as they laughed, and Maggie saw Riona and Hugh regard each other with their own special smile. Their marriage had begun that way.
Maggie was startled when Owen slid his arm into hers. “Come, let us show our guests to their rooms together. While they’re resting, we can make sure the evening’s entertainment is ready.”
“Oh, but Mrs. Robertson—”
“—can use our help.”
He turned to Hugh, and Maggie watched that careful shield come up between them again, as if they were so concerned to be civil to each other that they could not be themselves. But Owen said nothing, just gestured to the corridor down which their mothers had disappeared, then led the way.
But he didn’t let go of Maggie’s arm.
CHAPTER13
Owen wasn’t surprised that Maggie soon found a way to avoid him after they saw her family settled. She escaped to go find her mother, leaving him to stare after her, and Hugh to give him a narrow-eyed glare. Could the McCallum chief be regretting the contract, regretting handing over his sister to a stranger? But Cat was the stranger Hugh would have taken to wife, had Owen’s father not deceived them all. It was difficult to believe Hugh would want the contract broken, after all that had been done to save it.
Owen had taken no chances, doubling the guards patrolling the battlements and stationed in the great hall. He wasn’t just preparing in case Hugh tried something—he wanted to keep Maggie’s family safe from whoever had decided that the marriage shouldn’t happen.
If Hugh was planning treachery, he was doing a good job disguising it. Anyone could see the love hehad for Owen’s cousin Riona. Riona wouldn’t countenance a betrayal—if she knew about it.
With a bow, Owen took his leave and returned to his room to change, even as he wondered what Maggie had in store for him this evening. When she’d first mentioned having cousins he might favor, he’d put it off to her desperation to delay their wedding.
Each night as he lay alone in bed, he remembered the touch of her bare flesh, how she’d trembled but not stopped his exploration. She’d been as aroused as he, so moist in her depths that he’d done more than he meant to, unable to resist showing her what their nights together would bring.
And her reaction to her own surrender?
Threatening to find him McCallum cousins he was supposed to consider as his wife. She’d even told him exactly what she intended, and he’d dismissed her words as mere bravado. And then he’d taunted her about her dreams, and felt guilty about it ever since—and angry with himself for feeling the guilt at all. In a moment of frustration, he’d struck out at what she considered her biggest vulnerability. She’d called him cruel, and sworn she was trying to save his life. Was she honestly telling the truth about this dream—a truth only she might believe in? It just seemed beyond belief to him.
The logical thing for Owen to do was to watch Maggie and Hugh together and try to find out thetruth. That made a lot more sense to him than believing that her dreams came true.
She’d been right about Emily, a voice whispered inside him. He ignored the doubt like always, but it was getting more and more difficult.
He still had to deal with her newest plan to get out of the marriage: foisting her cousins onto him. He should have known never to underestimate her. It shouldn’t be this difficult for a woman to marry an earl, he thought, pacing from one end of his bedroom to the other. Many women in London would have married him for the title alone, though it was Scottish.
