Page 14 of A Love Without Limits (Loving in the Highlands 1)

'Good afternoon,' Forba says, noticing us. 'Did you like the breakfast?'

'Yes, thank you,' I say, smiling.

‘You are so friendly,’ Elsie tells Forba and Anabel, who is a young maid. ‘We do not know anyone here besides you. Can you acquaint us with everybody in the castle? We are eager to get to know everyone and make friends with them.’

Anabel gets very happy. ‘Of course!’

‘Tonight Laird MacKinnon is planning to acquaint you with everyone in the castle during the dinner,’ Forba says proudly. 'He told me it himself,' she is proud that she is the main maid and knows more than the other maids do.

‘Really? I did not know that,’ Anabel says. ‘Then it is much better – you will see everyone at once.’

‘That is amazing!’ I exclaim. 'It is such a good idea.'

Now, that we are staying in this castle I do not know for how long, it is a good chance to get to know everyone. Not everything is bad, after all.

After strolling through the garden and visiting much of the castle, I and Elsie spend the rest of the day in her bedroom and do not leave. I burn with desire to see Sloan, but knowing that he is another girl’s future husband, it keeps me back.

'There are many members of his clan living in this castle,' Elsie says, as we are sitting on her bed, chatting. 'Do you think he will think about getting you married with one of his relatives?'

'I do not know,' I shrug. 'Anyways, I am not interested in anyone yet.'

'I know,' Elsie takes my hand. 'But you must look forward, as we already know what Sloan thinks about this situation.'

I nod. Elsie is right. As always.

When the time comes for dinner, I make sure to look my best, wearing my beautiful dark green earasaid and braiding my hair. Elsie smiles, while looking at me.

‘Do you hope that he will change his mind if he sees how beautiful you are?’ She asks.

‘Of course not!’ I turn to look at her. ‘I do not have any intentions of taking someone else’s man. If he belongs to her, then he belongs to her. I will never even have the slightest idea of stealing him from his fiancée.’

Well, I do not know. I really do not want to take someone else’s man. If he wanted, he would change his mind, and propose me instead, but if he does not, it means that he loves her and wants to marry her. Everything happens when we want them to happen. But, deep inside my mind, maybe there is a small hope that he will change his mind. I want him to like me, to see how beautiful I am. Even though I know that he is not my future husband, I still want to be likable.

‘Elsie, I just want to be beautiful and likable. I want the people in the castle to like me,’ I say. ‘Of course, they are not going to like me because I am beautiful,’ I add hurriedly. ‘I will show them my inner beauty, I will be who I am, and they will decide to like me or not.’

Elsie nods, smiling.

‘I think the same way,’ she says, 'we will let them see our inner beauty,' she adds, and we leave her room.

The hallways are empty – apparently everyone is already in the dining-room, waiting for us. I take a deep breath, as we reach the dining-room door. Elsie opens it, and we enter.

There are many people there, or at first it seems to me so. Women and men of different ages, wearing nice clothes, looking at us with interest.

‘Nice to see you again, lady Megan,’ Sloan says, and once he speaks, it is only then that I see him among the other people. He is as good-looking as he was in the morning. ‘lady Elsie, and you, too.’

I and Elsie stand by the long table, which is full of food. Sloan's relatives are sitting around that long table, eager to get to know us. I think we look awkward, just standing there and smiling, waiting to be acquainted, as the only person we know there is Sloan.

There is mainly silence in the dining-room, as everyone stopped talking – there is only random sound of the forks and spoons touching the plates, as his relatives continue eating.

'Attention, everyone, these are McLeold sisters, Megan and Elsie,' Sloan says, turning to the people who smile at us. 'Megan, Elsie, there are three families living in the castle – my uncles' families. You will get to know them as you live here, as days go by, even if I say their names now, you will not be able to remember all of them at once,' he adds, smiling.

And he goes on calling their names, and we smile and nod. I do not remember everybody's names, but I hope that I will remember them with time. There are nice girls and boys, Sloan's cousins, and I hope we can make friends with them. They all seem to be very nice.

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