Page 111 of The Scottish Duke
He sat next to her in the adjoining wing chair.
“I need to talk to Mrs.McDermott. I don’t want any trays left unattended. And from now on, only the staff regularly assigned there is to be allowed in the kitchen.”
“I don’t think the poison was meant for Nan,” she said.
“Nor do I.”
She glanced at him for a moment before she went back to studying the fire.
“Your uncle came to the cottage one day,” she said. “He wanted to know about my herbs.”
“You think Thomas would have done such a thing?”
“No,” she said. “I don’t. He’s been genuinely kind to me these past months. I find him charming. He might be a libertine, but I doubt he’s a murderer.”
Alex didn’t say anything, but his face changed, molding itself into stern lines. For just a second she saw how he might appear in thirty or forty years. That is, unless he allowed some happiness into his life.
“He was complimentary of you when he came to Edinburgh,” he said.
“Was he?”
She glanced at him again, caught the glint in his eyes and shook her head.
“I’m not Ruth, Alex.”
He didn’t answer her.
“Oh, for pity’s sake, Alex, stop it. I will not be compared to Ruth. Not in any way.”
“What does that mean?”
“She was a great deal more understanding of you than I am.”
“Again, what does that mean, Lorna?”
“According to your mother, the two of you chased each other all over Scotland. I have no intention of tolerating that kind of behavior. I think it only fair to warn you that if you desert me again, I’ll sue for a legal separation.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“The Matrimonial Causes Act,” she said, closing her eyes and laying her head back against the chair. “I believe it was passed a few years ago.”
“Who told you about the Matrimonial Causes Act?”
His voice sounded strange, but she didn’t open her eyes.
“It’s your choice,” she said. “Either you’re a husband or you’re not. I know you only married me for Robbie’s benefit. But our son deserves to see his mother treated with respect and decency. Leaving me for so long was neither.”
“No, it wasn’t,” he said, surprising her. “I should have been here. I should never have left you. But I didn’t only marry you for Robbie’s benefit.”
She opened her eyes and studied him.
“I know we do well together,” she said, feeling her cheeks warm.
“Do well together?” he asked, a strange smile playing around his lips. “That’s one way to put it.”
She was not going to ask what he would call what happened to them when they kissed or touched. She knew she lost any awareness of her surroundings, even the sense of who she was. Perhaps it was safe to say she lost her mind around him. Was it the same with him?
She didn’t ask and he didn’t volunteer any additional information.
