Page 34 of The Scottish Duke
How was he going to do that? She felt as large as Charles, but all her girth was in the front. Nor had she been particularly graceful of late.
She had to get into the carriage somehow. Better to grit her teeth, chew on her pride, and let him help.
Placing her right hand on his arm, she glanced at him.
“I can’t see the step,” she said, her cheeks feeling on fire.
She felt his hand on her right foot.
“If you’ll just lift it and allow me to guide you,” he said.
She did, thinking she was bound to topple backward. He placed his left hand on the small of her back in support. Somehow, he helped her step up, taking her weight on his arm and pushing with his hand on her back.
“Now for the other foot,” he said, repeating the effort.
Incredibly, she made it inside the carriage and gratefully sank onto the seat.
“Was your wife as large in the latter days of her pregnancy?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I didn’t spend much time at Blackhall.”
Shocked, she watched as he sat in front of her.
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
He had the most annoying habit of reducing her to silence.
Chapter 10
It only took a minute to reach her lodgings. Lorna dreaded seeing Mrs.MacDonald, who had either heard of the meeting in the square or had attended it.
“She’s thrown your belongings in the street.”
She glanced out the window to find that he was right. Everything she owned, pitiful amount that it was, had been tossed into a heap in front of Mrs.MacDonald’s house.
Two boys were rifling through her trunk. She doubted they’d find anything of interest unless they were fascinated with bottles and dried herbs. But her father’s manuscript was in the bottom of the trunk and they couldn’t be allowed to touch that.
Before she could say anything, the duke had opened the carriage door, and while the vehicle was still moving slowly, he was there. The boys ran away, but he didn’t try to catch them. All he did was gather up everything and place it in the trunk. Charles dismounted and loaded it atop the vehicle.
She was too stunned to protest, too shocked to make a sound.
What was she going to do? Where was she going to go now? Her meager savings, sewn into her petticoat, would be enough to rent another room, but where? The next village was miles away, which meant Nan wouldn’t be able to visit her again.
While Charles and the duke were talking, the door of the house opened to reveal Mrs.MacDonald standing there, a stained apron tied at her waist, a sneer on her face.
“Aye, you’ve got a trout in the well, don’t ye? I’ll not have your like in my house, MissGordon. I’d suggest you seek out the parish poorhouse, but they only take women of good character.”
Mrs.MacDonald wasn’t finished. Her voice rose to a shout. “You’ll need someplace to go when the duke tires of you. I hear they need women in Australia. All they care about is that you’re warm, a woman, and willing. You could find a home there, you and your cludfawer.”
When the duke entered the carriage, he blocked Lorna’s view of her former landlady.
“Cludfawer?” he asked.
“An illegitimate child,” she said softly.
“Don’t pay her any attention,” he said, settling in opposite her. As they began to move, he startled her again by taking off his coat and tucking it around her. “You’re cold.”
