Page 69 of The Scottish Duke
After exchanging a few words with the doctor, she motioned to Alex, grabbed her shawl, and left the cottage, walking some distance down the road toward Blackhall.
“If you wanted to go home,” he said, striding toward her, “why didn’t you take the carriage?”
“I wanted to talk to you. Alone. With no one to overhear.”
She turned to face him and took a deep breath, praying for the wisdom to say the perfect words to convince him.
Alex speared his fingers through his hair.
“Is she going to be all right?” he asked. “This won’t be like Ruth, will it?”
She frowned at him. “Of course not.”
“How do you know?”
“I just know.”
“Did you feel that way about Ruth?” he asked.
“Alex, Lorna’s going to be fine.”
He nodded but didn’t look reassured. “Is she afraid? She never mentioned that she was to me. I know you two have grown close in the last weeks. Did she say anything to you?”
“No, she didn’t, and I think she would have if she were. Alex, it’s all right.” She placed her hand on his arm. “Truly, it will be. In the meantime, we need to make plans.”
“Plans?”
“You have to marry her, Alex. We haven’t much time. Lorna’s labor is well-advanced.” When he didn’t comment, she said, “Do you want your child born illegitimate?”
“Of course not,” he said. “I had this idea that I could petition the court after the fact, but that’s not practical, is it?”
“No, it isn’t.”
He nodded again. “It would necessitate the world knowing his status, of course. I’d be dragging his name and his reputation through the mud. Yes, he might be legitimized, but at what cost? He’d be known as the Bastard Duke. That’s unacceptable.”
Folding his arms, he stared off down the road to Blackhall.
“Even the word is ugly, Mother. I was at school with more than one boy whose birth was questioned. Life was miserable for them. I don’t want that to happen to my child. She must agree to marry me.”
She blinked at him. This was much easier than she’d thought it would be.
“She already has. She wants the best for her child, of course. This wouldn’t be the first marriage to be performed on the birthing bed. Besides, I think you and Lorna suit quite well.”
He glanced at her. “Do you? Well, we don’t have any other choice, do we?”
“Oh, my dear darling Alex,” she said. “The time to choose was approximately nine months ago. Now’s the time to pay the piper.”
Everyone was too damn calm. They didn’t seem the least bit anxious, as if the sounds from the other room were normal.
Alex had never been on the battlefield, but he could well imagine a wounded man making the same noises, especially as he tried to stifle his cries of pain from being heard by his fellow soldiers.
What had possessed him to think that he needed to be here? He wanted to be a hundred miles away. Far enough that he couldn’t hear Lorna’s agony.
What if history and tragedy repeated themselves? Was that why his mother had hugged him earlier, given him a bracing smile, then insisted on being in the room with Lorna?
The cottage was too damn small. He knew that now. He’d paced off the exact distance from the front door to the farthest wall at least fifty times. Why didn’t he just go back to the castle with instructions for someone to send him news on the hour? How long was this supposed to go on?
He halted at the far wall, but instead of turning and retracing his steps, he placed both hands flat on the window frame, wishing it weren’t night, that he could see beyond the glass.
