Page 116 of The Texan Duke
“You’re a very surprising man, Connor McCraight.”
If she was surprised now, just wait until she heard the rest of his plans.
They turned and walked out of the room, leaving the Scottish McCraights behind them.
“Have you ever heard of the Texas two-step?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“Well then, Elsbeth, I’ll have to teach it to you.”
He grinned at her and she smiled back.
There was only one more thing to do before he could leave for home.
Chapter 35
Elsbeth couldn’t bear this. She really couldn’t.
For a week Connor had been attentive to her, seeking her out on her errands, talking with her about Texas, of all things. Texas! As if she wanted to be able to envision the place where he’d be living. He couldn’t stop waxing eloquent about the place, making her feel even worse as preparations continued for Mr. Kirby to take over Bealadair and Connor to relinquish all ties to the estate.
One day they revisited the castle and she’d come close to weeping, standing on the promontory and watching as the wind whipped the waves of the firth. Soon he would be on that ocean, sailing away from Scotland, from his heritage.
From her.
Just as he was severing all ties to Bealadair, so was she. She had a long talk with Mr. Kirby, leaving him instructions on all the matters that she’d handled over the years.
“Won’t you stay?” he asked in a kind voice. Almost as kind as Gavin’s, which was the only reason tears peppered her eyes.
They sat in the library, a place she’d avoided assiduously for the past week, but of course she had no option when the new owner of Bealadair requested her presence.
“I think it best that I find new accommodations,” she said. She’d finally decided on one of the sweet houses the attorney in Inverness had shown her. Now all she had to do was muster some enthusiasm for living there, for creating a life separate and apart from Bealadair.
At least she would be close enough that Addy could come on one of her days off. Or Muira.
“This is your home, Elsbeth.”
She didn’t know how to answer that. Yes, it had been a home when Gavin had been alive. He’d made it a home for her. Then Connor had filled that void for a tiny stretch of time.
Perhaps it would have been better if she’d never met Connor. If she’d left Bealadair long before he arrived.
A poem from Robbie Burns came to her then:
But to see her was to love her
Love but her, and love for ever.
If she’d never met Connor, she wouldn’t be sitting here now, trying not to weep for the ache in her heart.
“Thank you, Mr. Kirby,” she said, composing herself with some difficulty. “It’s best if I leave.” Before Connor did. She couldn’t stand there with the rest of the staff and wave goodbye to him. That would be too much of a burden to bear.
No, she had to be gone and soon. Soon, before her heart broke.
Connor couldn’t stop smiling. Wasn’t there some expression about a fool in love? Well, he was a fool in love. A fool. He was in love.
He’d never been in love before, and he didn’t know what was normal or wasn’t. Was the world supposed to look kind and filled with possibilities? Was he supposed to hear the birds sing even though they were probably frozen on the branches? He longed for flowers. If he had flowers, he would have taken a few bunches to Elsbeth as a floral devotional or a prelude to his stumbling words.
He had it all planned. He’d asked Addy to prepare a lunch that he could take with them to Castle McCraight. Elsbeth liked it there, despite what had happened the first time. Besides, the old castle was the place he’d first realized that what he felt for Elsbeth was something deeper then he’d expected. Something new, different, and amazing.
