Page 26 of My Highland Rogue
He outbid, undercut, and paid higher wages, all of which made him an irritant to other businessmen. He also dared to employ women in high positions, something that wasn’t normally done. According to one wag, he was undermining how business was done.
If he could do that, he could bridge the gulf that now existed between him and Jennifer.
He wasn’t going to lose the woman he loved.
Chapter Ten
Jennifer spent a restless night, barely sleeping. She went over and over her conversation with Gordon, both understanding why he’d stayed away and annoyed and hurt that he had, and furious that he’d never written her.
She didn’t have any words to ease what had happened to him. She felt anger on his behalf, but to whom did she express it now? Not Mr. McBain. He’d moved back to Edinburgh. Not Sean, because he was dying. Betty was beyond any human emotion.
Where did they go from here? After Sean died, was Gordon simply going to go back to London?
Did he feel anything for her?
She was up before dawn, dressed, and making her way to the loch. Here, on this bench where they’d sat last night, was the place she came when she wanted to think. No one from the house followed her here, as if they knew she needed to be alone.
She sat there for some time, watching as the rising sun bathed the horizon in light.
“You’re right,” Gordon said.
She turned her head to see Gordon standing there.
“You’re right. I should have written you and asked how you felt.”
“I can see how you’d believe McBain, especially if he had the notes I’d saved.”
“You were the only good and decent thing about my life here all those years. I couldn’t bear the idea of you verifying McBain’s words and turning all of that into dust.”
He came and sat beside her.
“I wouldn’t have,” she said. “You were the best part of my life, too.” She smiled faintly. “When you left, it was like all the life went out of every day.”
He placed his hand on hers.
“I couldn’t stop what I felt for you,” she said, “even when you didn’t write me back. Perhaps I was foolish.”
“If you were, then I’m grateful for it.”
“Why stay away five years, Gordon McDonnell? Why make me long for you all these years? Unless it was to bedevil me. And confuse me. And make me cry entirely too much.”
“I wanted to return a success. You’re Lady Jennifer. I was the gardener’s boy.”
She looked up at him. “That sounds like Sean talking or McBain. Not you.”
His quick smile surprised her. “You always did know how to insult me.”
She reached over and slapped him on the cheek with one gentle palm.
“I worked hard to prove something to you. That you wouldn’t have wasted your life with me.”
She bent her head, wishing she didn’t feel so close to tears.
“I never thought that,” she said.
“I wasn’t ready to give you the world, and now I am.”
“I didn’t want the world. I never wanted the world. I only wanted you. Didn’t you know that?”
