Page 108 of The Devil of Clan Sinclair
“That can’t be right,” he said, walking to Jack’s side.
“I think the clearance is wrong. How much do we have on this side, sir?” Jack asked.
He retrieved his drawings and handed them to the other man.
At least Jack was intent on the job at hand. A change from how he’d been for the past few weeks. He wondered if Jack suffered from the same malady bothering him—a woman.
What was it about Virginia? How did she, above all other women, have the power to change his mood? If she wept, he searched his mind for things he might have said to upset her. If she laughed, the outlook for his day was brightened.
No one should have that much control over his emotions. No one ever had before now.
Sam lit the first lamp by the door. Before he could light the second, Macrath stopped him.
“We’ll have an early night tonight,” he said.
His men were at the cottage, bringing Virginia and her belongings to Drumvagen. He suspected she wouldn’t like it, which meant he had an opportunity to discuss the matter with her.
He would plead his case and convince her to remain at Drumvagen.
Jack put down the plans and glanced at him.
“You’re sure, sir?”
He hadn’t been sure about anything since meeting Virginia, but he wasn’t about to admit that to anyone. He only nodded, left them to the business of straightening up, and strode to the house.
Chapter 27
How dare Macrath act in such a way?
Anger fueled Virginia’s walk to Drumvagen. Still, the journey seemed twice as long as it normally did, only because she was aware of the passing minutes. She wouldn’t put it past Macrath’s men to start packing her things and bodily remove Hannah and Hosking.
Everyone went out of their way to satisfy Macrath’s wishes.
Darkness had fallen by the time she arrived at the top of the grand steps. The lamps beside the door were lit, however, pushing back the shadows. For a moment she stood there, going through her arguments.
One never went into battle with Macrath without being fully prepared.
She would be more comfortable in the cottage. He didn’t need to know she would feel safer as well if she were away from him and his influence on her.
How dare he just decide where she would live, snap his fingers, and expect it to be carried out just like that? What about asking her?
She straightened her shoulders, grabbed the ring in the dragon’s mouth and let it fall.
The knocker echoed in the silence. Even the seabirds were quiet. Were they gone for the night? Or did they congregate somewhere, watching and anticipating this confrontation?
Macrath didn’t open the door. Brianag did.
“Where is he?”
The housekeeper’s eyebrows wiggled. “He’s in the Clan Hall,” she said, but didn’t step aside.
“I need to see him.”
“Do ye now? Fancy was a bonnie dog but fortune took the tail from it.”
She truly wasn’t in the mood for Brianag’s Scottishisms, but she’d never been to the Clan Hall and didn’t know where it was.
The woman seemed to know it, too, because a smile split open her craggy face. She turned and strode down a corridor to the left.
