Page 27 of The Devil of Clan Sinclair
“I haven’t changed that much,” she said.
“How do you find being a countess, then?”
“It’s a comfortable life.”
“Are you comfortable in it?” he asked.
What would he say to learn the truth? She decided to test him on it.
“I am not as hopeful as I once was,” she said softly. “I don’t anticipate the arrival of every morning with delight. I rarely laugh.”
“Why is that?”
She shrugged.
“Was he kind to you, Virginia?”
She’d never thought this would be so difficult. Or that he would peel the veneer away from the truth so easily.
“No,” she said. “He resented me, and you rarely treat those you resent with kindness.”
His goblet came down on the table so hard she glanced at him.
His face was expressionless, but his eyes were heated.
She studied her plate again, a much easier sight than Macrath. The plate didn’t peer into her soul or make her tremble.
“Then damn him,” Macrath said softly. “May his soul rot cheerfully in Hell.”
Shocked, she looked at him. “You shouldn’t say such things.”
“Why, to keep my soul from shriveling? Of the two of us, I think your earl has more to answer for.”
He mustn’t be protective of her. She didn’t deserve it.
She twisted her napkin in her lap until it was a ball of damp linen, wishing he would say something else, lighten the mood between them.
Evidently, she was going to have to change the tenor of conversation. Should she speak about the storm still pounding Drumvagen? Was it God, voicing his displeasure in ways other people would note?
“Your sister is well,” she said.
“Yes, I know. She speaks of you in her letters. I’m grateful for your friendship.”
What had Ceana told him? Did he ask about her? Did Ceana keep her confidences?
She wanted to retreat to her lavish borrowed suite and pray for guidance. Or would God, having washed His hands of her, give her only thunder and lightning in return?
“Why are you here?”
There, an answer from God himself. She was not going to be allowed to retreat easily.
“I wanted to see you,” she said. That wasn’t a lie but it might be a sin. She shouldn’t betray herself with words. “I wanted to see if you were well and happy.”
“I am well,” he said.
“Are you happy?”
“Are you?”
