Page 41 of To Serve a Laird
“Somethin’ ye want, Claire?” she asked, not unkindly.
“Yes, I wanted to know who the lady in the carriage is,” Claire replied.
She knew the answer to her question already, of course, but she needed confirmation from someone other than the womanshe hated. However, she was unaware that she was twisting her hands together, and her face was a mask of distress and anxiety.
“Lady Morag Cameron,” Agnes replied. “The Laird’s betrothed. I dinnae think he is very happy about it, but the elders decided, an’ their word is law.”
She looked closely at Claire and saw the first tear leak from her eyes.
“Why dae ye want tae know?” Agnes asked, but Claire gave no answer because that was the moment she felt her heart shatter.
So that is why he was so angry,Claire thought.
She turned and ran down the corridor to her own chamber, then threw herself on the bed and wept till she had no tears left. She remembered Iain taking her bleeding hand the first time she had hurt herself and promising that he would never harm her, but he had broken that promise, taken her virtue, then abandoned her for another woman.
Then she chided herself. Iain had not forced her to do anything. Still, she had walked into his arms with her eyes open; she had known that the council were trying to force him into marriage, but he had been so angry about it that somehow Claire thought he might be able to resist them and marry a woman of his own choice.
I am such a fool,she thought.And he knew it, he could see a mile away that I was innocent and naïve. He must have been congratulating himself that he found such a willing victim.
Yes, victim, for that was what she was—the victim of one man’s lust, and of the despicable pains of loving someone you can never have. Had he not said it was a long time since he had bedded a woman?
Yes, he had told her so in the moments after their lovemaking, when she was warm and satisfied, happier thanshe had ever been in her life. At that moment, she would have believed anything he told her.
Claire jumped up from her bed as a surge of fury overtook her.
I will not stay here to be treated like a pet animal he can summon and dismiss any time he likes,she thought.
I have a family I can go to. Why did I not do so before? Oh, yes, I thought I was in love with him.
She laughed out loud, a hard, cynical sound.
Well, my Laird, my naïveté has gone, and I will follow it.
Claire went to the cupboard beside her bed and pulled out the dresses she had been given as work clothes, then took off the one she was wearing, putting on the dress she had brought with her. She gathered her few possessions and put them in her satchel, then counted out the coin she had earned since she came to Glengar Castle.
It was a pittance compared to what she owed, but it would have to do. Rose and her husband would make up the rest, she was sure.
Claire left her room, picking up the books she had borrowed from Iain’s library. She wanted to take absolutely nothing from this hateful place.
18
Morag Cameron was a pleasant girl, and there was no denying it, but she had one major flaw, Iain thought. She was not Claire Tewsbury.
He was aching inside, since he had been unable to tell Claire about Morag’s arrival, and perhaps come to some arrangement between them.
Yet what solution could they reach? Would she agree to become his mistress? He laughed inwardly at the mere idea. Neither of them would have settled for that.
Now Morag’s totally unexpected early arrival had thrown all his plans into complete confusion.
When his manservant had alerted him to the fact that the Cameron party had arrived, he had been utterly confused, unprepared and angry. He had thrown on his best clothes so quickly that his kilt was slightly askew, but he had no time to worry about it.
He had met Morag before, of course, but there had never been quite so many people around. Now, as he handed her down from the carriage, he could feel dozens of eyes boring into his back. He hoped none of them were Claire’s, but news spread fast even in a place the size of Glengar Castle because servants’gossip was by far the most efficient form of communication. If she did not know by now, he had no doubt that she would find out very soon.
He took Morag’s arm and began to walk towards the entrance, but as he moved past a line of servants, his eyes met Claire’s, and his heart sank. He watched as she turned and hurried away, knowing that there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop her.
A few moments later, he poured Morag a glass of wine as they sat down in the small parlour nearest the entrance. She raised her eyebrows, looking a little shocked, since it was a task that should have been performed by a servant.
Iain was irritated by her reaction, but he said nothing, merely pasted on a smile and raised a glass to her.
