Page 35 of Her Highland Prophecy
“Maybe Master Gordain’s sisters will have something for ye. I think ye are about the same size.”
“Thank you, Margaret,” she said again, and the young girl left the room with another awkward curtsy.
She had only been alone for a minute when she heard a heavy knock on her door.
“Come in,” she called.
Instead of the servant that she had been expecting, Gordain walked into her room. She stood and walked to him.
“Gordain! What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to talk to ye before dinner,” he replied taking a seat on the table near the window.
“Aren’t you worried about my reputation?” she teased. The look that he gave her in response warmed her from the inside.
“Ye never need to worry about yer reputation while I am around, me Sassenach Princess,” he said in a low voice, his bright-green eyes locked with hers.
She could only nod in response, though she was not so certain it was true. He awakened all sorts of new feelings in her that would certainly ruin her reputation in the seventeenth century if anyone were to hear about them. He stared at her for a moment longer before clearing his throat and looking out of the window.
“I told the servants that ye wanted to rest before dinner. They willnae bother ye until they come to help ye get dressed.”
“Thank you,” she said. “I wasn’t sure how I’m supposed to act around them, and I wanted to avoid any mistakes.”
“Just be yerself,” Gordain said. “They will expect ye to be a Sassenach who needs help. If they look at ye strangely for something, tell them that it’s done differently in England.”
“Will that really work?” she asked curiously.
“Most of the servants havenae been any farther than Inverness, and many of them have nae seen an English lady,” he explained. “They willnae trouble ye overmuch, I hope. And if they do, ye need to tell me.”
“All right.”
“Now, I came to ye, to explain about dinner tonight. It will be a little different than usual and it would be best if ye dinnae appear strange to the Clan.”
“Me? Strange? Why would you say that, Gordain?” she teased him, affecting an insulted face. His look in response was not amused. She sighed and became serious again. “I know that this is all very important, but you need to remember that they will probably think me strange anyway. I will try my best to not embarrass you though.”
“Ye willnae embarrass me,a nighean. Dinna fash. That is nay why I said that and ye ken it well.”
She looked at him carefully as she spoke, and she could see his concern written clearly on his face. His unease made her feel unsettled in turn, which was something she had to prevent. She did not do well under pressure.
“Look, I know you’re worried, and if I’m being honest so am I, but if that is the only thing I think about when I interact with everyone, they will know something is wrong very quickly. The pressure will make me act more unnatural than I would have normally.”
“But ye need to be careful!”
“And I will be,” she retorted. “But you need to relax. These people know you. Even if they don’t notice that I am nervous, they will notice it whenyouare.”
He grimaced but conceded her point.
“Is there anything I need to know about dinner? Something that would be different and would cause offense if I got it wrong?”
“Me Faither will likely make a toast to honor the betrothal. Just follow what I am doing.”
“See? That wasn’t so difficult.”
“I am only concerned, lass. I havenae seen me Faither that angry in years,” Gordain said in a low voice. “He is usually calm and quiet.”
His father had seemed very agitated when they made their announcement, though she could hardly imagine why. Gordain had told her that he wasn’t officially betrothed to Mary McKinnon and the Laird made no reference to it, so there must have been something else at play that she was not aware of.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” she said. “At least he agreed to go along with it.”
