Page 24 of Married to the Highland Devil
Arran’s question made him frown. Duncan had not even thought about love. The moment he had met Amelia, he had known he wanted her. She stirred passion in him, and tenderness too. He wanted to care for her, protect her. But love?
“Nay,” he denied hotly. “I barely ken the lass. She isnae the kind of lady that ye might be used to.”
“Why? Is it because she doesnae see?”
Duncan leaned back on his chair and ran a hand through his hair. “What? How do ye ken that? The lady hasnae left the castle since she came here, and—”
“Duncan… this is the Highlands. Everyone talks about what happens in the castle. Ye led her inside, and nay one has seen her ever since. The lady servant assigned to her probably has told someone of her difficulties.”
“She is a lovely woman,” Duncan stated and sipped from his whiskey. “I have never met anyone with such a laugh and then those eyes… It’s like she stares into my soul.”
He had always told Arran everything, and even now, he did not see the need to hide anything from him.
“Can ye spend the rest of yer life with her? I mean, when ye went to England, ye didnae ken of her sight problems, so why did ye go ahead with the plans to wed her? Ye could have come back, and we would have found ye another bride.”
Arran’s question got Duncan thinking. He hadn’t thought of pulling back his intentions to win her hand when he had realized she had difficulties seeing.
“I dinnae ken,” Duncan answered. “That is the truth. When I saw her… when we met, I just… Somethin’ about her got to me. I couldnae think of anythin’ else but speakin’ with her. I loved the sound of her voice, and she also made me speak more than I have with anyone else besides ye.”
“That is a lot,” Arran said. “I would like to meet the lady for myself. She must be bonnie.”
Very bonnie.
Duncan shook that thought out of his mind because it would only make him remember their kiss, and if he thought of the kiss, he would want more of it.
“The dowry isnae here yet. Her faither will join us for the weddin’, and it will be paid then.”
Arran nodded, and when neither of them said anything else for some time, Duncan asked, “Has yer faither asked for it?”
The history between Arran’s father and Duncan’s late father stretched far back to when they had been but children. Even though they had grown up together, the relationship had stayed strained since the fight between their fathers.
Neither of them liked to speak of it, but they were friends still, and it hung over their heads even though they did not discuss it.
“He never asks about it directly, but he mentions it a lot.”
When Duncan said nothing, Arran added, “Ye ken I am loyal to ye, Duncan, nae matter what. My faither is laird of my clan, but I dinnae care for whatever business he had with yer faither. Once ye pay him back then it willnae matter anymore.”
Duncan smiled. “I ken,” he answered with a note of finality.
The only problem was, Duncan did not feel as if it was just the debt that Arran’s father wanted.
There must be more.
Before his father’s death, he had felt the enmity between them. That sort of tension could not just be because of wealth.
Sometime after Arran left, another knock sounded at his door. His mother and Yvaine walked in together, and he smiled once he saw them.
“How are ye?” Duncan asked as he rose to his feet to greet them. He walked around to them and hugged Yvaine first before he kissed her forehead.
“We are fine,” Yvaine began as soon as he released her. “It is ye we are worried about. Ye havenae left yer study in hours, and ye haven’t even eaten. Duncan, I am worried about ye, and Maither is too. Most importantly, we are worried about Amelia.”
The mention of her name made his nerves fire up all at once. “What has happened to Amelia? Is she all right?” Panic rushed through him and made his gut ache.
“She is all right,” Yvaine said to calm him. “She is fine. We just worry that she is lonely. She doesnae come out of her room, and ye havenae gone to see her since ye showed her to her chambers. She is all alone, Duncan. Ye surely dinnae intend to leave her like that.”
“I have been workin’,” he said to Yvaine, and when she arched a brow, he sighed and led her to a settee. “I have been busy. I will go to her tonight if that will make ye relax.”
“Ye should do that,” his mother said then joined them on the settee. “I went to her earlier. She seems very lonely. When will her family be here? When will the weddin’ happen?”
