Page 54 of Married to the Highland Devil
Duncan’s heavy sigh next made her realize he was just as confused as she was. If what Laird MacGregor really wanted was not repayment for the debt he was owed, then it did not matter that Duncan had married her.
He has no use for me now.
Amelia suppressed the tinge of disappointment that settled in her stomach and braced herself by clearing her throat.
“Right now, I want to be with ye,” Duncan said next, surprising her then he brushed his lips against her forehead, “and make sure yer safe.”
The pounding in Amelia’s temple was too great to ignore. She swallowed hard and held her breath, hoping his lips would brush against hers, but Duncan pulled back instead, and she pressed her lips together.
“Would you read to me?” she asked him in a shaky voice. “Any book from your library?”
“Aye, I will,” Duncan answered then rose from the bed.
She heard the chamber door close lightly, but he returned some minutes later and climbed back into the bed.
“It’s a poem,” he told her as he began reading familiar words from William Dunbar, a famous Scottish poet whose works had Amelia enjoyed hearing Lily and her mother read to her.
“My sone, lat be. For quahat is it worth to tell ane fenyeit tail…”
Duncan’s solemn tone made her relax, and soon, she dozed off in his arms while enjoying the melodious sound of him reading to her.
She got out of bed slowly later on, naked because her body did not hurt like before, and she managed to walk around the chamber, kicked her feet on a hard object, yelped, then slowed her pace, so she did not further hurt herself.
Amelia had reached the window now, and she knew this because the wind from outside kissed her skin.
“What are ye doin’?” Duncan asked in a soft tone when he awoke, and Amelia only relaxed when he walked over to her and put a cloth over her body.
“I feel better. Maybe we can leave the chamber now?” she asked, taking his hand as she smiled. “I hate being locked up in one place.”
He led her back to the bed then helped her put on clean clothes.
“Then let us walk around the castle but not outside.”
Amelia laughed a little now, and Duncan linked their fingers before leading her out of the chamber. They walked around the grounds of the castle for a long time, and he did not let go of her hand.
“I loved playin’ around here, and my faither used to chase me down the stairs then catch me when I hid in the armory,” he was saying to her, and Amelia enjoyed listening to stories of his childhood.
“Your father sounds like a good man,” she told him when he mentioned the stories his father had told him about their clan and how much he had learned from him.
“Everythin’ I ken I learned from him,” Duncan murmured.
They had walked around the grounds of his castle twice, and they were finally in his study. This was the longest Amelia had spent in his company since they had arrived here, and she was not ready to let it end yet.
“I wish ye could have met him,” Duncan said. “He would have loved ye.”
“You think so?”
“I ken he would have. He was kind and gentle… I have never thought of marryin’ in the past, but I ken I wanted somethin’ like what my faither and maither shared. They loved each other so much.”
“I can say the same for my parents,” Amelia confided. “But my mother’s death changed my father in many ways. He became aloof, rarely ever came out of his study or entertained guests, and I only spoke with him during breakfast or supper.”
“How did she die? Yer maither?”
“Childbirth,” Amelia revealed. “She gave birth to a boy, but he did not survive either.”
Duncan hugged her, and she rested her head on his shoulder while they sat on the settee in his study.
Later that night, after they ate black pudding and a thick slice of meat cut from the bone, he read to her, and Amelia shared her vast knowledge of herbs and plants with him.
