Page 42 of A Virgin for the Icy Highlander
“I am nay gentleman at all, I assure ye.” He smiled. “And though I’ve been in the presence of English Ladies before, I cannae sayI’ve ever been in the presence of Englishbeauties. This is a first for me.”
Across the table, a black cloud hung above Hunter’s head. His blue eyes flashed with anger, and his lips pressed into a tight line. It was lucky that he was drinking from a pewter cup, for if he’d had a glass of wine in his hand, his grip would have shattered it.
Does that count as jealousy?
With so many other possibilities that could just as easily have been the cause of his irritation, Grace decided she couldn’t call it a victory just yet. It would be another embarrassment to add to the list if she were mistaken.
A moment later, Hunter leaned in and whispered something to Thomas. Briefly, it seemed like the younger brother meant to protest whatever he’d been asked to do, but, with a grimace, he rose to his feet and went to fetch Ellie.
“Lady Lilian,” Oscar purred, moving to Grace’s friend, lifting her hand delicately to press his lips to it. “If I didnae ken any better, I’d say I died on me way to this castle and ye’re the angel comin’ to guide me to paradise.”
Lilian’s alabaster cheeks bloomed bright red. Her mouth moved to speak, though no words could make their way out. Sometimes, when she was very nervous, that tended to happen. She chose to be mute instead of attempting to stammer out what she wanted to say.
“Aye, I dinnae think there’s any need for words between us,” Oscar said, gently setting her hand back on her thigh.
He moved on to Maddie, who was already more than ready for him.
“With respect, Laird Muir, I wouldn’t,” she said crisply. “I don’t allow gentlemen to kiss my hand, so I certainly won’t be allowing you. It is nothing personal.”
Oscar flashed her a lopsided smile before leaning on the table and allowing his gray eyes to skim over her. “I can respect that,” he said with a nod. “What a fascinatin’ threesome ye are.”
As he observed the ladies, Thomas carried Ellie out of the room. The child waved to Grace, who waved back and mouthed,I’ll say goodnight later.Ellie nodded and smiled, resting her head on Thomas’s shoulder as they left.
Evidently, Hunter had determined that whatever Oscar might say wasn’t suitable for the ears of his young daughter.
And he was probably right.
Oscar pulled out a chair and sank down into it, reaching to pour himself a cup of spiced wine. “I must ken, how did the three of ye become friends, and how in the world have ye ended up here?” He sipped. “Satisfy me curiosity, eh?”
“As long as that is all you want satisfied,” Maddie replied stiffly. “We are?—”
“Lady Grace is to be me wife,” Hunter interrupted. His voice was little more than a growl, like rolling thunder to match the dark cloud above his head.
Maddie raised a finger. “Potentially. Nothing has been agreed to yet.” She peered at Hunter over the frame of her spectacles, which had slipped down. “She must be certain, you see, as she has already escaped one unfortunate match.”
“Has she now?” Hunter asked.
His gaze was like a blow to the chest, knocking all the air out of Grace’s lungs. Intensity blazed in those pools of mysterious blue. Gone was the hunger she’d witnessed in his study. This curiosity was something entirely new. Something she couldn’t put a name to, or didn’t dare to.
She swallowed thickly and gathered her courage like Ellie had collected her precious things. “Ididtell you that I had to leave London to escape an unfortunate situation. You didn’t ask for the details. I believe you said, ‘It’s either a scandal, a man, or family matters.’ You didn’t seem interested in knowing which.”
“Well,Iam,” Oscar interjected, leaning forward with a sly grin, like they were about to begin a session of intense gossip and he couldn’t wait. “Tell me everythin’. What happened that made ye come all this way from London to get away from it?”
Grace didn’t take her eyes off Hunter, though his gaze burned. It melted every breath she took until her chest felt tight and heavy, as if she were breathing in molten metal.
“I punched a gentleman in the nose,” she said.
Oscar chuckled. “Ye didwhat?”
“I punched a gentleman in the nose and, indeed, broke it.” She glanced at him, trying out one of those faces she had been practicing in front of the mirror. “I had a perfectly good reason for it—not that it mattered. I was sent away without forgiveness and pursued by a rather nasty threat, even thoughhewas the one being vile.Thatis the short version of how I found myself at the Horndean School for Ladies, where I was supposed to learn my lesson.”
Discreetly, while pretending she needed a sip of wine to wet her throat, she stole a glance at Hunter.
The intensity in his gaze remained, but it had shifted. Now, he was neither hungry nor furious, but something in between. And for reasons she couldn’t explain, there appeared to be a slight smirk on his lips and an indescribable glint in his eyes, indicating he was darkly amused.
“I remember the stuffiness of London,” Oscar murmured sympathetically, before taking a swig of his wine. “All those rules, all those ladies gazing at me like a curiosity, uncertain of what to make of me wildness. They’d hang on me every word.Some of ‘em would faint; the excitement of somethin’ different proved too much for ‘em.”
Maddie scoffed loudly and rolled her eyes, doing nothing to be discreet about it.
