Page 9 of A Virgin for the Icy Highlander
“Would your father accept that?” Lilian said, asking all the right questions at the worst possible time.
Grace still couldn’t get herself to believe that she had received a proposal from someone so handsome, who had no expectations of her beyond taking care of his daughter. If she had asked Lord Huston how soon he expected an heir, he would have smirked and pointed to the nearest secluded spot.
The thought made her shudder andalmostmade her run right back to thecèilidhto tell Hunter that she would be his wife tomorrow, if he could spare her that.
“If the weddingdoestake place in a week, and my letter to my father just happens to arrive the day after it is done, he would have to,” Grace replied, allowing herself the smallest smile of satisfaction, just imagining her father’s face.
The ladies crossed the street, heading back toward the kirk they had left what felt like a lifetime ago, and all hope of seeing the seamstress vanished with the last of the evening’s light.
“Should we be walking away from thecèilidhif he has asked you to stay with him for the duration of this… experimental week?” Maddie said thoughtfully, holding open the gate of the kirkyard for the other two to enter ahead of her.
Rather than traipsing the whole way back to Horndean along the roads, there was a shortcut at the other end of the kirkyard: a thinly worn track that meandered through meadows and woodland and moors, until it deposited its wanderers at the small hill above Horndean.
They would be home long after dark, but together, they had nothing to fear, and there were lanterns stashed along the way by other members of the school in case of such an eventuality.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” Grace replied, sidestepping a toppled headstone out of respect. “He disappeared once he brought me back down the stairs.”
Lilian nodded. “Maybe he wants you to gather your belongings. If he is a nice man, that is what he would do.” She hesitated. “Do you think he is a nice man?”
“He grabbed her and marched her away from us,” Maddie interjected, her face a picture of confusion, clearly trying to solve something in her mind. “Those aren’t the actions of a ‘nice’ man, and yet… wanting to provide a solution for her predicament, and for the happiness of his daughter, would suggest someone who is wholly untrustworthy. Then again, he didn’t hesitate to tell us that he had just killed an awful lot of people, so… in essence, it is a conundrum.”
Flashing a smile, Lilian whispered, “Heisso handsome, though, is he not?”
Dangerously so…
Grace sighed in silent agreement.
“And handsome doesn’t have any bearing on a man’s character,” Maddie chided, leading the way through the kirkyard to the small gate on the other side, beneath the low-hanging branch of a yew tree. “He could be the most attractive man you have ever seen and be a wicked devil within. In truth, from my extensive research into the strange species known as the ‘gentlemen,’ most are.”
Grace had to chuckle at that, grateful to her friend for lightening the mood. “When haveyouhad time to research that peculiar species? You have been here in the borders since you were six-and-ten.”
“I had four exhaustive years observing the suitors who came to seek my sister’s hand in marriage,” Maddie replied, her voice catching slightly. “They never acknowledged me while I sat there, noting everything they did and said. But I was beingverystudious, while they just thought I was the quiet little sister.”
“Perhaps you ought to publish your findings,” Grace suggested, offering a reassuring smile.
Maddie laughed drily. “I wish I could, just as I wish my sister had chosen better. I gave her my research and told her it was a mistake. I told her that the patterns and facts don’t lie, but she didn’t believe me. The evidence was all there, and she wouldn’t hear it.” She waved a dismissive hand. “Anyway,herawful husband isn’t the one we are concentrating on. Grace, I want youto make notes on this laird. I want you to give them to me before you make a decision, so that I can give you all my findings.”
“You can make the notes yourself,” Grace said with a nervous smile, her boots sinking in a wet patch of earth in the wildflower meadow that wouldn’t bloom again until spring.
A sight none of them would be there to see, except, perhaps, Lilian.
I could too, if I were only an hour or two away…
“How can I do that from Horndean?” Maddie countered, an eyebrow raised.
Grace took a deep breath. “He has invited you to stay, too. Said you were both welcome to accompany me.”
“You see, a ‘nice’ man!” Lilian cheered. Her cheeks were rosy with the cold. “He likely wishes to make amends for dragging Grace away from us. I have never been to a castle before. Three years in Scotland, and I have never evenseenone!”
Maddie expelled a weary breath, as if she were surrounded by excitable children instead of her best friends. “Well, until my research is complete, I shall say nothing of whether this laird is nice or not.” She grabbed both of her friends by the arms, holding on affectionately. “As such, in the name of science and not letting you go to a stranger’s castle alone, Grace, I will join you.”
“As will I,” Lilian said without a hint of a stutter, her enthusiasm remarkably contagious. “I simply would not be able to forgive myself if I completed my years as a student of Horndean without seeing a castle, after all.”
Pulling her friends closer, Grace couldn’t help but see a glimmer of light where there hadn’t been one before. As they trudged across the meadow and into the adjoining woodland, she plucked a lantern from the hollow of an oak tree on the way to illuminate their path.
Away from the glow, she turned her head to peer through the trees at the town below, frowning for a moment. Maybe it was just her imagination, but she thought she could hear music drifting toward her on the chilly breeze.
“What do you think Miss Sutton will say?” Lilian asked as they wended their way through the woods.
