Page 25 of The Scot is Hers
More color came to Jaime’s face, confirming that she had indeed been held up by her husband, no doubt in the type of scandalous embrace that would make most maidens shy away. Well, Giselle supposed it wasn’t that scandalous for a husband and wife to kiss with passion, but in the middle of the day, in the middle of a party?
“Oh, Jaime, ye naughty minx.”
Jaime laughed softly, checking her chestnut hair in the looking glass. “Ye’re one to talk, showing up looking ravaged in the arms of a man who has no’ so much as looked at a woman since returning from the war.”
Giselle stood as the maids dressed her. “Why do ye think that is? The lack of women? He’s certainly handsome enough.”
Jaime raised a brow. “Aye, but we’d be in the minority for thinking it.”
“How so?” Giselle cocked her head, confused. Alec was a man worthy of art.
“From what he’s told Lorne, the majority of the women who look at him run screaming.”
“Screaming?” Giselle frowned. “He might be beastly, but he’s no’thatbeastly.”
“I quite agree.” Jaime set the hose and slippers on the bed beside a necklace.
“What could they find that is off-putting about him?”
Jaime shrugged. “I think the scar?”
Giselle gaped. “Ye mean the idiots are balking at a battle wound he sustained while fighting for his country?”
“Aye,” Jaime drawled out the word, studying Giselle in earnest now.
“Well, I’ve a mind to go down there and tell them what I think of such ridiculous behavior.”
“No doubt ye’d give them a blistering they deserve. And no doubt one or all of them will figure out from whence ye came and summon your mother here to fetch ye.”
Giselle shuddered. “That can absolutely no’ happen.”
“So we shall perch ye pretty as ye please on a settee and keep the gossips away.”
“Perfect.”
When the maids brought out the hot tongs to curl her hair, Giselle waved them away. “A modest twist will do.” The tongs would take hours to tame this mess.
While she was here without her mother’s interference, she was going to wear her hair simply and comfortably, the way she liked it.
Staring into the looking glass, she gave a wide grin to Jaime, who stood behind her. “Ye can no’ imagine how pleased I am to see ye here,” Giselle said to her friend.
They’d been so close growing up. Knowing that upon arrival, she’d not be left alone by a bunch of intimidating strangers, had made her nerves settle. She’d been so pleased to lay eyes on her dearest friend in all the world.
Having an ally would make the short time she was here all the better. And perhaps Jaime would be able to help her figure out how to get out of the mess her parents had put her in.
* * *
“Good God,where did ye find her?” Lorne asked, cornering Alec by the sideboard when he returned to the parlor.
The guests were mingling in small circles, no doubt cliques they’d formed before arriving. Several young women stood by the window, conversing behind their fans as if the flimsy accessory would hide the tittering sound of their voice or the gaping expressions. Mothers circulated together around the various embroidered chairs, sipping tea and whispering, while the fathers seemed comfortable by the hearth, whiskies in hand.
As far as Alec was concerned, Lorne could ask him as many questions as he wanted, as long as it saved him from having to speak to any of the lasses that drooled and clawed in the corner, ready to pounce like a pack of wild cats. He stifled a shudder.
“I was out by the ruins when she took a tumble from her horse. Almost went over the edge. Damn near scared the wits out of me.” He’d been watching the landscape when lightning struck, and at first, he thought the woman on horseback racing down the road had been a figment of his imagination. But then the horse had reared, and he’d watched her grapple for balance. He’d started running then, knowing a panicked horse could mean a trampled rider. He’d not thought that she might go over the cliff. A last burst of energy from him had been enough to stop her from sliding.
Lorne shook his head and frowned. “Madness. I had no idea she was on her way to this little soiree. Would have thought she’d tell Jaime at least.”
“She was no’.” Alec lowered his voice, leaning in to be certain they were not overheard. “She was at Keith’s castle a few miles north of here. Bloody bastard somehow duped her parents into allowing him to marry her.”
