Page 21 of The Scot is Hers
Alec had a sudden recollection of the first time they’d met in the garden in Edinburgh. She’d not cowered when she looked at him then either. If he remembered correctly, she was a feisty woman who’d given him a dressing down. Teased him then as she did now. The banter between the two of them then was as easy as it was now.
“Ye did no’ say what your parents think of Keith. Have ye told them what he did?”
Lady Giselle’s smile faltered, and he watched her fidget with the ends of her hair where she’d tied a ribbon that had come loose from her hair. She frowned off into the distance.
“I’ve tried to tell them, but they will no’ listen,” she mused, then flicked her gaze toward his. There seemed something else on the tip of her tongue, but she didn’t continue, leaving him to try and guess what it was she’d been about to divulge.
“Seems your parents are as stubborn as my mother, for I’ve tried to parley to her on numerous occasions that I wish for her to stop throwing me parties that I do no’ want to attend.” Alec kept to himself exactly the type of parties his mother threw, for it was an embarrassment to admit that on some level, his mother felt he needed her to find him a wife because he wasn’t capable of doing so himself. “Until today, she’d listened, and I’d been excused from the torment for the last few years.”
“’Twould be an interesting fate if they were locked in a room to contend with one another.”
“Och, but I’d no’ set Keith on my mother,” he said.
“Fair enough, but I meant our mothers, wee beastie. But, saints, Sir Joshua Keith is a bastard.” Her hands came to her mouth after that. “Oh my, I’m so sorry. My mother might have me hanged for such vulgar language in front of a gentleman.”
“Ye do no’ need to apologize to me, lass. Most would say I’m no gentleman. I’ve no’ got a care in the world if ye wish to use vulgar language.” He chuckled. “Hell, I’ll call him a bastard right along with ye. But honestly, wee beastie?”
Giselle chuckled. “I could no’ help it. Ye’re anything but wee, and well, beastie fits just as humorously.”
Alec groaned. “What shall I call ye?”
“Lady Giselle, of course. Could ye no’ tell? I am so verra ladylike.”
Now he laughed, and she let out a mock huff.
“Will ye tell me why ye hate Sir Joshua so much?” She eyed him curiously.
“’Tis a long story.”
Giselle turned, craning her neck as she peered out into the storm-filled skies, then lobbed a challenging squint back at him. “I think we’ve got time, would ye no’ say?”
Alec chuckled. “We do.”
“I’m all ears.” The lass settled back against the wall, her arms around her one tucked-up knee, and she stared at him with interest. “Do please go on.”
Again, Alec found himself almost speechless at her regard. There was not even a minuscule hint of wariness or scrutiny. Only curiosity. Being stared at by a woman without judgment was a rarity. Well, except for Lorne’s wife, Jaime, but they were friends and that didn’t count.
He couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps Lady Giselle was addled or missing a few brain cells. Whatever the case may be, she continued to surprise him.
Alec perched on a stone not too far from her, picked up a smaller bit of rubble and rolled it around his hands. “I’m no’ sure where to begin, but I suppose I can start with how we met. ’Twas here, in fact, as lads. With our castles no’ too far apart, we’d often meet up on the road, or our two families would get together for celebrations both formal and casual. So it happens I’ve known the man most of my life. And I’ve disliked him as long.”
Lady Giselle nodded. “So ye’re most definitely a good judge of his character.”
“Aye.” He knew Sir Joshua Keith as well as he knew himself.
“I’m relieved to hear it since I was starting to doubt my intuition.”
“Never doubt it, lass.” Alec tossed the rock toward the back of the abbey, where it cracked against a far wall. “When your gut gives ye the measure of someone, there is some truth to it. Especially when it tells ye to run.”
Giselle followed the path of the tossed stone. “Wise advice. I will endeavor to remember that. Do continue, please.”
“Keith was always competitive, even as a lad. We often found ourselves in rows, whether in or out of doors, and so I grew to hate him with a passion from early on. He’d often start a fight, and when we were caught, he always blamed me. My father’s belt got worn over the years that man was in my life.” Alec’s mount took that moment to nuzzle his shoulder, in search of a prize for waiting so long in the storm. He stood, reaching into a saddlebag and passing his horse and hers both pieces of a carrot.
“I’m guessing this rivalry continued into adulthood?”
“Aye. Only it got worse. When our regiments were assigned for the Peninsular War, he was placed under my command. But the bastard kept undermining all of my orders.”
“How?”
