Page 23 of The Scot is Hers
“My God, Alec,” his mother said breathlessly, hand coming to her mouth.
She looked more bedraggled than he’d ever seen her—and that meant just a few wisps of hair were loose from her styled coif. Alec continued up the steps and into the castle. Giselle trembled, frozen in his arms.
The commotion of him entering the hall to gasps from the waiting servants, combined with his mother’s fretting, brought the guests spilling from the drawing room. Each of them also gasped in shock, which only seemed to draw more and more out until a dozen horrified faces stared back at him.
Giselle glanced up at Alec, catching his gaze and making a sheepish face, whispering, “Oops, I suppose we’ve made quite the entrance, aye?”
Alec wanted to laugh, but he knew to do so would make his mother faint, and so he decided to state the facts simply.
“I found Lady Giselle on the moors after having a wee accident with her horse.”
“Giselle?” The Duchess of Sutherland squeezed herself through the gawking maidens. A smile of delight lit up Jaime’s features when she caught sight of them. “My goodness, it is ye.”
Giselle smiled brightly. “I’m so glad to see ye, though I do wish I were dressed a little better.”
“Of course! Come, I will help make ye up. I’ve plenty of dresses to spare.”
Giselle started to wriggle in his arms, but Alec found it hard to put her down.
“What is going on?” the countess demanded, her voice distressed. “Where on earth did this young lass come from?”
“The Earl and Countess of Bothwell are staying with a friend nearby,” Alec said, wanting to make clear to Giselle he had no intention of giving their whereabouts, in case his mother decided to take it upon herself and see that she was returned to Keith’s residence. “I’ll send word to them that she’s here to convalesce from her sprained ankle.”
“Aye, that makes sense,” his mother said, though she didn’t look convinced. To the housekeeper who’d appeared near the stairs, she said, “We’ll have her in the yellow room. Please send up a lady’s maid and have a hot bath prepared.”
“Aye, my lady.”
Alec headed for the stairs with Giselle still in his arms, calling over his shoulder to his guests, “Do enjoy some refreshments. I’ll be down very shortly to join ye.”
Up the stairs he went, with a shivering Giselle in his arms and Jaime trotting along beside them.
Giselle peeked over his shoulder at those in the grand foyer below, then murmured, “Look at ye saving maidens and still having so many to choose from. Who would have thought Slains was the castle in fairy tales?” She tapped her chin. “I think in this scenario, I am Beauty and ye are the Beast.”
“Ye think ye’re so funny, lass,” he muttered under his breath. “Perhaps I ought to lock ye in my tower rather than seeing ye get a hot bath?”
She grinned. “Now ye sound more like my ex-fiancé.”
He groaned. “Never compare me to that blackguard.”
“What are the two of ye whispering about? ’Tis rude to be so quiet when others are trying to eavesdrop,” Jaime piped in.
Giselle burst into laughter as he turned right at the top of the stairs and went down a long corridor, passing at least half a dozen doors before he finally opened one, barely shuffling her in his arms. The room was as yellow as the sun in every aspect, nearly blinding him. Why had his mother chosen this one for their guest? Perhaps because it was on the opposite side of the castle from his room.
“Wow,” Giselle murmured. “It is...yellow.”
Jaime tried to hide her laugh behind him, but he heard it all the same. And she was not wrong. The room was ridiculous as if each piece competed with the other for which could be more buttery.
When he moved to place Giselle on her feet—well, her one good foot—she clung to him and shook her head.
“I fear if ye put me down on the carpet, I’ll leave a brown stain, and that would mar the...magnificent golden ambiance.”
Alec chuckled. “Lucky for ye, there’s a bathroom through the dressing room.”
Jaime hurried to open that door, and he went through, depositing Giselle on the bright yellow tiles. She kept one arm on his elbow for balance as she took in yet more sunny décor. But Alec only had eyes for her.
A vision of her peeling out of her wet, muddy clothes flashed in his mind, and he had to shake it away.
“I’ll take it from here,” Jaime said, eyeing him in a strange way he’d not seen from her before. As if she knew something he didn’t.
