Page 54 of The Scot is Hers
But the look he passed her said quite the opposite from him. He was anything but relieved. He was furious. And another thing—he wasn’t going to put this to rest. She might have delayed it, but in Alec’s mind, this duel was inevitable. God, she prayed she was wrong in her reading of him.
“Errol. A word,” Joshua ground out, utter anger and disdain in each syllable.
Alec grunted a reply and nodded, his eyes on Giselle as he responded.
“I’m Lady Giselle,” she murmured to the doctor. “And my ankle is reasonably well now, I think.” She’d not even needed the use of the cane to get around her room, though she did still prefer it for long walks.
The two men sauntered off toward the abbey ruins, their seconds in tow, and she feared they’d go ahead with their duel out of the prying eyes and ears of the luncheon guests. Every nerve in her prickled, her hairs on her skin rising. This was not good. They could not be allowed to remain alone together.
“Why do we no’ go with them?” Her voice was tight as she spoke to the doctor, and she felt certain she was going to toss up all she’d consumed in the last half hour.
“Aye, my lady,” the doctor said, clasping her elbow as they walked.
A glance behind her showed a lot of concern from those from the table. Whether or not they’d deduced what was happening was not evident quite yet, but she wouldn’t be surprised at all.
Inside the darkened ruins, light filtered sparingly through the open spaces.
“We will reschedule this,” Sir Joshua was saying. “I do no’ know what kind of trick ye thought to be pulling with this ridiculous luncheon in the middle of a field. Of all the cowardly—”
“Do no’ ever deign to name me a coward when both of us know whose character that description belongs to,” Alec said menacingly. “And if it was no’ obvious that this was no’ my doing, ye’re even more of a stupid arsehole than I thought ye were.”
Sir Joshua scoffed. “I ought to call ye out right now for saying so.”
“And what, come back from the dead for me to shoot ye a second time?”
Sir Joshua growled and started to leap forward, but Euan, who was not a small man himself, leapt between the two of them. “No’ in the presence of a lady.”
“Mind your manners, good sirs,” the doctor added.
They managed to step back a pace, both of them still visibly seething, but Giselle allowed herself to draw in a shaky breath. She gripped her skirts to try and quell her trembling fingers.
“Tomorrow at dawn,” Alec said, his finger stabbing toward the ground.
Sir Joshua bristled, his gaze flicking toward the man who’d be his second, a man Giselle did not recognize. “I can no’. I’ve an appointment with my horseman.”
“How could ye have made that appointment when ye might have been dead?”
Sir Joshua shrugged as if this was no big deal, and they were planning out a time to go for a ride. “I did no’ expect to be dead, nor do I now.”
“Noon, then.”
“Fine.”
Then, Alec twitched. “Actually, that will no’ work for me. Dawn the following morning.”
Joshua bristled. “Ye’re putting it off.”
“I offered tomorrow at dawn. Tell your horseman ye’re no’ available.”
“I’ve been waiting for that horse forever. I will no’.” He flicked his gaze at the stranger again, and Giselle started to wonder if the man was, in fact, the horseman in question.
“Ye’ll be waiting forever in hell.”
Giselle’s hands flew to her hips, irritation rising within her. This was bloody ridiculous. “For the love of all things, will ye just settle on a time so that Alec can pencil me in for a wedding?”
That got her two growls and a shocked look from the doctor and the other men present.
“Day after tomorrow at dawn,” Joshua snarled and stabbed a finger in both of their directions. “Be there, or I will shoot ye in your parlor.”
