Disbelievingly, she went closer and let her fingers glide carefully over the beautiful fabrics She felt the
material and the desire to sew new clothes from it arose. But then she came to her senses again. Abruptly she turned around and looked into the happy eyes of Eileen, who seemed to be thinking the same thing.
"Who's this from?"
Eileen, smiled at her as she paused at the door.
"You must have made a great impression on the lord the day before yesterday. He had these bales
delivered very early this morning and the roofer has also been commissioned by him."
"Roofer? What Craftsmen."
"Well, the ones who are on the roof and later on will repair the windows. Oh Moira isn't that fantastic?"
"Fantastic? Not at all."
With those words, Moira stormed past Eileen who didn't understand why Moira reacted so angrily.
Outside, she stood rooted to the spot when she saw three men standing on her roof, hand in hand, inspecting every single shingle and replacing the bad ones in the process. How could he presume to order repairs? The house was not his and how was she supposed to pay the men. Furious, she turned around and almost collided with Eileen, who had stepped quietly behind her.
With an angry, "How dare him!“, she stomped back into the house, tearing off the winter cape from the hook and was about to go out the door again when Eileen stood in her way.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to tell that cocky lord where he can stick his bolts of cloth."
"You're not going to do that."
"You bet I will. Put the bales of cloth all back together and clear the way."
"Not until you calm down and listen to me."
Impatiently, Moira bobbed one foot and looked at her friend waitingly.
"Now, come on, say what you're going to say."
"Why don't you calm down first? I don't understand why you're so upset. You know as well as I do that these repairs are urgently due if we don't want the roof to fall on our heads. Also in winter it's always drafty, so we've always sealed the windows with cloths, that shouldn't have slipped your mind. And with the fabrics we can dress the children well. We need all these things urgently and I think he saw it the same way. So it's more than nice that he took care of it."
"Oh, yeah? You forgot a little, tiny thing in your list," Moira pressed her forefinger on her thumb and held both close to Eileen‘s face," what do you think I'm going to use to pay for this? I don't want to
more dependent than I already am."
With these words, she pushed Eileen to the side and stomped off in the direction of the street. Eileen thought about it for a moment before she called after her, "What do you mean dependent?"
But Moira no longer heard these words and Eileen watched her shake her head. She hoped Lord MacIntyre would bring her back to her senses.
"Moira! Nice to see...."
Moira rushed past Albert as he opened the heavy front door for her.
"Is he in his office?"
Albert was so surprised by this attack that he was startled and moved to the side. He regained his composure relatively quickly, however, and replied in his usual distinguished manner.
"If you are looking for his lordship, he is not in the house."
"Where is he, Albert?"
"Well, you can wait for him in the reception room while I send for him, if you tell me what the urgency of the matter is."
Upset, she blustered at Albert that she would tell the lord herself. Albert, who had experienced much in his long career as a butler, knew when it was better to back down. Whatever the young man had done to Miss Fergusson, that she reacted so violently, was the lord's own affair. So he replied, "He's in the stables. Shall I take you there?"
But he did not get an answer, because Moira had already stormed out of the house. She knew her way around the property from her previous visits and went straight to the stables. Shaking his head, Albert closed the door again and hoped that the lord would get along with Miss Fergusson.
She saw him at the end of the stable alley with the young man Eileen hoped to marry one day.
She remembered that his first name was Samuel. Robert MacIntyre was standing with his back to her and both men seemed engrossed in their conversation, for they had not yet noticed her. While she was walking down the long alley, a few horses poked their heads out of the stalls with curiosity. Some began to whinny and announced her to the men even before she reached them. Robert turned to her and greeted her with a bright smile, but when she approached, he saw her angry face, his smile immediately disappeared. Before he could say anything he heard Moira scolding him savagely.
"Lord MacIntyre, how dare you interfere in my affairs!"
Samuel, who was looking at him with an astonished look and an open mouth as Moira addressed the lord like a fury, was glad when Robert told him that they would talk more later. Grateful not to have to witness this controversy he quickly disappeared out the back door and left Robert to his fate.
"Moira! How nice to see you at such an early hour. I see the delivery has already arrived at your house."
He threw her a disarming smile. Moira, on the other hand, wished she were a man, then she would have smacked the grin off his face. Nonchalantly, he stood there before her in his white shirt, the sleeves which he had pulled up to his upper arms and whose upper buttons stood open.
His pitch black hair was slightly disheveled and gave his face some boldness. He had a striking face with high cheekbones and thick eyebrows. But the most interesting thing about his face were his bright blue eyes. She had never seen before such an intense blue , which now looked at her somewhat mischievously, and drew her under their spell. Suddenly it occurred to her that she might be overreacting, but she still had to put him in his place and therefore replied angrily:
"Yes, and I want you to cancel this delivery."
Astonished at her words, he said:
"Why? Don't you like the fabrics?"
"Yes, but...."
"Well, then everything is fine, why all the excitement?" he interrupted her, gently put a hand on her back and turned her around so that she could walk next to him. Somewhat taken aback that he had cut her off, she tried again.
"It's not okay at all. You can't just order supplies and repairs for something that is none of your business."
Abruptly, Robert stopped and looked at her thoughtfully.
"Can't I?"
"No, you can't."
"Moira, I had told you that I wanted to help you, and the work I had commissioned is urgently needed. That you know as well as I do, so why do you resist so vehemently?"
"Because it's my business and I'll take care of it when I think it's necessary."
"Well, it has been necessary and I don't understand why you‘re so opposed to me taking a little of the burden you have loaded on your pretty shoulders. Don't be so stubborn."
Moira was fuming inside. How could she explain her situation to him in a plausible manner, without telling him anything of the agreement she had made with Dumfrey. In her situation, she didn't need anyone else to whom she owed something. The water was already up to her neck without him.
"I'm not stubborn! I simply can't afford to take your help because I can't pay for it."
So, now it was out and she was more than embarrassed to have to confess to him that she was as poor as a church mouse. Ashamed, she turned away and patted one of the horses who had curiously followed the conversation. For a while, none of them said a word.
Robert had already thought something like this, when he saw the somewhat neglected condition of the house, so he had ridden directly into town to order the most necessary things. Under no circumstances had he wanted to enrage Moira with his advance. It had rather been meant as a spontaneous
assistance. Moira was a proud woman and he was trying to fathom how he would have felt in her position if someone had simply gone over his
head.
Slowly, he turned to her and looked into those beautiful green eyes that were now looking at him through a wet veil. He pulled a clean, white handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed her tears with it.
Then he spontaneously pulled her into his arms.
He noticed how she stiffened and did not press her, but then she gave in and her anger seemed to be
gone.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.“
Moira trembled inwardly, but no longer out of anger. A completely different feeling flooded her body.
At the moment, when he had pulled her tenderly against him and held her in his arms, she had felt as if a weight was falling from her shoulders. It seemed to her as if his strong arms would give her support. The pleasant scent of his aftershave enveloped her and she caught her hands on his chest. Robert's heart was beating up into his throat. Even through the fabric of his shirt, he could feel Moira's hands precisely. The same blissful feeling he had felt when dancing set in and he did well to put some distance between them again, otherwise he would have kissed her.
"You don't have to worry about the payment. You are welcome to consider it as a down payment, if that's what you really want."
Moira thought she had misheard.
„Down payment?“ She would certainly not sell herself to another man. Already she noticed again, the anger rising in her and Robert noticed it, too, because she had immediately left him and looked at him furiously.
"Down payment? For what consideration from me?"
Appeasingly, Robert raised his arms.
"Not a down payment from you - but from me."
"I don't understand what you mean."
"Come on. I want to show you something."
Chapter 8
Robert took Moira by the hand and pulled her over to the house. As he stepped through the the front door, Albert came out of the kitchen and walked up to him. In passing, he turned to the surprised butler.
"Albert, I do not wish to be disturbed at the moment."
Reflexively, the latter replied, "Very well, Your Lordship."
But Robert did not seem to want a response, because he had already disappeared into his study with Moira. Albert shook his head and thought more to himself what the young people of today thought about this behavior. Robert, on the other hand, let go of Moira's hand, gestured for her to make herself comfortable in one of the armchairs at his desk and then closed the door behind them. Moira, who had been in this room during his uncle's lifetime, noticed that not much had changed since his death. The heavy oak desk still stood in the same place, directly in front of the glass front, but it was packed with folders, documents and other worksheets that Robert had been working with.
On the right and left, wall-high shelves adorned the room. They were crammed full of books that had been accumulated over the centuries of history of the Dunbars. On the right side of the room, there was a small, secret alcove, which Robert now approached and walked towards. He pushed away the wall of books in front of it. Behind it was a wall safe, which he opened and took out two documents. With these documents in hand he took a seat on his desk. Without further ado he began to speak.
"Since you are the heiress of your father, I would like you to look at this."
He handed her the two documents and meanwhile continued with his execution. Moira glanced at the two purchase contracts.
"I found these contracts while going through my uncle's papers. It clearly states that your father is
co-owner of these two horses with forty percent. What I don't know is why my uncle made this purchase with your father, who as you told me, had as little idea about breeding as my uncle did."
Robert leaned back in his chair, rested his arms on the armrests and let his head rest on his hands, while he watched Moira study the papers.
"I don't understand this either. And then this horrendous sum. Is that a reasonable price? I had no idea that horses could be so expensive."
"Well, the price also seems quite high, and I believe at this point that our old masters have been
ripped – off. Breeding stallions have their price, especially if the pedigree is first class, which I have already checked and can say what it says is true. Nevertheless the price was quite high. However be that as it may, I would like to know from you whether the signature on the contracts is your father's, so we know if the contracts are legal."
Moira took another close look at the signature carefully and there was no doubt.
"Yes, it is."
She handed the papers back to Robert and while he put the documents back in the safe, several thoughts went through her head. The date of the sales contracts was a date which was a few weeks before the fire. Had her father invested his entire fortune in two horses? If so, that would have been unbelievably stupid not to have reserves. Was that why Sir Dumfrey had come into play with his money loan? Had her mother known about the risky investment? It really made little sense to her that her father, who had always been very businesslike, had gotten involved in such a risky business.
"Something is bothering you, Moira. What is it?"
Torn from her thoughts, she looked into those incredible blue eyes that now looked at her questioningly.
"What do you think about this whole thing, and what do you intend to do now? Are you going to sell them again?"
Secretly she was already thinking that her share of the sale would be enough to cover Lord Dumfrey's debts and thus be free. It would be the solution to her problems. But the words of Robert put a spoke in her wheel.
"No, I don't want to sell the horses. They wouldn't bring to market what they were bought for. We would take a big loss. My uncle and and your father have bought the animals for breeding and that is exactly what I intend to do. The only way we can recoup the cost is through the breeding."
"When I hear you talk like that, you seem to have a clue. Do you know anything about horse breeding?"
"I've done nothing else all my life. My father is the second son of Baron Killian MacIntyre and he moved to America with my mother and me. We emigrated to America twelve years ago. There he raised horses on a farm in the deep west. It took us a long time to make it what it is today one of the largest breeding farms in the area. Ever since I can remember horses have always played a big part in my life, and yes, I think I have enough experience to start a breeding business here."
"Well then the only thing left to figure out is how we're going to deal with these two contracts."
Smiling, Robert looked at Moira. She was bright and she wasn't stupid. She was a woman quite to his liking.
"Well, there are two possibilities. First, I will pay you off as soon as I start to see success and I could free you from any ties right now or you will become my business partner and we will do the whole thing together. That would mean for you that you also share forty percent of the costs."
"I'm afraid I don't have the money to share in the costs, nor do I know anything about breeding, so the only way would be to sell my shares.“
"That's right, and yet I've already told you that I would like to help you and here is a chance for you to make money again if we are successful. I admit there is a risk involved. If we are not successful with the breeding, logically, there would be costs and no profit to anticipate the answer to your question... You have two very good pastures on the bay that we could put to good use. I'd be willing to waive any further expenses on your part. This would keep the land in your possession and be leased, so to speak, to the breeding business and you would get your share as soon as successes are posted."
"Now this is all a little unexpected to me and I'd like to think about it."
"Of course. Consider my offer."
"I do have one question, though."
"Go ahead"
"Even if I let you use the pastures, you will do worse than I. So why do you want to do this? As
you have found out, I had no idea about these co
ntracts. You could have just kept it all to yourself
and never tell me about it."
Robert looked at her in silence for a while. He seemed to be thinking about how he should answer.
Then he said in a firm voice.
"Moira, I'm a man who plays his cards close to his chest and lies are not my style. I like you and I believe that I am also acting in the interest of my uncle, who also wanted to help you. That is why I offer you this
partnership and it is up to you to accept it or reject it. My offer remains so and is not connected with any further conditions. Take the time you need, and in the meantime, I would be delighted if you would join me for dinner the day after tomorrow."
"I will consider your generous offer and I will gladly accept the invitation."
"Very well. I will send a carriage for you."
When Moira was on her way home, her thoughts revolved around the conversation she had just had with Robert. Should she accept his offer and become his partner? That would mean that they would see each other more often. This thought made her feel joyful, because he was an interesting man, who had long since aroused more than just business interests in her. When she arrived at home, the roofers were already done with the roof and were working on the windows. It was actually a nice gesture on his part, and in retrospect she could not really understand why she had reacted so violently. In the hallway there was a letter for her, which must have just come today. She took it with her into the reception room and stopped in front of the fireplace to warm up a little from her walk, when she opened the letter and started to read with trembling hands, the only sentence it contained.
Meet me tomorrow at midnight at the
large oak tree at the entrance to the village
There was no return address on the letter, but Moira knew who it came from and immediately got a bad feeling. She quickly crumpled up the letter, threw it into the open fire and watched as the flames consumed it.
When Love grows doubt Page 6
