Master of the Highlands

by Veronica Wolff

Page 24

 

  “I don’t know how you did it. ”

  “Och, lass” —Kat surprised Lily with a quick and clumsy hug “— you’re the one who did it. I just ken how to find the beauty that you so like to hide. ”

  Both of the women were startled by a throaty sound coming from the doorway. The laird stood there staring unabashedly at Lily. “I …”

  Lily met his gaze and felt a jolt of electricity crackle between them, leaving her with a light- headed feeling that she tried to convince herself was merely the effects of the corset.

  Kat bit the corner of her mouth to suppress a smile. “Now, Lochiel, you need to knock whilst the lady is in her dressing room. ”

  The maid’s good-natured scolding brought Ewen back to his senses. “Aye, I … I need to ready myself for dinner. Time seems to have gotten away from me. ”

  That many unnecessary phrases was just short of rambling by the laird ’s standards, and Lily was beginning to feel a bit triumphant, though she didn ’t want to imagine why.

  “I… that is, Lily, I wanted to request your presence in mystudy before dinner. Please. ”

  Then, just as abruptly as he entered, Ewen turned on his heel and disappeared, the door slamming behind him.

  Lily and Kat turned to each other and the tension and uncertainty and fear that Lily had felt in the past days erupted in a release of full -bellied laughter. As Kat joined in, Lily thought just how thankful she was to find such an unlikely friend in this timid maid who, Lily was discovering, was not short on surprises.

  Lily could barely hear her own knock on the immense door. This was her first visit to the laird’s private rooms and all of the confidence she had felt earlier with Kat evaporated as she stood there with her heart hammering in her chest, waiting for Ewen to open the door.

  When he finally did, it was her turn to feel speechless. Dinner with the Cameron laird was no informal occasion, and in the space of an hour Ewen had transformed himself. His hair, still damp from his bath, was pulled back into a single warrior’s queue. A white silk shirt replaced his usual coarse linen one. The hound brooch was pinned at his neck, over a short spill of lace that cascaded down the front panel of his shirt and ended just short of his formal black vest and waistcoat.

  Lily couldn’t help herself as her eyes roamed the rest of his figure. He wore black leather shoes with laces that wound their way up his calves and strained over muscles that couldn’t be concealed even by the white hose that ended at his knees. Her gaze came to rest on his fur-tasseled sporran, and she was mortified to find that she was blushing.

  She looked back up at the laird and was surprised to see a smile playing at the corner of his eyes. Ewen ’s smiles were rare and Lily found the effect disarming.

  “Come in, Lil’ ”. He stepped aside so that she could enter. Lily faltered for a fraction of an instant. No matter how many times she heard him say it, Ewen shortening her name to Lil ’ sent butterflies straight to her stomach. He sensed her hesitation and instinctively placed his hand on her shoulder to usher her in, which didn ’t exactly help with the whole butterfly situation.

  “I’ll escort you to dinner, but first I ’ve something for you. ” His deep voice was more subdued than usual and Lily was becoming uneasy. “I ken how hard it’s been for you. John can be a rascal and I ’ve not been the most …well, you’ve not had the most cordial of welcomes. ”

  Lily had to concur, though was so shocked by his admission she was struck speechless. He looked intently at her, the crackling of the fireplace the only sound in the room.

  “The truth of it is, I ’m obliged for all you do for John. And, lass, I admire the courage you’ve shown. ”

  The situation suddenly felt overwhelmingly intimate. Standing there alone with him in his study, he with something to give her. It seemed that no matter what either of them vowed, merely being alone together always felt like an overly private moment.

  As if he could read her mind, he paused and, rubbing his chin mumbled, “Och, I don ’t know where my mind has got to. I think it ’s seeing that dress again. My mother wore it but once …”

  His voice trailed off, and Lily felt a surge of sympathy for the man. He lost both parents so early in his life, had such responsibilities placed on his head at too young an age. Then lost his wife and, no matter what his relationship with her was like, it meant that he was left alone to raise his son. Lily wondered if she hadn’t misjudged the man, that perhaps his brusque manner was merely adopted as a way to mask some deeper pain in his life.

  He placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face a mirror that hung on the dark-paneled walls. Goose bumps shivered across her skin at the gentleness of his touch. He produced a fine gold necklace out of his sporran and draped it on her neck.

  “I saw you earlier and rememb ered this. My father gave it to my mam to wear with the dress. Seems a shame to part the two. ”

  He looked flustered for a moment and then continued, “You need to appear as any proper Cameron lady would, aye? My mother would not mind putting it to such use for a night. No one need know the origin of the piece. ”

  He clasped the chain, adjusted it on her neck, then stepped back. Lily saw the entire necklace for the first time and gasped. It wasn’t that it was an ostentatious piece. In fact, aside from the obvious value of the emerald that was its focus, the necklace itself was simply designed. In spite of its simplicity—and perhaps because of it—it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. The emerald was the exact color of her velvet gown and hung from an impossibly thin yellow gold chain. Small purple amethysts and yellow opals inlaid in gold filigree wove in a spiky pattern above the stone. The effect was an artfully abstract image of a thistle, with the emerald as the heart of the flower.

  Lily didn’t know much about antique jewelry, but it was clear that fine craftsmanship went into the creation of the piece.

  “You look exquisite, lass. ” Ewen’s husky voice cracked uncharacteristically.

  She turned to thank him and was taken aback to discover that the laird had already left the room and was waiting, with his back turned to her, in the doorway.

  “Well, thank you… Ewen. ” She paused, realizing how rarely she called him by his first name. “It’s truly a lovely piece and means a lot to me that ”—

  Ewen cut her off with a curt nod. “ Come lass, or we’ll be late for supper. ”

  Lily chided herself for feeling a momentary connection to the man. Her sympathies for him—not to mention the butterflies in her stomach—were squashed as she concluded that Ewen was the ill-mannered, uncivil, boorish old Neanderthal that she had first suspected.

  She stormed behind him to the dining room, resolving to not be fooled again by the man.

  He hadn ’t intended for that meeting to go as it did. Though he did feel indebted to Lily for her efforts with his son and that lending her the necklace was an appropriate gesture, Ewen ’s intentions were also practical. He wished that any guest at his household be properly attired for formal dinners—particularly when outsiders were to be in attendance. He wanted Lily to blend in as any other woman of her station would.

  But that had all changed when he saw her in Mam ’s gown. The green velvet was enough to recollect his mother ’s memory, yet the cut of the dress was so altered that it di d not resemble his mother in the slightest. His mother had been no less regal for her smaller size. Hers was a commanding presence, with a quiet sinewy strength that’d been perfect for a laird’s wife.

  Lily, however, was an entirely different matter. Although no less commanding, her figure evoked a more passionate temperament with that rosy flush to her cheeks and a body that was all long lines and deep curves. Ewen was shocked to discover his heart in his throat upon seeing her so attired. Kat had clearly made some alterations, and though the result was not scandalous by any means, the strategically placed bits of lace did much to suggest what lay beneath.

 
; He had immediately thought of the thistle necklace. His mother had worn it with that very gown. He only wanted to lend it to her for the evening so she would be no more nor less adorned than any of the other Highland ladies. His critical error was placing it on her neck himself. When his fingers brushed the creamy expanse of her throat, he longed to take her shoulders firmly in his hands and thought what it would be like to turn her toward him and take her mouth with his. It had been so long since Ewen had entertained any such thoughts, yet now desire clutched at his throat like the thirst of a dying man and refused to let loose.

  He at times admired the cut of a woman ’s figure, or the sparkle of an eye, or the gleam of one ’s hair, but he was not tempted to do more than look since Mairi passed. She had taught him that lasses were more trouble than they wereworth. And then some, in her case.

  This one, though, was different. She was outspoken, yet not in the shrewish way that Mairi had been. Lily ’s temperament seemed to emanate from an inner strength and self-knowing rather than the immature and feline rebellion that was Mairi’s way.

  He hadn’t intended the moment to feel so intimate. Clearly there was a deeper connection to the woman that allowed them to slip into such easy familiarity.

  He would not allow it to happen again.

  Chapter 15

  Rowena caught a glimpse of Lily from the corner of her eye and moved closer to Ewen on the divan. She had requested an audience with the laird on the pretext that she hadn’t known that he ’d been in search of a governess for John. That he received her in a private sitting room had been an added and unexpected bonus.

  She was determined to arrange a betrothal with Ewen by summer. If her cowardly father was unable to make it happen, then she would just take matters into her own hands. She would be the next lady of Clan Cameron and she hoped Ewen’s blind bullheadedness didn ’t stand in the way of coming to an arrangement in the usual course. He was shockingly reserved, though, in his reactions to her feminine attractions, and she was not used to being so disregarded. Rowena had always been able to use her looks and her wiles to control the men around her. After all, she had spent her girlhood honing the arts of manipulation on her father.