Page 11 of A Forbidden Night with a Scot
“In his study,” said Samuel before Katherine could respond. “He has some things tae dae.”
Turning to one of the servants, Alicia asked, “Has he eaten?”
“He has been brought food, me lady,” said the girl rather cryptically. Alicia could only suspect that her father had not eaten whatever he had been brought.
With a sigh, she turned to Katherine, who had the same look of concern on her face that she felt. Their father had not been his usual self lately. Something had been bothering him, but neither Alicia nor Katherine knew what it could possibly be.
I wonder if Samuel kens. He must. Perhaps this is why he is here.
But if her father had instructed him to refrain from telling either of them anything, then Alicia doubted there was a way for her to get the truth out of Samuel. He was not the kind of man to go back on his word or speak about something he shouldn’t.
The three of them ate mostly in silence, with only Katherine trying to break it every now and then with some small talk. Though Samuel seemed happy to engage, Alicia couldn’t find it in her to speak much, still too exhausted from the previous night and too embarrassed by all the thoughts running through her head to pay attention to anything but her plate.
She had to avoid Samuel as much as she could. She had to be around him as little as possible, as her infatuation only seemed to be growing in his vicinity, instead of fading like it should have.
“Me lady,” a familiar voice called and Alicia turned to see one of the servants bowing to her. “Yer faither has requested yer presence in his study. He says it is a matter o’ importance.”
Though Alicia had hardly touched her breakfast, she excused herself and stood, following the servant out of the room. As she left, she couldn’t help but glance at Samuel, whose look puzzledher. He seemed almost disturbed, something about him giving her the sense that whatever her father wanted to talk to her about was not a good thing.
So, will he finally reveal what has been happenin’ this whole time?
A part of her was relieved that she would finally know, but another feared what was to come. If Samuel’s expression was any indication, the news would not be good.
Rushing upstairs to her father’s study, Alicia knocked, not waiting for a response before she opened the door. Her father was alone, sitting behind his desk and gazing out of the window at the clear sky, a cup of wine in his hand. When she entered the room, he turned to look at her but otherwise gave no acknowledgment.
Alicia walked over to the desk, sitting on one of the chairs before it. Her father suddenly looked older, as though years had passed in the span of a few days, and she couldn’t help but fear the worst.
Has somethin’ happened tae the clan? Did somethin’ happen tae Emmeline?
Nay. Surely, he would have told us if it was me sister.
“What is wrong, Faither?” Alicia asked when he made no effort to speak. She could have sworn in that moment that his eyesshone with unshed tears, something she had only seen twice before—once when her mother had died and once when he had had to give Emmeline away to her husband.
Her father’s lips parted, then closed again, as though he couldn’t bring himself to say what he wanted to say. He drew in a deep breath and reached over the desk for her hand, holding it tightly between his own.
“I have some news,” he said and his voice trembled ever so slightly. “It is… somethin’ we kent could happen one day.”
Alicia nodded in an effort to encourage him, but her father seemed exhausted just by saying that much. It was costing him, she could see, to have this conversation with her and her stomach dropped at the thought of all the things that could have gone wrong in the past few weeks. She wished he would understand that the more he delayed this, the worse it was for them both.
“Laird MacTavish has sent me a letter,” he continued. “Tae ask me fer yer hand in marriage.”
Alicia froze and the rest of the world seemed to freeze with her. Even time slowed down, everything around her coming to a sudden halt.
Laird MacTavish? The man is almost twice me age!
If her infatuation with Samuel had taught Alicia anything, it was that she didn’t mind an older man—if anything, she preferred it. But Laird MacTavish was even older than her father and he was nothing like Samuel.
Surely, this wasn’t a suggestion her father was entertaining. It couldn’t be. Especially after Emmeline’s marriage, he had to know this was a bad idea.
“An’ ye refused,” she said, more of a statement than a question. “Ye refused, did ye nae?”
Her father hesitated and it was all Alicia needed to know that he had not, in fact, refused. Within seconds, her eyes welled up with tears, hot and stinging, but she refused to let them fall.
A pained sound escaped her father, like the mere sight of her like this wounded him terribly. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry, me daughter, but the king has decreed it. An’ Clan MacTavish is a good ally. We will prosper with them on our side.”
“Prosper?” asked Alicia, shaking her head in disbelief. “An’ what about me? I will be the one who will have tae wed Laird MacTavish. Dae ye think I will prosper, Faither? Dae ye think I will prosper with him as me husband? That I will wish tae have his bairns? That I will ever love him? Or dae ye think he will?”
Alicia knew for certain Laird MacTavish would not love her. The only reason why he wanted to wed her was because she was young and he was after a young, naive wife, but he was not goingto find such a thing in her. In fact, if Alicia had anything to say about it, he wasn’t going to find a wife in her at all.
