Page 36 of A Sinful Night with a Scot
Rubbing her eyes, Elsie slipped out of bed and padded across the wooden floor toward the dresser, where Anna patiently waited for her. Sitting in the chair before the mirror, Elsie avoided looking at herself, while Anna began unbraiding her hair.
“Everyone is very excited about this evening, me lady,” Anna said, her hands working industriously as she went on. “Word has spread across the land, and many are making the journey tae welcome ye intae the clan.”
Elsie half smiled, mainly because she didn’t have the energy to do much else. She was happy to let Anna talk, but she could not rouse herself yet to join in on the conversation. Whether the maid realized that or not, Elsie could not know, but she was relieved that the kind lass continued on without her input.
When Elsie’s hair was finally untangled, Anna dragged a brush through the long strands, telling Elsie how beautiful it was. It was quite relaxing, and made Elsie think of home. Her own maid always loved doing that, telling her she had never, in her life, seen hair as beautiful as hers. Anna had made similar comments.
After a little while, feeling both curious and nervous about what the evening held, Elsie asked Anna questions about the clan.
“I met a man called Michael today. He is one o’ the council members,” she said. “Are they all as pleasant as he?”
Through the mirror, Elsie watched Anna pull a face. “I wouldnae say all o’ them. Some are more amicable than others, and then, a few o’ them are just plain grumpy.”
This made Elsie laugh, and Anna beamed a grin. “Well, it’s true.”
Another question danced in her mind, but Elsie was nearly too scared to ask it. Clearly, by the way Keane had spoken to Anna earlier, they were more familiar than perhaps other servants, and thus, it only stood to reason that Anna knew the laird better than some might.
If anyone could tell her what he was really like, it was likely Anna. But still, she hesitated.
Surely, she will think me mad asking her about me own husband.
She probably imagines it was a somewhat arranged marriage.
That thought fortified Elsie a little, and bolstering herself, she looked at Anna through the mirror. “Anna, can I ask ye a question?”
“Anything, me lady,” the maid said openly.
But Elsie suddenly lost her nerve. “Och, I feel silly.”
“Nae at all, me lady. Please. What is it?”
Elsie took a nervous breath in. “What is me husband like?”
It was Anna’s turn to falter now, and fumbling over her words, they came tumbling out of her mouth. “He’s… he’s a good man. And, he… er, he looks after the clan and all under his rule. And, er… well, ye ken, he hasnae had an easy time o’ it, what with his faither being murdered an’ all…” she trailed off.
Elsie was immediately both suspicious and curious in equal measures. “What are ye nae telling me?” she said.
“Och, naething, me lady,” the maid blurted, lying obviously not coming naturally to the lass at all.
“Anna?” Elsie pressed.
The lass then heaved a sigh and dropped her shoulders. “Please, me lady. I like ye very much, and I dinnae want tae see ye upset.”
“Perhaps ye would prefer I find out from another,” Elsie said cleverly, knowing her words would compel the maid to reconsider. “Word travels fast enough.”
“Och, nay, me lady. I wouldnae,” she gasped. The young lass looked solemn and slightly dejected, and then she said. “The truth is, the laird is quite a rake, if ye ken what I mean.”
Elsie very much knew what Anna meant. While she had pressed the maid, she could not have imagined what the young lass was going to tell her, and now, after discovering what Anna had beentrying to protect her from, Elsie felt a strange sensation in her gut. She knew the feeling, for she had felt it before. But the circumstances on those occasions had been vastly different.
Jealousy, for her, was yearning to be treated like one of her father’s trusted advisors, and often she had found herself envious of those men. She had also felt jealous of the birds flying free in the sky, jealous of the servants and maids, who, for at least some of their time serving at the castle, could be themselves and were happy with who they were.
Never in her life had she been jealous of a man, not in any romantic sense of the word, at least. Now, as that sensation grew, she sensed it to be a far stronger feeling. Far more intense than jealousy of her father’s advisors, or the birds that flew free, or the servants who served at her father’s castle.
The feeling, a tugging dark ache at the center of her being, seemed to spread across her, like a dark shadow, only it consumed her from the inside. Starting at the pit of her stomach, spreading into her chest and then swirling there, lurking, as though waiting for something.
“I have upset ye, me lady,” Anna’s voice tugged at her attention, pulling her back from being swallowed up by the darkness.
“Nae,” Elsie lied, shaking her head quickly. Trying to think of something to say, she grasped at the first thing that made any sense. “Ye ken as well as I, Anna. He is me husband in name only. It is hardly like I love him, nor he, me.”
