Page 44 of Sinful Scottish Laird
Belinda managed to mention their departure almost every day, as if it were imminent. Daisy hadn’t thought of leaving quite as seriously as she ought to have done. She’d grown into Auchenard, at least for the time being. She wasn’t ready to go back to London yet. There was still time.
As Belinda continued on with her studied lecture on the state of country roads in general, Rowley appeared in the dining room with a silver tray, the sort that generally held calling cards. He bowed at Daisy’s side.
“What’s this?” she asked, looking at a bundle of folded parchments.
“It is the post, milady. A messenger has reached us from London.”
Daisy glanced at the bundle of letters. “The post? Here? But how?”
“I can’t rightly say, milady. I know only that he came up the lake from Erbusaig.”
She took the bundle of letters and removed the twine. One, she was delighted to see, was from her good friend Lady Beckinsal, who had promised to keep her informed of events in London, and was the only person with whom Daisy had left instructions on how to reach her. Daisy decided to leave that missive for later, when she was alone and could laugh freely.
The second was from her estate agent. She read it aloud to Belinda. “The roof at Chatwick Hall has suffered some damage. The repairs are expected to be fifty pounds.” Daisy looked up. “Fifty pounds! Did they lose the roof altogether?”
“Roofs are almost always the first thing to fall in disrepair,” Belinda said as she spread jam over a toast point. “Once the roof begins to decay, the rest of the house will likely follow.” She glanced up from her toast. “You best ensure you set aside a bit for more repairs.”
The last letter was addressed simply to Lady Chatwick, Auchenard, Scotland. But the familiar handwriting made Daisy’s heart skip.
“Who is it from?” Belinda asked.
“Rob,” Daisy said. “How does he know where to find me?” she asked as she broke the seal of the letter.
“What does he say?” Belinda asked excitedly.
Daisy unfolded the letter.
My dearest Lady Chatwick,
I hope this letter finds you and your son in good health. I pray this letter reaches you so that you might know I have arrived in London. Upon my arrival I went directly to your house but discovered, to my great consternation, that you had recently gone. Your staff, possessing a great sense of loyalty, refused to tell me, who to them presented a perfect stranger, where you had gone. One fellow relieved my suffering and said that I might find your direction with Lady Beckinsal. I was certain she’d not receive me, but as my name was not unfamiliar to her, the dear lady did take me into her salon. She did indeed take pity on me as she told me where you’d gone. She did acknowledge that you had received my earlier letter, but would not say more than that. However, she kindly offered to see that a letter was dispatched to you now.
Daisy, if I may speak very plainly so that my intentions are clear, I have come to present myself to you. Perhaps I presume too much in saying that, but I have resigned my commission from the navy in the hope that I can resume our friendship. It’s been too long since I last laid eyes on you, and I pray that you still feel as you once did for me. Please know that my feelings are unchanged by all these years. I have held you in the highest regard in my thoughts and my heart since we were forced to part, and now I have given up all that I am for you. I can only hope that fate has led us to the place where we may realize the dreams we once had, together. My greatest fear is that your feelings have changed, and as you have left London after receiving my last letter, I fear that perhaps they have.
“What does he say?” Belinda insisted. She was leaning eagerly forward, as if she were trying to read Robert’s words through the back of the parchment.
Daisy slowly lifted her gaze. “He’s in London,” she said.
“In London!” Belinda repeated. “His commission has ended so soon?”
Daisy nodded. “And he still feels the same as he did all those years ago. And he doesn’t understand why I left.”
“Oh no!” Belinda said.
Daisy stood abruptly. “I shall write him straightaway and put his mind at ease. I’ll explain why I came, that I didn’t know how to reach him, or how long it would be before he arrived in London, and how the bloody clock followed me here.”
“Shouldn’t we just go home?” Belinda asked. “A letter might take too long.”
“It would take us at least as long,” Daisy said. “But yes...we ought to go home.”
Belinda gasped. Such a look of relief washed over her face that Daisy’s gut soured. What was wrong with her that her cousin felt the weight of time passing so much more urgently than Daisy did?
“If you will excuse me now, darling, I shall go and think on my reply,” she said and swept out of the room before Belinda could say anything more to add to Daisy’s sudden burden of guilt.
She walked almost blindly from the dining room to the great room and the writing desk there. But instead of seating herself at the desk, she went to the windows and stared out at the world, at her private little world, her belly churning with many conflicting emotions. A sense of urgency first and foremost—she couldn’t lose Rob. She couldn’t. It wasRob.She had loved him so completely and without qualification, and was there a better prospect? But yesterday...yesterday there had been a moment when she’d felt something so strongly for someone else that she couldn’t quite dismiss it.
“Daisy?”
She whirled around from the window; she hadn’t heard Uncle Alfonso come into the room. He was without a coat, and his shirtsleeves were rolled up to his elbows. “Is something wrong?” he asked as he walked across the room to join her at the window.
