Page 70 of Sinful Scottish Laird
She hadn’t realized how far away from the dancing she’d wandered until she felt Robert’s hand on her back. He’d appeared at her side like a sentry while she tried to make desperate sense of her feelings. “Rob,” she said and smiled with a bit of relief. “There you are.”
“It’s time that we retired. They are all deep in their cups,” he said, glancing around them. His hand held her elbow, as if he thought she might flee.
“It’s not very late, is it?”
“Daisy, please,” he said and pulled her around to face him. “We are not welcome here. Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but they look at us as if we are the enemy. It’s your safety that concerns me.”
He looked truly concerned. She looked around them—the crowd was growing more raucous. And it was true that Daisy had noticed some vaguely hostile looks cast her way today. “Yes, all right,” she acquiesced.
Robert sighed with relief and instantly began to move her along, exiting the hall as quickly as he could maneuver her through the crowd.
He escorted her through the maze of hallways, and when they reached the wing of rooms the Mackenzies had so graciously granted her family, Daisy slowed. “I want to look in on Ellis.” She paused at the door of her son’s room and knocked softly. Hearing no response, opened the door quietly and looked in. She could just make out Ellis’s form on the bed, and from somewhere deeper in the room, she could hear Uncle Alfonso’s heavy snoring.
She pulled the door closed. “They are sound asleep.”
The next door was Daisy’s room, which adjoined Belinda’s. They paused there, and Daisy tried to think of something to say, something encouraging or, at the very least, kind...but her thoughts were miles from that door. “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you for agreeing to come.”
She couldn’t read Robert’s expression in the dimly lit hallway, but he said, “I am still of the opinion that this was a foolish thing to have done. I shan’t sleep at all tonight, for fear of foul play.”
Foul play?She didn’t believe that for a moment. Her hosts had been gracious, and Ellis had enjoyed it so. “You are too suspicious,” she said and caressed his arm.
Robert sighed wearily, as if he’d explained this to her dozens of times and she still didn’t understand. “I can’t fault you for not understanding the darker side of men, darling. But I shall be quite relieved when we take our leave in the morning.” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “Good night,” he murmured, then reached around her and opened the door at her back. “I’ll wait until I hear the latch.”
“Good night,” Daisy said and stepped inside. She closed and latched the door, likewise feeling relief—the relief of being free of him this evening.
She turned about and started. Belinda was in her room.
“I beg your pardon, did I frighten you?” Belinda asked cheerfully as she laid out Daisy’s bedclothes. “I rather thought you’d be quite late to bed.”
Daisy waited for Belinda to continue with some dire warning of some horrible fate that had befallen someone who had stayed too late at the dancing. But she didn’t. She was humming.Humming.
“Belinda? Is everything all right?” Daisy asked. Belinda smiled, and Daisy gaped at her.
“I sold my painting,” she admitted excitedly. “A nice gentleman from...oh, I don’t know where. I could scarcely understand a word he said! But he paid me fairly and carried it away.” She held up a small pouch and shook it so that Daisy could hear the coins clicking. She beamed, her face illuminated with happiness.
“Darling, that’s marvelous,” Daisy said.
“Yes, it is, isn’t it? I can’t think of a single reason I should be unhappy.” She made a sound of delight and laid Daisy’s slippers at the end of the bed. “There you are, all ready,” she said. “Shall I help you undress?”
“No, thank you,” Daisy said. “Go to bed, Belinda. Sleep well. Dream of your next piece of art.”
“Oh, I don’t think I’ll sleep a wink,” Belinda said excitedly. She hugged Daisy on her way to her room, jingling the pouch of coins in her hand as if it was a toy.
Astonished, Daisy sank down onto the edge of her bed. Robert feared the worst, but no one could deny that Ellis and Belinda hadchangedhere. They had found a piece of themselves at Auchenard and had grown from it. Shouldn’t that count for something?
The window behind Daisy rattled with a gust of wind, and rain began to patter against the panes.
Daisy had found something here, too, hadn’t she? She’d found love, something she’d never expected to experience again, not like this. It was unrequited, but it didn’t matter—she felt it in every bit of her, and she wasn’t ready to let go of it just yet.
She stood up, smoothed her gown, pinched her cheeks, and with only a twinge of conscience, knowing that Robert would be very unhappy with her, she left her room.
She followed the sounds of the merrymaking and managed to negotiate the maze of hallways to find the great hall. Now that it was raining, the people from the meadow were coming inside, crowding into the hall, making the crush of bodies even greater than before. There was scarcely room to move about.
She tried to find the table where Mr. Somerled had been seated, but people were looking at her, some of them leering. This had been a mistake. She scarcely knew anyone, and she hadn’t realized how vulnerable she felt without a man at her side.
She pushed through the crowd to a door and went out. But she found herself in an unfamiliar corridor that was so crowded, she was forced up against the wall. She looked down the hallway, to her left, then to her right, searching for an escape, not realizing at first that two men were towering over her, speaking to each other as they leered at her. Their glassy-eyed expressions made Daisy’s stomach clench. She was suddenly reminded of all the things she’d heard about Scots and Englishwomen, and tried not to panic. It was so loud—would anyone really notice if she screamed?
One of them was speaking to her in Gaelic. She shook her head, and the two men, now joined by another, laughed.
