Page 26 of Saved By the Highland Beast
“I did knock, an’ ye said I could come in.”
“I said you could come in because I thought you were the maid bringing the water I had asked for,” she grunted, still trying to push her head through a hole where it didn’t belong.
“Should I leave?” he asked hesitantly.
“No.” She let out a sigh and gave in to the situation. “You’re already in here, and you can’t see me. You may as well say what you came in here to say.”
“I just wanted to apologize for me behavior yesterday,” Dean explained again. “I dinnae ken what came over me at that moment.”
Sophia frowned when she finally had the blouse over her head and tucked into place. It sounded to her as if his voice was moving around the room.
“I’m sorry if I made ye feel uncomfortable. I didnae mean any disrespect. Yer doin’ such a good job with Cillian, and I would hate for anythin’ to get in the way of that.”
She struggled with her own feelings as he spoke. There was a part of her that felt disappointed when he said that he hadn’t meant anything by their almost kiss.
But this is right, isn’t it? He shouldn’t be kissing me. Why would I want him to? He’s my employer and nothing else.
“Ye came all the way from England to lend a hand. I’m grateful for that, an’ I dinnae wish ye to think anythin’ bad of me.” His voice moved farther away again before coming back.
“My laird?” she called before poking her head around the partition.
“Aye?” He froze as if he had been caught red-handed in the act. He held an item of her clothing in each hand.
“Are you… cleaning?” she asked, taken aback as she looked around her room.
The usually messy area was almost tidy. In fact, he had placed her clothes in folded piles at the foot of her bed and even sorted her books and papers on the desk. The bedding had been pulled straight, and the pillows were neatly placed at the head.
“Aye,” he said more sheepishly this time, averting his eyes in embarrassment.
“What would make you think it was all right for you to come in here and touch my things?” she asked incredulously, completely astonished by his audacity. “How will I be able to find anything now that you’ve moved it all around?”
His mouth dropped open a fraction of an inch as he stared at her in shock. “Find anythin’ now?”
“Yes! You have moved all of my belongings around, and now I won’t know where to find anything when I’ll need it.” She pointed at the pile of clothes at the foot of her bed and then at the neatly stacked books on her desk.
“Find anythin’?” he asked in annoyance this time. “How on God’s green earth were ye able to find anythin’ in here in the first place? Where is the maid, an’ why has she nae been cleanin’ up after ye as she should?”
“I don’t appreciate you insinuating that I need a maid to look after me as if I were a child.” She nearly stomped her foot in frustration. “I asked her to please leave my things as they were so that I could find them again. I don’t have time to search for things when I have lessons that I need to plan.” She took a deep breath before continuing. “And as for finding anything, I knew perfectly well where everything I needed was,” she finished with a vigorous nod of her head as if she had made her point perfectly clear.
Dean continued to stare at her with a look of utter disbelief on his face. “The clothes were draped over there.” He pointed at the chair that stood in front of her dressing table. “Ye have a perfectly good closet.” He tried to make her see the madness of her ways. “Some of yer books were on the floor, when ye have a desk an’ a trunk at the foot of yer bed.” He thrust his arm out again and gestured toward her bed. “Naebody should live like this. It’s maddenin’!” His eyes were fierce with passion.
Sophia bit her bottom lip and suppressed a laugh as he continued to rant about the state of her room. Her mother had often tried to make her change her ways in the past, but nothing had worked. She lived in the kind of organized chaos that she liked. A fact that was currently making the laird turn a shade of the brightest red. She’d never seen a man get so worked up over unfolded clothes before, and she doubted that she ever would again.
“I cannae sleep in me own bed tonight if I ken the state of this room!” he continued his rant.
“Perhaps that is something you should think about and deal with on your own, my laird.” She pushed the laughter down as her irritation began to grow. “You should probably ask yourself why having a messy room is such a problem for you, when you don’t even have to live in it.”
Dean looked as if he were about to hop from being mad. “How does it nae bother ye! That is the question we need to be askin’ here. How can a woman as brilliant at teachin’ as ye so clearly are live in such a state?”
Sophia walked toward him and yanked one of her skirts from his hand. “If you will forgive me, my laird,” she said angrily as she folded the skirt in a haphazard manner before flinging it back over the chair. “I was hired to teach your son, and teach your son I shall!” She yanked the other item of clothing from his hand and tossed it over the skirt. “But I will be damned if I’ll allow you to come in here and tell me how I should be living in my bedchamber! Respectfully, Sir, that is none of your business!” She stomped her foot to make her point.
His face darkened slightly as he came walking toward her. “Dae ye ken what, lass?”
“No, Dean, I don’t ‘ken’ what. Would you please enlighten me and explain all of this madness where you think it’s fine to come barging into a lady’s bedchamber first thing in the morning and tell her how to live?!”
“I’ll…” he began to stammer as he glared at her. He seemed at a loss for words.
“You will what? Come into my room and tidy my things for me some more?” she challenged, standing her ground.
