Page 69 of The Highlander's Auctioned Bride
Her fingers smoothed over the sparkling fabric. It suited her so well he wanted to see her in it every day.
“It is awedding presentfrom me husband, and yes I love it.”
He snorted and pulled out her chair so she could sit. The remaining crowds that were milling about followed his lead.
It was usually impossible to get the heads of all the great houses in one room like this, but everyone was here. James assumed they had come because they expected he had an announcement to make. Or perhaps they were just here in support of his bride.
Either way, it took them all an age to stop speaking to one another. Every single man here had business with the other or needed to talk to him about some matter of the clan. It was a good few minutes before everyone was seated and the food could be brought out.
It was Cullen-skink soup, one of his favorites, and he glanced at Maisie.
“I may have asked the cook about yer favorite foods. Mrs. Murray had strict instructions to indulge ye.”
He managed a smile. He glanced around the room, watching the servants moving about and the soup being served. Everyone seemed in high spirits, but one could never tell how any man was feeling in his heart.
Was this foolish?
He had made a rash decision to hold the feast. He was desperate to keep Maisie safe and ensure no one else could ever hurt her.
But as he looked about the room, he noticed how exposed they were. If someone wanted to target them, he had just put his wife at the top of the room, open to any kind of attack.
He twisted his foot in his boot, feeling the comforting line of the blade beside his ankle from the dirk he had placed there. His sword was beneath his seat, and another dirk at his belt.
He looked around them. He would be able to fight anyone if they were foolish enough to do anything here.
They will be dead before the main course if that is the case.
He ate as much of the soup as he could manage, listening to Maisie chatting easily with Bram Wallace on her left. Marcus and Lillian were three tables along in front of him. James did his best not to stare at them.
Marcus was in particularly high spirits—almost exaggeratedly so—laughing and joking with the others on the table whileMrs. Guthrie looked on. Lillian was small and quiet, but that was nothing new. Her eyes were downcast, and she had barely touched her food.
Next, the lamb was brought out, and James began to relax.
The tables before him were calm as everyone tucked into their food. There was much laughter and merriment, and he started to think that perhaps Maisie was right. Perhaps this was all a case of bad luck, and she had been targeted by someone who was not connected to James at all.
Then Maisie started choking, and his world collapsed.
CHAPTER 25
Maisie felt fairlyrelaxed throughout the meal.
Everyone appeared to be enjoying themselves, and it seemed that their fears were unfounded. No one in the room looked hostile; indeed, she had received a fair number of friendly smiles from those in front of her.
It was only after she took a sip of her wine that she began to feel strange. She was in the midst of discussing the expansion of Bram Wallace’s lands, following the marriage of two of his tenants when everything in front of her shifted violently.
She shook herself, trying to dispel the feeling, but as she did so, her stomach cramped painfully, and her throat began to constrict.
“Me lady?” Bram asked, looking perturbed. “Me lady!”
Maisie couldn’t breathe. She tried to cough, but her throat began to close up, and she choked, clinging to the table desperately.
She could feel hundreds of eyes upon her. There was a violent thud as James’s chair hit the floor and he stood abruptly, taking her into his arms.
“Bring some water!” someone shouted, as her vision began to turn black.
“James,” she murmured. “What is happening?”
She lurched upward, thinking that she might be sick. Her stomach began a paroxysm of cramps as her body tried to expel whatever it was it had ingested.
