Page 73 of The Highlander's Auctioned Bride
“I should dress,” she said quickly and pushed herself to her feet. She felt a wave of dizziness, but her stomach was quiet and settled. She was glad now that her abstinence from wine her entire life had saved her life. She would never drink another drop as long as she lived.
Harris was adamant that he should accompany Maisie to Lillian’s chambers, but Maisie was able to persuade him that if Jean came with her, she would be safe enough within the castle walls. She knew that Harris’s presence would only alarm Lillian, and that was the last thing she wished to do.
Jean left Maisie at the end of the corridor leading to the Guthrie’s suite of rooms. They had been residents in the castle for many years, and Maisie knew that Lillian was a frequent visitor. Marcus Guthrie had practically raised her, as her father was out on business so much of the year.
In another life I believe we could have been good friends,she thought sadly.
She knocked on the door, and after a short pause, it was opened by none other than Lillian. Maisie hadn’t been sure whether Mrs. Guthrie would be attending her, but she was alone.
Maisie entered the rooms, looking about her with interest. It was a strange combination of the Guthrie’s taste and the MacLennan clan colors.
It was a cheerful space, and Maisie took it all in before focusing on Lilian. She was alarmed to see that the girl’s eyes were red-rimmed and bloodshot again.
“I heard about what happened to ye, m’lady,” Lillian said, and Maisie noted she did not call her by her first name today.
Lillian did not offer her condolences or apology. She looked as though she were standing in the path of a cannonball, waiting for it to hit.
“Is everythin’ all right, Lillian? Ye seem upset.”
“Och,” Lillian said. “I am just so devastated at what might have befallen ye,” she said, her eyes flitting rapidly about the room.
Daenae charge this girl with keepin’ a secret, Maisie mused. She’d spill it the instant she took a breath. She was not a good liar.
“Shall we sit?” Lillian asked, and Maisie took up position opposite her on a rather bulky settee that bunched under her thigh in just the wrong place, causing the cut to throb.
Lillian did not offer her any refreshments. The girl was beyond agitated, tapping her foot. When she stopped tapping, a moment later she began to drum her fingers.
Maisie waited. She knew she had the right person in her sights, she just had to give Lillian enough time to reveal herself.
They sat for less than a minute before Lillian rose, wringing her hands in front of her and tears gushing from her eyes.
“I told him nae to dae this!” she wailed. “I told him it was folly, but he wouldnae listen. I dinnaewantJames that way. I told himthat he had picked ye and that if he doesnae want me I dinnae wish to force him, but he wouldnae listen!”
Maisie watched her cry. It was such neat, pretty crying. Lillian’s perfect skin was unblemished, sparking tears falling over her cheeks and from her eyes like crystal droplets.
“Who, Lillian?” Maisie asked, knowing full well who she referred to.
Lillian deflated. “Me uncle.”
Maisie felt a thrill of triumph. She hadknownMarcus was somehow involved, but she was amazed he would have been so bold and so cruel so soon.
“I begged him to stop this,” Lillian sniffed, sitting back down, her hands coiling and uncoiling in her lap. “I told him that it wouldnae make any difference. I would ne’er have wanted ye to be hurt, me lady.”
She sniffed, wiping at her eyes.
“Me uncle has always wished for our family to be better connected. Me faither is nae always reliable with his fortunes and we have fallen on hard times. He always felt that if I could marry Ja—Laird MacLennan, we would be set for life. Nae more worries and an irrefutable status when our bairns were born.”
Maisie watched her fingers linking and unlinking in her lap, but a tendril of doubt was unfurling in her mind.
Why is she tellin’ me all this so easily? Surely, she kens James will kill her uncle for exposing him.
“He was mad, I think. I believe he has lost his senses and is doin’ all he can to get ye out of the way so that I can take yer place.”
She looked up at Maisie, those wide and beautiful eyes baleful and sad.
“I need to show ye somethin’,” Lillian whispered, and she rose, smoothing down her dress and waiting for Maisie to struggle to her feet.
Once again, Maisie felt like a visitor in her own castle looking at the lady of the house. Maisie would never have Lillian’s grace and poise.
