Page 27 of The Highlander's Auctioned Wife
Seeing an opportunity, a chance to put his bride at easeandensure that she had a constant guard that she could trust,Gordon decided to partially reward the maid’s courage.Hewouldn’t be able to watch Anna all the time, not even across the span of just five weeks, and with an unsolved threat still hanging over him, additional protection could only be of benefit.
“Pack yer things,” he instructed, his arms folded behind his back.
The maid’s eyes flew wide. “Pardon? M’Laird, ye… ye daenae have the authority to send me from me employment. Only Laird MacTorrach can?—”
“Pack yer things,” Gordon repeated. “Ye’ll join me bride eastward.”
She blinked in astonishment. “GowithM’Lady?”
“Aye. Unless ye daenae care for her as much as ye say?” he challenged.
The maid shook her head, her hand flying to her chest. “I’ll pack at once, M’Laird.”
“Good.” Gordon walked the few steps between them, and as he passed her by, he leaned in to add a warning that couldn’t be ignored, “But if anythin’ happens to her on yer watch, Idoken what I’ll do.”
CHAPTER 14
“Are ye quite certain about this?”Anna’s mother asked in a low, anxious voice, taking Anna to one side. “Nae all the other lairds have returned home in a temper. There’s still time to see what the last few have to offer.”
It was the morning after the betrothal had been agreed and, as servants hurried by with wooden trunks and carefully wrapped packages of her things, Anna put on a courageous smile and nodded at her mother.
“I’m certain, Mama,” she promised. “Remember, it’s just a betrothal. If we daenae like each other, I’ll come right home.”
Louisa chewed her lip, glancing down the hallway as if to check that the coast was clear. “Dinnae say that to yer faither. Swear to me ye willnae say that to him.”
“He kens it’s only five weeks,” Anna insisted, though she understood her mother’s unspoken meaning: if her fatherbelieved that this was truly just a test of compatibility, with the chance that Anna might return at the end of it, he would alter the conditions of the agreement. Indeed, he’d likely have Anna and Gordon wed there and then.
“Anna…”
“Very well,” Anna replied, looping her arm through her mother’s. “I promise I willnae mention my potential return to Faither. We’ll leave it as a surprise, if it comes to it.”
Louisa released a nervy breath. “If itdoescome to it, ye must only write to me of yer choice. I’ll arrange for discreet guards to come and fetch ye, and yer faither willnae ken a thing ‘til ye’re already back in yer room.” She paused and suddenly pulled her daughter into a hug, squeezing tight. “But if ye daenae like each other, daenae try to make it work. If ye’re nae a good match, promise me yewillcome home, that ye willnae be stubborn.”
“I’m makin’ a lot of promises this mornin’,” Anna said with a forced laugh, as she held her mother back just as tightly. “But aye, of course I promise ye that. I might be stubborn, Mama, but I’m nae stupid.”
Her mother chuckled at that. “Aye, I suppose nae.”
Anna gave her mother one last squeeze and pulled back, knowing that if she lingered upstairs any longer, she might lose her nerve completely.
Packing her belongings throughout the previous day had been a welcome distraction, but it hadn’t been a restful night at all. Her dreams had twisted into nightmares of being pursued through a scorched wasteland by a horned man with a flicking tail, an army of black-eyed demons following behind. And the dread hadn’t faded with the dawn, the realization of what she was about to embark upon seeming all too overwhelming in the stark daylight.
It doesnae have to be more than five weeks, if that’s what I want,she told herself, determined to believe it.
“Come, then,” she said, sighing out a tense breath. “We should make our way downstairs, else Faither might come lookin’ for us and think ye’re pourin’ trouble in me ear.”
Louisa eyed her sadly, leaning in to press a kiss to her daughter’s cheek. “Sweet Anna—mercy, I daenae ken how I’m goin’ to let ye go.” She shook her head. “I thought I had longer.”
“Nay matter what happens, Mama,” Anna promised, “I’ll be back soon. Temporarily or permanently, I’ll be back soon.”
Laird Glendenning was still sniffing around like the runt of the litter, getting in the way of the servants who were attempting to pack Anna’s things onto the waiting carriages. Thus far, it looked like everythingwouldfit in two, though Gordon reasoned there might not be any actual room for his bride.
“Anyone would think ye dinnae have anythin’ of yer own at Castle Lyall!” Jackson called amiably from the top of the nearest carriage, where he was moving trunks around, getting them to fit more neatly.
Gordon appreciated the attempt at friendliness and attempted some of his own in reply. “They wouldnae be as fine.”
“Come now, ye’re bein’ modest!” Jackson remarked. “Ye must be one of the wealthiest clans in Scotland, nae just the Highlands, by now.”
Rolling his sleeves up to give his hands something to do, Gordon shrugged. “Me wealth is put into the clan, nae me.”
