Page 34 of The Highlander's Auctioned Hellion
She arched an eyebrow, her expression cold. “No, I don’t. And you do not speak of your past or anything about yourself, either.”
He nodded. “I suppose we must keep our secrets,M’Lady,”he whispered, and then he walked out of the room and pulled the door closed behind him.
CHAPTER 10
“Good morning, my lady!”
Lydia blinked open her eyes as the curtains around her bed were drawn back, and she looked up at a total stranger.
Her maid, Hannah, was unrecognizable from the scared girl who had accompanied her. She was now windswept with a beaming smile on her face that Lydia had never seen before. She was holding long stems of lavender in her arms.
“Look what I found on the hills, my lady, won’t they look beautiful in here?”
She walked to the mantelpiece where a vase was awaiting the stems, and began arranging them.
Lydia sat up, smiling in bewilderment. Hannah was humming to herself, her hair loose down her back from her walk, and abronze tint to her skin. She looked like a different person from the sullen, quiet maid she had known in London.
“You seem to be warming to Scotland,” Lydia said as she hooked her legs over the side of the bed.
“Oh, it is so beautiful. I have never seen such forests and hills in my life. I grew up on a tiny street with just my mother and three brothers. They will not believe the views we wake up to here, my lady.”
Lydia went to look at the view in question through the window.
The slope of the Highlands undulated into the distance, the bright lake reflecting the sun’s rays as the trees bent in the wind.
It really is beautiful here, if only I could feel as settled with my new husband as I do with the landscape.
“Is everything well, my lady?” Hannah asked suddenly, sounding startled.
Lydia looked back to see that she was standing beside the bowl of water at the basin, where the blood from Callum’s wound had seeped into the liquid, dyeing it a faint pink.
“Oh yes, do not concern yourself with that. It is not my blood.”
“Whoseblood is it?” Hannah asked, looking alarmed.
“The Laird’s. It seems someone attacked him, but he would not tell me who or for what reason.” There was a bitter edge to her voice as she tugged her dressing gown more tightly around her.
“I see,” Hannah murmured.
Lydia looked down at the beautifully embroidered sleeve between her fingers and turned to her maid.
“Do you know where my dresses came from, and this nightgown?” Lydia asked. “I discovered them last night, but I wondered where you found them.”
“They were ready for you when we arrived, my lady. Do you not like them?”
“On the contrary. They are the most exquisite gowns I have ever owned. Perhaps… perhaps they belonged to another lady of the house.”
The thought turned her stomach. She did not like the idea of wearing another woman’s clothing—particularly not if it belonged to the girls’ mother and she had passed away.
“I do not know, but I could find out for you. But either way, we should get you dressed. I could hear them preparing breakfast when I returned.”
They both moved into the adjoining room where the same dresses were laid out upon the bed.
“What time did you wake?” Lydia asked, amused.
“Oh, at dawn, my lady. These hills are made for walking!”
Lydia laughed as Hannah began to prepare her for the day, humming constantly as she did so.
