Page 64 of The Highlander's Auctioned Hellion
The thought made her feel queasy, the food on her plate suddenly looking far less appetizing than it had done.
“Here,” Callum said, handing her a side plate of sweet meats. “I ken ye like these. Ye dinnae stop eatin’ them at supper.”
Lydia eyed the plate eagerly, taking a couple from it and handing it to her mother to try them.
“This pie is excellent,” the Duchess said. “What is in it?”
“That’s deer from me own forest, Duchess. And very fine it is, too. Ye willnae get better meat in all the Highlands.”
“I can believe it. Your lands are most extensive. It is quite beautiful here.”
“Aye, well, we cannae complain.”
“Can we show Lady Bentley the lake?” Amy piped up, and Lydia looked at her in surprise. It was unusual for Amy to speak in company, but Tommy’s presence seemed to have convinced her that the Duchess was a friend.
“Nay ye may not,” Callum said in his usual deep undertone. “Ye will be goin’ to bed after this.”
“But Lady Lydia has promised to show us the night sky!” Amy protested, her eyes widening as she looked pleadingly at her uncle. “She has told us about the stars that fall in April!”
Callum frowned, glancing at Lydia reproachfully.
“What wild stories are ye fillin’ the bairns’ heads with?”
Lydia laughed. “They are not wild. I often looked at the night sky when I was a girl.”
“Oh, she was so curious when she was young,” her mother added. “Always asking me endless questions about the moon, and I do not doubt Lydia knows more constellations in our stars than most sailors.”
“Is that right?”
“Well, I certainly liked to examine the night sky whenever I could. But then… I stopped after a time.”
She did not wish to explain that her father had forbidden the pursuit, just as he forbade any other avenue for a woman’s education.
“And ye ken of the night sky?” Callum asked, his eyebrows rising.
“I know a little about it. Although I imagine the stars above your castle are different from those in London. It will be far darker here and more magical.”
Callum was staring at her, and the heat of his gaze made her question herself.
“It is perfectly right for a woman to be interested in the world around her,” she said sharply, taking a sip of her wine.
“And is that what that contraption was that ye were lookin’ at in the library?” he asked, his eyes glinting with mischief at the memories the question conjured.
“The telescope, yes,” she said, her voice hoarse.
Callum laid his knife down on his plate. “All right then, would ye girls like to see some stars tonight?”
There were squeals of delight from Amy, Eilis, and Tommy as Lydia exchanged a startled glance with her mother.
Since when does Callum wish to spend time with the children?
Callum rose from the table.
“I will bring the telescope outside to the tallest tower, and ye can show me the sky above me own keep. I havenae looked at it before, and I am sure it will be most enlightenin’.”
CHAPTER 18
“Set it down over there,”Callum said as Alexander placed the telescope into the corner of the tower.
