Page 31 of Falling for Her Highland Steward
“Aye, milady.” Ella turned around, looking surprised. “Anythin’.”
“What do you think of Master Johnstone? Is he good to all of you? Do you like him?”
“Like him?” Ella put her hand to her chest and sighed, almost rapturously.
“Milady, since he came here, the castle an’ the estate are like a different place! The housekeeper is in charge o’ us, of course, but Master Johnstone knows everybody’s names, smiles at us when he passes, sometimes even has a glass o’ ale wi’ us at dinnertime. Sometimes he goes out an’ practices wi’ the men, an’ they say that none o’ them can beat him at wrestlin’. A’ the lassies are in love wi’ him! Well, what woman in her right mind wouldnae be? He is that tall, an’ strong, an’ handsome—an’ those deep dark eyes o’ his! An’ when he talks tae ye, he makes ye feel like the only lass on Earth. I would marry him tomorrow if he asked me!”
“Really?” Erin laughed. “You surprise me.” This was a lie. Erin was not surprised at all.
“Really, milady!” Ella nodded her fair head firmly. “An’ so would a’ the other lassies. He has everythin’ a woman could want, an’ think’ o’ the lovely babies he could give ye. An’ between you an’ me, would ye no’ like tae climb intae bed wi’ him?”
“I will not answer that question, Ella, since I am a newly widowed lady. But I suppose you are right.” Erin nodded slowly. “I must say that the estate has improved enormously since he came here. The tenants speak well of him, and so do the other lairds.”
“Aye, milady, he is a fine man,” the young woman said, as she replaced all her cleaning tools in her basket. “Now I will leave ye in peace.”
“Ella, please keep this conversation to yourself.” She shot the maid a warning look.
“Aye, milady, I will,” Ella assured her, then left, closing the door softly behind her.
Erin laughed. She knew that by the evening, their little chat would be all over the castle, and by the next day, it would have traveled all the way to Gowanlea and perhaps beyond. Everyone knew that the quickest way to spread news was by way of a servant. She laid her head on the pillow and thought for a while, then stood up and went to her writing desk. She was desperately missing Stephen, and she decided it was time he was home. Accordingly, she began to write the letter she should have written weeks before.
Dear Michael,
I would very much like you to bring Stephen home, since I am missing him too much to be without him any longer. I would also like to see you about a very personal matter which needs your advice. I have had a proposal of marriage from Laird Logan Grieve and I am in two minds as to whether to accept it or not. However, I desperately need you to bring my wee boy back, since my heart is empty without him.
Yours,
Erin
She read the letter again, then folded and sealed it. Finally, she laid her head on her pillow and closed her eyes, and for once, she fell asleep straight away, too tired to do otherwise.
14
Michael and Caillen met again in a tavern several miles away from Gowanlea in the village of Inchope. There were no good roads to the place, and Caillen knew that it would take him hours to get back to the castle, but Michael’s letter to him had sounded so urgent that he had been obliged to drop everything he was doing and hasten to meet him.
When he strode into Piper’s Arms, having left Gowanlea a long time earlier, he was hungry, thirsty, and irritable. When he saw Michael, the irritation boiled over into outright anger. He flopped into a chair opposite his friend and glared at him from under lowered brows.
“What was so urgent that you had to drag me away from everything to this godforsaken place?” he demanded. “Could we not have met in the usual place? And have you brought Stephen with you?”
Michael smiled, and it was not a pleasant smile. “Well, I could have done,” he admitted, “but I felt like a drink and some company. As for Stephen, I have other plans, Cal. Erin will see her son very shortly if she follows my instructions—that is, if you both follow my instructions.” He sat back in his chair and looked at Caillen with narrowed eyes.
Caillen suddenly felt a sense of impending menace. “Tell me,” he said, his voice almost a growl. “What are your instructions?”
“Tell Erin not to marry Laird Grieve,” Michael instructed. “Yes, I know you have done it before, but this time…make it happen.” His voice was a growl.
Caillen, who had been swallowing a mouthful of ale, almost choked on it as he laughed at the absurdity of his friend’s order. “You know her. You know that you have absolutely no hope of persuading her to do something if she does not want to do it.” He shrugged and spread his hands. “Tell me a sure way to do it, and I will do my best, but I can tell you now that it is a lost cause. She is as stubborn as a donkey, and you know that! I am not having this conversation with you again, Michael. All we do is go around and around in circles.”
Michael gave his friend a smile that had something menacing underneath it.
“You remember what I said about you having power over women?” he asked.
“Aye, but I think that is your imagination, my friend.” Caillen laughed cynically. “I have no more power than you do.”
“I see the way they look at you, Cal.” Michael’s gray eyes were full of envy as he looked at his friend. “But I never see you looking at any of them like that except Erin.”
Caillen felt himself flushing. “Erin is my employer, not my lover!” he snapped. He called for another ale and some food.
“But you would like her to be, would you not?” Michael’s voice was sly, and the expression on his face was raising hairs on the back of Caillen’s neck.
