Page 25 of In Love With the Wrong Highland Sister
James decided not to try to pacify her. It was like trying to stop a thunderstorm.
13
Laria, Eloisa, her mother, and the laird had been riding in a carriage all day en route to Kirkmuir Castle. A journey in a carriage was slow, and the distance of over thirty miles would take them over two days, which meant stopping at a coaching inn for the night.
Lady Margaret fell asleep almost straight away, lulled by the motion of the carriage, and the laird had imbibed gallons of willow bark tea for his pounding headache. He was beyond speech and only managed the odd “yes” or “no” when anyone spoke to him. Finally, he, too, began to doze.
“He was drunk last night,” Laria said quietly to her sister. “We had a furious argument, and I think he was dulling his senses on purpose.” She looked out of the window and thought for a while. She was still angry with him, but was her father not trying to do the best for her? Did he not have her welfare at heart? Of course he did, but if she stopped being angry with him, she would have to do likewise with James, and she was not ready for that.
Eloisa’s eyes were wide with shock. “I have never seen or even heard of Father being drunk!” She frowned at her sister. “What happened, Laria? What was the argument about?”
Laria shook her head, unwilling to talk about the matter. “I have been trying not to think about it,” she replied. “I am too angry.”
“Laria, I am your sister,” Eloisa replied, leaning across to take her hands. “You know that whatever you say to me will stay between us, and a problem shared is a problem halved.”
Laria looked into her sister’s wide gray eyes, thinking that sometimes Eloisa was much wiser than she was. She sighed and nodded. “Father has drawn up a marriage contract for me…with James. He was very nervous when I met him yesterday, and he almost dragged me into the study to give me the news.”
“I thought James was supposed to be marrying me?” Eloisa looked mystified.
“So did I,” Laria agreed. “This came completely out of the blue. Even Mother didn’t know. I went to take my frustrations out on the punch bag after I had finished with Father, and halfway through my session, James came and disturbed me. I am afraid I was very rude to him.”
Eloisa sighed. “Yes, I have seen you being rude!” she replied, with a half laugh. “This contract, Laria, is it binding?”
“I am not sure if it has any legal weight.” She shrugged. “But I suppose it has, and a woman’s wishes are rarely considered anyway.”
“He is very attracted to you. I have seen the way James and you regard each other,” Eloisa observed shrewdly.
“With murderous intent, you mean?” Laria asked drily. “It certainly is from my side!”
Eloisa giggled, and they were silent for a few moments. Eloisa was thinking carefully about Laria’s problem while she knitted, a craft she had learned recently and which she was putting to good use in her charity work.
When Laria had explained her problem at first, Eloisa’s initial thought had been to stand up for her sister, but now she realized something else. If Laria married James, Gavin would be free. Her heart skipped a beat. Would Gavin feel the same way about her as she did about him? He had said nothing as yet, and she had been too shy to make it known to him that she was attracted to him. But was he just as shy as she was? Perhaps there was another way of attracting his attention. She smiled as she thought about it.
* * *
When they had been on their journey for a few hours, they stopped at a small loch to eat and rest the horses for a while. James and Gavin had been on horseback, and they were both saddlesore, so they were grateful for a break, and both of them immediately lay down on the grass to stretch.
Laria pointedly tried not to look at James’s muscular form lying prone on the ground, and for a moment, she wanted to lie down beside him and run her hands over his long, powerful thighs and broad chest. As she realized she was staring, a pleasant pulse between her legs began to signal her arousal, and she quickly turned away. She was trying to repel him, not attract him.
“This is blissful!” Gavin sighed, stretching his arms above his head. He closed his eyes, and Eloisa seized her chance.
She stood over Gavin and put a foot on his stomach. Her eyes were twinkling with mischief. “You are at my mercy!” she told him, giggling. “I could kill you right now!”
Gavin’s eyes flew open as he felt the pressure on his abdomen, then he assumed an expression of mock terror. “Do not hurt me, kind lady!” he cried. “Have mercy on a poor young man with his whole life ahead of him!”
“What do you think, Sister?” she asked Laria with a wicked smile. “Shall we let him live? No ‘murderous intent?’” She winked.
“Hmmm…” Laria laughed. She felt as though her face was stretching in an unnatural fashion, as though she had not smiled properly for a long time. “I think you should spare him, Sister. He may be of some use later if we need a carriage wheel mended or some heavy bags lifted.”
Eloisa took her foot away, and Gavin jumped to his feet.
“You are a wicked woman!” he told her. “Be careful, my lady!” He wagged a threatening finger at her, and Eloisa threw her head back and laughed heartily.
They were mere inches away from each other, and Laria had a feeling that if she and James had not been there, Eloisa and Gavin would have finally had the passionate embrace they were both so obviously longing for.
James was clearly thinking the same thing, for he was grinning at them, but when he tried to catch Laria’s eyes, she pointedly looked in the other direction.
Presently, Laria and Eloisa walked away to wash and relieve themselves under the cover of the trees before they ate. James was still laughing at Eloisa’s joke, but Gavin looked a little embarrassed.
