Page 32 of In Love With the Wrong Highland Sister
“Will you excuse us?” Laria asked. “Thank you both for a wonderful welcome and for your gracious hospitality, M’Laird, milady.” She smiled and inclined her head in a gesture of gratitude and politeness.
“It was such a pleasure to meet you,” Lady Flora replied graciously, smiling before resuming her quiet conversation with Lady Margaret.
Just before they left, James caught Laria’s eye, and she felt again the thrill of the attraction between them. She hastily looked away, then she and her sister made their way upstairs.
Laria dragged her feet, almost too tired to walk. The day had been like something out of a dream. James had sparred with her, then confessed his love for her, then asked her to marry him. She had spent hours with her head pillowed on his chest while she poured out all her troubles and sadness to him, and he had listened patiently. It had been a wonderful, uplifting day, during which she had unburdened herself of many burdens she had not known she was carrying. As well as that, she had seen another side to James, one that was caring, kind, and loving. Surely she could not refuse a man like him?
“You look sad, Laria,” Eloisa observed, frowning at her sister. “Has something—or someone—upset you? James, perhaps?” She looked concerned as she came to put an arm around Laria’s shoulders.
Laria yawned again. She had been talking all day and had no more strength for it. Usually, she would have confided in her sister, but now she knew she had to rest. Perhaps she could think better when she had slept. “No, thank you, Ellie. I am definitely not upset, just desperately tired, that is all. It has been a very long, tiring day.”
Eloisa looked at her suspiciously. She knew Laria almost as well as she knew herself, and she could tell when something was amiss. She said nothing more, however, as she helped her sister to bed and tucked the covers around her.
Laria laughed and stroked Eloisa’s face. “Are you my mother now?” she asked.
“No, I just wanted to say how much you mean to me,” Eloisa replied, smiling at Laria lovingly. “I have no other sisters, but if I had, I would want them all to be like you.”
“I feel the same about you, wee sister,” Laria whispered. “How could I live without you?” Then she yawned, and her eyelids began to droop. She felt Eloisa kiss her forehead before she tumbled into a dreamless sleep and remembered nothing more until the morning.
* * *
The men gathered together in the laird’s study, and a heavy, serious atmosphere settled on them. Matters of great importance were to be spoken about, and everyone was on edge.
“Would anyone like more wine? Brandy, perhaps?” Laird Elliott asked, looking around the room. He looked and felt anxious, and his jovial mood of earlier had completely disappeared.
“No, thank you, Father,” James answered. “I would rather keep a clear head.”
Everyone else agreed, and Laird Elliott sat down with a worried look on his handsome face. He raised his dark eyes to James.
“You had something to tell me?” he asked expectantly.
“Yes,” James replied. “Father, I am not marrying Eloisa. I am marrying Laria if she will have me.”
“I see.” Laird Elliott digested this for a moment. “Have you asked her if she will marry you?”
“I have,” James nodded slowly.
“But we had a contract!” Laird MacLean looked furious. “Which you asked for. The matter is already settled.”
“Yes, I did,” James agreed, “but I decided that it would be better for Laria to make up her own mind. Anyway, the contract was not witnessed, so it is null and void anyway.” This was a matter that had not occurred to him at the time since he had been so desperate to have the document in his hands.
“Wait…” Laird Elliott said distractedly, shaking his head. “I understood that you were going to marry Eloisa because Laria could not bear children.” He stared at James in confusion. “Has her condition changed?”
“No.” James was irritated. He was afraid of causing a rift in the family since he was going directly against his father’s wishes. “Laria is a good woman who means everything to me. If I cannot have her, then I do not want any other woman, even if she can give me a whole tribe of children. So I cannot produce an heir for the family? Perhaps Laria and I could not, but I have another idea that will take care of that problem.”
The others looked at him expectantly as he poured them glasses of wine despite their refusals. He was, in fact, collecting his thoughts as he prepared to put his momentous proposal to them. He took a deep breath.
“I propose giving the lairdship to Gavin. He can marry the woman of his choice and carry on our family name after your death, Father.” He looked at Laird Elliott with a challenging gaze. “What do you say to that?” Then he turned to his brother. “Gavin? Are you willing?”
Both the men looked rather stunned for a moment.
“A woman of my choice? Any woman?” Gavin asked in disbelief. He looked at his father hopefully. “May I ask Eloisa?”
“Your mother and I will have to approve of her, of course,” Laird Elliott replied, smiling fondly at his son. “But I have a strange feeling that we will, and now I think the only doubt is whether she will have you.”
Gavin ran his hand back through his hair in a gesture of agitation. “I have only kissed her once,” he confessed. “I know I should not have done it, but I could not help myself.”
The rest of the men smiled at him.
