Page 9 of In Love With the Wrong Highland Sister
James watched her go, once more feeling sad that he was not at liberty to pursue her. Their brief moment of enjoyment had been enlightening. Laria had a great deal of love and joy inside that she was suppressing, and he only wished that he knew how to coax it out of her.
* * *
Laria sprinted upstairs and bathed herself quickly, wondering if she was going to see James again that day. She tried to tell herself she was being stupid, that of course her only function in the matter was to keep him away from Eloisa. However, she could not and would not do that at the expense of her own welfare. James was not hers, and he never would be. All she had to do was keep him busy so that he would leave her sister alone, but it seemed to be becoming harder and harder to remind herself to do that.
“I saw you practicing on the punch bag with James today,” Eloisa remarked as she and her sister went downstairs for breakfast. “You are doing a good job of distracting him, but somehow I think he prefers you anyway.” She smiled at her sister, her eyes twinkling. “I doubt if it will take much effort to drag him away from me!”
“I think you are seeing what you want to see,” Laria remarked drily. “If I wanted to marry him, I would tell him so, Ellie, but I have told you dozens of times that I am not marrying again! If he falls in love with me while I distract him, well, that is his problem. It has nothing to do with me, and I will certainly not encourage him.” Her voice had become irritable, and she was frowning deeply.
Suddenly, a smile lit up Eloisa’s face, and Laria followed the direction of her gaze. The two Elliott brothers were coming toward them, with Gavin slightly ahead of James, and Eloisa was beaming at Gavin, who grinned back. Laria had the feeling that if their older siblings had not been there, they would have run into each other’s arms.
“Good morning, Laria, Ellie,” Gavin greeted both of them, but it was clear that he only had eyes for Eloisa. “May I escort you to breakfast?”
“Of course!” Eloisa took his arm, and they went into the dining room, chattering away like old friends.
Gavin’s use of Eloisa’s pet name of Ellie had not escaped Laria’s notice, or James’s. It seemed that there was much more going on between them than either wanted to admit.
5
All the punching and its accompanying dancing around had given both Laria and James a healthy appetite that morning, and each of them set about devouring their respective breakfasts in short order.
“Be careful,” Gavin warned the other diners, looking around the table with narrowed eyes. “He has been known to clear four full platters of food single-handed, and if you don’t believe me, ask Laird McCann.”
At the mention of the laird’s name, James nearly choked on his food, and after Gavin had thumped him on the back to stop him coughing, he almost snarled. “I would appreciate it if you would not bring up that man’s name in polite company,” he said angrily.
“Calm down, Jamie.” Gavin’s voice was soothing, but he gave his brother a narrow-eyed warning stare. “This is not the time to be speaking of such things.”
“What things?” the laird asked, his sharp gray glance spearing James. “Is there trouble between the two of you? I know that he can be a very abrasive man sometimes, but I have never heard that there had been open hostility between you. He is my near neighbor, and we have always got on well.”
“I will tell you the whole story later, M’Laird,” James promised. “But not in front of the ladies, please.”
Laria and Eloisa exchanged glances, then looked at Lady Margaret, who gave a small shake of her head.Say nothing,it said. “More ale, James?” she asked in a not-so-subtle attempt to change the subject.
James accepted the offer, but his face was flushed with anger. Under the table, Gavin squeezed his brother’s hand to calm him.
Presently Lady Margaret began to talk about the charity work they were engaged in, then the conversation moved to lighter topics, and everything was back to normal again. James did look rather subdued for the rest of the meal, though, and Laria decided to make it her mission to find out what was wrong. Breakfast seemed endless, but at last, everyone stood up to go their separate ways.
“I can have the cook make up a basket if you would all like to take a ride down to the Broon Loch today,” Lady Margaret suggested to all of them. “There is a very pretty spot there where you can sit in the sun and even do some fishing. Laria has even brought in some trout from time to time.”
“That sounds like a good plan, milady,” James replied, smiling at her. He looked at everyone else, and they concurred eagerly.
Lady Margaret bustled away to organize the food.
Gavin came up beside Laria. “I believe I heard you say you were interested in breeding horses?” he asked.
She nodded. “It has long been an interest of mine,” she answered. “Ever since I got my first Shetland pony when I was six years old.”
“What was its name?” he asked curiously.
Laria grinned. “Well, I was very fond of green apples then—I still am today—so I called her Apple.” She laughed. “Believe it or not, she is still alive, although she is a very old lady now.”
“That is interesting,” Gavin marveled. “May I meet her?”
“Of course,” Laria answered. “But she sleeps a lot, so she may not feel very talkative.”
“Have you ever had foals from her?” he asked.
“Four over the years.” Laria smiled proudly. “Three colts and a filly. I must admit that when I saw the stallion covering her for the first time, I was scared to death. I thought he was going to crush her, but she survived! Are you interested in horse breeding?”
