Page 68 of Sighs of the Highland Wind
Davina kissed the tiny creature. “His name is Mack.”
James sighed impatiently. He was eager to have his plan carried out and had no time for cuddling small furry things.
Davina loved animals, and whoever she married would be made to love them too whether they liked it or not. “I am glad you are here,” he said, pouring her a glass of wine. “Because there is something I need to discuss with you.”
“That sounds ominous,” she remarked, sipping her wine. She looked at him suspiciously out of her dark brown eyes, her heartbeat quickening. “What is it?”
He took a deep breath. “I have found a husband for you,” he replied. Davina opened her mouth to protest but he raised his hand for silence. “Hear me out, Davina. What if I told you there is still a chance for you to be mistress of the Kilcarron Estate?”
“But Brian is dead,” Davina protested, puzzled. “I saw him in his coffin.”
“Did you know that there is another Lewis brother?” James asked, watching her eyes widen in shock.
“I heard a rumor,” she replied, shaking her head and frowning. “But I never believed it. What is his name? Where has he been all this time?”
“His name is Cameron Dalziel, and he is Brian’s bastard half-brother,” James answered. “He owns a little bit of land beside the loch.”
“Have you met him?” Davina asked. She was completely intrigued.
“Yes,” James answered. “And I think you will like him. He is very handsome, and he looks just like Brian. They could have been twins.”
“Hmmm.” Davina was scornful. “Brian was handsome too. It is not looks that matter, Father.”
“No, but they help,” James said firmly. “And I am sure he will be suitably enchanted by my lovely daughter. If not, I will want to know why. However, there is one problem.”
Davina was so enchanted by her cat she was hardly listening. “What problem?” she asked vaguely.
“He is in love with someone else, and has asked her to marry him.” James sighed. “Let me explain all of it, Davina.” He began to tell her Cameron’s story from the day he had summoned him to see Laird Lewis, and when he had finished he sat back and watched his daughter’s reaction.
At first, she said nothing, merely sat stroking the purring kitten as she digested what he had said. “It sounds like a complicated situation,” she said at last.
“It is not complicated at all,” James said. “I have no doubt that he could change his mind and marry this other woman at a moment’s notice, so you must make him fall in love with you.”
Davina stared at him, mystified. “What do you mean, Father?” she asked. “You cannot just command a man to fall in love with you! Anyway, you told me you don’t believe in love.”
“But I am not a commoner,” James reminded her. “Things are different for us. This man has had to scratch a living for himself out of the soil every day of his life, and suddenly a beautiful woman comes and offers herself to him on a silver platter. You don’t have to fall in love with him, but I am willing to wager that he will be besotted with you from the first moment he sees you.”
Davina looked down at herself. She was dressed in a simple pale pink woolen dress, and she knew that the color suited her. In fact, she knew that men’s eyes followed her wherever she went, no matter how badly she was dressed. With her long dark hair and eyes that had been gifted to her by her Italian mother, her tall, willowy figure and full breasts, she knew that she could ensnare any man without too much effort.
She had assumed that when Brian died, her father would find her another husband, but she had never imagined that he would be a common farmer, and an illegitimate one at that! She did not know whether to be flattered or insulted. Eventually, though, common sense prevailed. This man was the key to her father becoming master of the castle, and that was his ultimate goal. As well as that, he was quite capable of punishing her quite severely, as he had done many times in the past. For herself, she only wanted the whole business to be over with.
“I will do it,” she said, sighing.
Much though it disgusted her, Davina set out the next morning to meet her husband-to-be in his own environment. She had promised herself that no matter how revolting his home was she would not turn up her nose at it. She wanted to show herself like a rose in a patch of weeds, an exotic contrast to the squalor in which he no doubt lived.
Davina had not dressed in her best clothes, merely the simple, practical ones she wore every day. She reasoned that her worst clothing would look a hundred times better than anything the peasants wore.
Despite her disdain for the working people, Davina’s heart was hammering as she approached the little cottage where Cameron lived. It looked like a very poor place indeed, with a roof that badly needed re-thatching, and a hole in one of the walls at ground level. The whole place stank of manure.
Davina dismounted from her horse and put her feet cautiously onto the ground pulling up her skirts as she did so to avoid mud sticking to the hem of her dress, and curling her top lip up in disgust. This farmyard was truly revolting.
‘How can people possibly live like this?’she thought as she looked around.
Suddenly she jumped, startled, as a deep voice behind her said, “can I help ye?”
Davina whipped around to look up into the brightest pair of teal-blue eyes she had ever seen. They belonged to a tall, fair man with chiseled, masculine features, and she was mesmerized, for he looked so much like Brian that she could hardly believe her eyes.
“I am looking for Cameron Dalziel,” she told him, shaking slightly. He was so completely and utterly male that she could hardly take her eyes off him, and found herself staring.
