Page 6 of A Two-Faced Laird
When Lewis lay down to sleep that evening, it was with a feeling of restless discomfort. He tossed and turned for a long time, but all he could think about was Edina. He kept contrasting the girl she had been, the one who loved to jump out of bushes and trip him up, with the woman she had become. She had stirred his bodily desires so much that he knew he would not be able to sleep.
He kept thinking of her lips, and how it would feel like to kiss them. Just imagining it caused him more enjoyment than he had for months. She would be living inside the castle from now on; how was he going to stay away from her? He shook his head,feeling goose pimples on his arms. No, he shouldn’t think like that of her.
Now that his mind had been settled, he tried to turn over and go to sleep. On the day after the rents were collected he had two long, free days to himself, and he intended to enjoy them. Perhaps he would go fishing, or gather ripe horse chestnuts from the heavy boughs of the trees that were scattered around the estate, or perhaps he could simply have a lazy day in bed.
Alone, unfortunately, because there was no way he could sneak a willing young woman into the castle to be with him. The only one that had captured his mind was Edina anyway, and that was impossible, but this time he firmly put her out of his mind, and in a few moments, sleep overcame him.
Edina,too, was feeling restless; instead of the deep and instant slumber she had expected, she found herself gazing at the ceiling by the light of a fading fire. She could not seem to shake Lewis out of her mind; he simply refused to go anywhere.
As well as her mind, he seemed to have taken possession of her body too. She had no experience of being with a man, but her mother had lovingly explained to her what would happen on her wedding night, so she was not wholly unprepared.
Yet what were these pleasurable, fluttering pulses that she felt in her stomach when she thought of Lewis? What was this restlessness, and was it even normal? Usually, she could tell her mother everything, but how could she explain her obvious arousal when she thought of Lewis? Every time her mother saw them in the same room, she would know what her daughter was thinking and feeling, and Edina would die of embarrassment.
She rose from bed and went to the window to look out. It was a moonless night, and she could see very little, only the shape of an occasional rooftop. Autumn had arrived, and the days were beginning to shorten considerably, although the trees wore their colourful red and gold coats in the daylight, they were invisible at that moment. The land around the castle was an unbroken pool of darkness.
She turned away and climbed back into bed, snuggling under the sheets again. She wished a warm, strong man had his arms around her.
Lewis opened his eyes,yawned and stretched before he rose from bed and padded across to the window. The weather was clear, although the sky was hazy, and there was a fresh breeze that was blowing the fiery autumn leaves from the trees and scattering them in piles and sheets across the ground.
He loved autumn, its only drawback being that the trees did not keep their bright red and gold coats long enough before they shed them to stand naked and unprotected in the unforgiving winds of winter. In his mind, Lewis had always likened it to the difference between an oil painting and a charcoal drawing.
Now, he shook his mind free of its wanderings as his manservant came in to help him to dress. Mick had only been with him for the last two years, but he could practically read his master’s mind, and now he sensed an unease about him.
“Lovely young lass that Miss Edina,” he remarked as he smoothed down the front of Lewis’s kilt. “I hear she used tae be your friend when ye were bairns.”
“A long time ago.” Lewis’s voice was flat and dismissive.
He cast a glance into the mirror and left, leaving Mick to stare after him, shaking his head. He would never understand his young master.
When Lewis went into the dining room, the only person there was Edina, who looked up and smiled at him as he bowed to her.
“Can you stop doing that, please?” she asked. “We have known each other since we were knee-high, for heaven’s sake!”
Lewis made no answer, but sat down, nodding in agreement. He was glad when the door opened to admit Edina’s mother and father, who took their places on either side of her.
“How did you sleep, Pet?” her father asked.
“Like a log,” she replied. “Such comfortable beds you have here, Lewis!”
Lewis smiled faintly.
The food came then, along with Laird and Lady Findlay.
“Did you know Lewis is off today, Edina?” she asked. “Perhaps he can show you the village.”
Lewis kept his eyes on his plate, but had to look up when his father kicked him under the table, then made a face at him. He raised his eyes to meet Edina’s, then tried to make his voice as casual as he could.
“There is not much to see there, I am afraid,” he told her. “It has not changed much since you were last here.”
For this, he received a murderous look from his mother.
“Rubbish,” she said, smiling sweetly at Edina. “Our wee church is the loveliest for miles around. Do you remember it, Edina?”
She and the Laird exchanged loving glances.
“Would you like to see the village again, Edina?” Lewis asked, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice.
“Yes, I would,” she answered. “While the weather is fair.”
