Page 16 of The Shadow of a Laird
Morag gave it to her somewhat reluctantly. “Last one,” she warned. “Or ye will be laid out on the floor.”
Maura grinned at her and went out to mingle with the crowd, not knowing that the proprietor of theBrown Cowhad just walked in.
Gerald MacGowan saw Gavin at once, since he towered over everyone else in the place, and he was serving drinks to a gaggle of admiring young ladies and looking as though he were having a wonderful time.
He had to wait to be attended to, but when Gavin turned to him at last he looked surprised at first, then hostile. “Ale?” he asked angrily.
“Aye,” MacGowan answered, feeling vulnerable, since he was effectively on enemy territory. He put his payment and Gavin noticed that it was double what the drink actually cost.
“You have made a mistake,” he said, shoving the extra coins back to MacGowan.
“No, I havenae,” MacGowan said, attempting a conciliatory smile. “I want ye to come an’ work for me, an’ I will pay ye double as much as ye are gettin’ here. Maura was lucky tae get ye, but ye will get what ye are worth fae me.”
At this, Gavin laughed heartily and then thrust his face into MacGowan’s so that they were almost nose to nose. “I do not believe a single word you say. I would not work for you after the way you treated me. I cannot be bribed, and I will not be lied to. Now go and annoy somebody else.” He turned away and almost bumped into Maura, who was smiling at him in a slightly dazed fashion.
“Is that who I think it is?” she asked.
“Yes.” Gavin was still angry. “He wants me to work for him.”
“What did you say?” she asked as they watched MacGowan disappear into the crowds.
“I said no, of course,” he replied, grinning at her. “I wanted to say some other less polite things, but,” he shrugged, smiling mischievously. “I couldn’t be bothered.” He turned andshouldered his way back through the crowd to the bar.
When Gavin got the chance, he watched Maura as she made her way around, smiling and making easy conversation with all the customers, laughing at their jokes and occasionally even sitting on one of their laps. She was well-liked by both men and women, so she was happy to chat to other ladies and have what looked like scandalous tête-à-têtes. While he was not busy charming ladies himself, he was watching her, highly amused by her antics.
As time passed, and the tavern was closed for the night, he had to fetch a beer barrel from the cellar, unaware that Maura had followed him. When he saw her he was carrying the barrel on one shoulder, having just picked it up, but he put it down again, closing the distance between them.
“Did you want to tell me something?” Gavin asked, sitting on the barrel.
“Yes,” she replied. “I think ye were too friendly wi’ the ladies tonight.”
Gavin stared at her for a moment, astonished. “Because that is what you pay me for,” he answered. “To attract more ladies to theGoose and Gander. Are you saying I must stop doing it?”
Maura stood before Gavin, and the smell of whisky on her breath wafted over to him. “No,” she answered. “Ye dae a good job.” She smiled at him. “But dinnae charm the ladies in front o’ me. I dinnae like it.”
“But you are there all the time,” he protested. “How can I avoid it? One of us will have to leave.”
Maura had not thought of that. All she could think of now was the most handsome man she had ever seen standing in front of her. She pouted, as if annoyed, but Gavin could see that she was merely being coy.
Then a thought occurred to him. “Are you jealous, by any chance?” he asked, chuckling.
Maura glared at him for a moment, feeling intensely frustrated, then she turned away, shaking her head. Gavin watched her, intending to let her leave, but suddenly, he found that he could not do it.
He stood up and caught her arm, pulling her around to face him. “Maura, wait,” he said softly.
For a few seconds, they gazed at each other, then she reached up and cupped his face in her hands. His skin was rough with a day’s worth of beard, and it rasped pleasantly against her palms, making them tingle.
Gavin’s eyes, close up, looked much more green, with a circle of gold around his pupils; they darkened as he gazed down at her with an expression of—tenderness?
As Maura’s sky-blue eyes looked up at him, he felt an enormous protectiveness; he could be her shelter from the storms of life if she let him. He would stand between her and any kind of danger that threatened her; the thought astonished him, since he had never felt anything like it before.
Up until now, Maura had been unsure of him, but now she realised that she cared about him, and she thought—hoped—that perhaps he felt the same way about her. They had come to know each other a little and although Maura knew that he did not love her to distraction, she suspected that he had some affection for her.
“What do you want, Maura?” he whispered, but before she could answer, he placed a tiny kiss on her lips, as light as the flutter of a butterfly’s wing. “Is it this?”
A thrill shot through her from where his lips had touched her to every other part of her, leaving her trembling. He must have sensed it, for his mouth twitched up at the corners, and he took a tiny step closer to her so that their bodies were just touching.
“Relax,” he whispered, and ran his thumb over her full lower lip as she held on to his face. “There is nothing to be afraid of. I would never hurt you.”
