Page 8 of The Shadow of a Laird
He could ill afford to be tossed out into the cold again. Another night like the last one might cause his death of exposure, and he was determined not to perish before he had taken revenge on those who had wronged him.
Gavin forced down his anger and joined Maura. “What would you like me to do?” he asked evenly, trying to keep his face expressionless. Maura pointed to the bucket of water she had just brought in from the burn, then she handed him a wooden-backed brush from which protruded rows of stiff bristles. He looked at it for a moment, puzzled.
“Dinnae tell me ye have nae idea what a scrubbin’ brush is for?” Maura’s tone was incredulous, and she laughed heartily as she looked at Gavin’s baffled expression. “My god—where did ye come fae?” She bent down and picked up a bar of coarse soap, then rubbed the bristles on it.
Then she got down on all fours and showed him how to scrub the floor, before standing up and handing him the brush again. “Clean the floor!” she instructed. “An’ dinnae take a’ day about it!”
When she turned away, the glare Gavin gave her would have been enough to kill her if that were possible. He opened his mouth to yell at her, then shut it quickly as he remembered not to antagonise her again. He looked at what seemed like acres of coarse wooden floorboards and sighed. It was not in his natureto leave a job half-finished, even if it were one he hated; the sooner he started, the sooner the odious task would be done.
He had no idea how long he spent on the tedious chore, but at last it was finished, and he stood up, expecting some thanks for his hard work. However, Maura was not used to doling out that particular commodity, and she merely moved him onto the next task, which was washing the cups and plates ready for customers to come in.
The first few patrons were young farm labourers who did not look pleased to see him and looked at him as though he were a creature from another planet. They muttered and cast hostile looks at him, even though Gavin had said nothing to antagonise them.
When he went to pick their empty ale cups from the table, he dropped one, and it smashed on the floor with a resounding crash, spattering shards on the customers. Immediately, they leapt to their feet and advanced on him, scowling threateningly.
However, Gavin towered above each of them, and when he drew himself up to his full height, then squared his shoulders and looked down his nose at them, glowering from under thick brows, they all backed off.
However, after he had forgotten to deliver ale to another customer’s table and dropped another—fortunately empty—cup, it dawned on Maura that not only did he have no experience with this kind of work, but he had never worked at all.
Every time she chastised him for making another clumsy mistake she received a sharp, cutting rejoinder, and eventually, she drew him aside to give him a piece of her mind.
He had just been flirting with a woman who had seen him almost start another fight when her husband noticed and marched over to them. Gavin had noticed the woman when she entered with her husband, but he had been accosted by a friend and drawn into a conversation at another table.
She was in her mid-twenties, a curvaceous brunette with deep brown eyes and dark, wavy chestnut hair, and she was just the kind of lady Gavin found extremely attractive. It seemed that she felt the same way about him because as soon as she saw him, she raised her eyebrows and gave him a slight, suggestive smile.
My god, she’s gorgeous,he thought, and his imagination went haywire imagining her in his arms. He smiled back and moved away to a quieter spot at the end of the bar, then pretended to clean it with a wet cloth. She glided over to him.
“I couldnae help but notice ye when I came in,” she told him. “Ye’re a cut above the usual sort Maura usually gets tae work here.”
Gavin laughed softly. “I noticed you too,” he said. “You are quite the loveliest woman I have seen in a long while.”
“Ye’re no’ sae bad yourself,” she observed as she looked him up and down and gave him a suggestive smile. “What’s your name an’ what is your story? Ye talk like a toff.”
Gavin wiggled his eyebrows and grinned. “Tell me your name first. As for my story, that is for me to know and you to find out.”
“My name is Edie,” she answered, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “Now you.”
“Gavin,” he replied. He opened his mouth to speak again, but at that moment there was a shout from the other side of the room and a man came rushing towards them. He was in his thirties, powerfully built with blond hair and grey eyes that were now dark with fury.
“My husband,” she said, as she moved away from Gavin.
“Get your hands aff my wife, you—” he called Gavin a very lewd name. “She ismine!Get your own woman.”
The man grabbed his wife’s hand and gave Gavin a poisonous look, then turned away and dragged her outside.
Fortunately, Maura had seen the altercation. “Listen, big man,” she said angrily. “Dinnae forget who is the boss here. Thatis me, no’ you.” She thumbed her chest. “If ye dinnae like it, ye can pack your bags an’ go. I dinnae care if ye want tae spend another freezin’ an’ hungry night outside, so I would have a care if I were you.”
Gavin took a deep breath, and was about to give her a piece of his mind, when the reality of his situation came back to him—again. He could ill afford to lose favour with Maura. She was all that was coming between him and a death from starvation and exposure.
“An’ if ye are goin’ tae try tae use your charm on the ladies,” Maura went on, “make sure ye stick tae the ones that are no’ already taken. I dinnae need any more fights round here. Once a place gets a bad reputation, it is very hard tae get rid o’, an’ is a very quick way o’ goin’ out o’ business.”
Gavin looked at her in astonishment. “Are you saying you hired me for my looks?”
He felt no shame in saying this. He knew that his handsome face and his stature made him attractive to ladies; the evidence was there every time he looked in the mirror in the morning. However, he was not sure whether to be flattered or insulted, since Maura had made him feel as if he were nothing but a decoration, like a piece of jewellery.
“Aye, well, there seems tae be nothin’ else ye can dae,” she answered. “It’s the only thing I can use ye for; tae bring in the ladies.”
He stared at her for a moment, then asked, “How did you become so ruthless?”
