Page 12 of Saved By the Cruel Highlander
She wasn’t ignorant about the marriage bed. She knew those duties would be part of the arrangement. She’d been prepared to share the marriage bed with Felix.
Even though she hadn’t given it much thought when she’d come up with this idea, it was there in the back of her mind that she would have to share a bed with Laird McAllister. But the man didn’t have to be so obnoxious and blunt about it.
“Mayhap that woman in the tavern had been right when she’d called him a beastly laird,” she mumbled to Ollie.
A rattling noise drew her attention to the door, and a second later, a maid walked in.
Holly’s eyes narrowed in thought. The woman looked familiar.
“Me Lady,” the maid said and dipped into an awkward curtsey. “The Laird sent me to get ye settled in yer quarters.”
Holly leaned over the arm of her chair to put Ollie back in his bag. She knew where she’d seen the maid before—at the tavern! She was the woman who’d been gossiping with the other two women and called Laird McAllister ‘beastly.’
“Me name is Eliza,” the maid said as she straightened.
She was dressed a little differently this time. A rough but serviceable gray gown that fit her body perfectly was covered with a crisp white apron, tied securely around her slightly rounded middle. Her red hair was piled atop her head and covered with a white bonnet.
“I am Holly Taylor,” Holly said with a smile. “Thank ye for assistin’ me.”
The maid nodded and then gestured for Holly to follow her.
Holly was led down a long hallway, up a flight of stairs, and then down another hallway. This last one had what appeared to be family portraits on either side. She could see the resemblance to Laird McAllister in the deep brown eyes of most of the subjects.
Some were from generations past, according to their outdated clothing. But the further down the hallway they went, the more their costumes changed and became modern.
Holly stopped before a portrait of a man and a woman sitting next to each other, both smiling fondly. Two young boys were standing on either side of them. They resembled each other enough to be brothers.
A smile tugged at Holly’s lips as she looked at the younger boy. He had to be the Laird. The shape of his eyes, the twist at the corners of his mouth, and the facial features that promised the rugged handsomeness he had today, all told her she was looking at a younger version of Laird McAllister. Except this version didn’t have the scar on the side of his face, the one the other boy—she assumed he was his brother—had given him. And the man today didn’t have that happy, hopeful spark in his eyes as the boy in the painting did.
“Aye, when times were good,” Eliza sighed, then straightened. “Come along, Me Lady,” she said, tossing a look over her shoulder. “We wouldnae want ye gettin’ lost on yer first day.”
They went up another flight of stairs, and Holly started noticing more portraits. Only, these had the face of one man scratched off. The portraits were so badly disfigured that she couldn’t tell who the man was. A shudder ran down her spine. Whoever the man was, he must have done something unspeakable for someone to go to so much trouble to scratch his visage off the portraits.
As they walked down the carpeted hall, Holly noticed something else that was strange. When they passed other servants, they ducked their heads and hurried away.
Frowning at the odd behavior, she followed Eliza through a door and into what would become her bedchamber.
“Here we are,” Eliza said with a grin. “Does it meet yer needs, Me Lady?”
How could it nae?
Holly studied the spacious chamber. A huge four-poster bed dominated the center of the chamber. At the foot of it was a plush, velvet blue chair, with a rack underneath for extra storage. A large hearth occupied the middle of one wall, while a settee and a dressing table were positioned along another wall.
“Aye, this will do very nicely, indeed,” Holly answered, giving the maid a friendly smile.
“I’ll unpack yer things…” the maid trailed off when she realized Holly didn’t have anything with her but a wicker basket that seemed to keep moving around, as if something was inside it.
Holly blushed. “I-I, uh, didnae expect to be stayin’.”
“Dinnae fret, Me Lady. I’ll send someone to fetch yer things.”
Holly nodded her gratitude as she set Ollie’s basket on the chair at the foot of the bed.
Ollie poked his gray head out and looked around before climbing out to explore his surroundings.
“Och, ye brought a beastie into the Laird’s castle?” Eliza exclaimed in surprise and a touch of horror.
It was obvious that she and cats did not get along. She was probably a little afraid of them.
