Page 6 of To Wed a Laird
Elspeth nodded eagerly. Just then, Rose noticed a slate with a few sticks of chalk next to it lying on the floor. “Ah! Now here is something I can do!” she cried happily. “Can I draw something for you?”
Elspeth thought for a moment, then said, “A horse?”
“A horse it is,” Rose replied, and set to work.
Her drawing skills were not the best, but they were by no means the worst, and in a few moments she had done a fairly passable sketch of a horse.
Elspeth looked at it critically, then smiled. “My turn,” she said firmly, then wiped Rose’s drawing away.
Rose opened her mouth to object, then shut it again. Elspeth frowned as she focused on her task, the tip of her tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth in an endearing expression of concentration.
Rose smiled at Nell over Elspeth’s head as she worked, and Nell nodded and smiled back in a way that said, “Well done.”
When Elspeth had finished, she held the slate out to Rose, who widened her eyes and gasped in admiration. “It is a true masterpiece!” she cried, exaggerating her tone for theatrical effect.
Elspeth giggled, then she looked at Rose closely. The familiar feeling of foreboding came over her as the little girl’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“Why are you here?” Elspeth asked.
Rose felt as though she had been pinned down by an arrow suddenly. She was silent, unable to think of any way to answer the question without upsetting Elspeth.
“Why are you here?” Elspeth asked again, more loudly this time.
At that moment, to Rose’s great relief, Nell intervened. She drew Elspeth to her feet and said, “Is it no’ time we picked up a’ these toys?”
Elspeth shook her off, her little face a mask of anger. “One of the maids will do that!” she said, as she glared at Rose. “You are another governess, are you not?”
Elspeth’s pale blue eyes were dark with rage, and she rushed towards Rose with her hands outstretched as if she was going to push her over. Rose took a step backwards and caught them in her own, but Elspeth struggled free and pushed Rose.
“Go away!” she screamed, over and over again. She did not have the strength to do any damage, however, and Nell intervened once more as she pulled the girl away.
“Elspeth!” she snapped. “That is nae wae tae behave. Say sorry tae Rose!”
However, Elspeth did no such thing. She stood looking venomously at the two women, switching her gaze from one to the other, then for a second it looked as though she was about to calm down.
However, a moment later, she charged through the space between them, flung her doll onto the floor, then wrenched the door open and shot through it into the corridor beyond. Rose immediately started to go after her, but Nell grabbed her by the sleeve of her dress to hold her back.
“Rose, ye will only make things worse,” she said urgently. “Let her calm down a wee bit.”
But Rose tore her arm out of Nell’s grasp and ran through the open door. She had lost sight of the little girl, but she could hear her footsteps echoing down the passageways in front of her. Although she had no idea of how to find her way around the intricate corridors and stairways of the massive building, she knew that Elspeth did.
Rose was panicking, wondering what the Laird would do to her when he found out what had happened. Would he show her any mercy at all, or would he send her back to her father in disgrace? She would soon find out, but whatever her fate, it was out of her hands.
She was almost out of breath and was about to give up when the sound of Elspeth’s footsteps slowed down and eventuallystopped. Rose turned a corner and came face to face with Elspeth, then the two of them stood looking at each other without speaking for a long moment.
Elspeth’s expression was mutinous, and she had her fists clenched by her sides, the picture of angry rebellion, but Rose felt infinitely sorry for her. She knew what it was like to lose a beloved mother, and it was a fate she would not wish on her worst enemy.
Cautiously, Rose moved forward as if she were approaching a petrified animal, keeping her eyes fixed on Elspeth. She was concentrating so hard that she jumped in fright as the door they had been standing beside opened suddenly.
When Cormac MacTavish stepped out, looking more intimidating than Rose had yet seen him, she took a step backwards as his piercing blue eyes fixed on her.
CHAPTER THREE
In his study,Cormac was looking down wearily at a book of accounts. The numbers were beginning to blur before his eyes, since exhaustion had overtaken him a few hours before. He passed a hand over his face, then poured himself a glass of whisky, but reprimanded himself for doing so, since it was becoming too much of a refuge for him.
Yet, its solace was so easy and tempting when he began to think about the death of Catherine, Elspeth’s mother and his beloved wife. It eased the torture, but he was becoming too fond of it.
Now, however, he had an additional worry—the arrival of the new governess. The moment he had looked into her large dark eyes he had been almost spellbound, and it had taken all his willpower to keep his expression impassive.
