Page 41 of Highlander's Runaway Seductress
“Thank ye,” Damien swallowed a hefty mouthful, then cradled the pewter goblet in both hands. “Can ye tell me how Laird Dolberry goes about seein’ the women who come to him?”
The older man’s lips twisted while he smoothed his fingers over his beard. “First ye will have to send a letter to the Laird, then he decides when he would like to see ye. I’ve had lasses here that stayed from one day to nearly a month before Laird Dolberry would see ‘em. It all depends on him, lad. And, from what I’ve heard, he takes one look at ‘em before sendin’ them on their way.”
“Ye said somethin’ about bein’ a gatekeeper,” Damien said. “What does that mean?”
“I give me own opinion of the lasses that come through here too,” Murdoch said. “If they are clearly too old and have a different set of features the lass is ken to have, I send them away.”
Although almost afraid to ask the question on the tip of his tongue, he forced himself to do it. “How many women have passed through these doors?”
With a loud, bellowing laugh Murdoch shook his head. “More than I can count, lad. Over ten score and more.”
“And none of them stayed,” Damien said rhetorically, while staring into the depths of his cup. “I hope the Laird doesnae dismiss the lass up there quickly. I am sure she is the true Amelie McDulah.”
“I have heard that before, lad, many times,” Murdoch said with a shrug. “Tis nae me place to tell ye if ye’re right or wrong, lad, but like I tell all the others, I wish ye well.”
As he stood to move off, Damien finished his bracing drink and handed him the cup. “Do ye have a paper and quill I can borrow? I’d like to send the letter off tonight.”
“Sure, lad,” Murdoch said. “Just a minute.”
When he came back with the sheet of papyrus, quill and pot of ink, Damien took them and smoothed the roll on the table. He stared at it before he realized that he should probably not be the one writing the letter and rolled the paper back.
Taking the items upstairs he remembered Murdoch’s words from earlier and found Amelie’s room. After trying and finding it locked, he knocked on it. The drag of the bolt had him stepping back and when a bleary-eyed Amelie answered, he handed the items to her.
“Sorry for wakin’ ye, but I think it’s best for ye to write to the Laird,” Damien replied.
Amelie looked at the items in her hand askance. “Pardon?”
With curt words, Damien explained that the first step in reaching the Laird was to send him a letter and then to wait for his summons. “I thought it best for ye to write the letter.”
“Oh,” Amelie muttered. “I daenae ken what to write.”
Stepping away, Damien rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sure ye’ll find what to say. I’d like to send that off tonight or at best, early on the morrow.”
He headed off back down the hall, hoping that Amelie would not feel bad about his brusque attitude towards her, but he had decided to avoid any more intimate interactions with her. That included giving her any reason to think his indifference to her was going to lessen.
He went to Ben’s room, that was near Amelie’s. Ben was stretched out on the bed, resting but awake. He sat on the opposite cot and began to unlace his boots.
“I spoke to the proprietor, and he told me how we can get to the Laird,” he then explained about the letter and his hope that they would get to the Laird quickly.
“Aye,” Ben added. “I hope Amelie writes somethin’ to get his attention. We’ve come a long way, and I hope we’ll get the reward soon enough.”
Gritting his teeth, Damien replied. “About that, Ben. I think—I daenae want to do that anymore. I daenae need the reward. For me, it’s reward enough to reunite her with her family. I just want the Laird to see her. That way, she will go off to a better life and we find a way to figure out ours.”
“Damien,” Ben said slowly while sitting up. “Are ye sure about that, son? We came all the way here for that reason. It is two thousand sterlings, lad, more money than ye can ever imagine havin’.”
Laying on the cot, Damien slid his hands under his head and stared up at the ceiling. He thought about Amelie and how the good life that could have been hers had been stolen from her.
“I feel it would be wretched of me to take the money. I dinnae have a blood father, if I had been given the chance to be with him, I’d hate it for the person who reunited us, to have done it formoney.”
Then, a long sigh came from Ben. “I see.”
Twisting his head, Damien looked over to Ben. “Ye’re nae angry about it?”
“I willnae lie, aye, I am a tad angry about it,” Ben replied. “But I am more worried why ye and Amelie havenae spoken in hours. What happened between ye two? I had hoped yer connection would get stronger, nae weaker.”
Turning on his side, Damien admitted. “She’s better off without me, Ben. I may nae have had a good way of showin’ it to her, but I care about her. I am sensible enough to ken she has a life ahead of her that I cannae dream of bein’ in.”
Ben’s tongue clucked. “And yer solution to that is to disregard her?”
