Page 49 of Married to the Ruthless Highlander
Some, of course, were still proving troublesome to accept. She had often dreamed of being a mother, promising herself that she would be the very opposite of her mother. So, to find out that it would not be in her future remained hard to swallow.
But if I can make him jealous andI can surprise him, who’s to say I cannae get him to change his mind about that too?
“Nay, he didnae,” Freya replied, unsure whether it was a safe topic of conversation around Ealasaid. “I still cannae decide if he was just angry with me for dancin’ with another laird at our betrothal feast. I’ve never had one before, so I dinnae ken what’s appropriate.”
“Ye should have danced with the Laird first,” Ealasaid remarked quietly, her head down as she tied a knot in the stays. “Then, ye’d have been free to dance with whomever ye pleased.”
Freya’s cheeks reddened. “Aye, then he was probably just angry.”
“Nae a chance!” Ersie interjected, shaking her head vigorously. “I ken the Laird better than anyone, and I ken jealousy when I see it. Ye could say that anger is akinto jealousy, but he was definitely feelin’ it.”
Freya’s mind wandered to the study, to the things that he had made her feel, sensations beyond her comprehension that she wished she could feel again. She thought of how tenderly he had carried her out of that room and brought her to her bedchamber, and of the library he had offered for her use.
The promises he had made, which might have seemed paltry to most, were more than she had anticipated.
“If ye didnae talk about him gettin’ all jealous, whatdidye talk about?” Ersie pressed. “The guards mentioned ye were in the Laird’s study for a fair while. Did ye take yer sister-in-law’s advice? Have ye agreed to have a happy, peaceful marriage?”
There was a dubious note in the last question, but also a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
A strangled gasp escaped Freya’s throat. “There wereguardsdown there?”
“At a distance, aye,” Ersie replied. “They watch the comings and goings of their Laird, but they dinnae intrude. Why, were ye ragin’ at each other?”
Freya fidgeted with a loose thread on the ribbon of her drawers. “Nay, we were… surprisingly patient with each other.” She suppressed the urge to grin, pressing her lips together. “I dinnae think I’ll be the happiest wife that ever lived, but I dinnae think I’ll be the most miserable, either.”
“Ah… such romance.” Ersie grimaced, clearly dissatisfied with the outcome—though she did not know all of the details of last night’s meeting. If she did, perhaps she would have been more appeased.
But that was simply not something Freya was willing to discuss with Ersie, even if the maid was not present.
“I am nae too dismayed by it,” she insisted.
Ersie leaned over the armrest until she was practically draped over it. “So, what’s the plan for today? What are we coaxin’ out of the Laird next? Because hewasjealous, and I willnae hear otherwise.”
“I hadnae given it much thought,” Freya replied.
She had been too busy thinking of other things, like what other pleasurable doors he might be inclined to unlock for her, and where in the library she would begin her extensive reading.
I could find that letter, read it to him, and see if I can coax some sadness out of him…
But he had asked not to see it, and she did not know what its contents were about. For all she knew, it might be a list of things to remember for a feast or a gathering, and though such a list might be enough to make the hostess weep the night before a gathering, it would not have the same effect on Doughall.
“Sympathy, maybe?” she said, the notion coming to her out of nowhere. “Or empathy.”
Ersie nodded eagerly. “I like it.”
“Actually, I have just the thought.” Freya held her arms up and allowed Ealasaid to pull the woolen dress over her head.
If the maid minded or had any opinions on the endeavor, she did not say so. However, therewasa small smile on her lips as she fastened the laces down the back of the dress.
“I think I’ll spend the mornin’ in the library,” Freya said with a decisive nod.
Ersie tilted her head to the side. “That’swhat is different about ye.”
“What?”
“Ye dinnae have yer spectacles.” Ersie narrowed her eyes at her, curious. “Wherever might they be?”
Freya cleared her suddenly dry throat. “We’ll have to stop by Doughall’s study on the way. I believe I may have left them there.”
