Page 18 of A Virgin for the Icy Highlander
“Imaintain that ye need a tutor, nae a replacement maither for the lassie,” Thomas said, resting his boots on Hunter’s desk, the heel digging into a small pile of correspondence.
Eye twitching, Hunter swiped his brother’s feet away. Thomas jolted at the sudden absence of support.
“She’ll have a tutor in due course, but that willnae remedy her current desire to hide and withdraw,” Hunter retorted coolly, his mind still outside Grace’s bedchamber, watching her lips part and bosom heave, imagining the pleasure of sequestering her into that room for an hour or two.
Thomas rolled his eyes. “I wasnae talkin’ about a tutor for Ellie. I mean a tutor forye, to teach ye how to win yer daughter over.” He readjusted himself in his chair. “I dinnae think that Lady Grace is bad or aught, but I’m still nae convinced that ye need to marry her. Could ye nae just employ her as a nursemaid?”
“I told ye already, it’s part of an exchange.” Hunter was becoming impatient with his brother’s selective memory, frustrated by the need to constantly repeat himself.
It was a tactic that Thomas had used since they were boys, wearing a person down until they agreed to his way of thinking or until they relented and gave him what he wanted. It had worked on most others, but it had never worked on Hunter, and that wasn’t likely to change.
“Well, ye could still use a tutor,” Thomas remarked, shrugging. “One to teach ye how to charm and woo a lass. It sounds like ye havenae the faintest notion of how to get a lass to like ye. I could teach ye, if ye like—all ye have to do is ask very,verynicely.”
Hunter had informed his brother of the conversation he’d just had with Grace in the hallway, but neglected to mention how close they’d been and how much closer he would havelikedto be. All he’d said was how he had scolded Grace for prying and asking about the past.
“I dinnae need her to like me,” he replied. “We have an understanding, and that’s enough.”
Thomas shook his head slowly, lounging back in his chair. “I had nay idea ye were such a romantic. Truly, ye should consider becomin’ a poet if that’s how ye speak of love and marriage.”
“Ididnaespeak of love.” Hunter reached for the glass of whiskey he’d poured himself to steady his thoughts, though he had yet to take a sip. “It’s of nay importance to me.”
“I dinnae believe that for a moment,” Thomas countered, smirking. “Nay one wants to be stuck with someone for the rest of their lives without even a hint of ‘like’ in the arrangement.”
Hunter finally took a sip. “Then I mustnae be everyone. Once Ellie is grown up and I ken she’s a happy lass who will have a happy future, Grace can do as she pleases. She can return to England if that’s her desire. She can stay here if she wishes. She will be free to do whatever she likes.”
“What aboutwhomevershe likes?” Thomas asked, an eyebrow raised, a glint of sly mischief in his gaze. “Will ye permit her to have all the lovers she desires? What of bairns? If she has a few by other men, will ye give them yer name? Will ye pretend they’re yers to preserve her honor?”
A burn that may or may not have come from the whiskey flared in Hunter’s chest, sinking down into his stomach as if he’d swallowed molten gold. He hadn’t considered that possibility, with so many years ahead until Ellie was grown up.
He thought about it for a moment, and only a moment: an unknown man in Grace’s bed, entangled with her, taking from her what he’d sworn he had no interest in claiming.
He couldn’t be certain if she’d lain with someone before, or if that might have been part of the scandal that led her to Scotland, but he had an inkling that she was untouched. No one looked through a window with such awe at couples dancing wildly if they were acquainted with what went on between a man and a woman.
I’d crush anyone who dared to touch her.
The surety of the thought jarred him, prompting him to take another sip of his drink.
“It’s of nay concern, at present,” he said, swallowing. “What Lady Grace wants to do and who she wants to do it with willnae matter until Ellie is grown. I’ll nae waste time considerin’ somethin’ that’s so far in the distance.”
Thomas seemed disappointed by the diplomatic answer. “Ye’d be happy givin’ yer name to someone else’s bastards?”
“Do ye have water in yer ears?” Hunter replied icily. “I said it’s of nay concern.”
That should have put a stop to it, but it seemed his younger brother was in an antagonistic mood. A smirk was plastered on his lips as he leaned forward in his chair, his fingers steepled.
“Ye wouldnae want at least one heir of yer own,beforeye let yer wife start takin’ lovers?” Thomas asked. “By the time Ellie is grown, Grace will be thirty or so, and ye’ll be long past forty. Better to secure yer legacy sooner rather than later.”
Hunter swirled his drink, resisting the urge to launch something heavy at his brother’s head.
Couldn’t Thomas see that Hunter didn’t want to keep talking about Grace?Couldn’tkeep talking about Grace? The more hespoke about and thought of her, and what might happen once they were wed, the more he began to believe that marrying her might not be the best idea, after all.
But I need her. Ellie needs her.
“I willnae ask that of her,” he growled. “I have a bairn. I need nay more.”
Thomas frowned. “She’s a lassie.”
“Aye, well noted,” Hunter muttered. “And when I die, she’ll have at least a corner of this land for herself. The title and the rest can go to ye and yer sons, if ye have ‘em. So, I suggest ye worry about yer own situation instead of mine.”
