A Scottish Love by Karen Ranney

Author:Karen Ranney
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Historical
Publisher: Harper Collins, Inc.
Published: 2011-11-28T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Turning, he walked into the cottage. Seven years ago, they’d congratulated themselves on making this place theirs. Shona had brought flowers from time to time, placing them in an earthen jar, arranging them on the table as if they’d taken up living there.

He’d loved her on that cot, the first time feeling so inept he thought he’d done it all wrong. Her sighs and smile had eased his mind then.

Shona had felt like his mate, his mirror half, her responses the equal of his. He’d never thought she would go away, ever leave him.

He turned to her now. Her face was still stricken.

He wanted to tell her that it didn’t matter; that she didn’t have the power to wound him. The words, however, wouldn’t pass the gate of truth in his mind. She did have the power to hurt him; she always had.

She looked around the interior of the cottage. “We were such fools,” she said.

“We were improvident,” he agreed. “And definitely unwise.”

He wouldn’t have traded those memories for his baronetcy or his wealth, but he was damned if he was going to be dragged around by his cock. Whatever fascination she had for him should remain in the past, as dead as her husband.

But, and this admission troubled him more than a little, there was something about her that made him want to watch her when she wasn’t aware. She had a habit of tapping her fingers against her skirt, just before she said something she considered important. Otherwise, her features were still, arranged in a pleasant fashion, but attempting to reveal nothing of her emotions. Except for one eyebrow, her right, that arched in a way she probably didn’t realize.

He found himself watching for that subtle movement, an indication of her disdain or annoyance.

Her eyebrow arched a great deal in his presence.

Her wardrobe had not improved significantly with her marriage. Today, she was attired in the same dress, black and white, as if to emphasize her mourning. Or was she attempting, in her fashion, to remind him that she’d married and left him?

As if he could ever forget.

Seven years ago, he’d wished she’d been with child. He’d have married her then, before she left him. Or perhaps he himself should have married in the intervening years.

Should he tell her that she’d ruined him for other women? Hardly exactly true, but at this particular moment, it felt genuine.

He turned, staring at the ruined shutter. Suddenly, he pushed it back with both hands as if he couldn’t stand the confines of the cottage anymore. The slap of the wood against the wall sounded as loud as a rifle shot.

The sunny morning had given way to encroaching clouds, the weather as unstable as his mood.

“Are you really going to Gairloch to show off your pretty legs?” she asked.

“Do you think they are? As admirable as my arse?”

She ignored the questions, her frown impressive and intimidating to anyone else.

He walked to where she stood in the doorway of the cottage, reached out and drew her closer.

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