Christmas in Kilts by Bronwen Evans

Author:Bronwen Evans
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Chapter Five

The next morning, Emma awoke to the sounds of rain hitting her window. There was no rush to rise since there would be no hunting today—but there might be another kind of entertainment.

Finally dressed, she made her way downstairs, her stomach churning too much to eat anything. Would he give her his decisions this morning or make her wait until tonight?

The dining room was empty. There was no sign of Serena or her brother. No doubt they were still in bed. She envied Serena the love she’d found with Thornton.

She had no idea where Angus or Dougray were and she was too scared to go searching. When Dougray was ready to deliver his verdict, he would find her.

So she asked if she could have a cup of tea and toast in the library, and she snuggled in the large chair by the fire with a book. She would wait for Dougray to find her.

* * *

Three hours later Emma was still reading in the library. The rain had stopped and the sun had come out. There was still no sign of Dougray, so she decided to take her mind off the conversation to come by going for a walk in the gardens around the lodge. She called for her cloak and set off round the back of the castle. She walked down through the rose garden toward the apple orchard she could see from her bedchamber window. There was a small summerhouse in the middle of the trees and she wanted to explore it.

To her surprise, as she drew closer to the center of the orchard she heard a horse neigh and a bridle jangle. She peered out from behind a tree. In the doorway of the summerhouse, no more than fifty feet in front of her, locked in a passionate embrace were Angus and a young woman.

They were kissing as if there would not be a tomorrow, and she wondered if this was the woman Angus had mentioned when she first arrived. Was this the young lady that he could not offer marriage to because of his circumstances?

She knew she should not be intruding on their private moment, and that she should turn around and head back to the lodge, but just then Angus pulled back from the kiss, and stroked the young woman’s face so tenderly it broke Emma’s heart to see how much he loved her. She wished she could do something to help the couple.

Angus turned his head and she quickly pulled back behind the tree, and a germ of an idea blossomed. She was never going to marry, so what use was her dowry. She would ask her father if she could have her dowry, and she would invest in Angus’s whisky business. If his business became profitable, he could legitimately ask for the lady’s hand in marriage.

Emma was sure her father would agree. The whisky that Angus made was one of the smoothest she’d ever tasted, not that she drank a lot of whisky in her life.

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