Destiny of a Highlander by Emilia Ferguson

Author:Emilia Ferguson [Ferguson, Emilia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
Goodreads: 41569345
Published: 2018-08-27T23:00:00+00:00

A MATTER TO DISCUSS

Returning home had not been easy for Henry, he recalled shakily. Lennox, the butler, had let Henry in without asking, though the look on his face had spoken volumes. Henry was quite certain that the story of how he commandeered the Laird's horse was in quick circulation. Quite what they thought he needed it for was something he'd rather not dwell on just yet.

“Well,” he sighed as he looked out of the window over the late-morning exterior, “I did it.”

He had, thus far, managed to dress, wash, sleep and even breakfast on apples and a day-old bread-roll without speaking to anyone.

Good that Mr. Prestwick is so unobservant as to leave my saddle-bags still full.

Thoughts of Prestwick, his manservant, led to thoughts of getting more formally dressed and going upstairs to confront his father. It was something he would have to do sometime, after all. “And it might as well be now.”

With a sinking heart, Henry went to the door and called. “Prestwick?”

The sound of feet on the dense carpet announced his manservant, a tall, gaunt-faced fellow perhaps more than a decade older than Henry.

“Yes, milord?”

“I need to dress more formally – my new shirt, and the doublet with the blue-and-white brocade, I think.”

“Yes, sir.”

While Prestwick dressed him – the silent efficiency of the man doing little to assure Henry that he wasn't speculating like the rest of them – Henry thought.

I need to tell Father what happened.

The question that filled him was how could he? If he told his father of Francine – of her abduction, the rescue, and then how he had escorted her to an inn, alone and not chaperoned, staying with her for some hours unobserved – his father would be scandalized.

And if Father is scandalized, he will want to do something about it.

Quite what the something would be, Henry had no idea. He just knew, with a sinking conviction, that it wouldn't be the something he wanted. With their father's preoccupation with them marrying English people, Henry was fairly sure he wouldn't agree with his plan – that of marrying Francine.

I would say to him that I did it to erase the scandal. But that wouldn't be so, not according to me.

That was the other matter which concerned him. He knew what he should do: tell the story, and then propose marriage to Francine to remove the scandal. However, if he did that, would she understand the intensity of his feelings for her? Or would she think he did what society would tell her – marry her to clear their names?

“Damn it, I don't know.”

“Sir?” Prestwick frowned, his face as neutral as it ever was. All the same, Henry thought he could detect a twinkle in the man's eye, perhaps of laughter.

“Thinking aloud, Prestwick,” Henry muttered, embarrassed.

“Very good, sir.”

Dressed, with his hair brushed, the curls left un-powdered, Henry changed his shoes to his new heeled indoor boots and rapidly walked down the hallway toward his father's office. Upstairs, outside the door, he paused, nervous.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.