The Enemy and Miss Innes (Tales from the Highlands Book 2) by Martha Keyes

Author:Martha Keyes [Keyes, Martha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-06-01T18:30:00+00:00

22

It had become expected that, at breakfast, Elizabeth would give Christina and Lachlan a report of the progress being made at Glengour. It was always somewhat uncomfortable for her, as she had yet to identify to them who had been helping there, allowing them to make more rapid progress than would otherwise have been possible.

At first, she had avoided telling them to save them the worry they would have inevitably felt over allowing her to work in close proximity to one of Angus’s men. She continued to avoid telling them for fear of the questions they might ask and the way she might betray her inner turmoil and her feelings for Malcolm.

That she had let such feelings develop was a matter of deep confusion and regret for Elizabeth. But even then, she could see the irony and humor in it. It was very much like the universe to make her eat her unapologetic and outspoken words about the MacKinnons.

Bannerman and Colum helped her attach a bag to Caesar’s saddle. The candles and candlesticks she had taken yesterday had been used to furnish the rooms, and with today’s items, she hoped to try a few different fabrics for bedclothes and hangings in the bedrooms.

Yesterday’s ride had been spent convincing herself of the need and wisdom of telling Malcolm that their interaction could never be repeated. She had been very successful at convincing herself of this—she could be very persuasive, after all—but when she had entered the room where Malcolm sat beside Fergus, her determination had suffered a severe setback.

Somehow, Malcolm had looked completely different in that moment, transformed from the saturnine brute she had thought him to a battered but kind soul, somehow trapped in Angus’s grasp. Whether that grasp was as strong as Malcolm had implied or whether he simply lacked the courage to fight it, she wasn’t sure.

It reminded her how much about him she didn’t know, and it was that which had given her the courage to say what she had come to say, even if her heart had balked as she did so.

She trusted it would become less difficult with every interaction as she accustomed herself to the sort of relationship they ought to have rather than the one her heart might wish for.

She adopted toward him what she hoped was an attitude of nonchalant benevolence, and he seemed to respond with his own version of it, though his brooding expression and the care he took with his words could not truly be considered either benevolent or nonchalant.

More of the work was falling to the two of them, though, now that traffic on the road was increasing and drovers passing by on their journey south. Those who had been to Glengour before looked around with curious eyes at the changes being implemented, a fact which motivated Elizabeth even more to be quick about adding the warm touches she had planned.

It was the late afternoon, and Glengour was at its busiest, with Glenna scurrying about to serve those

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