The Highlander's Lady (Highlands Forever Book 1) by Adams Aileen

Author:Adams, Aileen [Adams, Aileen]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub
Published: 2019-03-21T16:00:00+00:00

13

“Forgive me,” she murmured, again and again, crouching beside the remains of what she’d dropped. “Pardon me, please. I didna—”

“Dinna trouble yerself, lass,” Calan muttered, though there was a tightness in his voice which belied his words. “These things happen, do they not?”

Even so, she might have easily crawled into a hole and died if given a chance. Her humiliation was worse than anything she had suffered until now.

And he was watching her. What was he doing here? Of all places! She kept her eyes downcast that she might clean the floor as best she could, though it had not been precisely clean before—Calan Stewart was a good man with many fine qualities, she was certain, but enjoying his evening meal without dropping great amounts of food upon the floor was not one of his strengths.

He might give her away. Perhaps that was what he intended to do! Yes, he would announce to one and all that she was not as she pretended to be. And he might demand he take her with him, and give her to George.

As she stood, she dared glance his way, hoping he might give her some sense of what he had in mind. What was he thinking? Was he proud of himself for having found her? Or surprised, because he had not expected to find her there?

He gave nothing away. His face was a mask of stone, the expression of a man whose host for the evening was in an uncomfortable situation. There was nothing in his eyes.

Nothing at all.

Because he cared nothing for her. It did not matter to him in the least that he’d found her there, in such a humble position. In fact, he might not recognize her.

Yet just before she turned away to flee to the kitchen, from which she hoped to never emerge, his eyes flickered up to hers and held them for a deliberate moment before shifting away again.

So he did know her. If only that did not make her heart swell so.

She continued to the kitchen, where she left the platter and ruined food on a table while walking straight to the door leading out to the garden. If there had ever been a time in which she’d needed fresh air, it was then.

For her skin flushed painfully hot, her heart racing out of control. What would he do? Would he reveal her? And what would Calan Stewart think? Would he order her off his land, knowing she was English?

She folded her hands over the knot in her belly, one which threatened to make her ill. What could she do? Run away once more? To what? To another several days or more of hunger and fright, hiding herself from any who might see her along the road or in the woods?

No, she did not think she could manage that again.

What else was there for her to do? Marry George? No, she did not want to do that, either. Certainly not. Living alone in the woods would be preferable to returning to England with him.

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.