Widow's Treasure by Mary Lancaster

Author:Mary Lancaster
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: 0
Published: 2018-09-10T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

As they rode up to the house, Archie came to meet them and take the horses. “Did Mr. Ross not find you, then?”

“No, he never did,” Etta said. “You did pass on my message?”

“Aye, he was over at the Hoggs’. I suppose something must have come up.”

“I suppose it must,” Etta agreed. In truth, she didn’t know whether she should be annoyed with Ross for ignoring her request, or grateful. For somehow, despite the releasing of unwanted memories and emotions, she couldn’t quite regret the growing intimacy between herself and Robert, and that could never have happened to such a degree if Mr. Ross had accompanied them.

“You’ll have tea?” she asked, turning toward the house. Ridiculously, she found she was holding her breath for his answer.

“Thank you, I will,” he said easily. “I’ll just have a quick word with Archie, if you don’t mind, and follow you inside.”

“Of course.” She only just managed to stop herself bestowing a huge smile upon him. Instead, she walked into the house with a careless nod, but she couldn’t prevent the warmth seeping through her. Something was happening to her, something to do with Robert Ogilvy, something she wasn’t sure she wanted. She couldn’t explain these feelings, yet she couldn’t help liking the mix of excited anticipation, comfort, gladness, fear…

“Tea, Morag, if you please,” she ordered as she handed the maid her somewhat battered hat. “In the drawing room, for three. Mr. Ogilvy will be joining us. Oh, and ask Mrs. Ross to step up when she has a moment.”

The drawing room was probably the finest room in Ardbeag House, and yet it retained an atmosphere of welcome and pleasantness that Etta liked. She’d taken to sitting here in the evenings, with the curtains open, watching the sky change color and darken over the hills while she read one of the treasures from the library. Although she could never live here, there was much to recommend it, much that she would miss. Not least, the man who walked through the door a few minutes later.

Her stupid heart gave an unseemly lurch. He shouldn’t be so handsome. He shouldn’t walk with that quick, lithe grace that made her wonder, in spite of herself, how he would move as he made love. He would be unpredictable, both tender and wild, but always intense, passionate…

Hastily, she blinked away such unknowable fantasies.

“Archie’s going to bring up a couple more men to keep an eye on the house tonight,” he said as he sat on the sofa opposite her.

“A couple more?” she pounced.

“Well, Ross and I thought it sensible to have someone watching, in case these men really are focused on this house. And now that we’ve seen one of them, and he knows we have, they may well hurry things along.”

Etta, who’d arranged a series of watches among the house servants last night, wasn’t sure she cared for his additional interference. And Mr. Ross should not be arranging things with him, but with her. However, before she could even think how to make her displeasure known, Morag and Mrs.

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.