Grace smiled at him and touched her lips, which were still tingling. “My ankle is very sore,” she told him, her eyes twinkling. “So I am sure I’ll need lots of assistance.”
“I am at your service, Milady,” he told her with a wicked smile. “Anytime you need me.”
11
Robert was tired, hungry, and irritable. Accounts, letters to suppliers, and any kind of negotiations about prices and commodities were tasks unsuited to him, and since most of his business consisted of doing just those things, he was always grumpy when he left the study to go to dinner.
He was beginning to suffer from a pounding headache behind his eyes and suspected that there was something wrong with his eyesight since the words he was reading kept going in and out of focus.
Hence, he was not best pleased when his most trusted manservant, Angus, came to see him just as he was about to put down his pen and close his ledgers for the day. Angus was small and sturdy with a shock of red hair and a permanently belligerent expression. He was Robert’s eyes and ears when he needed information about happenings in the castle and on the estate and he was widely disliked.
“Aye, Angus?” Robert asked as the man stood in front of him, shifting nervously from foot to foot.
“I heard somethin’ ye might like tae know, M’Laird,” the man said, frowning deeply. He knew what was going to happen the moment he would tell Robert his news. If it was good news, he would likely be given a few coppers for his trouble, but if it was bad, he would have to make a quick escape. The Laird’s temper was legendary, but Angus hesitated a second too long.
“Well? Out with it!” Robert yelled. “I am hungry, and I have better things to do than sit here waiting for you all day!”
Angus nodded. “M’Laird, I have just seen your brother an’ your lass talkin’ together. He was askin’ her a’ sorts o’ questions about ye.”
Robert tensed. He had felt that what Angus had to say would not be good, and he could already feel the rage building up inside him. He was not going to tolerate his brother trying to steal his bride; he had humiliated Robert in too many ways already. Fergus was clever, handsome, strong, and heroic, according to popular opinion. However, he was not the Laird, and Robert had the woman Fergus wanted.
Robert’s ears pricked up. “Tell me what he said, Angus, and make it quick,” he growled.
Angus took a deep breath and began to speak. “They were sittin’ beside each other, on the bench near the stables,” he began. “He was askin’ her if she liked you, an’ if she really wanted tae marry ye.”
He had suspected something like this. Robert’s hands clenched into fists, and he frowned so deeply that his brows almost covered his eyes. There was a black fury boiling inside him, a fire that was building and building, and he knew that it would soon overwhelm him.
“What did she say?” he asked, trying to keep his voice as calm as he could.
“She didnae really say anythin’ M’Laird.” Angus replied, shrugging. “I could see that she was feelin’ uncomfortable, but she only said it was her duty to obey her family an’ her clan.”
“Did she say she liked me?” Robert asked tensely. He was unconsciously leaning towards Angus across the desk, and his slate-grey eyes were almost black with anger.
Angus shook his head. “No, M’Laird, but tae be fair, she didnae say she liked him either. In fact, initially, it looked tae me as if she couldnae wait tae get away.”
“And?” Robert persisted. “There must be more, man, or you would not have wasted your time coming to see me.”
Angus took a step backward as if readying himself to flee. “They looked for a wee minute as if they wanted tae kiss each other, but they didnae. They just looked at each other, then he gave her a wee white flower an’ left.” Angus was terrified of the Laird’s reaction to these words.
“They didn’t kiss?” Robert asked shrewdly, looking intensely into Angus’s eyes.
“No, M’Laird,” he replied, his voice firm and definite.
“But they were close to it?” Robert was suspicious.
Angus nodded. “Aye, M’Laird, they were, or so it seemed tae me.” His heart was pounding. He had gone from being apprehensive to being absolutely terrified.
Robert got to his feet, reached into the drawer and pulled out a few shillings, then threw them at him. “Get out o’ here,” he growled.
Angus scampered out as fast as he could, slamming the door behind him in his haste.
As soon as the door closed, Robert exploded. He swept his arm across his desk, knocking over everything on it. A glass inkwell was thrown off and bounced, then shattered on the floor, splattering ink everywhere and shattering the vessel into thousands of lethally sharp glass shards. The accounts ledgers went flying, and their pages flew and scattered across the room like so many gliding birds, before settling down on the floor and the furniture.
A beautiful silver candelabra went flying off the side of the desk and knocked a deep dent into an old and precious oak cabinet, then fell on the floor, snapping all five beeswax candles and bending the sconces. Robert stood up and tried to overturn his desk with a single heave, but it was too heavy for him. He roared in frustration and kicked his chair over instead, then set to work on the glass-fronted cabinets that lined each side of the room.
He picked up the damaged candelabra from the floor and used it to smash the windows, and a savage satisfaction filled him as he watched the sharp splinters spray everywhere. He pulled delicate china ornaments from the shelves and flung them across the room, where they hit the walls and smashed into smithereens.
Robert paused for a moment to catch his breath and survey the damage, but he had no time to savor his triumph before the door opened cautiously and in stepped Lady Alison MacAndrew.