He found himself wondering what it would be like to kiss her again, and then chuckled as he realized that she would likely just try to kill him next time and have done with it. He couldn’t allow the Douglases to stay at Roscraig indefinitely, but to appease Tavish’s conscience, Iain Douglas could live his last days in his own bed. Tavish would perhaps offer Miss Douglas the manor house at the Dunfermline farm. That would give her a place to live to preserve the illusion of her station and her pride, and would perhaps placate Tavish’s mother.
And yet, he could not stop calling to mind the sprig of spring greenery in her hair and how readily she had come to him when he’d not forced her; the way his heart had beat while he’d held her; the sweet taste of her soft mouth.
Tavish shook his head. Glenna Douglas was noble—of course she’d known the right things to say and do to turn his head. It was all a ploy to get what she wanted, nothing more.
Too bad for the princess—it was Tavish’s turn to get what he wanted.
Chapter 8
Glenna sat at her father’s bedside the next morning, watching him sleep. She felt she’d done nothing else for years now, just sitting there, watching Iain Douglas die while their world crumbled down around them.
Only now, his skin was not quite so transparent, his lips no longer cracked and gaping. His periods of consciousness were brief and few, but it no longer felt like he was slipping into labored, wheezing oblivion when he closed his eyes. His grasp on reality, however, remained tenuous and fleeting.
He slept now, and Glenna was glad that she wasn’t forced to pretend a smile, encourage his awareness. She’d never felt so humiliated, such rage as when riding the ugly ocean of feelings that had borne her along through the night and brought her to land on this uncertain and desolate shore of her father’s bedside.
Tavish Cameron had led her on, allowed her to make a fool of herself, knowing full well that he was wedding another. He was in fact waiting on her arrival even while he’d kissed her.
Miss Keane. Miss Audrey Keane. A beautiful, stylish young woman, obviously of considerable wealth by her manner of dress, but not a titled lady. And yet Audrey Keane, a commoner, would take Glenna’s place at Roscraig. Take her place as Lady at Tavish Cameron’s side.
What a grand joke he likely thought it.
She heard the door squeak open behind her but didn’t turn. It would be Harriet, bringing the morning supplies to care for Glenna’s father.
“Good morn, Miss Douglas.”
His deep voice caused her to flinch, and she turned her head slowly, unable to believe that he would show his face here, of all places.
And yet, there he was, pushing the door closed behind him and then standing at the end of the bed, looking not at her, but at the still figure of her father. Glenna’s gaze never left him, her eyes narrowing into a glare.
“What do you want?” she whispered through her teeth, trying to forget it was the exact question he’d posed to her the night before.
It seemed to take some effort for Tavish Cameron to look away from her father and meet her eyes. “To apologize.”
Glenna continued to glare at him.
“I wasn’t expecting Miss Keane last night,” he added.
“You weren’t expecting her last night. You hoped to have more time to toy with me, is that it?” Glenna hissed.
“Nay,” he said mildly. “That wasn’t my intention at all.”
“Nor was it your intention to tell me you’d asked another to marry you after I’d made a fool of myself?”
“Everything about last night was unexpected. But now that Audrey is here…it would be best that you find other accommodations. We are expecting guests.”
Glenna knew her mouth had fallen open, but she didn’t care. Did this man have no shame?
He continued. “I know you have objection about moving to the village, and so I can make arrangements for a manor house on a farm at Dunfermline. It’s not so very far, and there will be servants to care for you. You may depart this afternoon.”
Glenna bolted from her chair at last. She wanted to shout and yet was forced to speak in a hissing whispers. “Look at him! Look at him, you fool! Think you he can be moved?”
“Your father may stay until his end,” Tavish said quietly.
She began shaking her head even before she could command her mouth to speak. “Nay. I won’t leave him. You can’t possibly think—”
“My mother will continue to care for him. I’ve already commanded my servants to begin packing your things.”
“Nay!” Glenna insisted, her voice rising with the hysteria that was building inside her. She stepped toward the door as if to leave and then looked back at her father, her emotions in such turmoil that she didn’t know which way to turn, what to say. “You can’t simply…eject me! This is my home! Who do you think you are?”
