He leaned back in his chair, his dark eyes flicking to the parchment in front of her. “Show me.”
Scarlett hesitated. It was one thing to sketch in solitude, another to offer it up to him. But slowly, she turned the notebook, sliding it across the desk with charcoal-stained fingertips. “This was the view from me chamber at Hallow Castle. The garden. Edith and I spent hours there, reading.”
Robert studied it, the crease of his brow easing. The strokes were rough, but she had captured the curve of the hedges, the scatter of wildflowers, the sunlight breaking over the stone wall.
His voice was quieter this time. “Ye’ve talent.”
Heat rushed up her neck. “Nay,” she said quickly, shaking her head. “I’m only passing time. Nothing more.”
“Scarlett.” The way he said her name stopped her fidgeting. His tone was certain, and he repeated, “Ye’re talented.”
She looked down, her cheeks burning, and reached out to take the parchment back. Their fingers brushed.
It was a fleeting touch, but it stalled the air in her lungs. His hand was warm, calloused, and heavy, nearly twice the size of hers. Scarlett pulled back, the notebook a hard shield against her chest.
Robert cleared his throat. He didn't look at her; his gaze stayed anchored to the parchment for a beat too long before he finally turned away.
Scarlett said nothing.
She flipped to a fresh page and forced the charcoal to the paper. She began to draw, but the line was jagged, her hand refusing to settle. She kept her head down, the scrape of the charcoal the only sound in the room, both of them pretending the air hadn't just changed.
The moment stretched until at last he pushed back his chair. The scrape of wood on stone was louder than it should have been. “It’s late. Time ye retired to yer chambers.”
Disappointment pinched her chest. She gathered her charcoal, tying the ribbon back around her book. Rising slowly, she tried to sound casual, though her voice trembled. “Before I go, may I ask something?”
His dark gaze lifted to hers. “Ask.”
Scarlett wet her lips. “I want Edith to come here. To Gundor. She’s the only family I’ve truly chosen, and I… I’d feel whole with her near.”
Robert’s expression shuttered. “Now isnae the time.”
Her shoulders fell. “But–”
He cut her off with a raised hand. “I’ll speak with yer brother when it’s fitting. Until then, leave it.”
Scarlett bit her tongue until she tasted copper. She watched his jaw tighten, and his hand drift back to his papers, already dismissing her.
She picked up her notebook and tucked the charcoal into its ribbon with a slow, deliberate snap.
"I will ask again," she said. Her voice was low, a cold fact she was leaving in the room for him to trip over.
She didn't wait for his reaction. She turned and walked out. The click of the door behind her was the only answer she gave him, leaving Robert alone with his papers and the question she refused to take back.
CHAPTER TEN
Mary fussed as she always did, pacing the chamber like a hen with too many chicks. “Did ye hear about Mairi and young Dougal? Caught behind the stables, the pair of them carrying on like… och, the shame of it, and on the very day of the Laird’s council!” She clucked her tongue, straightening the coverlet Scarlett had already smoothed. “Folk will talk for weeks, I swear it.”
Scarlett sat at the dressing table, brushing her hair in long, steady strokes. She hummed faintly, pretending to listen though the words passed her like water over stone.
Mary bustled on, piling another blanket at the foot of the bed. “And Old Angus, muttering about the hens laying soft shells, claims it’s a bad omen. As if a man’s chickens ken more about fate than the kirk itself. I told him?—”
“Mm,” Scarlett murmured, eyes fixed not on Mary but on the closed door that linked her chamber to Robert’s.
Her pulse leapt every time the floor creaked, every time the castle sighed against the wind. Three nights since the solar, five nights since he kissed her like he meant to break her in half, and nothing. Not a word and not even a glance.
I thought we were making progress since the solar…
Mary caught the far-off look in her eyes and sighed, coming to rest her hands on her hips. “Ye’re nae hearing a word I’m saying, are ye?” Scarlett blinked, forcing a smile. “Of course, I am.”
