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Grace was shaking as she entered the dining room. Crissy had stated firmly that it was time Grace stood on her own two feet, and that she no longer needed her help, so it was a terrified young woman who sat down at the table to eat with the two brothers. She sensed that something strange was going on, but she could not quite put her finger on it.
They had both arrived before her and stood up as she came in and Grace immediately felt as if she interrupted something. Robert pulled out a chair for her on his right-hand side. Fergus was at his left, which meant that Grace and Fergus were looking at each other. However, Fergus kept his eyes on the table, where his hands rested. He was twiddling his thumbs nervously, and it was so irritating, that Grace wanted to place hers on top of them and tell him to stop, but politeness demanded that she stay silent.
Grace had the impression, by the looks on both men’s faces, that they had been having a heated discussion about something. Although they did not look angry, she sensed an atmosphere of hostility between them, the fact that they had stopped talking as soon as she entered spoke volumes.
Once more, Grace had no more than a brief glimpse of Fergus’s dark blue eyes as he flicked a glance up at her, then lowered his gaze to his hands, again.
“Good afternoon, Fergus,” she said pointedly.
“Good afternoon, Grace,” he answered, giving her another brief glance before looking downwards again.
Grace watched him carefully for a few moments, wishing she could leap across the table and shake some sense into him. However, she refrained, saying nothing and keeping up her carefully crafted façade of a gently brought-up young woman.I must be patient, she told herself firmly. Nothing would be gained by losing her temper.
There was a deep, awkward silence while a manservant poured the wine, by which time Grace wanted to scream with rage and frustration.
Robert began to speak and kept up a flow of mindless chatter all through the first course. Grace listened with half an ear, her attention solely focused on Fergus, who continued to refuse to meet her eyes and remained stubbornly silent.
By the time the main course arrived, Grace could stand the suspense no longer. “Is either of you going to tell me what is going on?” she asked desperately. “Robert, you told me earlier there had been a change of plans. What did you mean?”
She had a dreadful premonition when she glanced from Robert to Fergus and back again. They were looking at each other intently, each waiting for the other to speak first.
Eventually, Robert broke the silence. He sat upright in his chair and began to speak, and suddenly her premonition turned into immense anxiety.
“What I am about to tell you is personal,” he warned. “But please do not think I am being very forward, since we will soon be family, and this concerns you.” He paused and looked at Grace with raised eyebrows, as if asking her if she understood.
Grace nodded, frowning. There was a long pause before Robert launched back into his explanation.
“I had been promised, for a very long time, to the daughter of Laird Ballantyne,” he said heavily. “Her name is Ailsa, and she is a very attractive young woman whom I have known since we were both children. We were officially betrothed last year, and I, for one, was very happy about it. I was looking forward to spending the rest of my life with her, and I thought that she felt the same about me.
Anyway, a few months after the betrothal ceremony, we were busy planning the wedding, when a young woman came to see me. She was Ailsa’s maid, and I had noticed her by Ailsa’s side many times. Her name was Mhairi, but she was a servant, so I had thought nothing of her. I had hardly noticed her, in fact. That was a mistake.” He paused, looking genuinely distressed before he plowed on. This was obviously very painful for him, and for a moment Grace felt sorry for him, but that feeling soon disappeared as he went on speaking.
He poured himself another glass of wine, sighed deeply, and continued.
A few weeks before…
The young woman was short and plump with plain, rather lumpy features. Her best feature was her bright blue eyes, and now they gleamed as they stared at Robert with an expression in them that he did not like at all. She looked almost predatory, like a bird of prey about to attack some small, helpless creature.
“I have news for ye, M’Laird,” she announced as she stood before his desk. She did not look uncomfortable at all, although being in a Laird’s study was an unusual situation for a lady’s maid.
Robert frowned. “Really? Please tell me what it is.” Looking at the woman’s face, he had a premonition of doom. He had a sinking feeling that what she was going to tell him would not be good news. “News about Ailsa?” he asked, trying not to look perturbed.
“Aye, M’Laird,” the maid replied. “But I need payin’ for my services. I had tae pay a farmer’s boy tae bring me over here in his cart. An’ of course, my news is worth a fair wee bit, an’ ye wouldnae want me spreadin’ it all over the place. Would ye?”
“Is it as bad as that?” Robert’s heart was beating nineteen to the dozen, and a wave of anger and hatred washed over him as he glared at the woman in front of him. As well as everything else, he was afraid, wondering if what the woman was about to say would change his entire future. He tried not to let any of it show on his face, however, as he said: “name your price, have your say and get out of here.”
The woman named a sum that would have kept a family in comfort for three months, but Robert paid it without hesitation. This was far too important a matter to haggle over.
“Now, tell me,” he demanded. “Tell me what you have been dying to tell me ever since you walked in here.”
Mhairi tucked the money into a pouch that she wore around her ample waist, then looked up at him. “Ye know Laird Munro’s boy, Tam?” she asked.
“Of course I do!” Robbery barked. “Everybody does. He’s as vain as a peacock, and thinks he is god’s gift to women. What about him?”
Robert could practically see Mhairi preening herself before she answered him.
“I went to see my mistress last night about a dress she had been askin’ me tae alter for her,” she began. “I went tae her chamber, but I had a pile of clothes in my hands an’ I couldnae knock on the door, so I went straight in. Imagine my surprise when I saw that handsome young man sittin’ on a chair in front o’ the fire, wi’ my mistress on his lap. They were kissin’ as if their lives depended on it. I didnae want them tae see me, so I ducked out as fast as I could.”
