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Something scraped at her shoe and she gave a little yelp, but it was only Flops. He gave a small answering yelp and buffed her foot with his paw. She had rarely seen his eyes and had not once heard him bark, but as his looked up at her, his angora-soft fringe falling back from his eyes, she could see they were black and very mournful, as if he knew something was very wrong with her. She breathed in and out until the strange sensations abated and then bent to stroke him until he tired of her and went in search of Jamie.
Chapter Twenty
‘Your Grace.’ Jo’s voice was a little too sharp as she called out and she clenched her jaw, trying to calm her jumping nerves. Benneit stopped, his hand on the knob of the study door, eyeing her warily.
His hair was wet and dishevelled. He had evidently bathed after the fisticuffs and, though he looked weary, there was a lingering lightness in his movements and his eyes were more green than grey. It reminded her of their colour when he had picked her up on the beach the other day, the strength of his hands on her waist, how close they were for that moment before he put her down. His eyes had been as deeply green, then—jade with shards of emerald, the grey beaten back into a rocky rim. She could recall the heat of his body inches from hers, the itch of anticipation that something...
‘Yes, Mrs Langdale?’ he prompted and she looked down, focusing on her words.
‘I wished to apologise. I was ungrateful and ungracious.’
He crossed his arms and winced.
‘I owe you an apology, too, Mrs Langdale. Angus was right; I should have consulted with you. In my defence, I presumed you would continue to reject my offer of new clothes.’
‘You presumed correctly.’
‘Well, then I’m afraid I don’t truly regret my high-handedness. If you still wish to throw something, please do so at my right side, Angus has already tenderised the left.’
‘I saw. Jamie watched from the nursery.’
Colour spread over his lean cheeks and he swiped a hand over his face, as if testing the closeness of his shave. He looked so human when he blushed, she relaxed a little, then a little further at his grumbled reply.
‘You’ll probably say I should be more careful he doesn’t witness such things.’
‘No. He was so very proud. That cannot be bad.’
He stood back and motioned towards the study and she entered, far too grateful for this little show of reconciliation. Inside, she moved towards the window, too unsettled to remain close to him, her heart both racing ahead and stumbling like a drunkard down a hill. Before she could think the words rushed out of her.
‘Tomorrow is the ball. Will you be making the announcement? If so, you should prepare Jamie. He should hear it from you.’
He remained by the door.
‘The announcement?’
‘Your engagement.’
He walked to the desk.
‘The only announcement is that we are breaking ground with the distillery. As for...the other, we have reached no formal agreement yet so there is nothing to tell Jamie. However, the plans for the distillery will give people more than enough to talk about.’
Her relief was so extreme and so foolish she held herself still in her cage until her heart settled. It meant nothing. In another week or two she would return to England and melt from the Lochmore consciousness like the dew in Jamie’s deserts.
‘He knows, though. Not merely from your aunt’s comments. He hears the talk—here and in the village. He is a child, but he is surprisingly wise for his age. He even told me he knows it is because of him.’
‘He told you that?’
‘He said you wished to give him a family.’
‘Was that all he said?’
She hesitated.
‘I did not pry, you know. He talks when we are on the beach. Whatever comes to his mind. I merely listen.’
‘I am not accusing you of prying, I merely wish to know... He does not often speak to me of such matters. He did after that horrific dinner with Aunt Morag, but since then, every time I tried to broach the subject he shies away.’
She heard the ring of steel in his voice. It was not resentment this time, but a slash of pain.
‘Sometimes I think he sees me a little as he does his mermaids or Flops—he can speak freely because he cares less. You are the most important thing in his world and it is never easy to speak of truly fateful matters to someone in that position. He said he knows you wish him to have a brother and a sister so he can play with them and show them things. He said he hopes they will like maps and exploring, but that they must find themselves another dog because Flops is his.’
