Page 10 of Highlander’s Lust

5

His Impatience is Tangible

“Why must we depart so soon?” Lachlan grumbled. “Mither may as well be sick here at Brisbane Castle as at Macanroy Lodge. We didnae even have the time to raise a glass or two at the wake.”

Callum frowned him down. “Wheesht, boy! Awa’ wi’ ye! ‘Tis yer mither’s health and happiness ye question! The apothecary says she must be transported back to the lodge with all haste.”

The wake had gone ahead the previous evening without the Macanroys’ attendance.

The apothecary had departed that morning, after spending the night watching over Lady Macanroy’s bouts of nausea and preparing a herb cordial for her in the kitchens. After breaking his fast and complaining about their rapid return home, Lachlan had gone downstairs to make merry with the younger wake attendees who had decided to use Laird Brisbane’s generous hospitality to their fullest advantage.

Laird Macanroy and his daughter were holding a discussion about how to get Kirsty back safely to the lodge. They were seated by the fireplace in the parlor next to her ladyship’s bedchamber, talking in hushed voices so Jean’s mother would not be able to overhear them. The healer had warned them that Lady Macanroy was not allowed to ride, and nor could she be jolted around in a traveling coach. They were at a loss as to how to bring her home without harming the bairn growing inside her.

A knock at the door interrupted the father and daughter’s earnest debate.

When Callum opened the door, it revealed Laird Brisbane’s tall form standing outside in the dark corridor.

“Brisbane! Come inside, please. I should nae have to ask ye; it’s yer own castle, after all.”

Charlie ducked his head down slightly and entered the parlor room.

“I am sorry to hear about the illness that prohibited Lady Macanroy and the rest o’ yer clan from attending the wake,” Laird Brisbane said in his deep voice. He looked over at Jean, but she had her head down and her hands busy with some embroidery, a studiously intent look on her face.

Out of so many hundreds of mourners, Callum found it flattering that Laird Charlie Brisbane had noticed his absence.

“Me wife is in a delicate situation at the moment, Brisbane. Ye caught us trying to fathom a way of getting her home without jolting her in the same way as she came here.”

Charlie frowned at this news, but then his expression lightened. “I am devastated to hear Brisbane Castle will lose ye, Macanroy, but I offer up my congratulations on yer joyous news…’tis no’ often a man gets to expand his family at the same time he can reasonably expect for it to start becoming smaller.”

Now it was Callum’s turn to frown. “What? Och, ye mean Jean! Aye, if truth is to be told, this comes as a big surprise for us all. I expected to be a grandfaither after Jean weds, nae dreaming I would be a faither again before I managed to get her married off. But Jean is so persnickety when it comes to those gentlemen wishin’ to court her, I am no’ surprised.”

“Is that so?” Jean heard his lairdship’s deep voice remark tantalizingly across the room from her.

She was itching to stand up and tell him exactly what she thought of unscrupulous men using her parents' loving concern to be able to scrutinize her decisions more carefully. And now he would think her coldhearted and hard to please when it was quite the opposite. Jean yearned for a man to set her heart aflame; she had been waiting for such a man to appear for the last three years. If he had not done so yet, why should she be blamed for that?

“May I sit down?”

Jean startled. Lost in her jumble of thoughts, she had not noticed Laird Brisbane approach the settle on which she was daintily perched.

Politely, acting as though they had not shared the most delightful afternoon together the day before, Jean nodded. Then she placed the small tambour frame to one side, folding her hands in her lap.

“I am ecstatic to see ye prefer my poor company to that of yer sewing, Miss Jean.” Laird Brisbane made himself comfortable seated on the settle next to her, turning his body around slightly so he could look at her profile without craning his neck, stretching his long arms out leisurely over the plump settle cushions. “May I ask what it is ye are making?”

She did not look at him sprawled out beside her. The man had such a way of filling the space around him, it was unseemly. If she moved her shoulder one inch to the right, it would brush against his hand. He was wearing full Highland regalia, as was proper for the new laird, but there was something about the way Charles Brisbane wore his clothes that gave her the impression he would be just as comfortable out of them.

“An altar cloth for our chapel apse, laird,” she replied diffidently, not daring to meet his gaze. Jean had been too busy looking after her mother to give her meeting with Laird Brisbane much thought. In hindsight, she thought this a good thing, not wanting to admit to herself the night might otherwise have been spent tossing and turning in bed, the vision of his darkly handsome gaze disturbing her repose.

“How charitable,” Laird Brisbane replied. “The Brisbane clan chapel also requires such an altarpiece. It cannae be a coincidence.”

Jean knew he was waiting for her to reply, but for the first time in her life, she was dumbstruck. She felt as though an event of huge significance was looming. Or was it her imagination? If this was the meeting Laird Brisbane had promised himself after the wake, Jean wanted to know what he had planned. Did he want to ask Laird Macanroy’s permission to woo his daughter? It all seemed so sudden, as though her hand was being forced.

Then mercifully, Laird Brisbane turned his attention to her father.

“Ye say ye need a way to get Lady Macanroy back home? I took delivery of a London-made horse-drawn carriage last year and cannae speak highly enough of the comfort the springed axle affords its passengers. Ye can have it.”

Callum’s mouth dropped. “Have it? Och, to take Kirsty home, ye mean?”

Charlie shook his head. “No’ only that; use it to take her ladyship home and then keep the carriage there at the lodge for yer own use. Who knows? There might come a time, in the next few months or so, when ye have need to travel again. I can always order another.”