Highland Bachelor 02 - This Laird of Mine Read Free Page A

against her chest. Her breath caught as her fingers clasped the cool metal. The three young women—all of whom were abandoned after the death of their parents, just like Claire—were her wards. She’d been told they would be tortured and killed if she did not do as instructed.
    “Claire, are you certain you are well?” Jane’s voice cut through the dark thoughts swirling through Claire’s mind.
    She startled, releasing the locket, and forced a nonchalant smile. “You remember what it was like to be a new bride?”
    “Yes, I do.” Jane reached for Nicholas’s hand just as the carriage lurched to a stop at the end of a long drive.
    “We have arrived,” Hollister, Lord Galloway, said as he and Nicholas exited the carriage first. Nicholas extended his hand to Claire as she made her way out. She accepted his assistance as her knees suddenly became unsteady. How could she make a man she had never met fall in love with her in two weeks’ time when she had never even managed a flirtation with the opposite sex in all her life?
    Forcing herself to remain calm, Claire took in her surroundings and frowned. This could not be right. The one painting she had seen of Kildare Manor had pictured it as a grand estate set against a landscape of lush green hills and wrapped by the shores of Loch Awe. In that image, the house’s cool gray stone had reflected in the sun like polished silver.
    It was not entombed by bramble bushes that nearly reached the roofline of the two-story structure, or the dull, sad gray that peeked out from beneath the weeds and dust. Kildare Manor was broken and abused and in desperate need of a caretaker.
    Was the estate a reflection of the man who lived inside? Was her supposed husband careless and neglectful as well as a rogue? She shivered. What could Jules MacIntyre have done to someone that was so bad they wanted to break the man’s heart, his very spirit?
    “Claire?” Jane spoke beside her and gently touched her arm. “Jules will no doubt be anxious to see you. Let us go inside.”
    Claire nodded. She had no notion of what the man’s reaction would be, which was why she had arrived with his friends. At least in their presence he would not refuse her outright.
    She hoped.
    As she had learned from his solicitor, if the man was desperate enough to falsely create a bride in order to stop his friends from interfering in his life, then perhaps he would play her game until it reached the only conclusion she would allow.
    Just then, weak summer light broke through the clouds overhead, bathing the manor house in a shimmer of warmth. Claire drew a steadying breath. She could do this. She had to do this.
    “I will help the coachman with the horses and meet you inside,” David called.
    The remaining five progressed toward the crumbling arched doorway just as it swung open to reveal a withered old man with wisps of white hair sticking up at odd angles on his head. “Welcome tae Kincaid Manor,” he greeted, then stepped back, allowing them to enter the large, open foyer. “Milord will be with ye momentarily. In the meanwhile, allow me tae show ye tae the drawin’ room fer refreshments.”
    When Nicholas and Hollister hesitated, the elderly man waved them on. “Leave the bags there. I’ll take them to yer chambers momentarily.”
    Nicholas frowned and cast a speaking glance at Hollister. “We will take them up the stairs and leave them at the landing.”
    The older man shrugged, but gratitude shone in his tired gray eyes before he turned away. “Ladies, this way, please.”
    Claire frowned as she made her way across the bare marble floor and past the unpolished and slightly sagging wooden stairs. No carpets dampened the sound of their footsteps in the hallway or inside the drawing room. The floors were bare, the walls unadorned, and the furnishings sparse. Who was the man who lived here? A shiver worked its way across her neck. Chief among the things she knew about Jules MacIntyre was that he had a