One Night with the Highlander (The Gilvrys of Dunross) Read Free Page B

length of time,” he continued. “My business concerns are in America.”
    Not staying. She felt an unaccountable stab of disappointment.
    “Yes,” Lady Jenna said, deftly adding milk to the cups. “And now he is stuck waiting for repairs to his carriage, or we would have been on our way yesterday.”
    “The roads around here are abominable,” he said.
    “Then what is bad luck for you is good luck for me,” Annabelle said lightly, hoping it sounded like formality and not a fervent truth. “For I would have missed you altogether.” Again her gaze strayed to his face, to the strong bones of cheek and jaw and the piercing blue eyes. Their glances met and lingered, and she felt herself blushing all over again.
    “Sugar?” Lady Jenna asked.
    “One lump,” she said, her voice breathless.
    Having added the sugar, Lady Jenna handed Annabelle her cup. “I know you will have sugar, Gordon.”
    “As much as the cup will hold,” he said with a shamefaced smile at his cousin.
    “I see you still have a sweet tooth,” Annabelle said, and winced as she realized she’d made it clear she remembered him all too well. He’d piled knob after knob of sugar in his tea at the assembly. She had teased him about it. And he had laughed. It was how their conversation had started. Then he’d asked her to dance. A country dance, but the way he’d looked at her had been enough to quicken her heart. To make her ignore her mother’s warnings and steal outside to meet him. She had been lucky no one had caught them that night. Or perhaps not. If they had been caught, they would have had no choice but to marry. She kept her gaze fixed on her cup and stirred slowly,waiting for the sting in her cheeks to fade.
    “Yes,” he said.
    She looked up startled. Confused.
    He smiled then and it was the familiar boyish smile she’d seen too often in her dreams. She tried not to look at his mouth. To focus in on those finely carved lips that had brushed her own so long ago in a shadowy courtyard beside a fountain.
    “Yes, I still have my sweet tooth,” he murmured in that deliciously deep voice.
    And she knew he wasn’t talking about sugar. She sipped at her tea to ease the dryness in her throat, and turned to Lady Jenna, presenting her shoulder to Gordon, putting him out of the direct line of her sight so as not to be tempted to gaze at him like a mooncalf. “What will happen to this house when you leave?”
    Lady Jenna shrugged. “I believe it is to be sold off. Mrs. Blackstone’s brother-in-law inherits everything. He never wanted this house, but was quite happy to let her stay here as long as she wished.”
    Merton’s relatives were not nearly so generous. “I wonder if he will be asking a high price?”
    Lady Jenna looked intrigued. “Were you thinking of buying it then?”
    It would be perfect for Mother. But with the settlement in doubt, that was out of the question. “Idle curiosity, I’m afraid. Mother likes to keep her finger on the pulse of what goes on in the village.”
    “Your father was sorely missed by everyone hereabouts.”
    “And Mrs. Blackstone was very kind to Mother after he passed away.”
    “She was a dear, wasn’t she?” Lady Jenna said, and the brave facade seemed to waver. Her eyes misted and she pulled out a handkerchief. “Oh, dear. I do apologize. I am not usually such a watering pot.”
    Annabelle put down her cup. “Not at all. Your grief does your aunt great honor. Perhaps I may call on you again before you leave.”
    “We are leaving the day after tomorrow,” Gordon said. “I am promised the carriage for then.”
    “And if it isn’t convenient for you to call tomorrow, perhaps we will meet in Edinburgh next season, if you will be there?” Lady Jenna said.
    Lady Carrick would never allow it, of course, but Annabelle smiled and nodded. “I shall look forward to it with pleasure.” She rose to her feet.
    Gordon also stood. “I see you walked here alone, Lady Merton.”
    Was that censure she