What worried me most wasn’t the filth… but the chance I might lose my temper and bash the Sassunnach’s head in with a cast-iron skillet.
I sighed and rubbed my arms against the cold.
We needed the money.
Desperately.
As long as he kept his distance, I’d no’need to kill him.
Aye.
Avoidance.
That was the only way forward.
? ? ?
McTavish showed us in, and another man—Arthur Rowlands—began talking us through his master’s list.
It was a relief thathewasn’t there.
Probably too busy bathing in milk and scented flowers.
A snort escaped me before I could swallow it.
Both men stopped mid-sentence and stared as if I’d sprouted horns.
“What?” I said, blinking innocently.
“Are you focusing on the tasks?” Arthur asked, stiff as a church pew.“I will not be repeating myself.”
“Dae ye think ah cannae read it maself?” I snapped, nodding to the long parchment in his hand.
His eyes widened, as if the very concept of a Highland woman reading was a personal insult.
The longer he stared, the hotter my irritation grew.
He cleared his throat sharply.“Very… good,” he said, the words dragged out like he wasn’t sure if praise might kill him. He resumed reading, slower this time, as if I might combust.
My uncle nudged my arm—a subtle warning to rein it in.
I rolled my eyes skyward and pretended to listen, though my attention had already wandered ahead of him.
Dust, soot, mould, crumbling plaster—aye, I could picture every inch of it already.
This house would be spotless in no time.
? ? ?
Ten days later, I realised how sorely I’d underestimated the task.
We’d managed to hire three more workers for the house and a farmhand to help Graham outside. My uncle threw himself into the repairs with grim determination, though I knew he missed Aunt Flora—and his weapons—with every passing day.
Each morning, I walked to the manor in the grey-blue hush of dawn and didn’t leave again until the moon hung pale over the hills.
By the end of every night, my muscles throbbed, my knuckles stung, and the dust clung to my skin like a second coat.
The Laird avoided us completely.
