He directed the question to Finn who nodded. “I’d like ye to include Effie in the lessons, if ye would.”
Finn cast a sidelong glance at Aila with an arched brow. Thrilled that he’d listened to her recommendation, she rewarded him with a bright smile. For now. Later, she might feel inclined to spread the appreciation on a bit thicker.
He winked and turned back to the tutor. “Double the rate, of course. Ye’ll find her just as bright as her brother.”
Though Elliot looked taken aback by the request, he recovered with a hasty nod. “Of course, of course. Will she be well enough? I know she’s been ill. Oh, and that reminds me. The reason Niall and I ended our session early today is —”
The sentence didn’t need to be finished verbally. Niall spewed the reason out all over the floor in the most vivid method possible.
Aila squelched a sympathetic gag reflex and reached for a glass of water.
There would be no alone time for her tonight.
Chapter 20
Two more days down the road
“That’s the twenty pounds I owed ye plus another five in my pocket.” Ian made the note on a slip of paper and shuffled the cards. “Another hand?”
Finn nodded and scratched the scruffy growth of beard that a handful of days without a shave had wrought. He glanced at a clock on the mantel and down at the flurry of cards on the table.
“Bairns are back to their normal feisty selves?”
After a moment of expectant silence, Finn registered his friend’s question and nodded again. “For the most part. There are some lingering symptoms, otherwise they are nae worse for the wear. It gladdens me that Fergus dinnae become afflicted.”
“Thank God for that. Lad’s all I have.”
With another bob of his head, Finn gathered up his cards and stared blindly at them. Then up at the clock again. Would this interminable night never end?
Ian, who’d carried the conversation for most of the evening, spoke again. This time the subject matter more in line with the thoughts that preoccupied Finn and fueled his losing streak. “Aila’s been a good soldier. She got more than she anticipated when she took this on.”
Through the worry, the nursing, the tantrums, and the long, long hours of diverting his children’s attention away from mordant boredom, Aila hadn’t made a single complaint in the entirety of the five days they’d spent confined to the nursery. Not one, despite how the situation would test anyone’s patience. He wouldn’t have blamed her a bit if she had. His offspring had been a blasted trial. With months or perhaps a year or more of virtual blindness on the matter behind him, it was easy to step back and see the error in his ways. Aila had proven herself a most effective nanny.
However, Ian was right. She hadn’t signed up for the level of adversity her role as his nursemaid had heaped upon her. She wasn’t a nursemaid. He’d forced the role upon her by refusing to condone the work she’d been hired to do.
What a laugh. Finn took a long swallow of his whisky in the hope it would burn away a portion of his guilt. He’d rejected her for the precise reason she’d accused him of. Fear that she would be a distraction working by his side. Truth of it, she was a distraction even through a brick wall. He should make right on that bullheaded decision and welcome her back to the work site. Let her do the original job she’d been hired to do. There were a dozen maids in the castle who could mind Niall and Effie.
His gaze drifted to the plans laid out on the table then back to the clock. Aye, he could do just that. No better time than the present to right his wrongs.
“Ye ken, a woman like that would be an excellent mother for yer bairns.”
That got his attention as no subject Ian raised in the last few hours managed to do. His friend’s eyes were riveted to the cards in his hands. A wee smile twitched his lips, however. Enough for Finn to know that Ian hoped for the precise reaction he received from Finn. Gaping astonishment. Conflicted denial.
“I’ll remind ye, I’ve kent the lass but a sennight.”
Ian folded his cards in one hand and reached for his glass of whisky. “Sometimes it dinnae take long to ken.”
Finn didn’t ask what he meant. Ian referred to his late wife. He’d met Fiona at Finn’s wedding and married her less than a month later. Not long by any measure.
That wasn’t the entirety of Ian’s insinuation.
“Ye’re suggesting that I love Aila?”
His friend lifted a mocking brow to glance at him over the top of his glass as he drank. “Ye dinnae?”
With a roll of his eyes, Finn spread his cards for a look. All he saw was Aila. A fire roared in the fireplace, but the only warmth he felt was her scorching touch. The only smell, warm and womanly. He’d never been one to obsess, yet she…and the enigma she represented…were all he could think about.
Did he love her? He couldn’t say. Could he? The answer was a simple one. Aye. He was utterly taken with her. Not only her passion. Her fascinating mind, quirky humor, and the caring nature she attempted to hide beneath a veil of sarcasm fascinated him. Aye, it would be an easy thing to give himself over entirely, lose himself completely to her charms.
