“Why did you not tell me you were betrothed to someone else?” Eliza demanded. “You lied to me!”
“You seem to forget that our engagement is false,” Duncan told her as calmly as he could. “You are here to help me uncover a traitor—remember that? We will never be married, Eliza.”
“Good,” she snapped. “Because I cannot think of anything more loathsome than being tied to you for the rest of my life!”
They stood glaring at each other for a few moments, then Duncan sighed in exasperation. “If I had known you were goingto be so troublesome—” He broke off, shaking his head as he began to pace the floor from the door to the windows and back again.
Eliza told herself she despised him. She hated his deep, resonant voice, his arrogance, his annoyingly handsome face with its striking amber eyes. She stood where she was for a while, then sat down on the big, opulent bed with its carved headboard and silken drapes and watched him as he paced across the room.
He moved smoothly with long, confident steps, and every muscle in his body rippled with fluid strength. He was the epitome of masculinity, and although she found him abhorrent in some ways, she was attracted to his aura of sheer manliness. She reminded herself that he had saved her from being injured or even killed by using his own body as a shield to protect her.
And being near him, inhaling the musk of his body, feeling his arms around her waist and his breath on her face as she rode in front of him had the most unnerving but delightful effect on her. She could not understand why she was so attracted to him because she had never felt this way with any other man.
At length, he turned back to her, looking into her dark eyes that were so unlike the light blue and green ones of the Scots. Eliza Tewsbury was indeed a lovely woman, but he had an uneasy feeling that she spelled trouble!
“We have to eat dinner soon,” Duncan said. “I will send some maids up to help you to get ready.”
“What am I going to wear?” Eliza asked. “My dress is dirty from the journey, and the rest of my clothes are in my trunks in the carriage.”
Duncan almost screamed in frustration as he looked at the mischievous hint of a smile on Eliza’s face. It seemed as though she was taking great delight in frustrating all his plans.
“I will have the maids bring you a dress,” he told her, trying his utmost to stay calm. “And a bath. But be quick. I don’t have time to waste. Is there anything else you need?”
“Oh no,” Eliza replied, giving him an over-sweet smile and shaking her head. “I would rather not waste any more of your time.”
She could almost hear Duncan’s teeth grinding together as he tried to stop himself from swearing.
As soon as Duncan was gone, Eliza breathed a sigh of relief and lay back on the bed. She was desperately in need of some sleep, but now that she was alone, the shock of what could have happened to her earlier hit her. The arrow had been so close, and she shuddered to think what could have happened had it hit her.
Eliza tried to push the thought out of her mind and replace it with one of her sisters, wondering how they were coping without her. Were they worried? She knew that Juliet would be fretting as she always did when something unexpected happened, but Margot would be seething with rage, since anger was how she dealt with most things.
She had no time to think of them any longer, however, for at that moment there was a knock at the door, and when Eliza answered two maids came into the room. One was tall, dark, and middle-aged, while the other was young, small, fair and unnaturally thin. Eliza’s tender heart immediately went out to her.
Both of them came towards Eliza and curtsied, and the young woman gave her a faint, timid smile as she handed her a dress. “I hope it is tae your likin’, Milady,” she said, and there was a note of apprehension in her voice.
A surge of pity arose within Eliza as she looked at the girl. Her clothes were faded and patched, and she looked as though she had not eaten a good meal in ages.
Eliza looked down at the dress. It was made of dark blue linen that was perfectly acceptable as a day dress but a little plain for evening wear. However, she doubted that Duncan Sinclair would be worried too much about her attire, and she smiled at the young woman.
“This is fine, thank you,” she said appreciatively.
The maid gave her a tentative smile, and just then her bath was brought in by two manservants who emptied buckets of hot water into it. Eliza gave a deep sigh of relief.
“Thank god,” she breathed.
The thin young maid helped her undress and assisted her in stepping into the bath, where she lay back and let the hot water lap over her grateful body. It was scented with lavender, and Eliza breathed in the smell with deep gratitude.
This must be what heaven smells like,she thought.
She felt the young woman’s hands in her hair, massaging her head and sending waves of wonderful sensations through her body.
“That feels fabulous,” she said happily. “You have obviously done this before.”
“Aye, Milady,” the young woman replied flatly, but there was no other answer.
Somewhat taken aback, Eliza addressed the other woman. “Have you worked here for a long time?” she asked pleasantly.
“Aye, Milady,” the maid replied, scowling at her from dark grey eyes that held a depth of anger that Eliza could not understand.
