The smell of bacon frying filled Jeane’s nostrils, making her mouth practically water. She knew she was gaining weight eating every meal that Aileen prepared, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself.
Back at the McKay castle, she was only allotted one meal a day, and it was usually dried meat and perhaps some undercooked potatoes. Their cook serviced Bennet and Bennet alone. Jeane just got the leftovers.
Her father always called her fat, told her she was lazy, but Jeane was just born with wide hips. There was no diet she could go on to make them smaller. Her curvy frame annoyed her father to no end. He told her she’d never get a husband.
But Jeane had thought if a man was worried about her figure and her figure alone, he’d be no husband at all. Besides, the few times she’d met Lord Fraser, whom her father wanted to marry her off to, he’d stared lustfully at her frame.
Now, her hips were widening further, almost in rebellion to what her father had always wanted.
She sat down next to Lottie. “Have ye seen yer brother?”
“Nay, nae recently,” Lottie said.
A week had gone by, and Jeane’s treatments seemed to be helping. Instead of taking her meals in bed, Lottie was able to come to the great hall to eat.
Jeane frowned, wondering where Fergus was. She hoped that he wasn’t doing something vigorous that might rip his stitches again.
Why did she fret about him so? Her kidnapper? She couldn’t wish him ill, no matter how annoyed she got at him. There was just something about him… Something deep, forgotten. Something she wanted to bring out in him.
“Did ye need somethin’ from him?” Lottie asked curiously.
Jeane blinked. “Nay. Was just wonderin’.”
“Interestin’,” Lottie said dryly, and Jeane frowned.
“Daenae ye start to gossip, now,” Jeane warned, and Lottie giggled.
“I wouldnae dream of it, Liliana.”
It was still strange to hear the name, but Jeane was getting used to it. She had barely seen Fergus all week, and she wondered what he’d been up to.
She knew they’d increased the guards around the forest’s edge. Every time she went out for a walk in the gardens, she saw Fergus’ men posted up there.
She supposed he was busy with the new security.
Jeane ate heartily and noted that Lottie managed at least half her plate.
She smiled at the lass. “Ye’re eatin’ well.”
“Aye,” Lottie said proudly. “Aiden brings me sweets, and I eat all of those, too.”
Jeane was jealous that Lottie could eat so much and still remain stick thin. If Jeane so much as looked at a sweet, she’d gain five pounds.
Not that she’d had much access to sweets in her life. Her strict diet didn’t allow for sugar.
Her father had trained her to get a husband, nothing more. To be a housewife, to sit idly by and let her husband take care of everything.
That wasn’t the kind of woman Jeane was. It wasn’t the kind of woman she wanted to be.
“Ye’re a lucky lass,” Jeane said, giving Lottie a bright smile. It wasn’t the girl’s fault that Jeane had suffered so much. She was a bright, sweet girl, and Jeane had become fast friends with her.
Jeane had also befriended Mary, the maid who had helped her when she first arrived. Mary had all the gossip of the castle and told Jeane all about Lottie and Aiden’s little love story.
She didn’t say much about Fergus, though, only saying that after his accident, he was a changed man. She didn’t say if he was changed for the better or not.
Fergus finally entered the great hall, and Jeane noticed immediately that he didn’t look well. He was pale and had bags under his eyes.
Jeane’s healing nature couldn’t just sit there. She rushed to his side, looking up into his face.
