He waved the innkeeper away, and waited before the large fireplace in the common room. He would have preferred a shot of whisky, but wanted to be absolutely clearheaded when dealing with this particular lass.
She entered from the back. So she had been there early, after all, and just wanted to make an “appearance”? Itwasquite an appearance. With a white fur cap about her blond head, and a powder-blue long coat of velvet, topped by a short cape trimmed in the same white fur, she cut a dazzling figure, actually, near blinding when she spotted him and cast a smile his way before walking toward him. She did that slowly, giving him ample opportunity to be mesmerized by her beauty. The white fur and the lighting combined seemed to make her glow with an ethereal beauty.
He wasn’t the only one in the room who couldn’t take his eyes from her. The few patrons who were there were staring at Ophelia with their mouths dropped open. Duncan wasn’t quite that bedazzled, though he did have a hard time for a moment keeping in mind that for all her beauty, this lass had a vicious streak. Impossible to tell, looking at her, but hard to miss once she opened her mouth.
She was still wearing the smile when she reached him. There had been the briefest moment when it altered and went a little stiff as she noticed his kilt. He’d worn it deliberately. If she had any sense at all, she’d realize that the kilt was his way of telling her, without words, that this meeting was pointless.
“I see you got my message,” she said. “Aye, and why was the lass the one tae deliver it?” he replied.
He hadn’t meant to ask her that, had meant to bring it up later with the violet-eyed lass, so he was actually relieved that he didn’t really get an answer. Don’t distract her. Let her have her say and he could be gone the sooner. He needed to keep that in mind.
She shrugged. “Why not? Most people feel privileged to assist me.”
He said nothing to that, but then it was hard to think of a reply when he was concentrating on not laughing. That single statement of hers said so much about her, and the irony was, she didn’t even realize the impression it gave. Beyond mere condescension, beyond self-pride, it was so far into the upper reaches of vain conceit that Duncan couldn’t think of an exact word to describe it, if there even was one.
His silence, though, disconcerted her, putting her on the spot, as it did, to get what she had to say said. He wondered if she even had anything in particular to say to him. An apology had been stated as the purpose for this meeting, yet did someone like Ophelia Reid even know how to apologize? Wouldn’t that be an impossible concept for someone who felt she could do no wrong?
When shestillsaid nothing, at least not quickly enough to suit him, he shrugged and walked away from her. He didn’t consider that rude, not to her, anyway. Her insults had put her into a “not worthy of his notice” category, and that was being kind. Were she a man, she would most definitely be considered an enemy.
But his action did prompt her to speech. “Wait! Where are you going?”
She actually sounded confused. He paused long enough to tell her, “I didna come here tae stand aboot and gawk at your beauty, lass, as everyone else in the room is doing. If you’ve something tae say tae me, then be saying it.”
She blushed prettily. “I wanted to explain why I wasn’t very cordial at our first meeting.”
“So that’s what the English call it? Not being very cordial? I’ll have tae remember that the next time I deliberately insult someone.”
“It wasn’t deliberate,” she tried to tell him. “I was shocked.”
“Were you now?” he replied, his skepticism so obvious even a child couldn’t miss it. “O’er what? That I talk like a Scotsman? That I look like one? You werena expecting either, I suppose?”
She sighed. “I wish you would try to understand. I was so sure you and I wouldn’t suit”
“And that I’d be a barbarian?”
“Well, yes, I did fear that. But I realize how silly that was now. You aren’t barbaric at all.”
“I wouldna be sae sure o’ that, lass,” he replied, turning on the thick brogue just for her benefit.
“The point is, I was mistaken in my assumptions.”
Duncan had a feeling that was as close as she was getting to an apology. The concept really would be too foreign for someone like her, who no doubt felt she could do no wrong, to actually mention the word “sorry.”
“Verra well, so you were mistaken. Was there any other point you were wanting tae make?”
His impatience to be gone was a tangible thing, yet somehow, she didn’t notice it.
“Well, actually, I thought we could start anew,’ she told him. “You know, simply forget about that first meeting, as if it had never occurred.”
“As if we were still engaged tae wed?”
She perked up and gave him one of those brilliant smiles. “Indeed. Isn’t that a grand idea?”
He had been joking. She was serious. He was now incredulous. Did she really think he could just forget the embarrassment of her insults? What she had said to him that day had been not just for him, but for the amusement of a whole room full of people. Had a man said those things, Duncan could have laid him out on the floor and been instantly satisfied. But because she was a woman, he’d had to leave with his tail tucked between his legs, something he’d never forget.
Not that that was the only reason he wouldn’t marry her, and he gave her another, replying, “I dinna think I’d care tae be competing wi’ m’wife for her own attention.”
“Excuse me?”
