Perhaps this would be easier if he weren't so handsome. I've never seen someone like him. He's so much more… masculine and muscular than the men here. It's confusing my mind.
"Ye should sit," Laird McDonald said, inclining his head toward the seat next to her father. "Ye have a bit of yer colorin' back, but ye still seem a bit pale."
Anna nodded, her gaze on the floor as she crossed the room and sat. This close to Hugh, she could see the chiseled details of his body. She caught sight of tiny scars that told the story of a man who knew his way around weapons. Her eyes landed on his lips, and her entire body blushed when the thought of what they may feel like came over her.
I shouldn't be thinking such things. He's probably seen loads of prettier women than me. There's no way this attraction is mutual. And even if it were, I don't know him. He is nothing but a stranger.
Clearing her throat, Anna said, "I'd like to offer my sincerest apologies. I didn't intend?—"
"I'm nae here for an apology," he said, cutting her off with his deep, husky voice. "Ye only sent a letter. I've come because I'd like ye to explain."
Anna nodded, unsurprised. If she had received a message like the one she'd posted, she'd want an explanation as well. Though she wouldn't cross the border in order to get it.
Highlanders are different from the English, though.
"Well, I will admit," she started, threading her fingers together in her lap and keeping her attention there as she spoke, "it's a bit… silly to say out loud."
"I will nae laugh," Hugh said without a hint of amusement in his tone.
"Right," Anna agreed, though she was not sure that he wouldn't find humor in her pathetic, desperate reasons for the deception. "You see… I am not much of a success in society."
When Laird McDonald was quiet for a beat too long, she lifted her head to see if she'd already said something wrong. Instead, she saw confusion. His brow was drawn tight, and his mouth was curved in the ghost of a frown.
"I'm nae sure I understand," he said slowly. "Ye're nae much of a success?"
"I am not," she confirmed, tightening her fingers into a knot. "I… I had no friends, nor any marriage prospects. And as I get older, it only becomes more difficult to change any of that. I believed that forging a letter confirming my betrothal, along with sending a letter to a laird that was already dead, one that couldn't respond, would be the best way to get them to change their opinions of me. And I was correct. I have friends now."
The words had flowed from her quickly, and when she finished, she gulped down air. She knew that she was flushed from how warm and restricting her clothing felt. Still, she held Hugh's gaze.
"I am quite sorry to hear that, lass," he said, gentler than he'd said anything since he'd arrived. "Ye seem like a fine woman to me."
Anna nodded, swallowing and finding a lump there.
"But the Laird McDonald ye wrote to was me uncle," he continued. "He's been dead for two years. Lairdship was passed to me a year ago."
"My condolences," she said, feeling even more shame at her ploy. "I am sure you must have thought it was meant for him. I did not wish to cause you any distress."
"Ye didnae cause me any distress," Hugh assured her, giving what she could only assume was his version of a smile. "But I'm here to make yer letter a reality. I've already told ye that I washere to make ye me bride. I'd like to propose a marriage between the two of us."
"I… No!" she said, the volume of her voice rising with surprise. It was an instinctive reaction, one that she could only blame on her fear of the unknown and the fact that no one had ever shown any interest in her prior to this moment.
"Anna, don't be so dismissive," her father interjected, reaching out to grab onto her arm as if to hold her steady. "That was your initial reaction, I understand, but please keep your head on straight."
"Nay, let her be," the Laird said, amused. "I think me proposal startled her, 'tis all."
"It seems so," her father said. "Come now, Anna. We should have a discussion with the Laird."
"Aye," Hugh confirmed with a solemn nod of his head, appealing to her father rather than her. "I'd like to marry yer daughter and give her a home in me castle in the Highlands."
Anna's voice was lodged in her chest. She grasped for reasons to say no, then wondered why she wanted to be rid of this so badly. Is this not what she had wanted?
It is, but not like this. I wanted to be courted. I didn't want marriage to feel as though it were an obligation to the man proposing.
"You are not obligated—" she began before her father's voice cut her off.
"Anna, perhaps the two of us should discuss this," her father said, casting a look at Laird McDonald. "Would you give the two of us a moment?"
"Aye, I'll wait outside," Hugh said before leaving the room.
