“You’ve a mind for only one thing,” Colin said with a shake of his head.
His brother’s look of utter disgust tugged a wry grin from Duncan. And when he saw Colin’s eyes following another comely lass, he laughed and said, “As do you, little brother.”
Colin grinned, not bothering to deny it.
If Duncan was ruthless in his determination to make a name for himself, it was because he had not the luxury of anything else. Duncan didn’t envy Colin the freedom afforded by his position, he accepted his place with the same pragmatism he would anything else he couldn’t change.
For a bastard he was more fortunate than most. When his mother had abandoned him, his father had brought him into his household and raised him alongside his half brothers and sister, treating him no differently. If anything, his father often found it difficult to hide his favoritism toward his bastard son. But it was Colin, younger by three years, who was the Laird of Auchinbreck’s heir andtanaiste.Not even his father’s love could change that.
But Duncan hadn’t let the circumstances of his birth impede him. He’d worked hard for what he’d achieved and in some ways he suspected it was all the more satisfying. He’d been made captain and become the right-hand man of his cousin the Earl of Argyllin spiteof his birth, not because of it.
It was a good start, but only the beginning of what Duncan intended to achieve.
Returning to the task at hand, Duncan renewed his search for Grant.
Suddenly, he stilled.
It was the laugh that drew him. Soft and sweet, filled with a natural exuberance that seemed utterly out of place among the throng of jaded courtiers.
His gaze shot to the source and he froze. He made a sharp sound—his breath catching hard in his throat. His body charged, filled with an awareness unlike anything he’d ever experienced before.
He stared transfixed with only one word springing to mind:magnificent.
The lass was a beauty, there was no denying that, with thick dark waves of titian hair, big green eyes, flawless ivory skin, and small, delicate features.
But the hall was filled with beautiful women. It was something more. Something that seemed to reach inside him and tug with all the subtlety of a whirlpool. Something hot and primal.
An image flashed before his eyes of her naked in his arms, her cheeks flushed, her lips parted, her eyes soft with pleasure. The image was so sharp, so real, his body reacted. Blood surged through him, pooling in his groin. The hard result was as instantaneous as it was unwelcome.
What the hell was the matter with him? He was acting like an untried lad.
“What’s wrong?” Colin asked.
“Nothing,” Duncan said, knocked from the temporary stupor. His brother was watching him curiously. “The lass,” he said, with a nod in her direction. “Who is she?”
Colin gave him a strange look. “Can’t you guess?”
“What do you mean?”
“She’s standing next to the man you’ve been not very patiently waiting to arrive for the past week.”
Stunned that he could have missed something so important, Duncan looked back in her direction just in time to see her exchange a fond glance with the older man hovering protectively at her side. The very man he’d been searching for, the Laird of Grant. It was clear the two were close.
“Must be his daughter,” Colin added. “You know what happened to his wife.”
Grant’s daughter? Hell. Duncan felt a surprisingly sharp stab of disappointment, knowing without needing to be told. Notwithstanding his recent promotion among the ranks of his father’s guardsmen, the daughter of a powerful Highland chief was well beyond the reach of a bastard son.
His jaw flexed in a hard line. It was no use getting angry over things he couldn’t change. He’d found Grant, and daughter or no, he had a job to do.
He’d only taken a few steps toward them, however, when he was waylaid by his cousin, Archibald Campbell, the powerful Earl of Argyll.
“There you are, Duncan. I’ve been looking for you. Come with me, there is someone who wishes to speak with you.”
Duncan frowned. “But Grant has arrived.”
“Grant can wait,” his cousin replied, and then smiled. “The king cannot.” Seeing Colin beside him, Archie said almost as an afterthought, “You can come along, too.”
Duncan followed his cousin to a small antechamber off the hall. He should be thrilled with the opportunity—moments ago he would have been. Instead he felt an unmistakable twinge of disappointment.
