She scowled at him and pulled her hand out of reach when he tried to kiss it. “It is ‘Lady Lindsay’ to you, M'laird Campbell,” she said frostily, “and I would appreciate it if you would leave this table, since you were not invited and you are not welcome!”
She is so beautiful and strong-willed. She will produce great sons,he thought enviously.
“I came to speak to you as a friend,” he said reasonably, spreading his hands in a gesture of appeasement. “I want to put the past behind us.”
“It is behind us. And I would like to keep it there, so please go.”
I was a fool to let her go. Why should Alex Lindsay have her? She most probably still loves me.
“I said I was sorry—” he began, but she cut him off. Her eyes were like flint.
“In a letter.” Her voice was scathing. “When it first arrived I was shocked, but I was more concerned for my parents and their embarrassment, because I never loved you.”
“I thought you did!” he said playfully.
“I most certainly did not!” she replied. “You might wish I had but I could never love anyone who could not end a betrothal face to face. You are a first-rate coward and I pity your wife. Alex is a good man, worth ten of you, and I love him, and in several months’ time I am having his baby.”
Lockie gasped as Robina unveiled this revelation, and a spark of hope lit up in his mind.
“You would have married me if I had not been so stupid,” he stated, shaking his head in sorrow. “You can still marry me. I will acknowledge the baby as my own!”
She looked at him in disbelief. “You are not serious!” she said incredulously. “I have told you I am happily married and carrying another man’s baby, and you still want to marry me? Have you no pride? Alex would take great pleasure in tearing you limb from limb. And you should know that I despise you!”
That made him furious. He could not believe that she was pregnant that soon. This child could have been his. It SHOULD have been his. He felt robbed. Alex had robbed him.
He did not reply to Robina. He did not want her to become more angry and begin shouting.
Robina sat staring at him, fuming for a moment, then collected her packages together in preparation for leaving. She simply could not sit there any longer.
Suddenly she squealed as Lockie’s hands clamped around her face and he pressed his lips to hers in a punishing kiss. She tried to push him away but he was too strong. He let her go eventually and looked at her with passion. She drew back her arm and slapped his face with all the force she could muster, took the remains of her ale, and threw it over him.
Lockie did not react, he only smiled while the ale was going down his face and clothes.
She stood up and walked away as fast as she could; he did not follow her.Alex is known for his strength but any man could be murdered given enough time and preparation, Lockie thought while wiping the ale off his face with his sleeve.
That is all I need. Time, preparation...and the right opportunity.
Hidden not so far away, Elsie, the maidservant, had witnessed the scene, or some of it. She had seen the part where Lockie had forced a kiss on her mistress, and the blows she had rained on him afterwards. This was going to make for some really juicy gossip!
Elsie raced into the castle and stumbled downstairs to the kitchen, practically falling head over heels in her haste. She arrived, panting with effort, and stood in the kitchen doorway while she recovered her breath. There were a dozen assorted staff there, mostly eating lunch, but everyone looked up when she made her entrance.
“Dinnae tell us,” Davie, one of the gardeners said, his voice scornful. “We are never gaunnae believe whit ye’re gaunnae tell us!”
There was a gale of laughter at this, since Elsie, the most experienced and efficient gossip in the village, always preceded her announcements with this sentence.
“I saw Milady in toon! She wis kissin’ thon Laird Campbell that threw her over.”
“Dinnae be soft, Elsie!” Davie flapped his hand at her. “If she wis kissin’ him an, there wis onythin’ goin’ on between them, d’ye think they wid be daein’ it in broad daylight?”
Elsie thought for a moment. “Aye, ye’re right.” She was disappointed that her moment of glory had passed, then she thought of something. “Mind, she wis hittin’ him an’ a’.”
That got a bit more interest and speculation. Maybe he was trying to embarrass her? Maybe he wanted her to go back to him? Eventually the topic became exhausted and everyone went back to work, but that did not stop it from spreading to the rest of the staff.
Alex was sitting in his little parlor, relaxing for once, when he heard two of the housemaids, who were dusting furniture outside, laughing about it. The more he heard, the more incensed he became, till at last he stood up and strode out of the door, his face like thunder.
“Are you two discussing my wife?” he growled.
The women stared at him wide-eyed with fear.
