“Good.” Clyde’s voice was grim. “The sooner she is back in my arms, the better.”
He had failed this time, but he would not make the same mistake twice; there had to be a way of bringing Lorainne back. All he had to do was find it.
10
Minetta bounced into Cora’s room at an ungodly hour the next morning. She flung the curtains open, then threw herself onto Cora’s bed, grinning from ear to ear.
Cora opened her eyes then closed them again quickly as daylight stabbed them with sharp, intense pain. “Minetta, what are you doing?” she protested irritably. “What time is it?”
“It is long past time you were up and about, you lazy girl!” Minetta replied excitedly. “I wanted to talk to you in private before I told anyone else. Laird Malcolm Stuart the Younger wants to court me!” Her green eyes were shining with happiness, then she frowned. “I said yes but that I would have to ask my brother. Is it not very unjust that our whole lives are controlled by men, Cora?”
“It is, indeed,” Cora agreed, grimacing as she sat up and felt a steady throb of excruciating pain. She imagined that if an ax were splitting her skull, it would feel something like this. She rang to ask for breakfast and a cup of willow bark tea to end her misery. “But I think Laird Stuart the Younger is a good man. Fortunately, he has a wonderful mother, even if his father is a bit of a wastrel, but he is not courting you, thank heavens!”
They laughed together for a moment. Cora drank down the bitter tea in one swallow before contemplating her breakfast of porridge, sausages, eggs, and hot ale uncomfortably, unable to decide if her nausea would let her eat it or not. She had no idea how many glasses of wine she had drunk the previous evening, but it was too many, and eventually, she pushed the tray away untasted.
“I know what is making you feel sick,” Minetta observed. “It is not the wine or the food. I saw you going out for air, and then Loraine McKenzie went out after you. Did you talk?”
Cora gritted her teeth, and lowered her brows in a ferocious frown. “We certainly did.”
“Did you win?” Minetta asked casually.
“Did I say we were fighting?” Cora looked puzzled.
“Your face said it for you!” Minetta laughed. “Tell me what went on! I am bursting with curiosity!”
Cora thought for a moment. “I cannot remember everything she said, but I do not think I have ever met a more unpleasant creature in my life.” She paused to see the face of her adversary in her mind’s eye. Loraine’s face was beautiful, with high, narrow cheekbones, full lips, and dark, smoky-gray eyes. But when she spoke to Cora, her eyes had become narrow and vicious, and her mouth had thinned to a slit. She was ugly when she was angry.
“She mocked me for wearing your mother’s dress,” Cora began. “She said that it was wildly out of fashion, and that she would never wear another woman’s cast-offs. I told her I was proud to wear it, then she said I was not choosy about my clothes, and obviously had none because of the bandits. I told her she was not choosy about her choice of husband, and after that, it went on and on, becoming more and more vicious. Eventually, she left, but I think I won!” She gave a satisfied laugh.
“Good!” Minetta said grimly. “I have always hated that bitch, and I have never been able to fathom what my brother sees in her. She is vain and selfish, and the only time she was ever pleasant to me was when Clyde was there. The rest of the time, she treated me like something she had scraped off her shoe. I suspect that Clyde loved her body more than anything else about her, because she visited often, and many times I heard her carriage come to fetch her just before sunrise. She must be stupid to think no one knows. Mind you, my brother must be even more stupid. I am so glad that Clyde chose you, and I know that we will be even closer now.”
She hugged Cora and kissed her cheek, making her feel wretched that she was lying to her friend. Minetta was going to be so disappointed when the whole story came out and she was going to have to put up with the loathsome Loraine again. She had to talk to Clyde.
For once, Clyde was sitting in his private study instead of being out with the workers. He was holding a wet cloth to his forehead, and he looked the picture of misery. He opened his eyes as Cora entered and gave him a sympathetic smile.
“Willow bark works for me,” she told him.
“I have had two cups,” he groaned. “And a hair of the dog that bit me. He jerked his thumb towards the whiskey bottle. I am in agony.”
“I think perhaps ‘agony’ is too strong a word here,” Cora laughed. “Ask any woman who has gone through childbirth what agony is like! You need another cup of willow bark tea because your head is too big for only two.”
“You are not helping me,” he groaned.
“I am not trying to,” she replied. “I came to talk to you about a serious matter.” She sat down.
“I am in too much pain to listen,” he said irritably. “Go away.”
“No.” The simple word was like a hammer hitting wood, and Clyde came to his senses in an instant.
“What is it?” he frowned, wincing. He would have sent her away, since his head was still throbbing, but that one simple word had been more than enough to alarm him. “Are you well? Is Minetta?”
“We are both well, thank you, which is more than I can say for you.” She sat, squirming uncomfortably in her seat for a moment, then looked him squarely in the eye. “I am not at all happy about lying to Minetta,” she said quietly. “She is going to hate us both when she finds out that our betrothal was a complete deception. I feel bad about it, and I would like to end it.”
They glared at each other for a moment, then Clyde stood up, grimacing as his headache gave him another brutal thump. “I do not have Loraine back yet.” He sighed in frustration. “But I could see that you had plenty of dance partners, so your purpose is being served. As soon as we end this betrothal, you will likely have a dozen young men beating a path to your door, but I may still not have Loraine. We need to attend more ceilidhs and perhaps have one of our own.”
“Have you got no heart?” Cora demanded, smashing her fist on his desk, making him jump in fright. “My home is being occupied by thugs and robbers, and all you can worry about is your precious Loraine. I need a protector, and all you can do is weep over a creature who is not even worthy of you!”
Clyde realized that he was seeing a different side of the woman he had met only a few days ago. This one had a tongue like a viper, and a hard rage in her eyes that was almost frightening to behold.
