I remain your much obliged and loving sister,
Alice D.
“What news from yer home, Duncan? Not bad I hope?” Davey Torrens asked him, noticing the frown on the man’s face.
It was as if the villagers’ sorrowful pronouncements were coming true. His sister’s life would cost him far more than money in the end. If he took up Davey Torrens’s bet and managed to fulfill it, he would besmirch Laura’s good name. But the gold would surely be enough to keep Healer Kinney in herbs and roots for the next ten years. The thought of his sister regaining her health and strength was more than he had ever dared to dream for. He was torn.
Seeing Davey was still standing there, Bruce could not stop himself from saying, “What are the conditions o’ yer wager again, Davey?”
7
When she woke up the next morning, Laura felt unusually deflated. It only took her a moment to realize that this was because she would not be riding with Bruce. They had both agreed it would be best to ride out when the castle was awake enough to see them leaving together. Neither Laura nor Bruce wanted to give the impression of sneaking around together behind other people’s backs…did they?
Her limbs felt heavy, and a fog descended on her mind. All she could think about was her tall, dark warrior. She no longer cared for rank or wealth or fancy lodges and jewels. What good were those things if she felt like this every day? As if there were no reason to get out of bed.
I should have ordered him to ride far away with me yesterday. By now we would be free of all this useless protocol and polite exchanges of words. We could do whatever we wanted, and no one could judge us or poke their noses into our business.
Laura had believed she wanted to marry, but for all the wrong reasons. A vague inclination toward wanting to set up her own establishment, having a loving husband and children, had spun out of her control so fast she sometimes couldn’t breathe! All she could think about was the solemn young man who had found it in his heart to console her by engaging her in a little lighthearted conversation a few years ago. Her soul had been too damaged to recognize it then, but it was her first encounter with Bruce Duncan that had begun her healing process. Now everything seemed to be raw and pulsing again, but this time it was in a good way.
When her maid entered the bedchamber sometime later, she gave a little shriek when she saw Laura was still abed.
“Losh! Me lady, ye gave me the biggest start! Why are ye no’ out riding with that braw soldier o’ yers?”
The words were said in a teasing way, but they cut Laura to the quick. “Mary, dinnae joke. Have I been indiscrete? I happen to ken that braw soldier from me brither’s wedding. Surely it cannae be wrong to ride out with him?”
Mary stared at her mistress with uncomprehending eyes. “It seems strange that ye would agree to marry another, me lady, when ye ken such a man as Bruce Duncan. An’ ye both seem to fit together so well in the way ye chat an’ keek at one another.”
Laura felt bleak. “Go away, Mary. I’ll no’ get out o’ bed this day.”
Her maid came to sit on the edge of the bed and took hold of Laura’s hand. “Come now, dearie. Are ye havin’ second thoughts? There’s no shame in that. Ye’re still young and rich enough to make up yer own mind. Me own advice to ye would be this: get up, make yerself pretty, and go out for a ride all alone. An’ if ye find yerself missin’ yer braw warrior beside ye, well then…ye should take that as a sign that maybe he’s the man for ye an’ no’ the aulder gentleman.”
The black hole in Laura’s mind seemed to shrink and then disappear with a pop. Mary was right! There was still hope. The ring was not yet on her finger. The problem was that she mistrusted her instincts after her last horrid misadventure with John. She would go out riding alone and see how it felt to be without him. Maybe it was his huge hulking presence that caused her heart to flutter. If she did not miss him, there was still hope that her heart was deceiving her as it had once before…
She bounced out of bed and gave Mary a sweet kiss on her cheek. “Many thanks, dear Mary! Now go and get my green riding skirt out of the trunk!” Then she ran to the washstand and plunged her hands into the cold water. Nothing would have the power to make her feel dejected today.
Laura had buoyed up her spirits too soon. Rushing downstairs, she found Laird Halkerston waiting for her on the landing. “Ah! Out for a ride today? Are ye nae a wee bit late? I’ve been waiting for ye an age.”
Laird Roy beamed at her, making Laura feel sad for the man. He had pleasant manners and was still upright and strong enough to make a woman a fine husband. It was only that he stirred no emotion inside her. After her disastrous episode with another man over two years ago, Laura had kept a tight rein on her passions. Unfortunately for Roy, he did not have the right equipment to loosen those reins.
She curtsied. “Aye, Laird Roy, I am. But don’ ye think it’s nice sometimes to lie abed in the morning?”
He gave her a wink. “If it was with ye in bed with me, me dear, then I must agree with ye.”
Laura did not mean to show her dislike for what he was saying, but she wrinkled her nose. “It’s early days yet for us to be talking about such things, dinnae ye agree, me laird?”
She took a step back, but he followed her, crowding her into the corner of the landing. “That’s nae very polite, Laura,” he breathed into her face, “especially when I have been led to believe that ye were free with yer favors in the past.”
“Believe what ye like!” The words burst out of her mouth. She shoved him back and ran down the stairs as if the devil himself were after her. She only stopped running when she reached the stables and could order a groom to saddle one of her horses, then she took off out of the castle gates, spurring her mount into a gallop so fast that the woolen bonnet flew off her head.
Paying no heed, Laura continued in her wreckless flight, praying the long miles she put between herself and the castle would have the power to wipe Laird Roy’s cruel words out of her mind the way she was wiping the tears from her eyes.
So, she did not notice the rotten tree branch that had fallen across the lane until her horse stumbled over it. She felt herself flying through the air, and for that split moment, she remembered the first time Bruce had held her by the waist before placing her into the saddle.
Then everything went black.
* * *
“Be still, lass. Ye’ve had quite a fall.” Laura felt hard thigh muscles holding up her aching head. She tried to get up, but it hurt too much.
