And so it was when Laura returned to her bedchamber, she found Bruce sitting in one of the armchairs all alone. His plaid had been carelessly pleated and fastened with a belt just below his waist, his shirt clung to his damp chest, and one booted foot was propped up against the wainscoting ledge. His hair was wet and fell back from his face. She could see he had made use of the blade in her dressing room to shave his face. An unsheathed sword lay across his lap, and he was rubbing a whetting stone over the blade.
He turned when he heard her open the door, but he did not smile, simply putting the stone into his sporran and leaning forward to slide the sword back into its sheath hanging behind his back.
“How now?” Laura felt light as a breeze when she sat in the chair opposite him. “Why so severe?”
He did not answer immediately but continued to stare out of the window. Laura followed his gaze. Laird Halkerston was walking about the garden with Henry. The two men were in deep discussion.
Bruce sighed and turned away from the scene as if it disgusted him. “I have to go back to the barracks, lass. Ye have no more need for me to guard ye.”
Laura’s confusion after her fall had lasted three days, then the sleeping drafts Master Stuartson gave her to keep her still so her body could heal from the fall had prolonged her bewildered state. She was never so delirious to not understand what she was saying, however. All she had experienced was the strange exhilaration that came from wanting to speak her mind, as if a guard had fallen off her mouth and she was forced to express the things she kept locked in her heart.
But now that she was lucid, Laura was ashamed and shy for making her obsession with this man so obvious. She could feel a hot blush burning into her cheeks as her mind made her remember the way she had cried for him every time he left the room. That would have made her sound like all the other women that he must have cast aside over the years. He was nearly thirty and unmarried, after all. Laura was petrified she had given him a glimpse of her feelings by clinging to him during her delirium.
She took refuge in her status as a lady. Laura was sure it was the only way for him to respect her again. “I want to thank ye afore ye return to yer duties, Bruce,” she said in her best regal voice, “and I wish to reward ye for it.” Her eyes were half-closed as she tried to look lofty and gracious, so she did not see the way the warrior’s brows drew together in a ferocious frown. “And so with that in mind,” Laura continued to say, oblivious to his look of intense displeasure, “ye are to have ten gold sovereigns from me, to be dispersed with all formality from my bridal chest in a ceremony worthy of all honor.” Then she dropped her queenly tones to say, “Is that nae great, Bruce? Now ye can buy Alice her cordials!”
The armchair scraped back and nearly toppled over, he stood up so fast. “I’ll nae take yer bleeding charity! I receive a salary from Laird Halkerston already, or have yet forgotten that I am bonded to serve him? Let me remind ye, lass, yer gold might buy ye all the comforts in life, but it cannae buy me!”
She stood up so quickly to reach out for him to stop him from walking out that Laura swayed and stumbled. In a flash, he caught hold of her upper arms to stop her from falling. For one moment, their bodies pressed together. The image of him standing in the bathing tub filled her mind.
“Bruce…” she whispered, almost collapsing against him because her legs had gone weak.
But he released her arms and then was gone from the room, leaving the door open behind him.
9
Mary entered Laura’s bedchamber later to find her mistress back in bed with the covers pulled over her head. With an exasperated huff, she ripped the blanket out of Laura’s fingers and threw it onto the floor. “Honestly, m’lady! I leave ye alone for one moment and ye go an’ suffer a relapse. Or should I rather call it a paleerie a wee bairn would be proud of? Come now, out o’ bed and on yer feet.”
Laura moaned. “Och Mary. I only went and ruined the understanding Bruce and I had. I offered him a reward for saving me and looking after me, but he got angry an’ left. How dare he! I had nae even given him permission to depart from me presence!”
Mary sighed and began to straighten the bed linen. “Offered him a reward or thrust it upon him without asking first?” was all the elderly maid said.
There was a moment of silence before Laura replied in a small voice, “I thrust it upon him.” Then, feeling that she had to give a better explanation, added, “But I ken he needs gold for his sister’s remedies. I was nae bribing him.”
“Ye went about saying yer thanks in a very ham-handed way, m’lady,” Mary said, plumping herself down on the stool beside the bed after removing the vial and mug. “Henry and Arabella have been moving heaven and Earth to make a good enough explanation for yer infatuated bletherings about yon tall dark warrior while ye were out o’ yer senses after the fall. I nursed ye as a wee bairn, Laura, an’ no one kens as well as I do that yer passions have always run high inside ye. But yer heart betrayed ye once; don’ let it get the upper hand o’ ye again.”
Laura felt her lower lip begin to tremble, and tears flooded her eyes, spilling down her cheeks. “I don’ love him…” She gulped down some more tears before she could continue. “He’s too much of a mystery for me to truly love him, Mary. But we became friends a few years ago, and now that I see him again, it feels like rain falling after a long dry spell. I admire him and yearn for our friendship to continue. And ye saw him in the blasted washroom, Mary! I have no need to tell ye that the female side o’ me craves for him in me bed. I would have to be blind no’ to!”
Mary frowned. “If I were forced to describe love, m’lady, I’m sure I would say those exact words back to ye. But ye’ve injured his masculine pride with yer offer to give him gold. Go an’ tell him ye’re sorry. As for the rest, go softly, go slowly, and tread carefully. As powerful as yer handsome warrior is, he has no true power while he is still being paid to enforce another man’s orders. Dinnae show yer love until ye are sure it will nae get anyone in trouble…and I am including ye in that number!”
“Am I in love?” Laura whispered, half to herself and half to Mary.
“If ye’re no’ in love, girl, ye’re doing a mighty good impression of it!” Mary huffed.
* * *
He saw her walking toward him and felt a certain kind of helpless despair. He had accepted Denny Torrens’s blasted bet! If he kissed Laura now, it would not be seen as the inclination of his heart but the cold-blooded fulfillment of a winning wager. Bruce had been close to losing his mind when he had ridden up to her lying on the ground over ten days ago. He had always trusted his instincts and was glad that he had when he found Lady Laura in time to stop the unconscious young woman from freezing to death. In hindsight, it might have been construed as dubious behavior, a man riding after a woman, following her mount’s hoofprints in the melting snow, but he was helpless to resist. Bruce had felt compelled to be close to Laura for a good many days now, and he was shrewd enough to gauge it was not entirely to do with making sure no more harm came her way.
She was a very determined young woman. Laura walked up to him, placing a hand on his chest to stop him from walking away. “I must speak with ye afore ye disappear again, Bruce.”
He was gracious enough to feel guilty for his abrupt action. “And I must tell ye that I had nay right to leave ye when ye only sought to be kind.”
Immediately, they were back to how things had been before—friends and who knew what else. She was the only woman who had the ability to make him smile yet burn with frustration at the same time.
“Well, I’m glad ye feel that way, Bruce, because I came here to tell ye that ye cannae have any of me gold! I must have been under the influence of a strong elixir to make such an outrageous offer.”
They laughed so loud, it made the sentries at the gate turn their faces from the road to see what was so funny.
“Och lass, I am an ungrateful wretch to spurn yer kindness, but my manly pride forces me to earn me bread like other fellows.”
