Poor wee lass, indeed.
Chapter 13
“Do you see the scaffolding on those two towers, Maggie?”
Magdalene pretended not to hear Gabriel, though she had seen what he now pointed out to her when she’d first arrived at MacLachlan Castle—unhappy day!
Scaffolding? Why was he troubling himself with speaking to her about such a thing? She was outside the castle walls for the first time in over a week and she didn’t intend to return, either! As soon as she found the right moment, she would kick her horse into a hard gallop and never look back—
“Your dowry is paying for the repairs. So much of the castle needs work—something my brother, Malcolm, regrettably neglected. God rest him, he wasna an evil man, but a frivolous one. He nearly ran the castle and lands into the ground for his love of fine clothes and imported furnishings and tapestries…like the ones in your room.Ourroom.”
Magdalene started, her hands tightening sharply upon the reins, which made the dapple gray gelding she rode snort and toss its head.
Whatever was the matter with the man? She hadn’t liked at all the way he’d said, “Our room,” as if he had meant for it to have some special import.
And why had he brought up a dowry? Of course she imagined gold had changed hands from Seoras to Gabriel, no doubt a goodly sum to make up for him wedding a lunatic.
She glanced over her shoulder at the towers with scaffolding—mayhap much more than a goodly sum to fund such extensive repairs.
Yet what did she care about any of these matters? Or that Gabriel’s brother, Malcolm, had been a frivolous man? She wanted to think only about escaping Gabriel once and for all, which meant she might not be able to return to the convent.
He would only look for her there, unless Sister Agnes and the nuns might hide her from him? Aye, mayhap they would if she wept and carried on about how cruel Gabriel had been to lock her away for a week with only Euna and Donella for company—
“Look, some of the bairns are running out from the village tae greet us. You wouldna have recognized those children when I returned home after Malcolm’s death. They were starving, just skin and bones. Their parents, too, and the serving folk in the castle not faring much better.”
Again, Magdalene clutched the reins, Gabriel’s voice had grown so grim.
She wouldn’t look at him, no, she wouldn’t, though she wondered why he was telling her these things when a lunatic would hardly understand.
He had been acting so strangely from the first moment he’d burst into the room to find her grappling with Donella on the floor—och, she felt terrible for hurting the poor woman. It must have been going without food for two days that had left her nearly beside herself, so sick at heart over the fate dealt to her.
Such frustration had festered inside her that when Euna put that spoonful of cold porridge to her mouth, she couldn’t withstand it any longer! She hadn’t needed to feign lunacy to kick and fight and pull hair—aye, she’d become a cantankerous thing, but it was all Gabriel’s fault!
In spite of herself she glanced in his direction to scowl at him, but he was focused upon the children drawing closer, and waved at them.
The kindest look on his face that made Magdalene feel as shivery inside as when he’d sat her down so gently upon the bed and told her that he had come to try and get her to eat.
Not to have his way with her, much to her relief—though she couldn’t deny that him staring at her for a heart-stopping moment, his gaze dropping to her breasts, had made her feel as breathless as alarmed.
So, too, when his knees had rubbed against hers, and when he had offered her the bowl of soup, his voice so husky and deep.
The two of them sitting so close together, Gabriel looking more handsome than any man had a right to…his clean masculine scent beguiling her, the way his damp dark hair curled at his neck, beguiling her…for clearly he had taken the time to bathe before coming to her room.
And then his stomach had gone and growled—startling her into letting down her guard even more, until she’d laughed when her own stomach had done the same thing—aye,laughed!
Not only that, but she had eaten that flavorful soup as obediently as a lamb while he went to fetch her a slice of bread. How could she not, though? She’d been so famished that she had drained half of the bowl before he returned—his smile making her flush with embarrassment.
A madwoman would have splattered the stuff all over herself, not gape at him like it should matter to her what he might think of her!
To recover herself, she had stuffed half of that thick slice of buttered bread into her mouth and then offered him the rest of her food, her plan to make a run for the door until he’d boxed her in with his knees. Then he had offered to help her dress so they could go for a ride, surprising her altogether…but nothing could have astonished her more than when he’d said she could ride her own horse.
Everything about their interaction had been astonishing, bewildering! Why did she feel like he was looking at her differently…acting toward her so differently—och, what did it matter? As soon as the right moment came along on this lovely spring day, mayhap once they rode past the laughing children who were almost upon them, she would make her move—
“The bairns’ families will want tae thank you since it’s our marriage that saved their lives. I havna told you the story of how we came tae be wed, but mayhap after we greet the villagers…”
Gabriel didn’t say more, laughing as well and dismounting from his massive gray steed so that the children could surround him. To Magdalene’s astonishment, several of them rushed right into his arms and he hugged them with obvious affection.
“Laird MacLachlan, your lady’s so pretty!” piped up a freckle-faced little girl Magdalene hadn’t seen before, though she did recognize the three young lasses who had given her posies when she’d first arrived at the castle. Gabriel gave them a hug, too; he hugged any child who wanted one, including some little boys, although the older ones stood back as expected at their age.
