He set his hands on her shoulders and gently pulled her away. “Your concern is appreciated but not needed.”
“Yet, I am concerned. You told me you were to see my father’s solicitor.” She dropped her gaze becausetears suddenly veiled her eyes. “You should have told me you saw my father. That frightens me. What did you talk about?”
Cupping her chin, Ruark raised her face to his searching gaze. “ ’Twas just business with theBlack Dragon.”
She didn’t believe his inane response. “ ’Tis never just business with him. Or you. Have I not already learned that?”
“Come,” he said. “I will get the horses.”
Chapter 23
Ruark sat at his desk in the library, where he had spent the last few mornings dealing with business. He held a quill pen poised above one of the sheets of foolscap spread out before him. The scratching of the quill pen continued for a bit longer as he finished the letter to his banker. Then he replaced the pen in the silver inkstand and sprinkled fine sand from the pounce box onto the letters. He opened the top drawer on his desk and pulled out a signet ring. He folded over each of the four corners of the foolscap, then folded it in half, poured wax over the joint and impressed his ring before returning it to the drawer. For a moment, he turned the signet over in his hand and rubbed a callused thumb across the crest. He had never worn the signet ring. It had remained in this desk since his father’s death.
A knock sounded and Julia peered around the door. Ruark stood as she entered. Something seemed to turn over inside him, and the unfinished chapter in his life had suddenly become a book that he had yet to close.
She looked lovely today in pale blue that matched the color of her eyes. Her fine blond hair was knotted in a thin ball at her nape. She had not changed much in appearance from the girl she had been. The years had bruisedher heart immeasurably, though only her tightly clasped hands gave away her feelings.
“You requested to see me?” she tentatively asked, as if any request from the laird of Stonehaven was something to be feared.
Ruark closed the space between them, his steps quiet on the thick carpet. He indicated the upholstered chairs in front of the desk. “Sit down, Julia.”
The ease of her compliance annoyed him. He hesitated, then sat in the chair across from her. “I am not going to bite you.”
She stiffened. “We have never really spoken since your return. What do you expect me to make of this summons? Especially when I have heard you have asked Duncan to leave Stonehaven.”
“Duncan is free to go where he wishes,” Ruark said, having no intention of discussing his uncle with Julia.
She lowered her gaze to her lap.
“Julia,” he said. “As the Dowager Countess Roxburghe, you have a special place here at Stonehaven, and I am obliged to see you cared for. I am giving you a monthly allowance that is yours to do as you please. I am responsible for Jamie’s care but I will not presume to take him away from you. You may remain here. Or the Roxburghe family has holdings in Edinburgh and Carlisle if you wish for a more social climate some of the year.”
She paled. “Are you asking me to leave?”
“Nay, Julia. When is the last time you made a decision for yourself?” Ruark raised a brow. “Never?”
He was wrong of course. Thirteen years ago, she’d made a decision to elope with him. And she had made the choice not to go through with it.
She must have read the thought in his eyes.
“Did you ever think about me at all?” she asked.
“Would it make a difference if you knew that I had? Aye, I thought of you.”
She considered this. “That is something at least.”
He leaned forward. “I am giving you permission to be free, Julia. To make your own choices about your future. Fall in love. Marry whom you choose.”
Tension seemed to leave her shoulders. “I would like that very much.”
They spoke a little more about the uncommonly warm weather for September. The new pony he had given to Jamie and the lad Jack, who would be remaining at Stonehaven. “Your wife does seem to hold great affection for the little urchin,” Julia replied, less than pleased at the prospect of someone of Jack’s birth sharing the same tutor as Jamie.
Ruark reassured her she would grow accustomed to it.
Later, he gave Mary the letter he had written to post to Friar Tucker. She and Mrs. Simpson had returned from their “holiday” last week, as Mary so brightly put it while displaying a new pair of paste earbobs upon her return.
At the door, Mary said, “Herself has instructed that I tell ye she and the lads and Mrs. Simpson are aboot to go to the village, but that lunch will be served outside upon her return. She expects ye to join her to make up for missing supper with her last night.”
Ruark recalled last night in a rather different light after he had returned late to find her in a bath. She had balked at him joining her in the tub as he stripped off his dust-worn clothes from working with the horses all day. But he could be most persuasive when he wanted something and he had presented his case quite convincingly.
