“I have no doubt that Inverness, being a larger village, has better options,” Vanessa said. “But I’m here for research, so I need to be close to the loch.”
“Research?” Moira asked. She placed a plate piled with warm bread smothered in butter and fruit in front of Vanessa. “Eat, then you can tell me about your work.”
Vanessa smiled and took a bite of the food. She was alarmingly hungry. Obviously, not eating dinner last night had done that to her.
“What is there to study around here?” Old Mazie asked.
“There is so much. Much of your land is undeveloped, unlike England. But I study fossils.”
“Fossils?”
“Yes, imprints in the rocks from plants and animals that once lived in these areas. And, of course, bones. It’s all utterly fascinating,” Vanessa said.
“Well, I suppose it could be,” Moira said. “And we do have a bunch of bones around here. Why, a few months ago, someone found something buried down in those caves. Said it proves there’s a kelpie in our waters. ’Course we’ve all known that for years.”
“Seen him with my own eyes,” Old Mazie said with an affirmative nod.
Before Vanessa could comment, Graeme stepped into the room. He’d clearly taken the time to bathe, because he came in the room with his long hair wet and dripping onto his white shirt. Not only that, but this morning he’d donned a kilt. Vanessa’s mouth went completely dry at the sight of his long, bare legs. Of course his entire legs weren’t bare, only from his knees down, but it was enough to hint at the pure masculine strength in them. He padded into the room on bare feet, and carried a pair of boots and long woolen socks.
He was a fine specimen. But that was all this was, admiration and appreciation for a body well sculpted. The way she might admire Michelangelo’s David. Graeme sat on the bench beside her and bent to put on his boots. She watched him methodically roll up one sock, then the other, and then he laced his worn leather boots. His long fingers, dusted with dark hair, made quick work of his task.
As a scientist, she was, of course, familiar with the work of Charles Darwin. She may not agree with all of his ideas, but seeing Graeme, she could certainly imagine that the sheer perfection of this… um, physical specimen would provide a decided advantage when it came to wooing women.
“Are you ready?” Graeme asked.
“Ready for what?” Vanessa asked in return, her voice sounding slightly breathy to her own ears.
“I was going to take you into town.”
“Oh.” She came to her feet, embarrassed to be caught woolgathering. Especially since the wool she was gathering was of such a decidedly personal nature.
“Thank you for breakfast. It was delicious. And it was lovely to meet you both.” Vanessa was unsure if she should say that she would see them again. It seemed unlikely. She’d find a new room, and then she’d get to work.
But she wanted to discuss the conversation she’d overheard last night, not to mention all the notes that she’d read. She needed to find a way to do so in a way that didn’t reveal she’d been eavesdropping and sneaking through his house. Vanessa followed Graeme out the door and down the rocky hillside to the path below. Her height had always enabled her to keep up with the pace of an Englishman, but matching Graeme’s pace was another matter entirely. He stood at least a head taller than she and was rather broad. Standing before him in that ceremony last night was the first moment she ever remembered feeling feminine and dainty.
Vanessa’s height had been one of the things her mother had fretted about, wringing her hands and chewing her lips, so concerned about the wedding. Vanessa had stood the slightest amount above Jeremy, and Vanessa’s mother had worried herself into the vapors one afternoon deciding which shoes Vanessa would wear.
What a shame that Graeme was not a real candidate for her groom. His sheer masculinity and undeniable good looks would have made her mother swoon—until he opened his mouth and revealed his uncivilized Scottish brogue. The second her mother realized he was a simple Scotsman, the vapors would return.
“I trust you slept well,” Graeme said, though he did not turn to look at her.
“I did. Thank you.” She thought about inquiring where he’d slept, but thought better of it. Why did it matter where he’d lain his oversized body for the night? “Why are we going into town?”
“To put you on a train back to London.”
She stopped walking; he did not. “I have no intention of returning to London,” she said loudly so he could hear her down the path. “At least not now. I have much work to do.”
He halted and turned to face her.
So she caught up with him.
“This is no place for an unmarried woman,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Yes, you made that quite clear last night when you tricked me into marrying you.” She crossed her arms over her chest and met his gaze straight on.
“I told you, our marriage,” he said loudly, then took a steadying breath and continued speaking in a much lower tone, “is no more legal than had we found a drunk sailor on the street and asked him to marry us. It’s a foolish old ceremony that no one recognizes anymore.”
She realized then that Graeme’s hands gestured more when he was angry. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, he was an interesting specimen to study. And the fact that she was so bloody curious about him was vastly annoying, especially since he was behaving like an overbearing brute.
