Why was Gwenys not in her bed?
Miranda tossed off her covers while trying to rein in her pounding heart. She rose too fast, almost stumbled, but quickly recovered her balance and proceeded to walk around the room with the candle held high to make sure Gwenys was nowhere in here.
The candle cast an eerie glow upon the beds and walls. “Oh, Gwenys. What have you done?”
She set the candle down a moment, hastily donned her robe and slippers, then took the candle back in hand and left her quarters.
Recalling her last experience—Mongo’s abducting her when she had walked out of this very inn to investigate the noises outside her window—she knew it would be the height of folly to repeat this same mistake.
Instead, she made her way quietly down the hall toward the Royal Suite. If there was any searching to be done, she would do it with a big, gloriously brawny, and handsome beast of a duke by her side.
Of course, that she thought he was handsome beyond words did not really matter.
She was not certain of the hour, but knew it must have been well after midnight because the inn was quiet. She knocked lightly at Solway’s door and was surprised when it opened immediately to reveal him wearing nothing but his trousers, his falls only half buttoned.
Drat, he looked so gorgeous.
She averted her eyes from the taut ripples along his stomach.
He appeared surprised to see her. Had he been expecting Lady Wharton?
She refused to acknowledge the wrenching tug to her heart. But it hurt her to find out he was an unworthy snake.
“Miranda?” He inhaled sharply. “Is Gwenys missing, too?”
She nodded. “Too?”
“Douglas is also gone. He’s sharing this suite with me and mentioned he was going downstairs to get us a bottle of brandy. That was over half an hour ago. I was just getting dressed to go in search of him. Give me a moment to toss on my shirt and boots.”
Her heart fluttered in relief.
After all, he hadn’t been waiting for Lady Wharton.
And how awful of her to immediately leap to that conclusion and think the worst of him, especially since that vile woman had soaked him with tea mere hours ago when he had refused her advances.
“Come in. Ye should no’ be seen outside my door.”
“Is it not worse to be found in your bedchamber?”
“I’ll make certain the hallway is clear before I have ye come out. This is safest.” He drew her inside and quietly shut the door behind them.
He grinned and shook his head when she refused to take more than a step inside and pasted herself to the door, leaning her back against it.
“Are ye afraid I am going to ravage ye, Miranda?”
“No, of course not.”
“Then are ye afraid of yer desire to ravage me?” he asked, obviously finding her discomfort with their intimate situation quite humorous. He grinned at her as he grabbed a shirt and donned it, now hiding that gloriously sculpted torso of his from her view.
“I am not in the habit of being alone with undressed men in their bedchamber or mine,” she replied, sounding quite priggish even to her own ears.
He sighed. “Ye needn’t worry about that. After enduring two embarrassing confrontations with Lady Wharton today, I am no’ feeling particularly masterful with the ladies. Gad, how stupidwas I back then? She’s such a witch. And to my shame, I didna care about anything beyond getting her in my bed.”
“I was just as stupid when I was younger,” she admitted.
He sank onto a chair to don his boots. “Nay. Ye were wickedly deceived. There’s a difference. None of what happened to ye was yer fault. Even if yer husband had needed to marry to claim his inheritance, he could have treated ye with the proper respect due a wife.”
She paled and a tremble rushed through her body as she listened to him speak about the most anguishing moment of her life. “You knew? Dear heaven, does everyone in Scotland know what a fool I’ve been?”
