Mrs. Fields planted her feet more firmly. “I’ll not be having my head removed by Mrs. Stokely when she finds out you came to Miss Barclay’s bedroom—and her in her night rail at that. You had best eat before the soup gets cold.”
More rules. Could the woman not see there was nothing unseemly happening? He was not a brute to take advantage of a lass who was nae feeling well.
“I am not hungry,” Mari said, using the linen to dab at her nose again.
“Ye must keep up yer strength. Ye will eat, lass. Come.”
“I do not want to.”
Jamie raised a brow. “Do ye wish for me to pick ye up again and carry ye to the table?”
Mari knit her brows. For a moment, he thought maybe she would be stubborn enough to have him do just that—not that he’d mind—but she lifted her chin and moved to the table of her own accord and sat down, folding her hands in her lap.
“Now eat.”
Her frown deepened. “No.”
With a sigh, Jamie pulled his chair close to hers. Picking up her spoon, he dipped it in the bowl and held it to her lips. “Eat.”
Mari clamped her mouth shut.
“Lass, I can force ye to open.”
She shook her head mulishly.
Jamie sighed again, resisting the urge to rub his temples. Mari was as stubborn as a bairn, but he hadn’t been around Shane’s younger sisters for nothing. He grasped her jaw with his free hand, holding it lightly in place with his palm, putting his thumb beneath an ear lobe and his ring finger beneath the other one. Very gently, he pressed.
Mari’s jaw dropped, probably more in surprise than by his effort, but Jamie took the opportunity to empty the spoon into her mouth. Some of the broth dribbled, and he used his thumb pad to wipe it away. Dipping the spoon back in the soup, he held it up.
“Again.”
She glared at him and took the spoon. “I can feed myself.”
“I am glad to hear it. I will be eating my own soup then.”
Mari continued to glower at him, but she scraped her bowl clean. “There. Are you satisfied?”
“’Tis a start. Now will ye please get dressed and come downstairs? I have a wish to discuss this cutting business.”
“There is nothing you can do.”
“I will see about that,” Jamie said as he moved toward the door. If Mari was treated badly last night because of his behavior in that shop, then it was up to him to make things right—even if he had to obey stupid rules and act like a damn Englishmon to do it.
“Mr. MacLeod actuallyfedyou?” Maddie asked incredulously later that afternoon as she curled up on the window seat with Mari.
“Like achild,” Mari answered with as much indignation as she could muster. Niggling at the back of her mind was the thought that maybe shehadacted rather childishly. Still. Jamie had threatened to pick her up again. Did he have no respect for her person? Hanging halfway across his back with unmentionable parts of her body in full contact with his was the reason she’d been cut at Lady Tindale’s party.
The other thing stuck in her head was how gentle those big, calloused hands had felt cradling her face. Jamie had leaned so close she could actually see tiny flecks of brown in his golden eyes. They had darkened to a brandy color when he’d used his thumb to wipe the droplets from her mouth. That mere brush had coursed straight to her belly, causing her newly discovered pet butterflies to flutter again.
“I think it was rather romantic,” Maddie said with a sigh.
“What has gotten into you lately?” Mari asked. “How can you think someone who just does as he pleases without thought to convention romantic? I am beginning to wonder if all Highlanders are half barbarians.”
Maddie giggled. “You exaggerate.”
“You think so? Then look. He’s down there in the yard making poor Dobbs attempt to wield a sword. Ahouseholdfootman. I am sure the stable boys are sniggering at Dobbs’s expense, but it does not matter to Jamie. He thinks all men should know how to fight. What can be more barbaric than that?” She watched as Jamie lunged and thrust, forcing a white-faced Dobbs to attempt a parry. At least Jamie kept his shirt on for these practices, unlike at Newburn.
Maddie leaned on the sill, looking down. “Mr. MacLeod makes it look so easy. Almost graceful. I wonder if he dances as well?”
