“I am a wee bit chilly,” Katherine admitted as Tilly scurried behind her and began unlacing her gown. She couldn’t bringherself to sound as though she were complaining, so she added, “But the room is quite warm.”
“Aye, that was the one thing we kent anyone would like,” Tilly said, peeling the soaked sleeves down Katherine’s arms. “As soon as I saw the water drippin’ from yer dress, I kent we were right to have started the fire when the Laird left this mornin’.”
She wasn’t sure how to respond to that. It was pure chance that she’d ended up here, yet Tilly was speaking as if they knew that it would be Katherine specifically that was coming to join them. Any other woman at the auction could have come home with Laird MacDougal. This room would belong to them. In fact, when they started preparing this space, it belonged to a faceless girl. Instead, by some stroke of luck, the warmth, the mattress that was covered in more blankets than she knew what to do with, belonged to her.
“Are ye sure that isnae because of the blankets, Miss?” Tilly asked when she’d gotten rid of every soaked garment. She ran a dry flannel over Katherine’s shoulders and down her back. Her hand pressed against the parts of Katherine that shivered the most violently. “I can bring ye more. It’s nae a problem, I assure ye.”
A small, breathless, embarrassed laugh escaped Katherine’s chest. Quietly, unable to meet the maid’s gaze, Katherine admitted, “Aye. It is the blankets. And the hearth.” She slipped into dry undergarments, aided by Tilly. “It’s the quiet. I ken that they’re simple things and they shouldnae matter…”
She trailed off, feeling a bit too exposed. The silence didn’t bother Tilly; she just continued dressing Katherine, rubbing the cold from her skin with steady hands. As Tilly carefully laced up the back of the fine, green dress, she said, “Life is made up of simple things. Each and every one of them matter. I ken exactly what ye mean. I am glad that we could give ye some of them.”
When Tilly came around in front of her once more, carefully braiding her hair to tame the wet mess into something presentable, Katherine offered her a grateful smile. She wished her background was better, that she didn’t feel shame for circumstances beyond her control. She wished she didn’t feel smaller than a child at this moment. It was hard not to when she was standing in such a beautiful castle, in such a lovely room.
“There we are,” Tilly chirped when she was satisfied with her work. She looked over Katherine’s form, an approving hum vibrating in her chest. “I daenae think there’s much more I can do for yer hair, but at least yer in dry clothin’. Ye’re warmer now, aye?”
“Aye, much warmer,” Katherine confirmed, her cheeks still pink. She believed it was faint enough now that it could be blamed on the cold leaving her body. “Me hair bein’ a bit damp doesnae bother me.”
“Good,” Tilly said as she grabbed hold of Katherine’s wrist. Her grip was firm, warm. “Now, let’s be off, Miss. Laird MacDougal doesnae like to be kept waitin’.”
Of course. The Highlands may collapse if yer gracious Laird is kept waitin’ another moment.
* * *
“Me Laird,” Tilly said, prim and respectful. Her footsteps were light but precise, her enthusiasm for the new position he’d granted her clear. “I’ve come with Miss Katherine as ye requested.”
Without looking away from the forms he was drafting, Liam said, “Send her inside.”
A few seconds later, Katherine shuffled through the door. She was quiet, seeming to attempt to move without even disturbing the air around her. The green of her skirt swaying with the turn of her hips caught his eye, finally drawing his attention from the parchment. His breath nearly caught.
The color looked perfect on her, making the pinkness of her skin and the green of her eyes stand out. It looked as if it were nearly the same shade as her irises, like the grass in the sun, the foliage in the forest after a terrible storm. Although the gown wasn’t tailored for her, it fit her body perfectly in all the right areas. The gentle curve of her hip, the fullness of her breasts, and the prominence of her collarbones were all highlighted.
For a heartbeat, he forgot that he didn’t trust her, that he shouldn’t notice the shape of her beneath her gown.
“Ye wanted to discuss me duties,” she said, filling the silence as if she couldn’t stand the weight of it. Her voice, the one that had sung in the face of adversity, brought him violently back into the present situation. “I’m quite capable of learnin’ anythin’. It doesnae matter what. But I’m quite skilled at needlework and mendin’. And I ken that ye probably want to have an heir as soon as?—”
“Katherine,” he said, stopping her chattering before she could work herself into a frenzy. That was something he was sorely ill-equipped to manage. He waited for a moment, closing his eyes and enjoying the silence since he was sure his quiet moments were going to be severely limited from now on. When he opened them again, he caught her gaze. “This is nae a marriage in the sense that ye believe it to be. It is an arrangement.”
“An arrangement,” she repeated, grabbing at the front of her skirt nervously. “Our marriage is simply an arrangement.”
“Aye,” he confirmed, gesturing at the seat across from him. When she settled into it, he continued, “I daenae want ye at me side, nor do I want ye under me feet. If after the bindin’, me council presses me for an heir, then that will be the only duty ye owe me. But that is nae now, and it willnae be anytime soon.”
She nodded, her nose scrunching as she thought much more loudly than anyone else he’d ever met. He could practically hear every question that she didn’t ask. It was as though a buzz filled the space.
Then, after a few seconds, she muttered, “Then I daenae understand why I’m here. Is it simply, so ye can say ye have a wife?”
“Ye are here for one purpose,” Liam said, leaning forward with his palms resting on his desk. He knew the posture was intimidating, but if he was not firm here, he was sure she’d always be searching for a way to challenge him. “And ye have three weeks to prove to me whether or nae ye can fulfill it, or ye will be returned. Ye and I arenae husband and wife. We are partners in obligation. Do ye understand?”
“Aye,” she said after a beat, a mix of complex emotions running over her features before they all faded away into carefully constructed neutrality.
He watched her as she sank back into her seat. The woman was eager to please; that much was obvious, but he couldn’t quite reason why. Perhaps that was simply her nature. She’d gone out of her way for his grandmother without knowing a single thing about her.
“Good,” he grunted as he narrowed his gaze. He’d pushed her into submission, but it didn’t feel anything like a victory. “Ye are to care for me daughter. That means teachin’ her readin’, writin’, sewin’, cookin’, and proper conduct. Are ye capable of doin’ that?”
Katherine stared down at her hands in her lap, her body shaking slightly. He raised an eyebrow as she took a slow, shuddering breath. She lifted her chin, but she seemed to make herselfsmaller. She seemed almost shy when she said, “I am more than capable. I… I have no dowry, nothing else to offer but me services. Me father is drowning in debt.”
His jaw tightened slightly. He inhaled slowly, letting the breath out in a measured exhale. “And so he brought ye to that gatherin’.”
“Aye,” she said softly, refusing to look away though he could tell speaking so frankly terrified her. “Me father lost nearly everythin’. I was simply the last thing he had left to bargain with.”
