And with that, she spun around and left the room.
When she was gone, the space felt lonely. Her presence was so big that she sucked the life out of the room when she left.
Exhaling in exasperation, he picked up the whisky bottle and finished it in one long swallow, hissing at the burn as it wound his way down his throat and settled warmly into his chest.
In the morn, when Lizzie woke, he would be gone. On his way back to Culzean. If her parents wanted to tell her the truth of her brother’s death, so be it. But ’twouldna be him.
He was being evasive. He kenned it. Instead of facing the woman he loved and the hurt that she would surely feel, he was running.
Like a cat with its tail tucked between its legs. A coward.
Something he had never been labeled afore.
But he was now. He was admitting to himself that that’s exactly what he was.
He threw his clothes into his travel bag. And after some time, when he was sure the house was quiet and no one would see him leave, he slipped out of his room and out the front door.
In the stables, he readied a horse and gave the stableboy a note to cover the cost of the horse and whisky, along with a missive that he was to deliver to Sir Barclay in the morning.
Then he was gone, riding through the gates of Tolton Hall, not daring to look back. He’d push the steed as far as he could until he had to stop and give them both a rest. But he wanted to make it back to Culzean as quickly as possible.
For once, he looked forward to the monotony of his well-run, issue-free home.
*
After tossing andturning all night, dawn couldn’t come soon enough. Lizzie was awake and sitting in the window seat of her bedroom when Mary knocked to wake her.
“Ah, Miss, ye’re already awake? Could ye no’ sleep last night?”
Lizzie shook her head. “E’en a mug of warm milk couldna help,” she admitted quietly.
“Are ye no’ feeling well? If ye’re ill I shall call for the doctor.” Mary turned to leave and Lizzie called her back.
“’Tis no’ that. I just had a worrisome night thinking of the earl.”
Mary waggled her eyebrows. “Worrisome or dreamlike?” She smiled, but when Lizzie didn’t laugh, her lips dipped into frown.
“Ye went to bed so happy. What has happened? I dinna believe the earl has left his room yet this morn. His door remains shut.”
Lizzie didn’t ken what to tell her friend. She didn’t even ken what to tell herself. This morn her mind was still confused. Playing their conversation over and over again. It just kept leading to her brother. But whatever it was, Malcolm wouldn’t say.
She’d decided that she would confront her parents about it when they all gathered to break their fast. Malcolm would be there as well and certainly he wouldn’t dare tell her not to broach the subject with her parents.
They didn’t oft talk about Angus. Once he’d passed, they’d stayed mum about discussing him. She had found that odd but decided that was how they grieved. Everyone did so in their own way. Whereas Lizzie would rather talk about the fun times they’d shared, her parents always had her cease the conversation when she started it.
Today she would find out why.
The truth this time.
When she arrived in the dining room to break her fast, the first thing Lizzie noticed was that Malcolm was not in the room. The next thing she noticed was the dour moods of her parents. She took her seat and waited for her tea to be poured and the room empty before asking her parents what was going on.
First Malcolm, and now them. Obviously, things were running afoul and she was the only one that wasn’t privy to theissues. It irritated her more than she wanted to admit. Usually, she didn’t concern herself with issues her parents faced. Selfish, she kenned. However, they had always purposely sheltered her from such things, so that now it was normal for her to just leave the room when such serious conversations began.
Today was different. It appeared that the issues going on, whatever they were, involved her. And she refused to ignore it.
“I would verra much like to wish you both a good morn, but the sour looks on your faces would indicate otherwise. Has something happened?”
“Lizzie.” It was her mother that addressed her. “Some things have come to light that we need to discuss.”
