Page 34 of A Highland Lass for the English Duke

Annice's brows were on end, and Lissie could not help but think how comical she looked just then. But the situation was anything but a joke.

Giving her a quick dig, Annice shoved Lissie forward to receive the callers who were arriving.

Slowly, Lissie's mind cleared. She remembered.

She had nodded off in the great hall over morning calls. Now it came back to her.

"Morning calls" seemed to be a Sassenach thing. Since arriving here, Lissie had been submerged in the strange world of English etiquette.

It was not something she was used to. Apparently, every day started with a dismal stream of visitors, none of whom seemed to have anything to say to her, and deteriorated from there forth.

Now her days were spent in mind-numbing conversations with unsuitable men. And if she were really unlucky, they would try to accompany her on rides or walks.

It was all too clear that these callers were only appearing to gawp at her, and sometimes, to mock her.

Today was no exception. No sooner as her eyes were wide open again, a caller was being thrust toward her. With a sinking heart, Lissie saw it was Andrew.

"Lady Elisabeth!" he gushed, bowing foppishly in front of her. Immediately, his fussy headdress shot off. Lissie tried her hardest not to giggle. At least it was not her clumsiness on display for a change.

Andrew struggled to retrieve his headdress, a chaperone that seemed to have come apart at the edges and was now unfurling in one long strip of fabric.

Lissie could not help cast an eye over the not-so-young man in front of her. He was a dull and pale Englishman with hair the color of dust and a complexion to match. His headdress hid a bald patch the size of Salisbury Plain, and Lissie would not have been surprised to find attendant druids to match.

Yet somehow, Andrew, first earl of somewhere—Lissie had never taken sufficient notice of where precisely—was under the misappropriation that he was a fashion icon.

Lissie watched as he primped and preened his way about town, for she had had the misfortune of his company several times by now. And each time, he appeared in an outfit even more outlandish than the last.

This particular morning he was draped from head to toe in a houppelande so extravagant it threatened to submerge him entirely. But doubtless, the expense was immense. Even Lissie stopped to admire the sheer silk fabric draped across the floor—in intense dark reds and slashed to reveal a fur interior.

And the chaperone, well, now that he had it reassembled, it was impressive indeed. Except it was at least twice the size of his actual head and with a large plume that nearly poked her in the eye when he extended his hand toward her.

"Lady Elisabeth," said Andrew, making a huge show of bowing toward her. "May I say how splendid thou art are this morning; thou art a full and comely creature indeed!"

An immediate tinkle of giggling from behind her, made it clear that the London ladies thought this hilarious.

It was.

What was even more hilarious was that Lissie was expected to court him.

"Um, I thank thee," said Lissie, hoping that Andrew's headdress would once again unfurl and maybe this time gag him. She was desperately bored.

Nodding across the hall, Lissie wondered when she would ever be released by her cousin and be free. It was only mid-morning, and she was flagging fast.

Lissie sighed as Annice shook her head that there were more callers, and Lissie should take them. With a weary smile, Lissie turned to Andrew.

She was just about to speak when the double doors to the chamber flung open, and a sudden hush descended on the room.

From the corner of her eye, Lissie could see that something had happened. Desperately, she wanted to turn her head to observe who had come in. But she couldn't without being seen as desperately rude.

Andrew must have noticed the hullabaloo because he looked caught off balance. Then again, that could have been something to do with his poulaines. Lissie wondered how he even walked in them with a pointed toe so long and crimped they seemed certain to overturn him.

Judging by Andrew's face, all was not well. Lissie could not help it. She turned her head toward the door.

And then she saw him.

Will.

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