Page 39 of In Bed with a Highland Brute

Murdoch sighed as Avery walked off to find Callie. Last night, the dance and Murdoch carrying Eloise away was clearly not enough to prove to Avery that there was something between them.

We shall have tae continue this act and make it even more convincing than before if we are tae avoid Eloise’s secret coming out. What would Avery say, I wonder?

Murdoch was shaken by the need to protect Eloise’s secrets as much as his own.

The scent of soap, tallow, and lavender filled the air as Eloise dropped the soap bar back down to the side of the copper tub and sat back. Resting her head on the lip of the bath, she inhaled deeply, allowing the steam to fill her lungs. The warm water enveloped her completely, soothing any sore spots after dropping to the floor the night before and pretending to faint.

What a night.

Her mind couldn’t rest on one thing. She either dwelled on Avery’s expression as he had walked into the feasting room and seen here there, sitting beside Murdoch, or she thought of the way that she and Murdoch had played chess for hours, talking and laughing together in the library. For a few minutes in that room, there had been no wall between them, no awkwardness. Everything had been easy, and it was all too easy to drop off to sleep.

She couldn’t remember making it back to the bed, but when she’d woken that morning, the pillow wall was still in place.

He didnae disturb it. He kept tae his word.

Rather frustratedly, she had tossed the pillows away herself when she had found she was the only one in bed, and he had already risen.

Oh, in the name of the wee man, why can I nae stop thinking of him?

She plunged her head under the water, praying that the heated water would dispel her thoughts of him. Momentarily, it was a relief, until she thought of Murdoch again, then she thrust her head back through the water.

“This is hopeless,” she muttered, wiping the water free of her eyes.

A sound in the chamber drew her attention. Turning her head in the bath, she tried to strain her neck to see around the screen, but it was too vast for her to glimpse beyond.

“Is that ye, Ethel?” she called softly to the maid who had helped to prepare her bath, expecting the maid to appear around the screen, but there was no answer and no sound of running feet toward her.

It must have been in me imagination.

Eloise sat back against the edge of the bath once more and reached for the soap, cleaning her legs that she raised out of the water and dropped back down again. The rich lavender scent filled the air, and she did her best to concentrate on that scent to halt her thoughts of Murdoch.

Little good this is doing me.

That sound came again, of a floorboard creaking beneath someone’s foot.

Eloise sat forward, certain that this time she didn’t imagine such a sound. It was even more obvious when someone walked into something. Was that a thud? A light tap? Eloise’s eyes shot to the screen that covered her.

She strained here ears, praying it was the maid.

The sounds of somebody moving around fell silent.

Eloise felt an anger burning in her gut. She should not be made to feel frightened in what was now considered her own chamber. Placing her hands to the rim of the bath, she pulled herself out of the water and climbed out, reaching for a cloth and hurrying to thread it around her body, to dry the worst of the water. She moved so fast, so haphazardly, that she didn’t bother to do the job properly. Her wet tendrils hung down the back of her neck, dripping a puddle behind her, and her wet feet padded fresh marks as she moved to the edge of the screen.

Peering around the edge of the screen, the one closest to the wall, she stared across the chamber. Surely, there had to be someone to have caused those sounds? She saw no one, but the door was open.

Stepping back behind the screen to hide, she breathed deeply.

It is my imagination, aye, that is all. Did I nae wake last night with the feeling I was being watched? My mind is playing tricks on me, I am certain!

That floorboard creaked once more.

Determined to catch whoever it was, Eloise stepped out from behind the screen, her eyes shooting to the far side of the chamber. It was dark, shadowy, for the maid had covered most of the windows so that Eloise could bathe in peace. By the bed, Eloise could just make out someone crouched by the bed.

Is someone trying tae hide under the bed?

Eloise reached for the fireplace behind her, her hand grappling for some weapon. She found the poker and silently lifted it from its place, holding it high in her hands as if it were a sword. It was so heavy, both hands had to grapple with the metal handle, meaning the towel wrapped around her body slipped away, falling to the floor.

Hardly caring, she stepped over the towel, moving through the shadowy room toward the figure at the bottom of the bed She didn’t bother to call out anymore, but kept that poker high, ready to strike if she needed to.