Chapter 7 #2
As he walked by the room where Kate and her sisters prepared for the event, he paused for a moment and listened to them as they chattered excitedly.
This was for them, and he would do his best to make sure that they enjoyed it.
He turned to walk away, and found Hudson on the far side of the corridor.
“Let me get that for ye,” Hudson began, taking the clothes, “Now go focus on looking good for everyone else.”
“Aye,” Reuben replied, hearing a door open behind him. “Thank ye. Ye better nae be plannin’ to drink yerself to shite at the ceilidh, Hudson.”
“Oh you know me, just one pint and I’m done.” Hudson said with a laugh and walked off.
Reuben turned around, heading back the way he had come. Just as he got to the door, a small ball of yarn bounced through the crack in the door, and he reached for it. As he picked it up, he turned to see Kate step out the door behind him.
She was only partly dressed, and Reuben found himself staring at her. He took a step forward and found that he had to restrain himself. He wanted her, more than ever. He felt his body tense up, with Kate staring right back at him. Her full tender lips called to him, begged for him to make contact.
Kate stretched out a hand, and Reuben felt himself shiver. Was she offering herself to him? He would not mind taking her right there if she wanted. He reached out with his hand as well, moving slowly, so he would not scare her. As he reached her hand, she pulled away and raised an eyebrow.
“The yarn, Reuben,” said Kate.
For a few moments, her voice felt soft, like music to his ears, and as he stepped forward to put it in her hand, the Laird saw her swallow.
Her eyes seemed to long for him, yet he was not certain.
He reached for her cheek and touched it gently, rubbing his thumb across her soft skin.
It was the first time he had touched her like that, and Kate allowed her cheek to rest in his palm for a moment.
In a blink, she had ripped the yarn from his grip, and headed back to the room, leaving the Laird standing out in the corridor.
They could hear the chattering, laughing, and music even before they came into view.
Katherine could see people already dancing as she and her sisters appeared.
She had nudged Freya to her side so that when they arrived at the stairs it would be her the eyes fell on first. But it was instant that she underestimated just how beautiful they all looked, as Kate’s gaze met with that of the lady of the castle and Grear silenced the crowd at once, turning the focus on the girls.
Grear moved towards them at once, carrying the eyes of the entire room with her as the girls all descended from the stairs. “Everyone, shall I present to ye me stunning nieces who have just graced us with their presence,” she said.
“Stunning indeed, they are,” said another woman who stood next to Grear, “but I daenae recall ever seeing any of them before.”
“Oh, of course nae, they are nieces from me distant cousins thrice removed and have nae quite been here since they were but babes. It is why they daenae look familiar.”
“And probably why they look better than everyone else here,” a male voice joked and the entire room chuckled. Katherine smiled at the seeming lightheartedness of the reception.
Just as they had agreed, Grear introduced each of them: Lily became Ailith, Willow became Kenna, Freya was called Paige, and Kate was given Lilias as her name for the evening. The feast resumed with the music and those who were not busy dancing or chatting away steered towards them.
“I had nae doubt ye would look absolutely gorgeous in it,” Grear said to Kate in an almost whispery tone and Katherine smiled as she looked at her and looked down at the dress.
“Thank ye, My Lady,” she said.
“Now, please. Will it be as effortless when ye take the night and enjoy yerself? I ken ye are weary of other things but maybe let it pass for a moment so that we can show ye it is nae all gloomy in our castle?”
Katherine nodded as a woman a little younger than Grear approached and at once commented on how obviously stunning each of the girls looked from head to feet.
As she had promised, Grear appreciated the compliment and took it as being the very best her family had done.
It was a comment that yet again warmed Katherine’s cautious heart towards the lady.
Grear had not really had them appear to praise herself, she had just referred to them as family. People she cared about.
After following Grear and meeting new faces and new acquaintances – Lairds and ladies and people of seemingly high class – it was a matter of time before her sisters would detach from her and find their own way.
Kate’s eyes followed Willow and Lily furtively as they giggled away towards the music, and Freya soon followed them to mingle with the rest of the guests, talking with a couple of women whose jewelries suggested to Kate that they were not at all without means.
With the way her sister looked, unless the suitor was not there or could not see with his eyes, Kate knew there was no way that her sister would not pick the interest of someone good.
But she caught herself from thinking too much of it so Freya would not unconsciously become a plan and her sisters could enjoy being free just as Grear had said.
Not quite interested in making new acquaintances as much as her sisters were and Grear was probably hoping, Kate navigated her steps furtively away from the center of the party, moving towards the side where she could rather watch everyone else.
From where she could especially see where each of her sisters were.
Her gaze traveled from them and fell on the other person in the room whose eyes were not strange to her. Reuben was standing in a corner, a drink in his hand and his best mate next to him, but as Hudson chatted away about something, Kate felt Reuben’s eyes pin her to the spot from across the room.
She held his gaze too and regarded him as he did her.
She wondered if he was going crazy about the fact that his mother had gone ahead with the gathering even though he did not really approve.
Of course, she did not know for sure that he has been against it, but it felt like what he would, it certainly seemed to be what he was thinking as he gawked at her with intent in his eyes from yards away.
Over the sea of faces. She smiled wryly, enjoying the idea that he was frustrated and there was nothing he could do about it.
Kate held his gaze a little longer before she turned away.
She was not sure why, or how. But it was there, right there inside of her.
Kate was attracted to him. Despite what she knew, she wanted to be with the Laird.
The longer she spent with him, the more she knew it; despite her mind telling her otherwise, her heart seemed so adamantly set on the Laird, and with the way she had seen him looking at her, Kate was beginning to think he felt the same too.