Chapter 1 #2
Eliza looked down at the food on her plate.
She had heard about the fare in coaching inns and was prepared for lumpy soup or a tasteless stew, but this was not at all what she had expected.
There was a breast of chicken smothered in a fragrant gravy with cauliflower and other fresh garden vegetables.
Slices of freshly baked bread slathered in butter sat on a platter in the middle of the table, and the whole meal looked and smelled delicious.
However, Eliza was determined not to eat. She watched as Duncan tucked into his food, then looked at her questioningly.
“Are you not hungry?” he asked.
“No,” she replied, taking a sip of wine.
Duncan gave her a half-smile and shrugged. “Have it your own way,” he said. “You are the only one who will suffer.”
Eliza took another sip of her wine and tried not to watch as Duncan ate his food enthusiastically, making appreciative “ums” and “aahs” as he bit into each mouthful.
She couldn’t believe that this man who had bought her like cattle was eating like it was any other day. She tried her hardest not to let her stomach rumble loudly.
The delicious aroma was almost unbearable, and Eliza lasted for three minutes before her stomach gave an almighty rumble. She gave up the fight and began to wolf the food down as if she were starving, while Duncan watched her out of the corner of his eyes, saying nothing and trying not to laugh.
Eventually, she cleared her plate and sat back, sated, but evidently, they had not finished, since a plate of scones and a pot of tea appeared. Duncan poured for both of them, and Eliza watched in surprise as his big hands handled the cups with great gentleness.
“Why did you buy me?” she asked abruptly. “What do you plan to do with me?”
“What does any man do with a woman?” Duncan asked mischievously, his golden eyes twinkling.
Eliza bristled with annoyance. Was he ever going to answer a simple question with a simple answer? “There are a hundred different answers to my question,” she pointed out, trying to keep calm. “Pick one.”
“You will have to give me some time to think about it,” Duncan answered, his voice irritatingly calm. He smiled at Eliza, and she responded to it with a deep frown of disgust.
She hated him. She knew it already.
Abruptly, Duncan yawned and stretched, showing off his impressive muscles, and Eliza tried not to look. However, the rest of the women in the room had no such inhibitions, and stared with open admiration at this tall, handsome red-haired stranger with the fascinating amber eyes.
“Time to go to bed,” Duncan announced.
“I’m not tired,” Eliza declared.
“You were not hungry either,” Duncan pointed out. “Look how quickly you changed your mind about that.”
Eliza said nothing, but pressed her lips together to stop herself from yawning too, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of seeing her give into fatigue.
But Duncan knew, and he gave her a sweet, but patently false grin before standing up to help her out of her chair. However, Eliza stood up before he could reach her and batted away his helping hand.
“I am quite capable of standing up myself,” she told him.
Duncan raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
A moment later, another young waitress came to escort them to their rooms, and Eliza breathed a sigh of relief; she was almost fainting from exhaustion.
Duncan tried to take her arm, but again Eliza shook him off. “Do not touch me,” she snapped.
Again, Duncan kept quiet, but Eliza had the feeling that anger was building up inside him by the fact that his face wore no expression at all.
Perhaps I have gone too far, Eliza thought, Well, so be it. She reasoned that the best policy was silence from that moment on. She would only speak when she was spoken to.
“I was only able to get one room,” Duncan informed her when they reached the top of the stairs. “The inn is full, I’m afraid.”
Eliza frowned, but nodded in acquiescence. However, when she walked inside the room, she realised that she was trapped in an impossible predicament as she looked around in horror and saw only one bed.
No, she thought. Surely, this is a mistake?
She whipped around to see Duncan surveying the chamber with a satisfied smile on his face. There was no doubt it was well-appointed and its furniture and fittings were of good quality. However, Eliza could not and would not share a bed with a perfect stranger.
“You will have to sleep on the floor,” she said firmly.
Duncan laughed, his expression one of disbelief. “Indeed I will not!” he replied. “If you feel so strongly about not sharing a bed with me, then you can sleep on the floor.”
They stood glaring at each other for a full minute before Eliza turned away and walked over to the window, wondering if there was any means of escape, but, of course, there was none.
She turned to see Duncan pulling off his shirt, and her gaze slid down his muscular chest in open admiration almost without her realising it.
Duncan grinned as he pulled on a pair of breeches and took off his kilt. “Don’t worry, I am not coming to bed naked, and anyway, as you said, I am far too delicate to do you any harm, Eliza. But if you still want to sleep on the floor, feel free. I will lend you one of the blankets from the bed.”
Eliza almost growled. “You are no gentleman,” she said angrily.
Duncan laughed as he climbed into bed and pulled the blankets over himself.
“I never said I was.”