Chapter 12
Laura was having the time of her life.
Fenella had brought two bottles of wine with her, and they had enjoyed it in the carriage on the way to the village. They had distracted the guards with another devious ploy just long enough to sneak Laura into it, and she had crouched on the floor till they were out of sight of the castle.
Now she had lost all her inhibitions and was feeling carefree and happy in a way she had not experienced since she was a teenager.
She had stumbled her way through the first few dances, but as the steps became more familiar to her she felt herself almost floating on a cloud of music and joy.
It was refreshing in the extreme to feel so light, unchained from all responsibility, and able to do anything she wished without fear.
Of course, the wine had something to do with it, Laura realised, but so did the laughter and humour of the villagers, who were irreverent, full of mischief and unexpectedly friendly.
Laura was surprised by the attention she was receiving from the young men of the village, who seemed to have forgotten that she was—what was the word?
A Sassenach? They were eagerly teaching her Scottish words, but Eleanor stepped in to warn them when they dropped a few obscenities into their vocabulary.
“Lady Charlotte will not be happy with you!” she said, but she was laughing and shaking her head as she shooed away one of the lads.
It took Nicholas only seconds to find Laura when he walked in the village square.
She was surrounded by a throng of admirers and looked absolutely radiant, glowing with happiness as she laughed at something one of them had said to her.
He watched, as she gave him a playful punch and he pretended to be hurt, causing her to dissolve into a fit of helpless giggles.
His jaw clenched. A surge of jealousy erupted within him, and although his first impulse was to challenge the young man, he resisted the impulse and approached Laura, making a determined effort to stay calm.
When she saw Nicholas, Laura’s spirits plummeted: had he come to forcibly take her back with him? To ruin the first evening of genuine pleasure she had enjoyed for years? How had he even found them?
Then her disappointment was replaced by anger.
She was going nowhere; no one was going to take this brief interlude of pure joy away from her.
Nicholas Munro seemed bent on destroying her evening, but she would not allow it.
Yet as she looked up into his handsome face something else struck her: he would not be so determined to interfere with her life if he cared nothing for her.
Nicholas looked down into her deep blue eyes, trying hard not to be distracted by their beauty.
“Why did you come here tonight, Laura?” he asked, frowning with exasperation.
“You must have known how dangerous it was. You know who is out there. Let me take you back to safety.” He managed to keep his tone calm, even though he certainly did not feel that way.
Laura gave a bitter laugh. “I came here tonight because I needed to be free just for a few hours, Nick,” she replied.
“Because I am tired of being shadowed by you wherever I go, weary of every move I make being watched, every word I say being listened to. Eleanor and Fenella offered me a way to have fun, to dance, talk, listen to music and most of all, to laugh. I have not had to look over my shoulder all evening to see who is following me, please don’t spoil this for me. ”
Nicholas felt wretched for a moment. His intentions had been good, but he had to admit that perhaps he had been a little too intrusive and overprotective—especially for a woman who was not even his.
After all, if he had been in Laura’s shoes he might have felt the same resentment.
Yet he still desperately wanted to protect her, and the thought of harm coming to the woman he loved filled him with dread.
He sighed, then nodded slowly. “I had no intention of ruining your evening, Laura,” he said.
“I only want to make sure you are safe. You are the mother of my child, and I have a duty to both of you. I’m sorry if that causes you any distress.
I never meant it to.” He gave her a brief bow and turned away, trying to ignore the jealousy that was gnawing away at him.
Then his eyes fell on Eleanor and Fenella, both of whom were studying him intently, and he strode towards them with a thunderous frown on his face.
He stopped only a few feet away from them, then stood with his hands on his hips, chest thrust out and shoulders squared, trying to look as big and fearful as he could.
However, he was sorely disappointed in their reaction.
They merely smiled at him and wished him a good evening, and Nicholas realised that he should have known better than to think he could intimidate them.
After all, Fenella had known him for years and was well aware of the strengths and weaknesses in his character.
She knew that he was not as fierce as he liked to think he was, and now she was using that knowledge to its full advantage.
“Why did you risk Laura’s life by bringing her here tonight?” he demanded. “You know she is probably being pursued by Crowley, how could you be so irresponsible?”
The two women looked at each other, then Fenella turned to him and gave him a swift, scornful head-to-toe perusal.
“Relax, Nick,” she said mildly. “And save your theatrics for people who think they are real! We are both armed with pistols and as you know we are both excellent shots. We have brought two guards with us. Even they are having fun somewhere around here, not looking over our shoulders. Laura is as safe as she can possibly be, but we have seen to it that she is enjoying herself, as any young single lady of her age is entitled to do.”
“Indeed,” Eleanor agreed. “In fact, it is her duty to be young and carefree, as you usually are,” she said pointedly.
“Aye,” Fenella agreed. “And I know plenty of lasses around here who can testify to that!” They both nodded, and Nicholas glared at them furiously. There was nothing he could say that would ever change these mischievous women who never seemed to have grown up properly!
He turned away from them for a moment to cool down, but he could feel Fenella’s and Eleanor’s eyes on his back as if they were actually touching him, and he shivered with discomfort and annoyance.
He had come here with the best of intentions, or so he thought, but now he was being treated like someone who had committed a grievous sin.
He went to sit down on one of the benches that lined the edges of the square to watch the dancers as they moved to the rhythm of the bagpipes and violin music.
Laura was dancing with a handsome young redhead, laughing and tossing her head, going through the steps as though she had been doing it for years.
Again, he felt jealousy snake through him as he watched, but Nicholas was also astonished.
He reflected on the weeks it had taken him to learn the steps of the Dashing White Sergeant, Strip the Willow, the Gay Gordons and the Viennese Waltz.
Clearly Laura Carrington was a very adept pupil, but how he wished he had been the one to teach her.
He had been sitting watching, feeling utterly sorry for himself for half an hour or more when Fenella came and sat down beside him.
She pressed a mug of ale into his hand, then she put an arm around his shoulders and gave him a little squeeze.
The gesture caused him to look at her in surprise, since she had never, in all the years he had known her, done such a thing before.
“Relax, my boy,” she said with a fond smile. “I am not going to bite you. But I think you should dance with your lady before she becomes too fond of someone else.” She nodded towards the dance floor and raised her eyebrows meaningfully. “You can dance, can you not?”
“Of course I can!” Nicholas replied angrily. “But she seems to like her company,” he sulked.
“There is only one way to find out,” Fenella responded.
The music was ending and he drained the full mug of ale in one long draught and thumped the empty vessel down on the seat beside him, then leapt to his feet.
Though he hated to admit it, Fenella was right.
He had to stake his claim to Laura before she became enamoured with some village boy who could not look after and protect her the way he could.
He took a deep breath to calm himself down and walked over to Laura. “May I have the next dance?” he asked politely, with a quick, formal bow.
She looked startled for a moment, then frowned, wondering what his reason was for asking her, but she realised after a moment that he had no ulterior motive. He simply wanted to dance with her, and Laura could not deny that she desperately wanted to be his partner.
“Yes,” she replied simply, and gave him a warm, genuine smile, which Nicholas returned before linking her arm through his and leading her onto the floor.
The next dance was a Strathspey, which had a much slower beat than the reel which had gone before, and there was more contact between them, meaning that they were able to talk.
“I went to see the baby a wee while ago,” he said. “He seems to be doing very well.”
Laura smiled. “He is. Maisie says he has a very good appetite!”
Nicholas felt a surge of pride. “I know that he is my son,” he said as he led Laura into a spin, then put his arm around her waist. “But sometimes I find it hard to believe that I’m a father.
” He sighed. “I wish my own mother and father had been alive to meet him. Ma would have loved to hold him in her arms and sing to him just as she used to sing to me.”
The sadness in his face almost brought tears to Laura’s eyes. “It sounds as though you loved them very much,” Laura remarked. “What happened to them? If you don’t mind talking about it, that is.”
“No, I don’t,” he replied. “They were both killed in a carriage accident on the way home from visiting my sick grandmother. It was very quick—or so I was told. I was only eleven years old, and they were in their thirties. I am an only child, they lost my baby sister a few days after she was born. They were the best parents a child could have, and I have never stopped missing them. I think they would have been proud of my achievement in becoming Captain of the Guard. Ma always told me I looked like a wee soldier.” He laughed softly at the memory.
“Who brought you up after that?” Laura asked gently.
“My father’s brother and his wife,” he replied.
“They had three children of their own, a son and two daughters, so I was not short of friends, and they treated me like one of their own. But it was not the same as having my own mother and father.” There was a glitter of tears in his eyes, and he looked infinitely sad.
Then he collected himself and asked: “And your family?”
Laura gave a cynical laugh. “My parents are still alive and thriving back in London,” she answered, her voice loaded with bitterness.
“But I want nothing more to do with them. I made one mistake and they condemned me for it. They wanted me to be perfect, which of course I am not… no one is. I envy you, Nick. You had love and lost it. I never had any at all.”
The steps of the dance parted them before Nicholas could reply, but when they came together again he looked down into her deep blue eyes and saw the hurt and pain in them. He could not imagine enduring the kind of treatment that had been meted out to Laura: it sounded hellish.
The music slowed, then, because he simply could not resist her a moment longer, Nicholas pulled Laura into his arms and kissed her, sweetly and tenderly.
He cared nothing about who was watching them, but poured his heart into it and felt her eager response.
It was as if he was showing her she could still have love, and he would give it to her.
When they drew apart, she looked a bit dazed, but she gave him a tender smile, and something sweetly magical passed between them.
Eleanor and Fenella watched them, beaming and clapping their hands.
“Mission accomplished?” Eleanor asked her friend.
“It will be when we get them to the altar,” Fenella replied, “but I think we have passed the point of no return!” They cheered to that.