Chapter 6
Chapter Six
“We didnae ken if anyone will be joinin’ us,” Tilly said as she led Katherine into the chambers that would be hers. “So if there is anythin’ ye need, tell me, and I will ensure we get it to ye as soon as possible.”
The gratitude died on Katherine’s tongue when she stepped over the threshold, but not because she no longer felt it.
Warmth enveloped her, the fire crackling and keeping the room from feeling cold and drafty like the quarters she’d left, the quarters she’d known for most of her life. Her breath caught when she saw the bed.
The mattress was piled high with more quilts and pillows than she’d seen in years. Some of them were thick, others thin. It was obvious that she was meant to choose which sheets would help her sleep most comfortably.
It was so overwhelming to be on the receiving end of this kind of hospitality.
“Saints preserve us,” Tilly said, all at once sounding incredibly worried.
“Is there somethin’ missin’? I assure ye it willnae be a problem at all to get whatever ye need.
” She followed Katherine’s gaze to the mattress.
Her brow furrowed further as she tried to deduce the source of Katherine’s perceived distress.
“Are they nae enough blankets? Or perhaps ye need more pillows? I’ll get them right away. ”
“Nay, nay,” Katherine said, blinking away the mist that had begun to cloud her vision. She shook her head to dislodge the tidal wave of emotions. “It’s perfect. I suppose... I wasnae expectin’ such a warm welcome.”
She hadn’t thought about the kind of welcome she’d receive at all.
It had been impossible for her to think past the auction itself.
That felt like a mix of being overly optimistic and allowing herself to dream of a fairy tale existence.
Her life had been so dreary, nothing but cold beds and unsatisfying meals, that she’d begun to think that she’d never know true comfort again.
Even considering it felt like a luxury she wasn’t allowed to indulge in.
“Ach, well, we wish we could have given ye a warmer one,” Tilly said, tilting her head to the side sympathetically.
For a beat, she held Katherine’s gaze, soft and understanding.
She brightened quickly, clapping her hands together once as she plastered a grin to her lips.
“Now, let’s get ye into somethin’ dry. Ye must be freezin’. ”
“I am a wee bit chilly,” Katherine admitted as Tilly scurried behind her and began unlacing her gown. She couldn’t bring herself to sound as though she were complaining, so she added, “But the room is quite warm.”
“Aye, that was the one thing we kent anyone would like,” Tilly said, peeling the soaked sleeves down Katherine’s arms. “As soon as I saw the water drippin’ from yer dress, I kent we were right to have started the fire when the Laird left this mornin’.”
She wasn’t sure how to respond to that. It was pure chance that she’d ended up here, yet Tilly was speaking as if they knew that it would be Katherine specifically that was coming to join them.
Any other woman at the auction could have come home with Laird MacDougal.
This room would belong to them. In fact, when they started preparing this space, it belonged to a faceless girl.
Instead, by some stroke of luck, the warmth, the mattress that was covered in more blankets than she knew what to do with, belonged to her.
“Are ye sure that isnae because of the blankets, Miss?” Tilly asked when she’d gotten rid of every soaked garment.
She ran a dry flannel over Katherine’s shoulders and down her back.
Her hand pressed against the parts of Katherine that shivered the most violently.
“I can bring ye more. It’s nae a problem, I assure ye. ”
A small, breathless, embarrassed laugh escaped Katherine’s chest. Quietly, unable to meet the maid’s gaze, Katherine admitted, “Aye. It is the blankets. And the hearth.” She slipped into dry undergarments, aided by Tilly. “It’s the quiet. I ken that they’re simple things and they shouldnae matter…”
She trailed off, feeling a bit too exposed.
The silence didn’t bother Tilly; she just continued dressing Katherine, rubbing the cold from her skin with steady hands.
As Tilly carefully laced up the back of the fine, green dress, she said, “Life is made up of simple things. Each and every one of them matter. I ken exactly what ye mean. I am glad that we could give ye some of them.”
When Tilly came around in front of her once more, carefully braiding her hair to tame the wet mess into something presentable, Katherine offered her a grateful smile.
She wished her background was better, that she didn’t feel shame for circumstances beyond her control.
She wished she didn’t feel smaller than a child at this moment.
It was hard not to when she was standing in such a beautiful castle, in such a lovely room.
“There we are,” Tilly chirped when she was satisfied with her work. She looked over Katherine’s form, an approving hum vibrating in her chest. “I daenae think there’s much more I can do for yer hair, but at least yer in dry clothin’. Ye’re warmer now, aye?”
“Aye, much warmer,” Katherine confirmed, her cheeks still pink. She believed it was faint enough now that it could be blamed on the cold leaving her body. “Me hair bein’ a bit damp doesnae bother me.”
“Good,” Tilly said as she grabbed hold of Katherine’s wrist. Her grip was firm, warm. “Now, let’s be off, Miss. Laird MacDougal doesnae like to be kept waitin’.”
Of course. The Highlands may collapse if yer gracious Laird is kept waitin’ another moment.
* * *
“Me Laird,” Tilly said, prim and respectful. Her footsteps were light but precise, her enthusiasm for the new position he’d granted her clear. “I’ve come with Miss Katherine as ye requested.”
Without looking away from the forms he was drafting, Liam said, “Send her inside.”
A few seconds later, Katherine shuffled through the door. She was quiet, seeming to attempt to move without even disturbing the air around her. The green of her skirt swaying with the turn of her hips caught his eye, finally drawing his attention from the parchment. His breath nearly caught.
The color looked perfect on her, making the pinkness of her skin and the green of her eyes stand out.
It looked as if it were nearly the same shade as her irises, like the grass in the sun, the foliage in the forest after a terrible storm.
Although the gown wasn’t tailored for her, it fit her body perfectly in all the right areas.
The gentle curve of her hip, the fullness of her breasts, and the prominence of her collarbones were all highlighted.
For a heartbeat, he forgot that he didn’t trust her, that he shouldn’t notice the shape of her beneath her gown.
“Ye wanted to discuss me duties,” she said, filling the silence as if she couldn’t stand the weight of it.
Her voice, the one that had sung in the face of adversity, brought him violently back into the present situation.
“I’m quite capable of learnin’ anythin’.
It doesnae matter what. But I’m quite skilled at needlework and mendin’.
And I ken that ye probably want to have an heir as soon as?—”
“Katherine,” he said, stopping her chattering before she could work herself into a frenzy.
That was something he was sorely ill-equipped to manage.
He waited for a moment, closing his eyes and enjoying the silence since he was sure his quiet moments were going to be severely limited from now on.
When he opened them again, he caught her gaze.
“This is nae a marriage in the sense that ye believe it to be. It is an arrangement.”
“An arrangement,” she repeated, grabbing at the front of her skirt nervously. “Our marriage is simply an arrangement.”
“Aye,” he confirmed, gesturing at the seat across from him.
When she settled into it, he continued, “I daenae want ye at me side, nor do I want ye under me feet. If after the bindin’, me council presses me for an heir, then that will be the only duty ye owe me.
But that is nae now, and it willnae be anytime soon. ”
She nodded, her nose scrunching as she thought much more loudly than anyone else he’d ever met. He could practically hear every question that she didn’t ask. It was as though a buzz filled the space.
Then, after a few seconds, she muttered, “Then I daenae understand why I’m here. Is it simply, so ye can say ye have a wife?”
“Ye are here for one purpose,” Liam said, leaning forward with his palms resting on his desk.
He knew the posture was intimidating, but if he was not firm here, he was sure she’d always be searching for a way to challenge him.
“And ye have three weeks to prove to me whether or nae ye can fulfill it, or ye will be returned. Ye and I arenae husband and wife. We are partners in obligation. Do ye understand?”
“Aye,” she said after a beat, a mix of complex emotions running over her features before they all faded away into carefully constructed neutrality.
He watched her as she sank back into her seat. The woman was eager to please; that much was obvious, but he couldn’t quite reason why. Perhaps that was simply her nature. She’d gone out of her way for his grandmother without knowing a single thing about her.
“Good,” he grunted as he narrowed his gaze. He’d pushed her into submission, but it didn’t feel anything like a victory. “Ye are to care for me daughter. That means teachin’ her readin’, writin’, sewin’, cookin’, and proper conduct. Are ye capable of doin’ that?”
Katherine stared down at her hands in her lap, her body shaking slightly.
He raised an eyebrow as she took a slow, shuddering breath.
She lifted her chin, but she seemed to make herself smaller.
She seemed almost shy when she said, “I am more than capable. I… I have no dowry, nothing else to offer but me services. Me father is drowning in debt.”
His jaw tightened slightly. He inhaled slowly, letting the breath out in a measured exhale. “And so he brought ye to that gatherin’.”
“Aye,” she said softly, refusing to look away though he could tell speaking so frankly terrified her. “Me father lost nearly everythin’. I was simply the last thing he had left to bargain with.”
This time, she seemed to embrace the silence that followed, pulling even further into herself. Finally, she tore her eyes away from his and looked at her folded hands. She hadn’t wanted this either, Liam realized. And she was conceding a fair bit of pride in admitting it.
“I’m his only survivin’ daughter,” she continued, speaking directly to her lap.
It was almost as if she was forcing each word from the depths of her soul.
“Me mother and sister died from his neglect. Havin’ twins was too much for me mother’s body, and me sister came out sickly.
I was lucky enough to be the healthier of the two of us.
Because I lived, I became his burden,” she said as she finally met his eyes once more.
He could see her discomfort at sharing something so personal, but there was something else beneath it, too.
Something that looked a lot like fear. “I daenae want to go back to him. I will do anythin’ to prevent it.
So I will care for yer daughter as if she were me own. That, at least, I can promise ye.”
Something about her tone, the way she was clearly summoning every bit of bravery she had, softened something in Liam without his permission.
It was unfamiliar, and he shifted as he dismissed the discomfort.
She knew nothing of the life she was stepping into, regardless of how truthful she was being.
We will see how well she adjusts.
“Then I look forward to seein’ what ye do,” he said, picking up a quill to keep himself from reaching out to her. “But it is best ye remember why ye are here.”
“I willnae let ye down,” Katherine promised, occupied with her hands in her lap again. She was quiet, contemplative.
“Ye have the rest of yer life in front of ye to prove that ye’re up to the task,” he said, writing a singular word on the parchment in front of him even though his mind was anywhere but the work in front of him. “But the next three weeks are the most important. Do ye understand?”
If asked, he wouldn’t be able to articulate why he was giving her this concession. Perhaps, he felt as if it were the least he could do in exchange for her brutal honesty. He liked to consider himself a fair leader.
“Aye.” She looked up at him once more, a soft smile on her face. “When do I get to meet the darlin’ child?”
Despite himself, the corner of his mouth lifted at the mention of Agnes. He put his quill aside slowly and deliberately, schooling his expression back into detachment. His tone reserved, he said, “We can have the first lesson now. She’s in the solar with her maid.”
“N–Now?” she stuttered, sitting up straighter in her seat. “I havenae planned anythin’. I daenae ken where to begin. I?—”
“I’m nae expectin’ ye to give a full, proper lesson today,” Liam said, rising from his chair and watching her expectantly. This test was less about the content of her instruction and more about how she performed under pressure. “I just want to see how ye work with her.”
Her face pale, Katherine nodded and fell into step behind him. As he led her through the corridors, he wondered again if he hadn’t made a terrible mistake. He had already softened his rules for her, and the three weeks of trial were quickly turning into a three-week training period.
This was already out of me control the second I allowed me grandmother to convince me to go to that auction.