Chapter Seven Seducing The Laird
Chapter Seven
Seducing The Laird
Leopold left the next morning. Alice had watched him from the window of her chambers. He had berated the servants, put too many bags on one of the horses, and then kicked something too hard, leading him to hop and cuss in front of all the servants.
Alice had expected to feel a sense of sadness, or at least feel bittersweet that her brother was abandoning her in Scotland. He was the last piece of familiarity, though some piece he was.
She found she did not.
Instead, she had only felt a pang of nostalgia for England. She had not realized how little she would miss her own flesh and blood.
The days that followed his leaving had been much the same.
She did not miss Leopold’s outbursts. In fact, all of the staff appeared to relax once he left.
Even Evander seemed to allow his shoulders to relax when he did not think Alice was watching.
Alice got to watch his work as a laird firsthand now.
She had wondered if she would be needed to do any of the important work and had been somewhat grateful when Evander had insisted on doing most of it himself.
Instead, Alice was expected to mostly care for the keep and its inhabitants.
This, she could do.
She had, after all, been raised to be a homemaker for whoever she married.
She was doing this in a different country, but the rules appeared to be much the same.
Make the home presentable. Speak to the maids.
Treat the cook kindly. Look over the household accounts if it was necessary, which it rarely was.
Even then, Evander seemed more comfortable taking the accounts work off her hands.
“My lady,” Molly said one afternoon as Alice had been embroidering by a window. She looked up from her needlework, tilting her head at the maid. “The new tapestries ‘ave arrived. As has tae new furniture.”
Alice’s eyes widened with glee and she set the needlework to the side.
“Excellent,” Alice smiled. “Let us go.”
“Ye are all too excited fer furniture,” Molly joked.
“Some of these pieces have come from people who made the furniture dear friends back in England had,” Alice explained. “I know-I mean, I ken that they will all be sturdy.”
“Ah,” Molly said with a grin. “So ye wish to make a Scottish keep into an English manor?”
“Not at all,” Alice shook her head. “But it would not hurt me to feel more at home now, would it?”
“Nae at all,” Molly agreed. “The other maids are bringin’ everything in. I have told them tae be careful but I think they are just as excited as ye are.”
“Good,” Alice nodded. “I am glad they are excited, as long as they do not break anything.”
“I thought ye said it would be sturdy?” Molly asked.
“It is,” Alice nodded. “By English standards. They are not used to making furniture for rough-and-tumble Highlanders,” she joked. Molly covered her mouth.
“If ye were a scullery girl ye would be sent away with no pay,” Molly grinned.
“Well then is it not for the best that I am your lady?” Alice asked as she pushed open the thick doors.
“I suppose so,” Molly said.
The sitting room was filled with the new tapestries and furniture.
Where the old furniture had been handed down many generations and had made Alice’s back hurt to sit on, the new furniture was as plush as she had hoped for.
She walked over toward one of the tapestries.
She smiled and ran her hand over the needlework.
This one had been one that she had thought all too hard about when she had commissioned it.
A unicorn sat with its head on a large bush of red roses.
Around it was a field of grass and purple thistles.
The border was edged in deep red and green.
She glanced at the others. A large tree with roses blooming out the top, thistles climbing up its sides.
The final one was of a field of flowers in reds and purples. They were all perfect.
“Hang these on the walls,” Alice said, handing them over to another maid, Siobhan.
“Yes, ma’am,” the maid said, taking them from her hands.
Alice nodded and then went to inspect the furniture.
The drawers were thick, sturdy, and had the symbol of the keep carved into each of the handles.
The single chair she had ordered to sit next to the window was sturdy, symmetrical, and made of oak.
She would need to make a good cushion for it, a project she knew she would enjoy.
The final piece of furniture was the one she was most excited about.
It was a sofa, the wooden frame made of dark oak, and the seats were made of a dark red velvet.
She inspected the fabric before her eyes drifted to the embroidery along the top.
The clan’s symbol had been embroidered, in the clan colors, in the center of the seat.
She smiled, imagining sitting next to Evander on it, the crest between their heads.
Her cheeks flared pink and she stood up again.
“Excellent,” she said. “Let us put these into the right place.”
“What aboot the old furniture?” one maid asked.
“Have them moved to the back of the keep until they can be reupholstered,” Alice said. “I believe they can find new life once they are better.”
“What is the problem with them?” Molly asked. Alice frowned.
“You do not see the issues?” Alice asked.
“I s’pose nae,” Molly said. “Although I have passed these pieces daily.”
“Then you might not have noticed the slow changes,” Alice said, walking over to the old chair. “The embroidery has been entirely pulled out of this seat.”
“There was embroidery on that seat?” another maid, Catriona, asked.
“Aye,” Alice nodded. “You can see the holes where the needle made a pattern in it. It is also threadbare in some areas, and I suspect that the moths are to blame for the hole in the back.”
The maids all blinked in surprise and ran to the back.
There was, indeed, a hole.
“Well, I ‘ave niver seen that,” Molly murmured.
“I s’pose we niver looked?” Siobhan asked.
“I can hardly blame you,” Alice said. “It is at the back. It likely started small and got bigger.”
“True,” Molly nodded. “Took an English lass tae point it out t’ us!”
“I think any lady of the keep who had not lived here before would have eventually noticed it,” Alice said, the tips of her ears warming.
“Perhaps,” Molly said. “It’s good we ken now.”
“It is,” Alice nodded.
There was a soft knock on the door and another maid, Isobel, stepped in with a pot of tea, followed by another young maid who carried sweets.
“Perfect timing,” Alice beamed. “Let us all have some tea.”
She sat down on the new sofa as the maid put the tea pot on the table in front of her. Alice reached for the tea cup, and then noticed that the maids were all still standing. She looked around at them, confused.
“Why are none of you sitting down?” she asked.
“Well,” Molly started. “The laird wouldnae want us tae shirk our duties.”
Alice frowned.
“Is the laird here right now?” she asked. The maids looked confused.
“Nae,” Molly said.
“So,” Alice said. “If he is not here, does he get to have a say in how I interact with the maids?”
The maids all blinked in surprise before some of them started to laugh.
“I s’pose nae,” Molly said, her face relaxed into a smile before sitting across from Alice. Isobel, Siobhan and the other maid all joined her. Alice smiled and poured out tea for them all.
“Are ye findin’ that yer likin’ Scotland more, ma’am?” Catriona asked.
“I will answer once you give me your name,” Alice answered. It seemed she was getting bolder and bolder with the staff.
“‘Tis Catriona, m’lady,” the young girl answered.
“Well, Catriona, I do not think I ever disliked it,” Alice said. “But I will always have a soft spot for Yorkshire.”
“‘Tis understandable,” Molly nodded. “I would miss Scotland if I were ever made tae leave.”
“But I am glad we got a nice lady from this,” Catriona giggled.
“We all are,” Siobhan nodded.
“I do hope that it means there will be a bairn soon,” Isobel sighed happily. Alice tensed at those words. She glanced around at the nodding maids.
“A little lad or lass,” Molly sighed.
“Perhaps they’ll be blond, like yerself, m’lady,” Catriona beamed.
“A blond Highland heir,” Molly said wistfully. “The heir we all want tae see.”
Alice put her practiced smile on, trying to hide that her hands were tightening around her tea cup. She was holding it so hard she was sure it might break under her hands.
“That would be lovely,” Alice said. In truth, she had not been back to Evander’s chambers since her wedding night. She had attempted to go with him, but he had always insisted she’d rest better in her own rooms.
I cannot stand that he brought me here and now he refuses to touch me.
She had not realized she was so lost in these thoughts that her eyebrows had knitted tightly together. Molly noticed and put a hand on her knee.
“Dinnae worry, my lady,” Molly said. “Pregnancy will take time. Ye ‘ave only just married, and you will soon be pregnant as coupling gets easier.”
Alice looked at all of them. She swallowed hard.
“But,” she whispered. “What if…” she bit her bottom lip, her composure cracking.
“What if what?” Catriona asked.
“Is something th’ matter?” Isobel asked.
“Is there something we can help with?” Siobhan asked.
“We willnae speak of whatever ye say in this room,” Molly said. Alive looked between them all. Her heart rattled in her chest. As much as it felt shameful to say, she had no other option. She knew she could not write to her mother, not if she wanted an answer that would have been of any use.
“What if we have not… coupled… yet?” Alice whispered.
Silence descended upon the room. Alice watched as all the women seemed to take in what she had said. They looked between each other. Then they looked back at Alice who wished that the floor would swallow her whole.
“Are ye… Are ye bein’ truthful, my lady?” Molly whispered. Alice nodded, her face pink. The maids erupted into gasps. Catriona covered her mouth. Siobhan looked like she might faint. Isobel seemed angry on Alice’s behalf.
“Have ye nae wanted to?” Molly asked softly.
“That is not the issue,” Alice whispered.
“Well, then, ye must take control!” Isobel cried out, standing up.
“Aye!” Siobhan agreed. Alice tried to shush them, knowing their voices would carry out of the open door.
“The laird demands a wife for heirs and then makes no attempt,” Molly scoffed, folding her arms.
“I am sure he has his reasons—” Alice stuttered.
“Whatever his reason may be, they are nae worth puttin’ his wife through this. A wife without an heir is always at risk,” Isobel said, shaking her head.
“What if he niver lays with her?” Catriona asked, face pale.
“Please do not put that thought in my mind,” Alice said shakily.
“He would nae do that,” Siobhan said. “But that does nae mean that you should nae force the issue.”
“After all,” Molly added. “What use is a lady without an heir?”
“I can choose furniture…” Alice said meekly. The women all looked at her with varying levels of shock and pity.
“This will nae do,” Molly said. “The laird is known for being an impressive lover.”
“Pardon?” Alice asked.
“Aye,” Siobhan nodded. “Ye need t’ find out if that is the case. And if he refuses t’ lay with ye for much longer, then he will nae have the time tae help ye have a child.”
“So I need to… push him?” Alice squeaked out.
“Ye dinnae need t’ force him,” Molly said. “But there are ways tae make it more… enticing tae him.”
“Ye need t’ seduce him,” Isobel said bluntly.
“I-I do not know how to do that,” Alice stuttered. “I was raised to be a lady. To be a home maker. Not… Not a seductress…”
“That is were ye’re wrong, my lady,” Molly said, shaking her head. “T’ be a good wife, ye also need t’ know how tae seduce the man ye married.”
“Make ‘im hot an’ bothered,” Siobhan said.
“Then, when he cannae resist ye—” Isobel said.
“Makin’ a child is nae problem!” Catriona giggled and finished the sentence.
“But…” Alice whispered.
“Ye can do it,” Molly said, encouraging her. “I swear it. If ye dinnae think ye can, then that is only because ye have nae been given the proper instruction.”
“I…” Alice looked between them all. “I am about to be given the proper instruction, aren’t I?”
“Aye,” the maids said, almost in unison before laughing.
“First, ye need tae be confident,” Molly said.
“I am unsure I am capable of confidence,” Alice whispered.
“Ye will learn,” Molly chuckled.
“A man like the laird wants his lover tae want it,” Catriona said.
“Ye cannae just say ‘I want it’ and expect him tae believe ye,” Isobel said. “Actions are ye best weapon of choice.”
“Some men wish tae hunt, and others wish t’ be hunted,” Siobhan giggled.
“And dinnae forget the power ye hold when ye’re lookin’ yer best. Beauty is a woman’s sword and poison,” Isobel said. Alice looked between them all and shrank down in her seat.
“I am not sure I have that,” she whispered.
“Beauty?” Molly asked. Alice nodded her head.
“It is just if ye ken how t’ show off ye best features,” Catriona said.
“I am not well built, like the women who live in and around the keep. My hair is blonde. I do not…” Her voice caught in her throat. The women around her frowned.
“My lady,” Molly said softly. “Ye think that the laird is only interested in the women roon’ him?”
“I…” Alice stuttered.
“The laird didnae take a wife before ye, because he wasnae interested in th’ women roon’ him,” Isobel said.
“If he wanted these things, he had enough women t’ choose from,” Catriona nodded.
“So, ye dinnae need t’ compare yerself t’ what he has already decided he dinnae want. Ye’re the one he married,” Molly said firmly. “And if he ‘ad nae liked the way ye look, he could have sent ye back to England.”
“That is true,” Alice whispered. “But what if he was being too polite or honorable? What if he did not wish to stain my reputation.”
“My lady, the laird dislikes yer family and had niver met ye. It would have been nae bother for him tae send ye back with a dent te yer reputation. If anything, if ye had been like yer brother, it may have been a boon tae him tae do so,” Catriona said.
“But he dinnae do that,” Isobel said.
“So take heart, he dinnae send ye back, that means he sees something he enjoyed lookin’ at,” Molly chuckled. Alice’s eyes widened and her cheeks went a deep shade of pink.
“Would…” Alice stuttered. “Would you all help me dress for dinner tonight so I can at least try?”
The maids’ faces all lit up in excitement.
“We would be honored tae,” Molly smiled.