Page 94 of A Scot in the Storm
“I was about to.”
“Hm.”
Mrs. Gable slapped dough onto the board hard enough to send a puff flour into the air.
Rory lingered another moment, then appeared to remember the cord in his hand and disappeared back toward the workshop.
Twenty minutes later he returned carrying a brass file he very obviously did not require.
Abigail watched him move a mug half an inch to the left before standing there as though that explained his existence.
Mrs. Gable never even glanced up from the breadboard.
“He’s particular about paying attention to ye.”
Abigail nearly dropped the spoon in her hand.
Rory went motionless and Mrs. Gable continued kneading with the calm brutality of a woman flattening lesser mortals into pastry.
“If ye’ve something to say, lass, ye might consider telling him. Otherwise he’ll wear a path between this kitchen and the workshop afore noon.”
“I required a mug of ale,” Rory said.
Mrs. Gable looked directly at the untouched mug.
“Did ye?”
“Aye.”
“Remarkable coincidence then.”
Abigail bit the inside of her cheek so hard she winced while Rory shot her a look suggesting this humiliation somehow belonged to her personally.
Then he left again, the mug of ale still on the table.
Mrs. Gable snorted softly the moment the door shut behind him.
“He’s hopeless.”
Warmth flickered unexpectedly low in Abigail’s chest beneath all the homesickness.
Twenty minutes later Rory returned a third time, this occasion he was empty-handed.
Mrs. Gable sighed.
“Captain Sinclair, if ye continue inventing reasons to stand in my kitchen, I’ll charge ye rent.”
“The crown owns the building.”
“Aye. And yet somehow I remain in command of it.”
That appeared indisputably true.
Rory leaned one shoulder carefully against the hearth wall, favoring the injured side just enough for Abigail to notice. His expression remained calm, but once, when he shifted his arm, pain tightened briefly around his mouth before vanishing again.
Mrs. Gable caught it too.
“Sit properly,” she ordered. “Ye’ll pull the damned thing loose again reaching for nonexistent tools.”
