Page 10 of A Nameless Highland Laird
“I can see that I am nae what ye expected,” he told her once their hands had dropped. “Ye are nae verra good at hidin’ what ye are thinkin’ or feelin’, are ye?”
Her eyes went wide. No one had ever been able to read her that well. And certainly no one had ever called her out on it.
She stumbled for the right words to say, eventually landing on a sorry attempt at an excuse.
“Forgive me, Laird. It has been a long day of traveling and my father did nae give me much information about ye. I did nae ken what to expect, if I am honest.”
He nodded, clasping his hands behind his back before moving back towards the fire.
“Well, now that ye have seen me, I hope yer curiosity is satisfied. I am sure ye have had a long day of travelin’. Ye should retire to yer chambers. Dinner will be served soon and I am sure ye want to freshen up before we eat.”
His expression morphed into something expectant and impatient the longer she stood there, watching him.
“Did ye nae hear me?” he demanded. “I have many things to do and ye are wastin’ my time. I cannae afford the luxury of idle chit chat. So, go. Do whatever it is ye ladies do with yerselves. I will see ye again to eat.”
With that, he plopped into the chair that sat behind his desk. Again, she got the picture of a boy trying to play a role he hadn’t quite grown into, despite the fact that his frame fit the seat perfectly.
Not wanting to upset him any further, she nodded and turned to leave.
His rude behavior and thick brogue had her questioning what she was supposed to make of the man. The gentle tilt of his eyes made her think that he was a kind man pretending to be something he was not. Paired with the ill-fitting clothes and the utter lack of manners, and she was dumbfounded. There was no maliciousness or violence in sight, nor was he as old and hideous as others had made him out to be.
As gently as she could manage, she closed the door behind her, leaving the Laird and all of his confusing qualities in the study.
Taking a moment to herself while she could, she leaned against the wall beside the door and tilted her head back to breathe.
After two days and what felt like a never ending carriage ride, she had finally confronted the thing she had been dreading. Years of rumors and hearing only the worst about Laird Knox had painted quite the picture in her mind of the kind of man she would be marrying. Yet, after meeting him, she wasn’t sure what to think. He was nothing like what she had been told. In fact, it seemed as though he hardly knew what to think of himself. She had never seen a Laird act so strangely.
The chime of a clock somewhere told her that she had spent more time lost in her thoughts than she had been aware of. And Laird Knox had been right—after spending all day trapped in a carriage, she wanted a change of clothes and a chance to run a cold cloth over her face. If she was to be ready in time for dinner, she needed to get moving. First, she needed to find a servant who could take her to her chambers.
Stepping out of the hall, going back the way they came, Charlotte moved slowly. She wanted to take in the whole castle, at least while she could.
Not to her surprise, the inside was much like the outside walls. There was little to say of the decorations or the warmth of the place. She passed by what looked to be the Great Hall, though it was hard to tell. The tables were sparse and covered in a fine layer of dust, as though they hadn’t been touched in months. There were no tapestries on the walls or portraits of Lairds gone by. There were only swords and lances, mounted to intimidate any guests who dared to enter the castle. And it worked.
The more halls she walked, the more intimidated she became. The castle didn’t look or feel like a home, but rather the headquarters for an army. There was no other place she had seen that was anywhere as lovely as the study. She guessed it made sense if that was where Laird Knox spent all of his time there anyways.
“There ye are,” the same maid from earlier called. “I have been looking everywhere for ye. There is nae much time to lose if we are to have ye ready for dinner. Come.”
Charlotte followed the maid’s orders, trailing after the woman once again. She was impossible to keep up with, but Charlotte felt that as long as she didn’t lose sight of the maid, she wouldn’t get lost.
The journey to her chambers was shorter than the journey to the study. It was a simple three lefts from the Great Hall and a stop at the set of double doors at the end of the hallway. She committed the path to memory while the maid opened the doors and pushed them in.
“These are yer chambers. They were recently refinished so I hope everything is to yer liking. There is a sitting room to the right, with its own private entrance, as well as a room with yer tub and chamber pot to the left.”
Charlotte stepped inside, ready to take in all that the maid had described. Once again, her findings at Castle Knox caught her by surprise.
“We have already unpacked yer trucks,” the maid continued, clearly not paying attention to the fact that Charlotte was speechless. “Yer gowns are hanging in the wardrobe. Everything has been put into yer drawers. There was one trunk that yer maid insisted we left untouched so it is just there, under the window. If there is something ye would like for us to do with it, please tell us.”
Charlotte glanced over to where the maid was motioning, but her gaze got caught on the view outside the window.
“Dinner will be served at eight o’clock sharp so be sure to be ready by then. Yer maid is downstairs, getting her things situated. When I am done here, I will go fetch her so she can help ye dress. If ye need anything else, pull this cord here,” she demonstrated, “and it will ring in the kitchens. Someone will be up to help ye after. I did nae light a fire for ye as I did nae ken if ye would want one. The Laird always does, so if it is too cold for ye, just say so and I will fetch someone to tend to it for ye. Any questions?”
Charlotte’s head spun from the barrage of information. She tried to work through each of the details she had just been given, searching for anywhere a question might have popped up. In truth, she was too preoccupied with the room to think of much else.
It was simply stunning. The walls had been papered in a delicate pink floral pattern, covering almost every wall. There was a mahogany bed frame holding a mattress big enough to sleep four men without complaint. At the top was an intricate carving of a bouquet of flowers that looked lifelike. On the other end of the room was a stone fireplace, the same gray as the rest of the castle, though here, it seemed to fit. Above it was the Knox clan crest—a golden dove surrounded by a knight’s helmet. There were fresh flowers sitting on top of the recently polished vanity and a handful of other touches that made the whole room feel so cozy.
“Miss?”
The maid’s inpatient tone had Charlotte twisting to look at the woman. She looked tired, worn thin from a lifetime of hard work. Charlotte couldn’t blame her for rushing through things, not when there was such a large castle to see to.
