Page 22 of A Nameless Highland Laird
He knew that she was just beyond the double doors, that all it would take was for him to knock. And from what he had seen this far, he doubted that she would refuse anything he asked of her. The problem was figuring out how to ask.
He paced outside of the doors for several minutes. One idea would come to him, offering the seemingly perfect words, but right before his knuckles would make contact with the wood, he would panic and toss the idea aside. Eventually, he got annoyed with himself. He was never one to second guess himself this much. While he rarely did things correctly the first time, he was a fast learner. This was just another opportunity for him to find out more about the woman on the other side of the door.
With a deep breath in, Cameron finally knocked three times. They were loud, confident knocks that hid the nervousness he felt. He could only hope that the right words would come to him once Charlotte answered.
“Laird Knox,” an older woman greeted with a curtsey, “we were nae expecting ye. Is there something my lady can do for ye?”
Cameron hesitated, taking the maid in. She was much shorter than him, her back arched from age. Yet she somehow managed to exude more authority than he did. Finding his courage, he cleared his throat.
“Aye. I was hopin’ that she would like to join me for a walk in the gardens. It is a bonny day and I would hate to waste it inside.”
The maid nodded, her fingers still wrapped around the edge of the door.
“I will ask. Give me a moment, please.”
He gave her a single nod before she shut the door again, disappearing inside. He strained trying to hear what was being said, but the walls and the wood were both too thick for him to make anything out besides a few mumbles. Nervousness threatened to boil up inside him again. Instead of pacing, he folded his hands behind his back, willing himself to stay still and calm.
It only took a moment for the door to open again. This time, it was Charlotte herself pulling the handle.
“A walk in the garden sounds lovely. Thank ye.”
She flushed pink as she smiled at him, making his own ears start to warm. He never thought that a woman could make him feel quite so many things at the same time.
“Elizabeth is fetching my wrap and then I will be ready,” she told him, explaining why they were still waiting in the hallway.
“Alastair assured me that I will nae need my jacket outside today. It seems that the sun is out and shining. Hopefully he is right.”
Charlotte smiled again, this time a little wider.
“Here ye are, lass.”
The maid, Elizabeth, draped a warm plaid over her shoulders and gave her a nudge out of the doorway. Charlotte looked just as flustered as he felt as the door to her chambers clicked shut behind her.
“Shall we?” he asked, trying to remember what Alastair had told him about not letting things get too awkward too quickly.
He offered her his arm, pleased when she placed her hand in the crook of his elbow.
They walked through the castle in silence, but for the first time, this quiet held no trace of awkwardness or tension. He got the feeling that she was too busy studying the castle to pay attention to the fact that he was still trying to think of ways to start a conversation with her.
It wasn’t until they were outside and into the garden that she looked up at him again. He could feel her gaze on his face without turning to look at her too. It gave him a bigger sense of awareness. Suddenly, he could feel every hair on his head, the way his shirt clung to his skin, the way his feet shifted in his boots. All because she was watching him.
Again, he cleared his throat. The silence between them had gone on too long. The entire point of their walk was so that they could get to know each other better. He had to say something.
“It seems as though Alastair was right about the weather,” he commented, looking up at the clear blue sky.
“Aye. It is a lovely day. Thank ye for inviting me to walk with ye.”
“As I told yer maid, the weather is too nice for us to stay cooped up inside. I always feel so stiff and stuffy inside the castle.”
She nodded, looking out at the array of daisies they were walking beside.
“It can be hard to fully relax when yer every move is being watched by servants and maids. I often would escape my father’s castle by disappearing into the gardens.”
“Och, that cannae be good for me,” he said with a laugh.
“Why nae? What is wrong with enjoying the garden?”
“It means that ye will ken more about the flowers growin’ in my own garden than I do. I am sure to look foolish to ye if I try to say anything about them.”
