“She asked for a day to consider my proposal,” D’Arcy said, “but I believe she will say yes.”
“Ye asked Glynis to be your wife?” Alex felt as if he were falling down a deep well with no rope to hold on to.
“Of course not,” D’Arcy said. “I already have a wife.”
“Ye have a wife?”
“As you should, my friend,” D’Arcy said, putting his hand on Alex’s shoulder. “My dear Isabelle was with child when I left, and so we agreed that she must remain in France for the time being. Frankly, I am not at all certain your wild country would suit her.”
“If ye have a wife already,” Alex said, “then just what did ye plan to do with Glynis?”
“Make her my mistress, of course,” he said. “If Isabelle is able to join me in Scotland later, then I will make other arrangements for Glynis. I would not embarrass my wife by keeping another woman in our home while she was there.”
“Ye don’t seriously believe Glynis would agree to be your mistress, do ye?” Alex asked.
“I know you are concerned for Glynis’s welfare,” D’Arcy said. “So I want to assure you that if there are children from our liaison, I will provide for them.”
“Ye misunderstand,” Alex said, wanting to shake him for his stupidity. “I am certain Glynis believes ye are offering her marriage.”
“Marriage?” D’Arcy’s eyebrows shot halfway up his forehead. “Why, even if I were not already married, that would be absurd.”
Alex’s head felt in danger of exploding. “And why would it be absurd?”
“I could never marry that sort of woman.”
Alex grabbed D’Arcy by the front of his tunic. “Just what do ye mean by ‘that sort of woman’?”
“The sort who has affairs with you, Alexander.”
“Glynis is no that sort.” Alex drove his fist into D’Arcy’s jaw, which hurt his hand like the devil, but was very satisfying nonetheless.
“It was an honest mistake,” D’Arcy said, rubbing his jaw. “I can tell you’ve had her from the way the two of you look at each other. So no matter what you say, Glynis is no innocent.”
“We have a saying here:
“I was not disrespectful,” D’Arcy said, looking offended. “I simply made her an offer.”
“I would have thought the White Knight was too pure to look at another woman once ye had a wife.”
“No man is
“Ye will tell Glynis your true intentions,” Alex said, leaning forward until they were nose to nose.
“I did not mean to deceive her,” D’Arcy said, and took a step back.
“Ye will tell her today.”
“I will be honest with Glynis, of course.” D’Arcy raised an eyebrow. “Will you do the same, my friend?”
“I haven’t misled her.” In fact, he had made her an honorable proposal.
“Yet, I do not believe you have told the lady your true feelings,” D’Arcy said, studying him with narrowed eyes. “If I’d known them myself, I would never have approached her.”
* * *
Sorcha hid behind Bessie’s skirts when she saw the black-eyed woman coming toward them. Sometimes the woman looked at Sorcha like a mean dog that bites.
“You can go,” the woman said to Bessie. “I’ll take her to her father.”
“The mistress told me… ,” Bessie started to say, but her voice faded.
Sorcha understood how words could get stuck inside you.
Bessie left them with a long look over her shoulder. When the woman took Sorcha’s wrist, Sorcha tried to pull away, but the woman gave her that mean-dog look.
“Don’t fuss,” the woman snapped, and started dragging her down the path.
Sorcha wanted to call out for her father or Glynis, but her throat was closed tight.
“Do ye understand a word I say? Ach, how did a clever man like Alex sire an idiot?”
The woman’s voice was like her eyes, full of jagged teeth.
“The man dotes on ye like a pet,” she said. “I can’t have my husband putting his idiot child before me and the children of Campbell blood that I intend to give him.”
CHAPTER 30
Glynis stared out the bedchamber window at the distant hills as she brushed her hair. Like a child, she had spent the entire afternoon in here to avoid seeing either Alex or D’Arcy before she made up her mind. Although she knew it would be the sensible thing to do, she could not quite convince herself to give D’Arcy permission to approach her father to negotiate a marriage contract.
