Starting for the doors, Price moved to her other side. “I must confess that I am still in search of a bride.”
Daisy’s fingers tightened on Blake’s arm. “Is that so?”
“I remember the first night we met.” Price leaned closer. “You were the picture of feminine beauty.”
Daisy dropped her chin. “Most kind.”
Blake pulled his elbow closer to his side so that Daisy’s hip brushed his. Touching her helped calm his desire to punch the man directly in the nose.
“I’m not being kind. I’ve thought of you often.”
“Ye just didn’t bother to find her. Or help her,” he said before he could stop himself. Daisy’s step faltered.
Price paled. “That’s hardly fair. How was I to know that she needed help?”
His eyes narrowed. Had the man forgotten he’d admitted yesterday that he’d known of her predicament? If he’d liked Daisy, why hadn’t he tried to find her? “Of course,” Blake said. “My apologies.” He didn’t mean a word of that. “Ye would have swept in and rescued her if ye’d ken her plight.”
Price nodded. “Of course I would have.” He looked to Daisy. “But I am so glad to see that it’s all worked out for you. Your family is so well off and surely they’ve provided a bright future for you.”
Understanding zinged through Blake. The man was a fortune-hunter. “It’s not every day that a lord opens his lands to merchants,” he said. “I’m curious, Lord Price. Why ye’ve decided to join this business venture?”
Price glared over at him. “I am a man of business. I made that clear yesterday.”
Colin walked Rose from just behind them. “I hear you’ve purchased a seaside home,” Rose called. “Congratulations. You’re clearly doing well because, as I remember it, you only had the country estate in Berkshire. Which estate is it?”
Price ran his fingers up his face and through his hair, his hand shaking a bit. He exuded nervous energy as he shifted from one foot to the other. “You know, I am not feeling well. I think it’s the colder Scottish air. I’d like to return inside.”
“Of course,” Colin said. “Please join us for dinner, if ye’re able. Our last guests arrive this afternoon.
Price nodded and then turned back toward the house.
Rose watched him go. “That was odd. Didn’t you say he was offering land in Pembrookshire for the shipping?”
“He is.” Colin squinted as the other man left.
Blake shrugged, glad to see Price abandon the walk. “If he made a good business deal, ye’d think he’d want to brag. The man loves to discuss himself.”
Colin wiggled his brows. “That he does.” Then he stopped, looking back at Price. “Perhaps he really doesn’t feel well.”
No matter to Blake. Daisy’s hip brushed his again and he tightened with awareness.
Rose and Colin came to walk next to them. “Is he as you remember?” Rose asked, looking at Daisy.
Daisy shrugged. “I couldn’t say.”
Rose tapped her chin. “He’s as I remember. Full of himself. A strutting peacock. I’m surprised you ever fancied him.”
Something foul curled his nose. “You fancied him?”
Daisy shrugged, giving him a sidelong glance. Her fingers dug into his arm. “It was before our lives changed and we moved to Scotland. I was young.”
Her explanation made sense to Blake and he relaxed a bit. That kiss had somehow changed his feelings about her. Rather than think of her as the fire that would consume him, he’d started to believe she was the sort of steady blaze that might warm him for a long time. In short, he’d begun to think of her as his.
“Young?” Rose drew out the end of the word. “Just yesterday you called him your one true love.”
“Rose,” Colin softly, but firmly, said to his wife. “Not now.”
Blake stopped, turning toward Daisy, Rose, and Colin. Jealousy and hurt made his skin tighten on his face. He knew that he shouldn’t be upset. He had no real claim on Daisy but that didn’t stop the words from aching in his chest. Perhaps because he’d begun to believe she was different from Ailish. That Daisy was the sort of woman who could be trusted. “It’s all right. Now is the perfect time.” He looked at Daisy, whose eyes had grown wide. “You’re in love with Lord Price?”
She shook her head. “No. I’m not.”
Her forthright answer, quiet yet sure, momentarily stopped his feelings of hurt. “So you didn’t declare him your one true love yesterday?”
Her tongue darted out to lick her lips. “I…” She looked to the ground, then back up again and he didn’t need her to say the words to know what they would be. “I did.”
His face spasmed in pain and he took a step back as her hand slipped from his elbow.
Rose moved forward. “I was only teasing. Of course she didn’t love a man she’d only met once at one of her first real social engagements. She was just eager to be settled and—”
But somehow those words made everything worse. Was he just another attempt to find her future? She’d admitted no less to him. “Have you done this before where you quickly fall in and then out of love?” His chest ached. The truth…he could admit, at least to himself, was that he was falling in love with her. If she didn’t feel the same way, it really would be Ailish all over again.
Daisy paled. “That was different.”
“What was it different?” His mouth thinned as his teeth clenched.
Colin gave him a narrow-eyed glare. “Did I miss something? Last time we were all together, you were inquiring about her health.”
“You didn’t miss anything,” Blake answered, then he spun on heel and marched toward the house. He’d made a terrible mistake last night when he’d kissed this woman, allowing her into his heart.
Chapter Seven
Daisy stared at Laird Abbot as he stormed away and tried to suppress her tears. “Rose,” she croaked. “What were you thinking?”
“I…” Rose started. A shade of pink stained Rose’s cheeks. “I didn’t mean any harm.”
Colin scrubbed his face. “Rose,
