“Adam?” he heard Rachel call out to him, and he realized it had been some time since they had spoken, as Darfield was already in sight.
“Aye?” he replied, looking back at her.
“You’ve been… quiet. I mean, I know that is normal for you, but at the same time I just wanted to make sure everything was all right?” She spoke softly, with hesitation, and Adam realized she likely had been questioning herself to the same extent as he was, if not more so. He cursed. He should have been more understanding, more reassuring following their time together in the cabin.
“All is fine,” he said, trying to flash what he hoped was a reassuring smile back at her. “How do you feel? I didna hurt your leg at all, did I?”
“I feel just fine,” she answered, though he could see the bright blush creep up her cheeks. “Physically, I mean, more than fine. However, I do feel somewhat… confused. What becomes of us now? What happens from here?”
He reined in his horse so that they were side by side, allowing him to look at her, truly look at her, while they spoke. He took in the crystal blue of her eyes, which were now wide and searching, as if she expected him to hold the answers to all of the questions that now plagued her.
“Do you think your father would allow you to stay here? If you should want to, that is? I know you talked about working, and if you stayed here — with us, with me — there would certainly be work, though perhaps not exactly what you had in mind.”
“What are you saying?” she asked, and he swallowed hard. What was he saying? Was he actually asking her to stay here with him — to marry him? For that’s what it would mean, of course, were she to stay in the Highlands because of him.
“I — I suppose I am asking you to—”
“Rachel!” The voice cut through the trees around them, causing them both to jump. They had been so intent on one another and their conversation that they had not heard the horse approaching.
“Darling, I have been ever so worried about you!” It was Vincent Thompson, damn the man. If there were anyone he wanted nowhere near the two of them in this moment, it was this man. And yet, here he was.
“Vincent,” she said, nodding her head at him as he rode up and stopped shortly in front of them. “You needn’t have worried. I was in good hands.” She smiled at Adam, and he thought he felt his heart stop beating for just a moment. What was wrong with him? Never would he have thought that a woman could have this sort of effect on him, especially an Englishwoman. His brother Callum had married an Englishwoman and they had all thought him slightly mad. Now here he was, pining over one himself.
“We knew you were to arrive today, and then the storm blew through. We were worried, and I told your father I would ride out to see to your safety,” he said, as he pulled the reins to lead his horse around so that he came between Adam and Rachel.
“How did you suppose you would find me?” she asked him, looking up with confusion. “And if you did, what could you have done that Mr. McDougall could not have?”
He didn’t seem to have an answer to that, but simply held his somewhat large nose high in the air and sent his horse forward toward Darfield.
“Thank you, McDougall, but I can take her from here,” Vincent said, without so much as turning to look at Adam, though he could see Rachel try to peer around the man to catch his eye. It didn’t seem she was as eager to get rid of him, which he was grateful for.
“If you dinna mind, I will accompany you,” Adam said. “I have some business to attend to with Rory.”
He did have to speak to Rory, but he also needed to find time to speak with Rachel alone before she could leave.
Vincent shrugged his shoulders, as if to say that Adam’s activities were of no consequence to him, and together the unlikely trio rode down the hill into Darfield’s yard.
The great hall of the keep was rather loud with the many visitors, as well as Darfield’s own servants bustling to and fro as they fed everyone in a timely manner. As Adam entered, he nodded to Rory, who was standing against the brick wall, his arms crossed over his chest as he kept an eye on all that was happening in front of him.
Adam walked over to him, but before he could say anything, he was intercepted by Rachel’s father.
“McDougall!” the robust man said, extending an arm toward him. “Thank you for seeing my daughter home, though you are a bit tardy, are you not? Well, never you mind. Come, have a drink with me. I have business I would like to discuss with you.”
Business? Adam looked to Rory to see if he knew what this was about, but Rory just shrugged his shoulders, looking as perplexed as Adam himself. Trenton led him over to a place at one of the long tables, where Vincent and Rachel sat. Adam really had no desire to sit with the three of them, but he didn’t see any way of escape.
“Now, boy, I’d like to tell you a bit of our business,” he began, and Adam raised his eyebrows. Boy?
“I know some of it,” he said slowly. “You own a power plant in London, do you not?”
“I do,” said Trenton, seeming somewhat surprised Adam knew of him, but waved his arm. “You know how the business works then?” Seeing Adam nod, he continued. “We’ve made great inroads in the past couple of years but as we grow, so do our competitors, who are numbered and just as innovative. I’m looking to expand in ways
