Never Seduce a Scot (The Montgomerys and Armstrongs #1)(38)

She donned her haughtiest look, put her nose in the air, and continued through the doorway that led to the small accounting room where Rorie had taken her yesterday.

When she pushed open the door, to her relief, Rorie was sitting at the desk, quill in hand as she studied one of the scrolls.

Rorie looked up, blinking in surprise as Eveline stood there, arms loaded down with clothing and the blanket.

“Are you moving chambers again, Eveline?”

Eveline grinned and shook her head. She put the armload down on the desk, and then she pointed to Rorie and then gestured out the window.

“You want me to jump out the window?”

Eveline’s smile broadened and her shoulders shook in silent laughter. She pointed to herself, then pointed out the window and then put both arms together and extended them, making a swimming motion.

After that, she wrinkled her nose in distaste and gestured toward her skin and hair, pinching her fingers over her nose to get her point across.

“You want to go swimming … so you can bathe?” Rorie asked. “Do you even know how to swim?”

Eveline nodded vigorously.

“Eveline, ’tis chilly, not so much out in the sunlight, but the water will be frigid.”

Eveline shrugged. It wasn’t as if she was unused to such things. The water was just as cold at Armstrong Keep as it was here.

“Graeme won’t like this.”

Eveline frowned fiercely at Rorie and then shook her head. Then she pointed back to Rorie and then back at herself.

Rorie laughed. “Oh, you want me to go with you so Graeme doesn’t find out.”

Eveline shook her head. Then she put her hands on the desk so Rorie could see. She pointed to herself and then placed that finger on the desk and made circling motions as if it were her swimming. Then she pointed to Rorie and then put her on the desk a goodly distance away from Eveline. Once she was sure Rorie understood where she would be positioned, she picked up her hands, pointed to Rorie and then crossed her arms over her chest and put on a forbidding face and puffed up like a warrior.

Rorie threw her head back and laughed harder. “Oh my,” she said when she finally stopped shaking. “You want me to stand guard. That’s amusing. You and I are likely the two smallest lasses in this clan, save those much younger than us, and you want me to frighten away anyone who would come close to where you’re bathing.”

Eveline nodded.

“Very well, then. This might be the most fun I have all day.”

The two women went through the hall and Eveline ignored the suspicious looks cast her way. She didn’t make eye contact so she wouldn’t know of whatever they said to her, and she made certain she took a wide berth around any of the women who stood in her path.

Once outside, Eveline breathed deeply of the fresh air and turned her face upward into the sun so it could warm her skin. Rorie moved ahead of her and led the way to the gate with the watchmen’s towers.

Eveline hadn’t considered that others would have to know of their whereabouts and was mortified over what Rorie would tell them.

She was even further appalled when two men on horseback appeared with the obvious intent of escorting them beyond the gate to the river. She stared in horror at Rorie when the lass returned from her conversation with the guard.

Rorie held her hands up in apology. “ ’Tis nothing to be done for it, Eveline. Graeme has strict instructions regarding such matters. He would never allow two women to leave our gates unescorted. I’ve told the men they must remain at a respectable distance. They won’t see you. But ’tis not possible for us to go down to the river alone.”

Eveline glanced warily up at the two warriors, but they didn’t scowl at her. There was no judgment in their eyes. Nor did they seem to begrudge their duty to escort the wife and sister of the chieftain to the river.

“They want to know if we’d like to ride with them instead of walking,” Rorie said.

Eveline hastily shook her head and took a quick step backward. Panic knotted her throat as she stared up at the gigantic beasts the men sat astride.

Rorie held her hand up. “ ’Tis all right. I’ll tell them to follow behind. Come, let’s go. They’re opening the gate for us.”

*

“This whole thing is driving me daft,” Graeme muttered.

Bowen rubbed his horse’s neck and then patted it affectionately as they slowed to a steady plod.

Graeme had gone out riding with Bowen an hour before. He’d needed to take himself from the keep and clear his head for a while. The situation with Eveline was keeping him awake at night. She was keeping him awake at night.

She acted as though it was the most natural thing in the world to sleep in his bed, to curl into his side, to touch him as a wife would touch her husband.

Not that she’d become too intimate, but it was clear she was curious and moreover, she didn’t appear to be frightened of him at all. He had no idea if she had any idea of the reaction she was inciting in him. He couldn’t think she was cognizant of the normal course of happenings between a wife and a husband. Was she?

At any rate, being so near to her at night, smelling her, touching her … It was more than a man should be asked to bear. If he were another man, he’d have already gone to another woman to find ease. He would have taken a leman. But even before his marriage to Eveline, he’d been mostly celibate, because casually flipping up a woman’s skirts for a quick tumble always left him feeling … cheated.