Never Seduce a Scot (The Montgomerys and Armstrongs #1)(61)

He caught Rorie as she was coming out of their father’s accounting room and he motioned her away from the hall where she was about to enter.

Rorie frowned, her brow wrinkling in question as she let Graeme pull her to the side.

“Is something amiss?” she asked.

“Nay, I merely have a question about Eveline. She’s above stairs sleeping the sleep of the dead and I wondered what occurred today that would exhaust her so. What did the two of you do?”

Rorie sighed and pressed her lips together, her eyes completely giving away the fact that something was up.

“Rorie,” he said in a warning voice. “If you know something, you’d better speak up. You know I have no tolerance for such matters.”

“She’s resting because she’s been working tirelessly with the other women.”

Graeme frowned. “What?”

Rorie gave him an impatient look. “You cannot intervene, Graeme. ’Tis important to Eveline.”

“What is important? I vow, Rorie, you make me want to tear my own hair out at times. Explain what is about before I throttle you.”

“She asked me to take her to Nora so she could ask Nora to instruct her in the way of running the keep. She feels as though ’tis unfair of you to expect the clan to accept her when she’s done nothing to gain that acceptance.”

Graeme swore and shook his head. “She doesn’t have to work herself into the ground to prove herself. ’Tis foolishness. She is their mistress. ’Tis she who should be directing their work, not the other way around.”

Rorie nodded. “Aye, and ’tis the way it’ll be, but first she must learn and who better to instruct her than Nora? I stood there myself, Graeme. Nora agreed. Eveline was all smiles and quite happy with the accomplishment. Once I was sure all was well, I took my leave and retreated to Da’s chamber.”

“I saw her above stairs. She was clearly exhausted,” Graeme said in a grim voice. “I don’t like it.”

“She wants to fit in, Graeme,” Rorie said softly. “She wants it so much that she’ll do whatever it takes to achieve it. She wants a place in our clan, and this is how she feels she must accomplish it, whether you or I agree with her methods or not.”

“She should not have to prove anything,” Graeme said harshly.

“In that we are agreed. But Eveline does not feel that way. ’Tis important to her and so I’ll not gainsay her, nor should you. Allow her this, Graeme. What does it hurt?”

She had him there. If Eveline was happy and content, then what was there for him to say on the matter? It didn’t sit well with him that she felt she had to dirty her hands to gain the approval of the other women, but perhaps she was wiser than he.

He didn’t try to understand the workings of a woman’s mind. ’Twas a sure way for a man to remain permanently perplexed. And if Nora had indeed taken Eveline under her wing, it would bode well for her acceptance by the other women, because Nora was well thought of in the clan and her leadership role over the other women was well established.

“All right,” he conceded. “I’ll not step in or interfere in the matter. But I want you to watch closely, Rorie. If anything arises that I should know of, I expect you to bring it to my attention immediately.”

Rorie nodded her agreement.

“See that she has something to eat when she awakens. I’ll be taking a group of men hunting and won’t return until late.”

CHAPTER 29

Eveline was horrified when she awoke pressed soundly against Graeme’s body. It was obvious it was long past the sleeping hour and that she’d slept right through the rest of the afternoon and beyond the evening meal.

Her husband was sound asleep in their bed and his arms were wrapped tightly around her so that her body was perfectly aligned with his.

For a moment she sighed and hovered in that delicious state between sleep and wakefulness. It was likely close to the hour when the keep would start to come awake and begin the new day, but she was loath to move from her warm spot in her husband’s arms.

But she remembered Nora speaking the day before on when the women of the keep rose to make sure fires were set in the chambers and also the great hall, so that the chill would be taken from the rooms when the warriors began their day.

Regretfully, she eased from the warmth of her bed and quietly added wood to the hearth. There were no coals from the night before, so she had to use one of the half burned candles to add flame to wood.

Once a crackling blaze had begun and she was satisfied that her husband would wake to a fine fire, she smoothed the wrinkles from the dress she’d donned the evening before. Then she quickly pulled the rest of her hair around to braid it.

When she’d finished, she went below stairs in search of Nora or the other women. Stifling her yawn, she went into the kitchens to find Mary lighting a fire in the great hearth she used for cooking.

Eveline didn’t miss the surprise in Mary’s eyes when she looked up and saw Eveline. But it was quickly masked and she directed Eveline to set about the task of lighting a fire in the two hearths in the hall.

What she didn’t bother telling Eveline was how she was to bring the wood in for such a task. The fireplaces were huge and the logs they used were much larger than in the smaller hearths in the chambers.

Not about to let an insignificant detail such as that prevent her from performing her task, she went outside, shivering as she glanced at the predawn sky that was just starting to lighten ever so slightly in the east.