Aye, she’d find her way there, even if she had to walk.
Mared sighed wearily, tucked the phial down into her bodice, walked over to the thick glass-paned window and gazed out over the broken tiled roof of the observatory below her, to the crumbling stone fence, and the lush green land around Talla Dileas. She noticed through the heavy mist a dark shape taking form on the road. She squinted at it. Then frowned. It was a carriage, pulled by a team of two, and as it drew closer, Mared could make out the lanterns swinging atop the conveyance and the gilded markings on the door.
Him again. She tilted her head back and sighed heavenward, wishing he wouldn’t call on Talla Dileas so freely. Nevertheless, she hurried to her vanity to comb her hair and pinch some color into her cheeks before she went down to find out why he was calling today.
By the time she had marched through the maze of corridors and rooms of Talla Dileas, which was the result of centuries of Lockhart lairds putting their mark on an old castle, to the old great room that now served as their salon, she heard laughter within and rolled her eyes.
She pushed open one of the ancient thick oak doors and stepped inside.
The room was bright and cozy, a fire of peat blazing at the hearth. Inside were her sisters-in-law—Ellie, blonde and blue-eyed like her daughter, sitting prettily on the settee, and Anna, the dark-haired, brown-eyed beauty in an armchair, her hands protectively on her belly, which was beginning to show her pregnancy. The two women were laughing, which wasn’t unusual—they had become fast friends since Anna had arrived in Scotland. What was unusual was that they were laughing with Payton Douglas and his cousin.
In fact, the haughty Miss Douglas was actually smiling a little as she sipped tea from one of the few china teacups that had not been sold or broken in the last few years. And Payton…Mary, Queen of Scots, he was holding Liam and Ellie’s baby son, Duncan, in one arm.
Mared was marching forward before she realized it.
Ellie, who had traitorously handed her precious bairn to a Douglas, was the first to notice Mared’s arrival.
“Mared!” she cried happily, and everyone turned to look at her, including him, who smiled broadly, as if it was quite common for him to be in their salon, sipping their tea, holding their children.
“Oh, Mared! Look who’s come to call!” Anna said, moving to find her feet. Naturally, Payton was instantly at her side, the baby in one arm, his hand beneath Anna’s elbow, helping her up.
Mared halted in the middle of the room and dipped into a rather shabby curtsey and found a smile for Payton’s cousin. “How do ye do, Miss Douglas? Welcome to Talla Dileas.”
She nodded stiffly.
“Miss Lockhart, what a pleasure,” Payton said, bowing low as Duncan grabbed for his lapel. “The very sight of ye warms our hearts, it does,” he said, and as he rose up, he winked at her. Winked.
“How lovely,” Ellie murmured.
“How preposterous,” Mared muttered and frowned at her nephew, who was gurgling up at Payton. “What is this, milord? Do we owe ye our firstborn grandson as well?”
Payton chuckled and looked down at the baby and began to bounce him in his arms. “If I had my druthers, Miss Lockhart, I’d fill the whole of Eilean Ros with a dozen bairns just like this wee one.”
“Payton, really,” Miss Douglas laughed. “Ye are too bold.”
Bold, he was indeed, but curiously, it was the first time Mared had ever heard him express such a sentiment. For some reason, as she stood there watching him hold Duncan high above him and coo in Gaelic that Duncan was a wee fat lad, she could very well imagine him in a house full of wee fat lads, and the vision gave her a peculiar and warm little shiver.
“Lord Douglas has brought us tea, Mared,” Anna said, pointing to a box of it on a small end table. “Isn’t that lovely?”
“Tea?”
“Aye,” Payton said, as he handed Duncan back to his mother. “A wee bird told me that ye were in need of it. Sarah and I would share ours.”
“How…unusually thoughtful,” Mared said, taking a seat next to Anna. “Mother will be particularly grateful for it, for she’s no’ had a decent cup of tea in a fortnight.”
Payton politely inclined his head. “Ye are more than welcome.”
“Won’t you please be seated, my lord?” Ellie asked, having handed off Duncan to Lucy, the only ladies’ maid they could afford, and the only ladies’ maid who would agree to be Duncan’s nurse as well. Lucy tickled the baby’s belly as she took him from the room.
With a smooth flip of his tails, Payton seated himself directly across from Mared on a long divan that was in desperate need of reupholstering. The old piece of furniture contrasted sharply with the new divan at Eilean Ros.