And every morning, Mared picked up his pillows and held them to her face, breathing in his scent. It was a funny little obsession she had, one she could not explain or begin to understand. But she was exceedingly disquieted that she found such comfort in his scent.
During the day, she went about her business as housekeeper, such that it was. She refused to sweep the foyer and told Beckwith he might take it up with the laird if he did not approve, which stuffy Beckwith assured her he would. She stuffed the silver tea service Payton had bid her to polish away in the china closet and put out a porcelain tea service instead. Any questions she might have for the lord and master of the house she merely dashed off in a letter and left for him in the silver tray. I should very much like to put up some new drapes in the salon. The red ones are so dreary and outdated.
Inevitably, a reply would be delivered to her: No. And do please stop frightening the maids with blatantly false tales of ghosts. But nothing more than that.
At night, she would go to his chamber to prepare it to meet his exacting standards for sleeping. But no matter how long she lingered there, turning the bed down, stoking the hearth, cleaning his razor strop, or arranging the closed drapes just so, he did not come.
She finally began to understand that he sought to avoid her, and it infuriated her. Not because she wanted to see him, for she didn’t in the least. It was just the idea that a man could practically kidnap a woman from her home, put her into servitude, and then go about his business all jolly and carefree as if she had ceased to exist.
Therefore, the more Payton sought to avoid her, the harder Mared tried to gain his attention.
She unexpectedly got her wish late one afternoon when she induced Rodina and Una into walking to the far side of the loch for a swim. They had suffered through a few days of unusual, brutally hot weather that had Mared chafing at the bit to be out-doors. On the far side of the loch, Mared had discovered a small cove where the loch fed into a shallow pool. It was warmed by the sun and delightfully cool on a day such as this—she knew this, for she had dangled her feet in the water on those occasions she was able to escape the house for a walkabout.
With the laird off to Callander and not expected back ’til the morrow, they’d waited until Beckwith had moved to the north end of the house, the footmen with him, and hurried out from the back terrace with a picnic basket between them and Cailean trotting alongside.
Rodina and Una wore bonnets; Mared had donned her father’s old straw hat. They walked along the seldom used trail around the north side of the loch, laughing and talking about the latest antics of the footmen and occasionally throwing a stick for Cailean to fetch.
When they reached the pool, Rodina asked for a bit of food first, but Mared was quite hot and wanted to swim. She quickly peeled off the black woolen housekeeper’s gown, and while Rodina and Una watched, she shed her boots and stockings. She paused to let her hair down. “Eat if ye must,” she said lightly, “but I prefer to swim!”
While they watched—Rodina munching on bread, Una looking terribly worried—Mared picked her way around a boulder and down a rocky path, Cailean at her side, until she reached the water’s edge. She waded in up to her ankles—it was the most wonderful sensation, cool water on her hot feet.
All smiles, she looked back. Cailean sat on his haunches, watching her, as did Rodina, who sat on a rock above the dog, still eating bread. Una stood off to the side and nervously kept looking over her shoulder as if she expected someone to catch them.
“Be easy, Una!” Mared said with a laugh. “No one will find us here! No one uses the path, save Douglas.” And to prove her point, Mared impulsively gathered up the edge of her chemise and pulled it up to her waist.
“Miss Lockhart!” Una gasped. Even Rodina stopped chewing, her eyes wide, as if she’d never seen a woman before.
Mared laughed and waded in up to her waist, then pulled her chemise over her head and tossed it onto the bank. “Stop gawking like a pair of old maids!” she called out to them. “Come on, then, and join me! The water feels divine!” And down she went, submerging herself completely in the cool loch water.
When she broke the surface again, the two chambermaids were still watching her with awe. Cailean, however, was no longer interested and had wandered back up the trail, barking at a hare or some such creature. Mared waved at Rodina and Una to join her, but it seemed they were speaking to one another, debating it.
With a sigh, Mared shrugged. She could lead them to the pool but she couldn’t make them swim—and besides, the water felt too good to fret over a couple of overly modest chambermaids. So she turned away from the bank and swam farther into the pool, alternately diving under, then rising to the top and gliding along the surface. She swam to the far side of the pool, where she turned over on her back and floated for a time.