| |
Selina slipped out of the servant’s entrance, carrying a small basket and her breakfast wrapped up in a piece of linen. She rested the basket along with a book on a bench outside of the garden. The fresh morning air and the music of the birds beckoned her to enjoy her breakfast in the splendid glory of the garden. Without realizing where her steps took her, Selina wandered toward the bench where Duncan had held her in his arms and given her a decadent taste of the passion flowing between them.
She settled on the bench and nibbled away on the pastries the cook had prepared for her. She wanted to avoid another disappointing morning where the other ladies didn’t extend an invitation for her to join their breakfast ritual. Also, she wished to evade her father and his morning lectures on how to instigate herself into Colebourne’s household. Selina couldn’t endure breakfast with Lucas ignoring her, the pity glances of Colebourne and Lady Forrester, and the piercing gaze of Duncan. Already one week into her stay, and her upcoming position in the family had been no more accepted than before.
A rabbit scurried out from behind the bushes and paused nearby. He nibbled on a blade of grass, oblivious to Selina’s dilemma.
Selina sighed. “What am I to do?”
Her spoken whisper startled the rabbit. It bounced away, on to a quieter destination. Oh, how Selina wished she could do the same. Unfortunately, her destiny awaited her, no matter how hard she tried to resist it. Which left her wondering if she could surrender to the passion Duncan tempted her with and discover where it might lead them. Once she declared her vows to Gray, she wouldn’t dishonor them. Since Gray and Selina were bound to a promise now, was it still dishonorable? It didn’t stop Gray from holding affections for another, nor would it stop him after they wed. Gray would continue to love Abigail Cason. So why shouldn’t Selina create special memories to treasure in the years to come? Perhaps then she could endure the loneliness her marriage to Gray would eventually succumb to.
A throat cleared. “I see I am not the only one Cook sneaks her best pastries to.”
Selina smiled at the friendly gentleman from the day before. “Shh. Another secret of mine I must ask for you to keep.”
He winked. “I shall guard your secrets for a peek at what Cook gifted you with this morning.”
Selina patted the spot next to her. “Only if you promise to share if your fare is tastier than mine.”
He chuckled. “Ah, a lass who knows how to negotiate. Whatever gentleman wins your heart will always have to be one step ahead of you.”
Selina’s smile disappeared. She knew he meant no harm in his comment. However, it only drove home the point of her demise. She swiftly regained her smile at his frown of distress. Her own distress wasn’t to make him feel uncomfortable.
She opened her linen to display the few pastries she had remaining. “I am afraid I have little to offer you. They were much too delicious to stop from passing between my lips.”
He sat down, opening his own linen. “I must confess I ate a few of mine on my trek from the kitchen.”
“Oh, Cook must favor you more. She gave you her treasured apple-filling pastries.”
“Ahh, lass, I disagree. She favored you with her cream-filled ones coated with sugar. You are obviously her favorite.”
Selina giggled. “Perhaps since we like the other’s treats, I can persuade you to switch linens.”
“Ah, my lady, I need no persuasion if you are offering those delicious apple treats.”
She passed over her linen to him. “Please, call me Selina.”
“Then you must call me Ramsay.” He offered his linen to Selina.
“With pleasure.” She bit into a pastry, and her eyes closed as she enjoyed the savory treat. “Mmm, most divine.”
“I could not agree with you more. So what draws you outside this fine morning? I bet the spread inside is much grander.”
“But not the company,” Selina muttered.
Ramsay laughed hard. “No, I do not suppose so.”
Selina blushed a bright red. “Oh, please forgive my bluntness. It was most unladylike of me.”
“’Tis no need to apologize, lass. I am well aware of the company and fully understand your need for a peaceful morning.”
“’Tis not as if they are ...”
“Selina, lass. Like I said, no explanation is necessary. So were the pastries worth the trade?”
Selina licked the sugar off her fingers. “Very much so.”
Ramsay nodded, relaxing back against the bench. “Excellent.”
They shared their breakfast, enjoying the silence of the morning. Before long, Ramsay started sharing stories of his life in Scotland. It sounded like a glorious place to live. One without the stricture of society and its rules to act the proper lady. Selina longed to venture to such an uninhibited place where no one cared who she was or who she married.
Selina sighed. “It sounds like heaven.”
Ramsay humphed. “Aye, but also a dangerous country to wander if one does not hold a clue to where one is traveling.”
“Still, I hope to visit Scotland one day.”
“Perhaps you will.”
Selina narrowed her gaze. “So you recommend that I hire a guide if I wish to run away to Scotland?”
“If you decide to run away, I have just the lad in mind to help lead the way.”
Selina frowned. “You would not guide me to your paradise?”
“Nay. ‘Fraid the wife would not take too kindly to me running away with another lass. Even one as friendly as you, my dear.”
Selina slapped her cheeks. “Oh, I ... At least ... I did not mean ...”
Ramsay patted her arm. “I know ye did not mean for me to steal away with ye. I am only teasin’ ye, lass. But ye say the word and I will help ye sneak away.”
Selina’s lips trembled. “If it were only that simple.”
“I take it you have not made your decision.”
“No. Every time I convince myself to grab a piece of happiness, my conscience speaks its demands.”
“Sometimes the conscience is only the voice of others who have engrained their beliefs into how you perceive your thoughts. Therefore, your actions lead you to benefit them. If you were to ignore your conscience, would you make a grab for your happiness?”
“Yes,” Selina whispered.
“Then my advice to ye is to grab your happiness, even if it is only for a short spell. Do not pass up the opportunity to follow your heart. Because ye may not get the chance again.”
“Did you?”
Ramsay smiled widely. “Yes, and I never looked backed once.”
Selina was about to question Ramsay when she heard Duncan calling out her name. Her eyes widened with panic. Even though she was almost ready to give into her desires with him, she wasn’t ready to face him. Especially this early in the morning, when she didn’t have her wits about her. Whenever she wasn’t herself, he invaded her senses, and she was powerless to resist him.
Selina quickly came to her feet. “I fear I must leave. Thank you for breaking fast with me, Ramsay. I hope we can do this again during your stay.”
Before Selina heard Ramsay’s response, she took off in the opposite direction from where Duncan called her name. “Oh, we will break many breakfasts together, lass, in our time to come.”
“Selina,” Duncan shouted as he came into the clearing. “You!”
Ramsay nodded. “Me.”
Duncan growled. “What are you doing here?” He glanced around, hoping to spot Selina. In his distraction, he missed the devious grin on his father’s face.
Ramsay stood up. “Is that how ye welcome your father?”
Duncan wrapped his father in a hug. “Sorry, Athair. Welcome. Your presence took me by surprise. I was not aware of your arrival.”
“I asked your mother to keep her silence until I settled in.”
Duncan walked around, glancing down the different paths. “Did you come for the wedding?”
“Looking for someone, my boy?”
Duncan shook his head. “No. I only thought I overheard you conversing with another.”
“Really? I thought you were calling for a lass named Selina.”
Duncan raised a brow. “Your point, Father?”
Ramsay laughed. “No point, son. Only wondering why you search for your cousin’s fiancée.”
“Because mother asked for me to find her since Selina never made an appearance at breakfast.”
Ramsay narrowed his gaze. “Your mother, aye? You would not be trifling with the lass’s affections, would ye? Did ye not learn anything from the very thing ye had to run away from? If it were not for your uncle’s generosity, ye would find yourself married to another lass at this moment.”
Duncan ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “You do not understand, old man.”
“Then help me make sense of why ye are pursuing Selina Pemberton.”
Duncan slumped onto the bench. “If mother had found herself intended to wed another man, would ye have stopped your pursuit to make her yours?”
“Ahh, so that be the reason.”
Duncan swiped a hand down his face. “Aye.”
Ramsay laughed, sitting back down. “I can understand your smitten infatuation.”
Duncan frowned, looking at the linens. “She was here.”
Ramsay nodded. “Aye. But she fled when ye called out her name. I wonder why that would be.”
“I only have two weeks to show her how rare a love like ours is.”
“Has she expressed her love to you?”
“No. She does not realize it yet.”
Ramsay shook his head. “So you plan to force it with your impatience?”
“I am running out of time.”
“Perhaps if you pull back from your prowess and show her the kindness she is not receiving from this family, you just might burrow your way into her heart.”
“They do not understand her the way I do. They are too clouded from her actions in the past to see her vulnerability.”
Ramsay gripped Duncan’s shoulder. “I know, son. With your love, they will soon see the treasure she is.”
Duncan peered into his father’s gaze. “You see it, do you not?”
“Aye. And your mother and I could not approve more.”
Duncan nodded. “Do ye know where she ran off to?”
Ramsay laughed. “Nay. You are on your own to discover where she fled to. But Cook told me how she prepared a basket of her chocolate biscuits for your young lass. And I saw the basket and a book resting on a bench near the garden’s entrance. Perhaps you can bribe Cook with some candy from the village to have her tell you what Selina’s plans are.”
Duncan jumped off the bench and strode off toward the path.
“Duncan?”
He paused, turning back to his father. “Aye?”
“Good luck, my boy. I have a feeling you will need a lot of it.”
“Ahh, but you are forgetting. Luck is my middle name. After all, I am a Forrester, and we make our own luck.” With a cocky grin, he sauntered away to catch his lass.
“Aye, we do at that, my boy,” Ramsay murmured, watching his son chase after the lass of his dreams. “That we do.”