“What stories?”
Tessa looked uncomfortable. “Let’s just say that there are many ways to pleasure a man and he is known to vary rarely make love to a woman. He prefers other methods.”
Flora sighed and shook her head. “You are right. I do feel sorry for him. I’m also so angry with him I could—hit him until I’m exhausted. I had to marry Iain because of his fear. But perhaps God does have a plan for us and knew we were not suited because he needs an heir even if he won’t admit it.”
“You don’t know that you can’t have a child with him.” Tessa the ever optimist said.
“I lost two babies before I was two months along, and after the last one the doctor told me there was no hope, and I never fell with child again.”
Tessa’s eyes welled. “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry you can’t have a child but you are the best Auntie ever. I blame Dougray’s father. If he had not ordered that no one could help Connie, none of this might have happened. I can understand the guilt Dougray carries.”
“He must worry about—that is it must play on his mind every time he lies with a woman. No wonder he wants me… if he thinks I cannot get with child.”
Tessa led her back to the bench and they sat. “Perhaps you are meant to be his wife. He can finally open his heart and love. And if he really does love you then it is almost perfect.”
“Except I really can’t have children. What if he loses his fear as he gets older and then he’s stuck married to me.”
Tessa shrugged. “But if he loves you, won’t that be enough? If he gave you up and let you marry another, thinking to save your life, I’d say he loves you a great deal. Would you have been able to be that strong? I doubt I could have walked away from Angus even if I thought there was a chance he might die. I’m too selfish.”
Flora hadn’t considered that. All she saw was that he had let her go. “Are you saying I should marry Dougray?”
“It’s Glengarry isn’t? The idea of those three young children. But while those children will learn to love you unconditionally, they can’t keep you warm at night. They can’t stir your body, or your heart, or your soul like a husband can. During the day they become your world, but at night your only company will be loneliness. Especially with Glengarry. He’s always been a rake, be it a gentlemanly rake, but a rake all the same.”
Flora nodded at Tessa’s assessment.
“Don’t let pride cloud your thinking. This could be the happy ending you crave. There are plenty of orphans you could raise as your own if you were married to Dougray.”
“That’s true. I just wish he’d given me more time to decide what to do.”
Tessa smiled. “You don’t need more time to know you still love him.”
She turned and hugged Tessa. “Yes. I still love him. I’ve always loved him.”
“You accuse him of not facing his fears, aren’t you doing the same? You have a chance to find love, grab it with both hands and never let it slip away again, but it looks like you’re too scared to take it.”
“Then best I go inside and face my fears.” She held out her hand and the two women walked back towards the Palace ballroom with determined strides.
DOUGRAY WATCHED Tessa and Flora reenter the ballroom and he was relieved to see a smile on her face. He wondered if Tessa might have tried to dissuade her of the match but it appeared she hadn’t. He wondered if he had Angus to thank for that. Did Angus confide in his wife?
He was about to make his way to her when he saw Lord Glengarry get to her first, bow before her, taking her hand and pressing a kiss to her knuckles. Dougray’s hands curled into fists. How could Flora consider this cretin? He wanted to rip Glengarry’s eyes out for even looking at her. And his smile… It spoke of familiarity and possession, but Flora was his. Would be his.
His feet picked up speed as he made his way to her side, only to see her slip her arm through Glengarry’s and be led to the dance floor. A waltz started up and he had to count to one hundred to stop himself tearing Flora from Glengarry’s arms as they glided by. He would not lose her a second time. Not to this man. Not to any man.
A delicate hand touched his arm pulling his gaze away from the dancing couple. “So there is more to this marriage than appeasing a King. You look as though you want to ring Glengarry’s neck.”
At Tessa’s words his jaw loosened. “He’s not good enough for her.”
“And you are? Please don’t hurt her. She is too good a person to be disappointed again. If you don’t love with her, then set her free. You could have any woman you chose as your wife.”
“I could have any woman, but I choose her. I want her. I love her.” He looked at his best friend’s wife and hoped she understood. “I’m getting closer to five and thirty every day, and I want more in my life, more from my life. I want what you and Angus share. The closeness. I watch you. If he looked at you now from where he stands on the other side of the room you’d know what he was thinking.”
“That’s because he loves me. We complete each other.”
“I love Flora and I hope one day she will forgive me and love me too.”
Tessa studied him for a moment before nodding. “I believe that you think you need something that is missing in your life, but you had your chance eight years ago. You broke her heart when you let her marry Iain. You’ve also had your chance the three years she has been a widow. It makes me wonder why you are so fixated on marrying Flora now, just as the King is arriving on Scottish soil.”
He did not flinch or look away under her calculating stare. “You don’t think she is right for me? Or is it you don’t think I love her?”
She gave a wistful sigh. “I think you are not being honest with yourself. You say having a son is not important to you, in fact Flora told me it scares you to think of a woman carrying your babe. I can sympathize with your fear. But life is long. What happens if suddenly you crave a child? You’d destroy Flora if she found that out. She had five years of disappointing a husband, and she didn’t even love him. She would wither and die if she found you felt the same.”
“I won’t change my mind. Flora means too much to me.”
Tessa’s mouth curled down. “Because you are an honorable man I will take you at your word.”
“Thank you.”
“But if you break her heart I’ll…Well, I’ll get Angus to beat you senseless.” She pushed him toward the floor. “Now go and break in and claim the woman you are about to marry before this crowd forms the wrong idea.”
He pressed a kiss to Tessa’s cheek and did as she suggested. As he strode determinedly through the dancing couples he could see tongues wagging.
When he tapped on Glengarry’s shoulder the man’s face looked like thunder but he handed Flora over graciously, too concerned at making a scene. If someone had tried to step in while he was dancing with Flora he would have punched the rotter out.
No sooner had they begun to twirl about the floor, than a sea of decorated fans started to flutter and heads turned.
“That was rude and uncalled for,” Flora held herself stiffly in his arms. “Is this what I can expect when I become your duchess.”
He swore his feet left the floor at her words ‘become your duchess’. He felt his heart burst from his chest. He’d never been so happy.
“You will not regret this,” he whispered in her ear. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
He almost tripped over his feet. It was the first time she’d said that to him in eight long years. He didn’t care that the whole of society was watching, he turned and almost dragged her from the ballroom. He didn’t stop until he reached the bedchamber he had been given in the Palace.
The minute he pushed the door closed with his foot, he swept her into his arms and carried her to the bed. As he laid her down, he whispered, “I’ve been waiting what seems a lifetime to have you in my bed.” He lay down beside her so that they were facing each other, the rampant desire still there and heightened by the knowledge he could make love to her the way a woman should be loved.