Page 28 of Highlander’s Lust

Eby could feel it in her bones that these two moonstruck, star-crossed lovers were so close to reaching an agreement, it moved her to help them get there. The way Jean had behaved over the past few weeks left Eby with no doubt that her mistress was in love with his lairdship. All they needed was a wee push to get them to the sticking point.

“Be a good girl and help the poor man, me lady,” Eby suggested. “I will ask for Cook to serve ye up an elegant repast in the private parlor this evening. Just the two o’ ye. Does the idea of that no’ tickle yer fancy?”

Jean had to agree that it did. She spent the rest of the day in the kitchens with the cook, discussing the menu. Then she ordered pail after pail of hot water brought up to the dressing room for her bath.

Maybe, after tonight, I will, in truth, be able to wear one of the pretty lace caps Charlie ordered made up for me in Inverness! I ken well that as much as he would love the way I look in one of those indecently transparent dressing gowns he bought me, he would like it even more for me to wear a cap on the morrow.

Jean fretted when she thought about what might happen tonight. Every time she allowed her mind to dwell on it, her stomach would give a little flip of excitement.

As the day passed, Jean would stick her head every so often out of the window casement to watch her husband as he trained with his men. It was another balmy summer day, and Jean spent many an enjoyable hour watching as Laird Brisbane thrust and parried his weapon at his sparring partners. After a brief break for dinner, the men assembled once more, this time to train with bows and arrows. She loved the way the sport made the muscles on Charlie's back bulge and crease every time he bent back the bow. His skin was a dark golden color, a sure sign that he practiced bare-chested whenever the sun was in the sky. Jean gave herself over to imagining how pleasant it would be to watch her husband train for many summers to come.

Eby called her away from the window to bathe and dress. It would soon be time for husband and wife to sup together...and maybe more.

And so it was that neither maid nor mistress saw Gavin MacTavish ride into the training yard. After chaffing his friend on his sporting prowess, he asked Charlie to accompany him inside so that a bottle of Macanroy whisky could be broached.

Laird Brisbane raised an eyebrow. “Gav, do ye realize that whisky is a gift from me wife’s clan? I’ll thank ye no’ to quaff it down yer throat as though it’s yer faither’s small ale.”

Brazen as ever, Gav replied, “Aye, I ken well, Charlie. That’s why I ask ye to do it for me.”

Charlie had to laugh at his friend’s honesty, and the two men went inside to drink.

It was a fatal error. Laird Brisbane should have gone straight to his dressing room to wash and drink from the jug of fresh spring water his manservant always kept for him there. Instead, he poisoned his body with strong spirits when it was craving for more abstinent fare. Gavin urged him to down more whisky to quench his thirst; Laird Brisbane felt his senses reel from the strong Macanroy spirits.

He sat down on the salon settle heavily. “Losh, Gav, I’m reelin’. I had but a bite o’ bannock this morn and scant victuals for dinner. Me stomach feels like a bagpipe with no air in it.”

Gavin laughed and poured his friend another glass.

“Don’ be a coward, Charlie,” he teased.

Eby chose this moment to enter the salon with the invitation for his lairdship to sup with his wife in the couple’s private parlor.

Charlie groaned and slapped his hand against his cheek. “I’m so drunk I did nae even feel that! Och, Eby, what am I to do?”

The maid helped the tall man to stand up and draped his arm around her to assist him out of the room. She shot Gavin a filthy look and said, “If me mistress gets to hear about this, MacTavish, she’ll have yer guts for garters. Go on, man, get out o’ here afore I tell her what ye’ve done, ye wastrel!”

Gavin beat a hasty retreat. It was all Eby could do to guide his lairdship up to the master bedchamber before he collapsed on the bed in a drunken stupor. She left to go and give her mistress the bad news.