Days of Gold (12 page)

“Please don’t start your prudery on me. I’m going to put the jacket on over my nightdress and we’re going down to raid that woman’s room.”

“You should put on your clothes,” he said rather stiffly.

“I don’t have time to lace myself into a corset, and I’d never fit into my dress if I don’t put it on. Hurry up! It’s only a few hours ’til dawn, then we must get on the ship.”

Angus shook his head a few times to clear it of sleep, then helped her get the jacket off of James. Edilean gave him another pinch on his arm when he had only the shirt on. “Dishonorable man!” she said.

“You fell out of love with him soon enough,” he said.

“He married someone else and stole my dowry. Those are two things a woman cannot abide.”

“I’ll remember that the next time a woman loves me.”

“You should,” she said as she slipped her arms into the heavy coat, and ran her hands down the sleeves. Whatever else was said about James, he had taste. “Are you ready?”

He was smiling at her. She looked good in her long white gown with the man’s jacket over it. The coat was dark red, with a lining of burgundy silk, and the colors suited her. He picked up the candle and went out the door, Edilean behind him.

She had no shoes on, and the minute her feet touched the dirty hall floor, she let out a cry, but Angus gave her a hard look and she quit complaining. They went down three flights of stairs in order to reach the ground floor, and Angus went to the door at the far end. He put his fingers to his lips, motioning her to be quiet as he slowly opened the door. He listened for a moment, heard Harcourt’s wife’s slight snore, then waved at Edilean that it was all right to go inside.

When they were inside and the door closed behind them, the first thing she did was walk to the bed to see the woman. Angus couldn’t help himself, but he stopped her. He knew there was no reason for her not to take a peek at James’s wife, but he didn’t want her to. He knew she’d laugh and be relieved that James was now stuck with an ugly wife, but Angus didn’t want Edilean to see the truth.

He caught her arm and motioned her to the trunk in the corner of the room. It was small, with a dome-shaped lid, and he had an idea that all their possessions that weren’t already on the ship were in it and it was ready to be taken when they left in the morning.

When Angus nodded toward the trunk, she went to it and opened it. On the top was a leather case containing shaving gear, and under it looked to be folded-up dresses. When Edilean reached for one of them, Angus shook his head that there wasn’t time to go through the garments. He well knew that she had only the clothes
she’d been wearing when she ran away, but he also knew the dresses in the trunk would be much too big for her.

Reluctantly, Edilean left the dress where it was and took a small sewing kit that was tucked into a tray on the side. It would have scissors in it.

When Angus started out the door, he thought Edilean was right behind him, but when he looked back, she was at the bed, moving the blanket back to get a look at the sleeping woman. Angus caught her hand just as she was about to see the woman’s face.

He held her hand until they were outside the door in the hallway.

“I just wanted to see her!” she said in a loud whisper. “What’s so wrong with that? Both you and James have raved about her beauty and how you want to spend your lives with her, so it was only natural that I’d want to have a look at her.”

“Spend my life with her?” Angus whispered as they started up the stairs. “Are you truly mad? Were you bitten by a rabid dog?”

“Yes, one named James Harcourt,” Edilean muttered angrily.

Angus paused on the stairs, held the candle aloft, and said, “I do believe, lass, that you made a joke.”

“So I did. Maybe it’s a disease and I’m catching it from you,” she said as she went up the stairs past him, but she was smiling.

Once they were back in the room, Edilean took off the coat, told Angus to sit down, then walked around him, looking at his head and trying to figure out how to go about it.

“This is more than you can do,” he said. “I think we should forget this and I should head out to the Highlands tonight.”

She put her hand on his chest to push him back in the chair. “The best thing would be to shave your head and get a wig.”

Angus put his hand up to his head in protest.

“But we don’t have time for that. First, I must comb it, then I’ll
cut it. Once it’s tied back, I’ll start on your face. This is going to take hours.”

Angus wasn’t sure if he’d like someone fiddling with his hair, but the moment she touched him, he relaxed.

“Go on, go to sleep,” she said. “I don’t need you to make fun of me while I do this job.”

“Go to sleep with a woman with scissors so near my face? I couldn’t trust you so,” he said, half teasing, half serious. But in the next minute his head nodded forward, and he began to doze.

Edilean was glad he’d gone to sleep because she could at last relax. It took a lot of energy to pretend to be strong and know what she should do with her life—and what another person should do. In one night she’d gone from being in love with James Harcourt—she glanced at him, still on the floor—to being alone in the world. All she seemed to have now was this man, who’d made it clear many times that he thought she was useless in the world, someone he had to look after night and day.

When Angus’s head tipped forward on his chest, she got the pitcher of water, filled a glass, and began to slowly comb the thousands of knots out of Angus’s long, thick hair. She hadn’t told him, but she’d never been this close to a man before. Oh, she’d had a few moments with men who stole kisses when no one was looking, James included, but she’d certainly never been in a room alone with a man and touching his hair.

It took over an hour to get the tangles out. Twice she’d had to use the scissors and snip away a knot that she couldn’t loosen. And several times, he’d nearly awakened when she pulled too hard. But she’d been able to at last get the comb through it, then she trimmed it so it was just shoulder length. She snatched the black silk ribbon off James and put it on Angus’s hair.

When she finished, she stepped to the front of him to have a
look. She could see his forehead now and saw how well shaped it was. She ran her fingers over his cheek, then drew back when he stirred in his sleep and almost woke.

Next, she had to tackle that hideous beard of his. She was sure that he’d wake up as she began to use the scissors on it, but he didn’t. Yet somehow she knew that if she were to do something like, say, cock a gun, he’d wake in a second. It made her feel good that he trusted her so much that he allowed her to use scissors near his face.

It took a while to cut the whiskers down to a length where she could shave them. She had amassed a great pile of hair by then and she gathered it up and tossed it out the window. As she did, she looked at the sky. Morning was coming and with it the sun. It wouldn’t be long before they would be on the ship.

When Edilean turned back, she drew in her breath. Angus was still asleep, his head against the back of the chair. His hair was no longer standing out around his head but was tied back neatly at the nape of his neck. His beard didn’t spread out until it covered even his neck but was now just a thick stubble of black whiskers.

She blinked a few times, looking at him hard. She wasn’t sure, but she thought maybe he was handsome. No, not just handsome, but beautiful. Perhaps even better-looking than James, but dark, with black hair and dark lashes.

She’d often seen her father shave when she was a girl, and she hoped she remembered how to do it. She had no hot water, so she’d have to make do with cold water and James’s scented lather.

She put the cold lather on his face and he didn’t so much as stir, but when she held the long straight razor to him, he grabbed her wrist, his eyes open and staring. “If I’m to cut your throat, you must release me,” she said calmly.

“Aye,” he murmured, “murder me in my sleep. I nearly forgot the plan.” He dropped her wrist and went back to sleep.

She marveled at how he could sleep—and joke—through all this, but he did. He was perfectly still as she shaved him, removing every trace of the hair on his face and neck. When she finished, she stood back and looked at him in disbelief. Angus had heavy black brows, thick lashes, a perfectly formed nose and lips... . She didn’t think she’d ever seen such beautiful lips on a man. They were full and soft, and as sculpted as those on a statue. Beside him, James was ordinary-looking.

He must be aware of this, she thought. No one could look as he did and not be aware of it. Had he grown that enormous beard to hide his face?

“Mr. McTern,” she said softly, “it’s time to get up now. You have to get dressed. We’ll get on the ship soon.”

He didn’t move.

“Angus!” she said sharply. “Wake up!”

Slowly, he opened his eyes, and looked at her with a smile. When he turned his head he felt the lightness, and ran his hand over his bare face. “What have you done to me?”

“What should have been done long ago,” she said. “You have to stop sleeping now and get ready to go. We have to get James’s clothes off of him and I have to get dressed. I apologize but you’re going to have to help me with the strings to my corset.”

“To your... ?”

When she looked at him she could see that his face had pinkened. “My goodness, McTern of McTern, are you blushing?”

“Nay,” he said, but he turned away as he stood up. “You’ll have to show me how to... to do what you need to have done.”

“I will,” she said, hiding her smile.

She got the clothes she’d worn the day before out of the wardrobe and laid them out on the bed, watching Angus as she did so. She would have thought he’d want to see himself in a mirror. It must
have been a long time since he’d seen himself without that beard, but as far as she could tell, he showed no evidence that he was even curious.

She watched as he bent and grabbed James under the arms, then hauled him onto the bed. For a moment Angus just stood there, looking at the man lying on the bed, happily asleep.

“I don’t like this,” Angus said. “To steal a man’s clothes like this is not right.”

Edilean rolled her eyes, and went to James and loosened his cravat. “Then I’ll undress him.”

“You’ll not,” Angus said, sounding shocked by the idea. “I’ll tend to him. You go and do what you need to.”

Edilean glanced out the window. The pink of dawn was approaching. “I think we should go down to the wife’s room as soon as we’re dressed. I’m sure James will have someone coming to rouse him to get him to the ship on time. He likes to stay up late and hates to wake up in the morning.”

“Good idea,” Angus said.

He was on the other side of the bed, and the hangings kept her from seeing what he was doing, but she could hear the movement of cloth as he took off his own clothes and put on James’s. An unusual feeling was running through Edilean. Just a few feet from her was a man in his undergarments. And not just any man, but one who had been kind to her. Well, not always, but in the end he’d taken care of her. If it hadn’t been for him, she’d now be asleep in the inn and James and his wife would soon sail off with her dowry.

“I need help with the laces,” she said softly. She’d put the corset on over her nightgown, but the laces were in the back. “Should I come ’round there?”

Angus took the few steps to get to the foot of the bed and Edilean
could only stare at him. He had on James’s tight tan breeches and his big-sleeved shirt and nothing else. A lifetime of being outside, of riding horses and climbing, had given him thighs that were heavy with muscle.

Angus was smiling at her in a way that let her know he knew what she thought of him.

She wasn’t about to tell him that he looked so good he took her breath away. She turned her back to him, presenting the laces for him to fasten. “When we get to the ship it will be better if you don’t speak,” she said.

“Not a word?” he asked as he grabbed the sturdy laces and pulled the stiff corset together.

“Your accent and the way you say things will give you away. No, it’s better that you let me do all the talking.”

Angus gave a jerk on the corset laces that nearly broke her ribs.

“Do you mean to cut me in half?”

“I thought you’d want a waist as small as that of other women. I do apologize. I’ll loosen the strings.”

Edilean grit her teeth. “You can tighten them more than that.”

“Ah, a medium waist is what you want.”

“I—” she began, but knew this was her own fault. She held on to the bedpost as he pulled. “All right! You look good. And you can talk all you want. What do I care? Do a dance on crossed swords for all it matters to me.”

When he tied the strings at the bottom, she looked at him and his eyes had that look of teasing that she was beginning to know well. “You’re a dreadful man, you know that?”

He went back to the other side of the bed, picked up the waistcoat, and put it on while Edilean stepped into her dress. Yesterday she’d done her best to clean it of the sawdust, but she could still see that it wasn’t at its best. She hoped that there was a wardrobe full of
clothes on board the ship. She knew she’d have to take the dresses in, at least in the bustline, but she could do it.

When she was dressed and her hair smoothed back, she went to Angus. He was leaning against the bedpost, his eyes closed, and his vest buttoned crookedly.

“Come on now, wake up,” she said as she unfastened his vest, and buttoned it straight.

“I had a dream about you,” he said softly, looking at her in the candlelight and the pink dawn that was coming through the window.

“Was it a good dream?” she asked as she held up James’s coat for him to put on.

“The best. You and I were together in a field. I could see it all clearly. It wasn’t Scotland, but a place that I’d never seen before.”

“Maybe it was America.”

“Aye,” he said gently, and reached out to touch her hair. They stood there for a moment looking into each other’s eyes and she swayed toward him. “When we get to America I’ll give you some of my gold and you can—” She broke off at the look he gave her.