Waking the Princess by Susan King Read Free Book Online

He had felt at ease with his cousin's wife from the beginning despite her impressive status as Lady Strathlin, said to be the wealthiest woman in Scotland. The pretty blond was honest and natural, lacking guile or conceit, and he was already fond of her. He was very fond of Amy, but keeping pace with her whims and moods could be exhausting.
    "Where is Dougal?" Aedan asked, glad for the bulwark of another male presence when the ladies of Balmossie were in a decorating humor.
    "In the library working on some plans for the lighthouse commission's approval," Meg said. "He must get into the afternoon post."
    "Hiding out, is he?" Aedan drawled. Meg laughed.
    "Thistle!" Lady Balmossie said as the monkey clambered up the hangings. "She never acts so shoogly at Balmossie."
    "That's because she stays in the conservatory there, climbing rhododendrons instead of curtains," Amy answered.
    Aedan walked over to pluck the monkey off the drape, letting her swarm over his shoulders while he looked out the window. Although rain now fell in earnest, he could see the jagged contour of Cairn Drishan. His work crew had stopped all efforts there, not due to the rain, but due to the orders of the National Museum, citing the treasure trove law. He sighed and stood silently.
    Then he realized that he was listening for a knock on the door that would announce the Blackburns. Anticipation like that suited schoolboys, he told himself. Yet he felt on fire to see Mrs. Blackburn again, in the clear light of this rainy day.
    He could not easily forget his first meeting with her, nor the kiss he had boldly stolen from her.
    "Thistle wants your attention," Amy said, startling Aedan out of his thoughts.
    The monkey had begun to groom his hair. Aedan removed her from his shoulder, and she tumbled upside down, showing lacy pantaloons.
    "Wench," he drawled.
    "Naughty Thistle!" Lady Balmossie offered her a treat.
    "If you spoil her, she will never behave," Amy pointed out.
    "She was spoilt years ago, long before dear Hugh left her to me," Lady Balmossie said. "And he got her from a soldier who bought her in India, where she was ruined by Hottentots."
    Aedan smothered a laugh, knowing it was no use to point out to his aunt that there were no Hottentots in India, or Oaten-toads, her term for Highland "savages" in Scotland, either. Although she had married a viscount in her youth, her upbringing was rustic Lowland, and she was inherently stubborn in her views.
    "Well, when this antiquarian lady comes in, you must not scowl, Aedan," Amy said. "That glower you like to adopt would frighten anyone."
    "He means to frighten her," Lady Balmossie remarked. "He isna keen on wicked Sir Edgar Neaves, who sent the antiquarian here, nor is he keen on the lady stopping his wee road."
    Keen. Remembering that exquisite face, those delicious lips, he was far more than keen. His heart beat as if he were a boy about to encounter the object of a fervent crush.
    "I'm sure Aedan will be very polite to her," Meg said.
    "Certainly I will," he murmured.
    * * *
    MacGregor, the butler, looked old enough to be a great-grandfather, but Christina had to rush to keep up with him. Knobby-kneed and gnarly, wearing a red plaid kilt and black coat, tartan socks and creaky leather shoes, the old man led Christina and John across the foyer, up the stairs, and down a corridor.
    As he picked up speed, Christina lifted her skirts to harry, petticoats rustling. Behind her, she heard the rhythm of John's stride with the cane.
    Their footsteps were muffled on green tartan carpeting, and the walls, warm salmon pink above polished oak, glowed brightly. As in the other corridors she had seen, paintings, antique furniture, and shining weapons were artfully displayed here, too.
    The butler turned. "Are you having an umbrella, bonny sir?" His accent was the soft, precise English of a Gael.
    She blinked, realizing he addressed her. "It's raining today, I know, but... we are not going outside just now."
    "You may be