Deacon or Hugh. This time, he found himself walking toward the house to tell Anne.
She wasn’t there. He called to Norval, who answered from the upstairs hall he had not seen “my lady.”
Aidan charged out to the kitchen. “Mrs. MacEwan, have you seen my wife?”
“She’s on the beach,” Mrs. MacEwan said.
“What the deuce is she doing there?” he asked, but didn’t wait for an answer. He charged out of the kitchen.
Outside the door was one of many paths leading down to the rocky coast and a pebble and sand beach. At the rise of the cliff, Aidan looked down and saw Anne along with Cora and a group of children, Marie among them. They appeared to be dancing. Anne wore her ivory muslin, one of the two dresses she usually saved for dinner meals, and her hair fell loose and unbound almost to her waist. The others were also dressed in shades of white.
Curious, he started down the cliff path. He hadn’t gone far when he came upon Deacon sitting amongst the rocks. “What are you doing here?”
Deacon pulled his gaze away from where the women played. He shrugged. “Passing time.”
Aidan frowned. “Are you feeling all right?”
“Why do you ask?”
“You don’t seem yourself.”
For a moment, Deacon appeared ready to confide something, but then held the words back. “I’m fine.” He stood and pushed by Aidan, taking the path up to the house.
Aidan glanced down at the beach. Cora had noticed Deacon. Her gaze followed him up the path. Then, seeing Aidan, she quickly looked away and said something to Anne.
By the time he reached the beach, everyone knew he was coming. Marie happily ran up to him on bare feet. He noticed she wasn’t the only one. They all had bare feet, even Anne, and wore necklaces fashioned out of seaweed.
“We’re dancing,” Marie told Aidan joyfully, and made a pirouette in the sand. “We’re at a sea ball.”
He had to laugh. The child’s presence in the castle had added a delightful new dimension to life at Kelwin. “With seaweed around your necks and in your hair, you all look like the Danish tale of a mermaid who grew legs.”
Anne blushed and he was enchanted. “It’s just such a glorious day,” she said. “We decided to be a little silly.” Marie’s two friends skipped up to him to show off the necklaces “my lady” had made them.
But although Aidan pretended to admire the sea jewelry, he wasn’t really paying attention. Instead, something about seeing these precious children laughing and vying to be close to Anne created one clear thought in his head—he wanted children. He’d always intended to have them—it was his duty, his obligation—but he had not felt the urge until this moment, when he was with Anne surrounded by prancing, laughing little girls.
“Can you dance, Laird?” Marie asked boldly.
Cora chastened her. “Marie, you don’t talk in such a way to the laird.”
“It is all right,” Aidan answered. He knelt so he was on Marie’s level. Her two friends, whom he now recognized as Ellen and Molly Keith, Hugh’s twin nieces, crowded up beside her. “I don’t dance,” he confessed. “I’m clumsy. I trip over my own feet. They are very large, you know.”
They laughed. “Lady Tiebauld will teach you,” Ellen said. “She taught us.”
Lady Tiebauld. No one had dared to use Anne’s title in front of him. They referred to her as “my lady” but never by the title. He just realized the omission.
Cora had noticed the mistake. Anne, too. She watched him, waiting for his response. With her bare feet and seaweed necklace, she appeared as innocent as one of the little girls. Then the ocean breeze blew the hem of her muslin skirts and he couldn’t help but admire the shape of her long legs, the womanly curve of her hips.
Aidan rose. “Perhaps Lady Tiebauld will teach me to dance.” There, he’d used her title, too.
Her reaction was everything he could wish for. She wasn’t ignoring him now. And she couldn’t refuse his request without disappointing her young companions. He held out his hand. “My lady?”
The girls clapped their hands with delight.
Anne didn’t move.
“We can’t fail them,” he prompted.
She sent a hesitant glance at the path leading up the cliffs as if ready to bolt. He eased over, blocking her path of escape. She actually edged back from him.
Had he really been such a great boor?
Realizing he must make the first move, he bowed with all the élan of a London ballroom. Anne’s lips parted in surprise