A Scot to the Heart (Desperately Seeking Duke #2) - Caroline Linden Page 0,66
lip guiltily, Ilsa stepped forward and nodded.
“Oh,” cried Bella, interest warring with indignation in her voice. “Was it terribly thrilling?”
She gave another tiny nod. “We wanted you to have something to remember,” she said to Winnie.
His sister affected a pout, but Drew could see she was enjoying herself. “I suppose if there were any ghosts here, they’ve fled by now, having seen the lunatic who stands to inherit the place.”
“No doubt. With any luck they’ll follow him home and wreak vengeance on him for disturbing their peaceful home.” Monteith headed for the stairs. “My heart canna stand the excitement. I’m to bed—and plan to stay there until morning, unless you set the house afire next, St. James.”
“Aye.” Kincaid shot Drew a dark look. Drew merely smirked in reply.
“Well.” Louisa clapped her hands. “Now that we’re not needed to bring ease to a restless spirit, off to bed with the lot of you. We have a long journey tomorrow.”
Still protesting and laughing, Bella and Winnie went with her. Agnes waited for Ilsa, then walked down the stairs with her. Drew overheard her ask just whose mad idea it had been, but lost Ilsa’s reply.
It had been their idea, really, he thought. His was only the initial thought. Ilsa had embraced it, added to it, and brought relish and verve to the whole venture.
And left him more fascinated than ever.
“Showing Winnie a ghost, eh?” muttered Duncan, clattering down the stairs after him. Like the other men, he had clearly leapt from his bed and raced to the scene; his long linen shirt was on backward and his loose plaid was thrown haphazardly around him.
“What else?” Drew made sure the door was secured. After the cold breeze through the attics, it felt cozy and warm here.
Duncan raised one ginger brow. “You didn’t ask me, your bosom friend, to help.”
“Would you have?” Drew affected shock. “You’ve been out of temper since we arrived, sulking and sour-faced. I thought you couldn’t wait to return to Edinburgh. No, I never thought of you, ye feckless fool.”
His friend scoffed. Ahead of them Ilsa and Agnes were arm in arm, heads together as they walked back to their rooms. “You didn’t think of me because you were thinking of someone else.”
“Winnie,” said Drew stubbornly.
His friend laughed as he went back to his own chamber. “Keep telling yourself that, but don’t expect anyone else to believe it.”
A door closed, then another and another. He was left standing alone in the corridor, suddenly chilled. He cast a lingering glance toward Ilsa’s door. She hadn’t even said good-night.
He heaved a sigh as he let himself into his room and contemplated his lonely bed. He’d had her for half an hour, and would have to be content with that.
Chapter Fifteen
Ilsa stood by her door, her heart pounding and her skin tingling. What a magnificent lark! Even if Mrs. St. James had seen through them at once, the expressions on Winnie’s and Bella’s faces had been priceless, when Drew lurched at them with that dusty sheet draped over him, moaning like a wounded stag.
Just the thought made her convulse with a silent laugh again. Dear God, what fun they had together . . .
She never wanted that to end.
This was their last night at Stormont Palace. Tomorrow they would travel back to Edinburgh, where she would go back to her house and he would go back to Felix Duncan’s rooms, before he packed up and left town entirely to go to England, to his English dukedom, to his future English bride.
If she wanted to seduce him, tonight was her chance.
After an interminable delay, during which she counted to five hundred, toed off her slippers, and listened at the jamb for any late-night wanderers, she cracked open the door and peeked out. The corridor was dark, illuminated only by the moonlight from the staircase hall at the far end. The house was asleep once more. She took a deep breath and slipped out, leaving behind her lamp and all her reservations about being wild and wicked.
She knew which door was his; it was, naturally, the farthest from hers, at the head of the stairs. Accordingly she sprinted, feeling her heart nearly burst from her chest, half in anticipation and half in anxiety that Mrs. St. James would open her door and step out to order her back to her own room. Surely it was a sin to seduce a man when his own mother was under the same roof.