The Laird of Stonehaven by Connie Mason Page A

the spirits brought him to her if he couldn’t accept her as she was?
    The door to her chamber opened and Alyce bustled inside, carrying a stack of towels and soap. “Are ye ready for yer bath, lass? Yer trunks have arrived.”
    “Oh, aye,” Blair said, dashing the tears from her eyes.
    Alyce pushed the door open and a manservant rolled in a tub. Other servants followed, carrying jugs of hot and cold water. Within a short time the tub was set up behind a screen and filled. Blair thanked everyone politely and began to undress.
    “I’ll see to yer trunks,” Alyce said.
    Blair sank into the tub, the hot water soothing both her body and her temper.
    His decision made, Graeme left his chamber, lifted a torch from a wall sconce and made his way up to the third floor. It mattered not that Glenda slept in a room with others, he would fetch her anyway. He wasn’t a man who indulged his needs frequently, but Blair had fired his lust. But for MacArthur’s death, he would have already made love to Blair and rid himself of his annoying hunger for her.
    Heath had the right of it, Graeme decided. Blair had bewitched him. Would bedding another woman purge her from his system? He did not know, but was willing to find out.
    Three women slept in the small chamber at the top of the stairs. Holding the torch aloft, he spotted Glenda lying on a cot in the far corner. Uncaring whether or not the others awoke, he made his way toward her cot. She awakened at his approach and rubbed her eyes.
    “Laird Graeme.”
    “Come,” he whispered, beckoning.
    Without hesitation, Glenda rose naked from the cot, donned her shift and followed close on his heels. She touched his arm when she caught up to him. “What about yer wife?”
    “Let me worry about her.”
    He entered his chamber and waited for Glenda to follow before closing the door behind them.
    Glenda, whose morals were none too strict, preened for his benefit. “I feared ye wouldna want me in yer bed after ye wed.”
    “Aye, well, you thought wrong.” He removed his belt and pulled off his plaid, naked now but for his boots. “Climb into bed, lass. I’ll be with you as soon as I remove my boots.”
    Glenda whipped off her shift and climbed into bed, posing seductively for Graeme’s benefit. “I’m glad ye still have need of me, laird.” She held out her soft white arms.
    Graeme turned and stared down at her. Red-haired and buxom, she was naught like the Faery Woman he had wed. But that was a good thing, was it not? The answer surprised him. It wasn’t a good thing when the woman he really wanted lay just beyond the connecting door. His cock, rampant with need but a moment ago, abruptly deflated.
    He recoiled in alarm. What had Blair done to him?
    “Get up!” he barked. “Return to your bed. I dinna need you, after all.”
    Glenda sent him a confused look. “I thought . . . What have I done to annoy ye, laird?”
    “ ’Tis not you,” he said, his tone softening. “The mood has left me. Another time, mayhap.”
    He turned away as Glenda donned her shift and sidled out of the chamber. The moment the door closed behind her, Graeme flung on a chamber robe and stormed through the connecting door.
    “Laird Graeme, is aught amiss?” Alyce gasped, startled by his appearance in Blair’s bedchamber.
    His gaze probed the dimly lit chamber. “Where is my wife?”
    Alyce’s frightened gaze went immediately to the screen.
    “Leave us!” he ordered Alyce. “And close the door behind you.”
    Alyce glanced worriedly at the screen, then scooted from the chamber. Graeme marched to the screen and flung it aside.
    “What have you done to me, woman?” he roared.
    Blair sank down into the water. “I did naught. Get out. I prefer to bathe in private.”
    His heated gaze raked over her exposed flesh. “You cast a spell on me. Take it away.”
    “I canna take away what I didna do. What are you talking about?”
    “You stole my manhood. You took from me the ability to bed another