Free Amanda Scott by Knights Treasure Page A

be offering ye.”
    Deciding to emphasize what she hoped would prove her strongest weapon, she said, “I am a married lady, sir, a widow, and I have resources of my own now, or I will have them soon. Surely, I have the right to decide this matter for myself.”
    “Resources? What resources?”
    “Lady Clendenen said Ardelve settled money on me, enough so I can live independently. You agreed to those settlements, sir. Is that not so?”
    Macleod’s frown grew more ominous. “She shouldna ha’ told ye such stuff!”
    “Mercy, is it not true then?”
    “Och, aye, it be true enough, but ye’re nobbut a lass, Adela, and ye ha’ nae business to be thinking o’ living independently. What can ye ken o’ such a life? I’ll deal wi’ your gelt for ye, my lass, or if ye dinna trust your own father with it, and choose instead to make your home at Loch Alsh, as
is
your right, I expect yon Fergus will be capable enough o’ looking after your gelt for ye.”
    Stiffening, she looked him in the eye but lowered her voice again as she said, “I can think of no one I would trust more than you to look after my affairs, sir. I know you to be a most careful manager.”
    “Aye, sure,” he said in his normal tone and looking less belligerent. “But if ye dinna want to live at Chalamine …” He paused meaningfully.
    “I warrant you’d even welcome me home, despite having made it plain to me that Lady Clendenen will not marry you until you have married off your daughters. She meant me in particular, you know,” she added, lowering her voice even more. “She certainly knows Sidony well enough to be sure
she
would never interfere with the management of your household.”
    “Aye, that’s true,” Macleod acknowledged. “That lass couldna make a decision an her life depended on it.”
    “Nor would I intentionally interfere with Lady Clendenen,” Adela added, nearly whispering. “But I do understand her concern, because I cannot promise never to suggest she try another way of doing things. Not after so many years of running that household according to my own wishes, and yours.”
    “Aye, well, two women trying to control a household can be a wretched business,” he said with a shudder. “I remember how it were wi’ my mother and yours. Hoots, but until your uncle took your gran to live wi’ him on the Isle o’ Lewis, ’twere a dreadful arrangement! Me mam had a temper on her, and although yours were a gentler lass, mine could stir coals wi’ a tree stump.”
    Feeling her cheeks redden at the realization that no one could have any doubt now what course her side of the conversation had taken, she raised her voice again to say, “I don’t think for a moment that Lady Clendenen would stir coals, sir. She simply wants to believe her household will be her own. Pray, try to understand, though, that I must think about this. I want to understand my position, and I will appreciate advice from anyone who offers it. But do please recall that I, too, am accustomed to running a household. I don’t want to dwindle into …”
    She hesitated, reluctant to speak the words that hovered on the tip of her tongue lest she anger him, but to her surprise, he smiled.
    “Ye dinna want to become like your Aunt Euphemia,” he said bluntly. “Sakes, lass, ye couldna do that an ye tried.”
    “But I think I could,” Adela said. “Only think, sir, when Aunt Euphemia lived with us, she barely opened her mouth for fear of angering you and being turned out although you are her own brother and would never have done such a thing. And
she
does not like to manage things. But I do. I’d feel suffocated if I had to live with anyone who expected me to be always meek and submissive.”
    “But women
should
be meek and submissive,” Macleod said.
    “Perhaps some should,” a new voice chimed in. “But, thankfully, most noblewomen of my acquaintance are rarely either.”
    Adela, facing Macleod, had briefly forgotten their interested but still silent