A Time & Place for Every Laird by Angeline Fortin (ebook reader TXT) 📕

it dinnae. I lost my life and leftno legacy that I even lived at all. My family, my home, my work.Gone! All of it.”

It ate at him, Claire knew, and why wouldn’tit? Despite the flashes of humor, the consequences of hispredicament had not faded. He’d had little time to mourn, nothingcompared to the three years she had taken. But she couldn’t let himwallow in it until it was all he saw. If she had to bully him outof his doldrums, she would. “You know what your friend Arouet wouldhave to say about this pity party you’ve got going on?” She didn’tpause to give him an opportunity to answer. “I’ll tell you whathe’d say because he’s already said it. He said, ‘Each player mustaccept the cards life deals him or her; but once they are in hand,he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to winthe game.’”

“Who are ye tae lecture me?” he said,throwing her words from the morning before back at her.

The rebuke did sting, but Claire continued,lecturing firmly. “Yes, I know you could throw that same bit ofwisdom back at me, but this isn’t about me. This is about you andyour moment to step up to the plate and take your swing at what’sbeing thrown at you. So, you need some education on the way theworld works today. A crash course on how to survive. A handbook, soto speak …”

“Ahh, like those ones Isaw among others on the shelves,” Hugh said flippantly. “We couldentitle it The Twenty-First Century forDummies.”

Arghh! Claire’s mind screamed with frustration and she simplycouldn’t contain it. Instead, she pushed hard at his shoulder,which gave about as much as a brick wall might, which onlycompounded her frustration, and before she knew it, Claire wasretorting loudly, “I was kidding about the damned week. Jesus,Hugh, have a little patience! You’re not a freakin’ idiot, forcrying out loud!”

Panting after that outburst, Claire lookedaround at the curious faces turned toward her and wondered atherself. Twice she had lost her temper. Twice now? What was wrongwith her? “I don’t know what’s gotten into me lately.”

The words were met by Hugh’s deep chuckle,and she turned to look at him in surprise. “You think this isfunny?” Still he laughed, his blue eyes twinkling with merriment,and then Claire knew. “You did that on purpose.”

“But ye’re so bonny when ye’re in a rage,”he teased, tweaking a lock of her hair.

“You made me shriek like a banshee for thesecond time,” she accused, staring at him as if he’d suddenly growntwo heads.

But Hugh seemed inordinately pleased by herwords, crossing his arms with a toss of his head and a chuckle.“Ha! I understood that reference! Finally.” Grinning withself-satisfaction, he added, “As for yer temper, I wouldnae let ittrouble ye unduly. Ye’re a woman. Shrieking like a banshee is—howwould ye say it?—yer thing.”

Make that threeheads. He might have been smiling but hesaid it as if he actually believed it. And maybe he did. Hughprobably wouldn’t recognize equal rights if she smacked him acrossthe face with a copy of the Nineteenth Amendment.

“Oh my God, I can’t believe you just saidthat.”

He raised a mocking brow. “Are we going toargue again?”

“God, I hope not,” Claire murmuredsincerely, then after a moment, offered a slight smile. “You fightdirty.” She paused hesitantly. “I guess I should apologize …again.”

“No need,” Hugh said, his dimple deepening.“I understood nary a word of what ye said anyway.”

“And with that I feel as if I’ve been firmlyput in my place,” Claire sniffed, though she knew he was teasingher now. “Should I go through it one more time? Cliffs Notesversion?”

“Not necessary,” Hugh smiled as well. “Intruth, I did grasp the gist of yer lecture and I, too, ken when Ihae been put in my place.”

A huff of laughter escaped her with that.“Ha! I bet no woman in your time would ever yell at a man likethat.”

“Nonsense. My aunt reacts more harshly to amuddy boot on her carpets,” he said with an engaging grin.

Chapter 19

While Hugh watched, Sorcha shook her headyet again. At this rate, he might keep her head bobbing constantlyfor the duration of their acquaintance, though in all honesty, Hughknew he had displayed such a reaction more than a few times in thepast few days. It was the product of an odd combination of humorand incredulity. Both of which Sorcha inspired handily.

She was quite droll, really. Her dry senseof humor was finely tuned enough to keep him on his toes. Her wordsof wisdom, such as they were, had been spot on, and Hugh wasdetermined not to take part in a “pity party” again. Week or not,what was done was done, the past was past. As she said, usingVoltaire’s words, the cards had been dealt and were his toplay.

As for her fits of temper—his absurdobservation about the female gender aside—well, perhaps they weremore easily forgiven from Sorcha than they might be from any otherwoman of his acquaintance simply because of her valued assistanceand because she was even more lovely when roused by anger—and hehad provoked her purposefully this time, if not the last, for thatvery reason. Or maybe his reaction had been tempered by theknowledge that in rising to the challenge of her anger once, he hadinadvertently caused her great pain.

In any case, it now was blatantly obviouswith this last outburst that Sorcha was far more startled by themthan he. She’d been appalled by a common reaction to provocation.Clearly such a temper wasn’t her norm, and Hugh could only assumefrom her reaction that the strain of their association had begun totake its toll on her.

For that he was now deeply remorseful sinceit was becoming more and more obvious that Sorcha wasn’t normallyone to be so expressive in her emotions. Hugh would wager she wasthe sort to cradle her hurt and anger to her bosom.

Nay, he had no desire to cause her paindespite the fact that he seemed to bring out the worst in her. Whathe did desire had been tactically barred from him by her “groundrules.” Bloody hell but she was tantalizing,