Read Online The Scottish Companion by Karen Ranney - Free Book Online

locked tightly? One last whisper of caution sounded in her ear. How could she possibly guide Arabella if she was as lacking in social graces?
    She had every intention of closing the door, walking down the three wide steps, and returning to Rosemoor. But just at that moment, a shaft of sunlight illuminated the room through a rounded window in the roof.
    Breathless with wonder, she pushed aside the door, her attention captivated by the light and what it revealed: a large area sunken into the floor below the glass dome, surrounded by a series of columns, and ringed by concentric circles of steps.
    Slowly she crossed the floor, carefully descending the steps, until she stood bathed in the light. This would be a sunny refuge in winter, or even in this chilly spring.
    “You’re trespassing, you know.”
    She whirled, and looked up to find the earl standing on the edge of the steps looking down at her.
    “Did no one tell you this was my laboratory?” he asked.
    She felt a sudden surge of caution as she stared up at him. He was dressed in a white shirt and black trousers, his black boots gleaming in the sunlight. He was as dark as the devil, with his black hair and gray eyes. He had a smile tinged with self-mockery even in the midst of genuine amusement. His face was perfectly formed, all the features neither remarkable nor forgettable, but somewhere in between. A normal, average face that managed not to be either normal or average at all. Somehow, he managed to appear all at once extraordinarily handsome and particularly dangerous.
    Words were simply beyond her. Finally, blessedly, she found her voice. “I apologize, Your Lordship. I thought the building empty.”
    “It is not,” he said curtly.
    “I apologize,” she repeated, ascending the steps.
    “How long have you been here, Miss Cameron?”
    She looked at him. “You know when we arrived, Your Lordship.”
    “A day. A scant day, is it not?”
    She nodded.
    “Yet in that short time, you’ve managed to find the palace and invade my privacy.”
    “The palace?” she asked, confused.
    “It’s a name that was given to the place a very long time ago. The Pleasure Palace, to be precise.”
    “I did not intend to invade your privacy, Your Lordship. But I did see the palace when we arrived and was curious about it. If you consider curiosity to be a bad trait, then I am doomed to be in your disfavor. Surely as the Earl of Straithern you’re accustomed to people being in awe of Rosemoor?”
    He studied her for a moment. “Are you always so direct, Miss Cameron? Such honesty is dangerous, you know. I could forgive you anything for it.”
    It was her turn to remain silent, but only until curiosity surfaced yet again.
    “Even my curiosity?”
    “Has it not been satisfied?”
    She smiled. “If anything, Your Lordship, it has only been whetted. What, exactly, is the palace used for?”
    “I am a scientist, Miss Cameron.”
    At her silence, he continued. “Had you no idea?”
    She shook her head.
    “For the last several years, I’ve been living in Italy. Did you know that?”
    She shook her head again.
    “What do you know of me?”
    “You are an earl and you wish to marry Arabella.”
    He looked startled. “That is the extent of it?’
    “Perhaps your financial condition might be mentioned as well,” she said, as tactfully as possible. “You are quite wealthy, I understand.”
    “Nothing as to my nature, my character?”
    “You have suffered a loss, Your Lordship. Other than that, I’ve no knowledge of you.”
    “Nor I you, Miss Cameron,” he said, his voice sounding as harsh as a millstone.
    He strode away from the rotunda, leaving her staring after him.
    “Well?” His voice echoed through the cavernous space. “Are you coming? If you’ve no wish to see my laboratory, leave now.”
    “The three of you make me feel woefully inadequate,” she said, racing to catch up with him.
    “The three of us?” he asked over his shoulder.
    “You, Dr. Fenton, and