Read The Groom Says Yes for Free Online Page B

was not well. “I thought to take some broth to him.”
    “ Och, who is it?” Mrs. Patton said with a touch of alarm. “Do I know him?”
    Sabrina thought fast as she removed her hat and pelisse and hung them on the hook on the wall next to her father’s. “I don’t actually know the name. Mrs. Kinnion told me of him. I’ll deliver the broth to her.”
    Mrs. Patton accepted her explanation. “Well, take some fresh bread as well. I baked plenty since I won’t be in on the morrow. Did you remember that?”
    “Yes, you are going to Pitlochry with your husband. Don’t worry about us. We shall be fine. I hope you enjoy the day.”
    “Thank you,” Mrs. Patton said, a beaming smile of anticipation splitting her face. “I will see you then?” With a nod, she was gone.
    And Sabrina was alone with her father.
    She faced the study. When she used the room, she usually kept the door open, but her father liked the door closed. She didn’t hear humming.
    Her father had always been a distant parent, an aloof one. Her mother had been the person she’d turned to for guidance, and yet her father’s wishes and dictates were always considered first. Her mother had insisted. She did not like confrontation in any form, and over the years, Sabrina had followed suit.
    Then again, her mother could not have imagined her father chasing the likes of the Widow Bossley.
    Sabrina knocked on the door.
    “Yes?” her father’s baritone voice asked, the sound abrupt.
    She entered the room.
    Her father sat at his desk by the window, scribbling away on a sheaf of papers, his glasses pinching his nose. He did his own copying or else gave the work to Sabrina. There was no money to pay for a secretary.
    He didn’t acknowledge Sabrina’s presence. He often expected her to stand and wait. He’d explained once that it taught her patience and discipline.
    In the past, Sabrina would have cooled her heels while studying the tomes on philosophy and law lined up on the shelves of the wall nearest her. Today was different.
    “I enjoyed the Ladies’ Quarterly Meeting today.”
    He didn’t even raise a brow. “That’s pleasant,” he murmured as he removed the top page of his stack, one covered with his small, neat handwriting, and set it aside for the ink to dry. He dipped his nib into the ink bottle and began writing on the next page.
    “I sat with someone outside of my usual acquaintance. Mrs. Bossley.”
    The pen stopped moving.
    He began writing again. “Interesting,” he said.
    Sabrina frowned. “You do not act like a man in love.”
    The pen was placed aside.
    He looked up, meeting her eye for the first time since she’d entered the room.
    Sabrina understood what the widow would see in him. The Davidson men were a handsome lot, even the older ones. They were tall and had regal bearing. Drinking and hard living had damaged the uncle’s looks, but her father still had a clear eye, square jaw, a sense of dignity, and most of his graying hair.
    “She says you have asked her to marry you.” Her tone was clipped, her feelings on the subject very apparent.
    Her father’s glance shifted to the door. The corners of his mouth turned grave. For a second, Sabrina could imagine him denying Mrs. Bossley’s claim.
    And then he nodded. “I have.”
    That was not the answer she wanted.
    “ Why was I completely unaware of this?” she demanded, betrayal closing her throat. “She said you have been courting her for months. In fact, everyone in the room today acted as if they knew of your liaison as well. That is, everyone but me.”
    He had the good grace to act discomforted. “Sabrina.” One word. Her name. He said it as if it were an explanation.
    It wasn’t. “ Why? ”
    He frowned at the stack of papers. “I didn’t want to upset you. I knew you would not be happy.”
    “Should I be? Do you remember all of the disparaging things you said about her when she was carrying on madly with my uncle?” She leaned her hands on his desk. “You