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he wanted her. Only a permanent relationship would satisfy the feelings she stirred in him.
    Thoughts of her had kept him up half the night, and before he finally fell asleep, he’d been thinking along the lines of buying her a cottage in England and keeping her as his mistress. But he’dbeen at a loss for how to broach the subject with her. It wasn’t as if he were in the habit of setting up mistresses. He’d yet to meet a woman whom he wanted to keep that exclusively to himself—until now.
    But why the bloody hell couldn’t he marry her instead? Just because he bore a title and she didn’t? That was assuming she would marry him. He supposed he ought to be asking before he took it for granted that she would.
    “So who is she, and when do we get to meet her?” Edith wanted to know.
    “She’s a MacGregor from Kregora. I’m not quite sure where that is, though I believe some MacGregors live in an old castle a few hours from here.”
    “Kregora is the name of that castle,” Eleanor explained, her tone hesitant, as if she weren’t quite sure whether to volunteer the information or not.
    It was on the tip of his tongue to ask her if she knew Melissa, but he refrained. As eager as he was to learn anything and everything about the girl, he’d rather hear it from anyone other than his mother.
    “I’ll be riding over that way this afternoon if you want to join me, Edi.”
    “Two hours just to get there, another two back? That’s much longer than I had in mind when I’m still a bit sore from four days riding in the coach. Tomorrow perhaps—if you can wait that long,” she added with a grin.
    He couldn’t, and his expression must have saidas much, because Edith laughed and added, “Very well, I didn’t really want to sit on a mount for that long no matter how rested I get for it. A simple tour about the surrounding areas tomorrow will suffice nicely.
    “If it’s tomorrow for the tour, I might join you m’self,” Henriette said. “Have you enough mounts for the lot of us, Eleanor?”
    “No, we keep only a few carriage horses in the stable since I don’t ride anymore, but I’ll arrange to have a few more suitable mounts available before tomorrow.”
    “Splendid. Looking forward to it now.”
    The conversation took another turn after that, allowing Lincoln to bow out of it once more. He was grateful that his mother had yet to speak to him directly—on any subject. She’d seemed about to do so several times, but she must have changed her mind.
    Was she waiting for him to make an overture? Possibly, and very likely that would have him leaving here with nothing changed. He might have come hoping to put the bitterness behind him, but he hadn’t counted on how much added resentment would surface upon his seeing her here in the home she’d denied him.
    It wasn’t lost on him, however, that the mount he’d ridden yesterday, a fine stallion suited for a man who enjoyed a good ride, she must have bought, rented, or borrowed just for his use. She’d thought of that even before he arrived. She’d also sent a servant to him before he left thehouse after lunch, to give him directions to Castle Kregora. He hadn’t had to ask.
    She could merely have given the directions herself. But after his unappreciative response to her one disclosure there in the dining room, given hesitantly as it was, she was probably reluctant to face being ignored again. Yet she knew he needed those directions, and she saw to it that he got them.
    Acting like a mother, seeing to his needs without being asked—God, he wished she wouldn’t do that. It was too late. She’d had nineteen years to supply what he really needed from her, but she’d never come close to doing that. Yes, he’d gone out of his way to avoid her, hadn’t answered her letters, but she could have found him if it had really mattered to her. She could have pushed her way past his defenses, could have brought him home….

Seven
    L INCOLN found the lake easily