“Good God, he’s wearing a skirt,” was whispered next to her.
“That’s perfectly acceptable dress in Scotland,” someone tried to point out. “It’s called a—”
“It’s a bloody skirt. And here I’d thought the marquis’s relative couldn’t possibly be as barbaric as anticipated, but apparently I was wrong and he is.”
Ophelia was embarrassed, a circumstance that she abhorred. She had expected to have to ridicule Duncan MacTavish in other ways, not have the rumors she’d spread about him end up being quite on the mark. Because of it, she wasn’t really seeing him clearly. She saw the kilt, and the red tints in his wildly windblown dark auburn hair, and she saw nothing else except that, ironically, she’d been right.
On the one hand, she was relieved. Her parents would have to see now that a Highlander, a barbaric one at least, simply wouldn’t do for her. They had heard the rumors. She’d made sure of that. But they had scoffed that they couldn’t possibly be true. They wouldn’t be scoffing now.
But on the other hand, it was one thing to be in control of a rumor and to have it work for your benefit, but quite another to be caught in the truth of it—and the embarrassment of it. And Ophelia hated embarrassment. Pink cheeks simply didn’t suit her a’tall.
So she was quite annoyed when Duncan presented himself after his moment of observing the room from the doorway, gave her a flourishing— she saw it as exaggerated—bow, and said, “Since there canna be a lassie more bonny in all o‘ creation, you mun be Lady Ophelia.”
She had understood him well enough, but said, “When you can manage your compliments in English, I might pay attention to them. You might try dressing properly as well, or do you Highlanders actually prefer to look like women?”
To imply that there was anything even remotely feminine about a Scottish kilt was as grave an insult as could be imagined. Duncan could have forgiven her, though, attributing it to English ignorance, if she hadn’t said it for effect. He couldn’t miss the effect, the titters and outright chuckles from her audience, nor her smug look when she heard it.
His embarrassment was unmistakable, though, and apparently exactly what she was hoping for. Why, he couldn’t imagine, not that it mattered now. Yet what he had felt at first—thrilled, amazed, grateful even, and resigned that he’d have to be thanking his grandfather for this magnificent bride—made the blow all the worse.
He might have been truly surprised when he first saw her, and utterly dazzled by her beauty— she really was a bonny sight to behold. But at that precise moment, she could not have been more ugly in his eyes.
He said not another word to her. He turned on his heel and left the room to go in search of his grandfather, and found him immediately, since Neville was on the stairs coming down to join his guests.
Duncan didn’t pause on his way up, said simply in passing, “She won’t do.”
Neville, shocked at first by the very finality in his tone, would have gone after Duncan to find out why. But considering their less-than-amicable relationship thus far, he decided to find out by other means.
Having been so pleased with Ophelia Reid, Neville was understandably annoyed and wanting to know what had happened to ruin more than a year’s efforts in finding the perfect bride. He signaled his butler, who was standing duty in the hall below, and who had never failed him in knowing all. And this time was no different, since he was informed, verbatim, what had been said in the drawing room.
Silly chit, to not know any better than to voice her ignorance aloud. Beauty was desirable, but not when it came packaged with such stupidity. Duncan was quite right, she wouldn’t do at all.
Chapter Thirteen
Duncan had ridden off, leaving Sabrina on the hill, but then he hadn’t known that she would be going in the same direction as he. And she was in no hurry to follow, quite the contrary. She had sat back down and completely lost track of the time as she sorted through each and every single thing he’d said to her and preserved it for all time in her memory.
What an incredibly exciting afternoon for her, quite the most exciting she could ever remember having, but then she’d never before spent time, and discourse, with such a handsome man. And complicated. He hadn’t wanted to smile or laugh with her. She’d had to make an extra effort to get him to. And she wondered, after he’d gone, what could be so bothering him to cause such a sour mood.
But he’d been smiling when he left her, and that pleased her more than she could say, that she’d lightened his mood, because she had liked him. She didn’t usually make such a judgment that quickly, but in his case it was hard not to like him, his voice, his smile, his sense of humor when he allowed it loose, and of course, the look of him. He had disturbed her senses in a myriad of ways, but she still had enjoyed every moment she had spent in his presence.
But she wasn’t delusional. A man like him was not for the likes of her; he was for the Ophelias of the world. A shame, a pitiful shame really, that it was so, but there you had it. Beautiful for beautiful, and for her, a nice, plain-looking man, intelligent, resourceful, kind, someone who would enjoy taking walks with her, and laughing, and sitting on a hill watching the sunset together ...
Oh, my, the sun really was about to set. Wherever had the time got to?
Sabrina leapt to her feet and ran, nearly all the way, to Summers Glade. She entered the house at the back, so as to encounter fewer people who might see her windblown appearance, and finding the servants’ stairs, made it up to her room. Her aunt Alice was there, however, so she wasn’t going to escape complete notice. But Alice had been impatiently waiting on her—and packing for her—so she really didn’t spare her more than a brief glance before bringing another dress to the open valise on the bed.
She did spare the query, “Wherever have you been? We should have left hours ago with everyone else.”
“Everyone else? So Lord Neville didn’t like having London descend on him after all?”
Alice tsked. “Whether he did or didn’t, he was agreeable to having a house party, then suddenly he wasn’t, but no more than to be expected from that senile old coot. And there we were just getting ready to go down, when his housekeeper came round to ask us to leave. Poor woman was quite embarrassed about it, too.”
Sabrina moved to help her aunt finish the packing. “You can’t blame Lord Neville, when having this gathering wasn’t his idea. He no doubt feels that Ophelia and her fiancé should have some time alone together, to become acquainted—”
“Hard to do that, m’dear, when the Reids have already left to return to London.”
“Left?” Sabrina frowned. “Just because the marquis declined to entertain grandly? Ophelia really wouldn’t get into a snit about that, would she?”
“I’ve no idea. Didn’t see them before they left. Hilary might have. You can ask her.”
Sabrina did that, while they waited in the entryway with their baggage. The housekeeper had sent for one of Lord Neville’s own vehicles, since they had no other transportation, having arrived with the Reids.
“Mary said she would write me,” Hilary replied in answer to Sabrina’s question. “She said she was too upset to talk of it just now, and poor dear, she did look quite upset.”
“And Ophelia? Did you see her?”
“Yes,” Hilary said, then in a whispered aside, “And she appeared to have finally been chastised by her father, for being so presumptuous. Quite pink, her one cheek was. I don’t hold with physical discipline, but Mary’s girl has been allowed to take on airs that should have been nipped in the bud long ago.”
Sabrina was amazed. “Her father actually slapped her?”
Hilary nodded. “That handprint on her cheek would suggest so.”
“But they didn’t object when she invited us here,” Sabrina pointed out.
“We hardly would have been noticed if it had only been us, but fifty-six people arrived here today, all invited by Ophelia, as if she were already the marquise and had every right to invite whomever she pleas
ed. It’s no wonder Neville put his foot down after he finally got a full head count. I would have, too, I don’t mind saying, if the guests I do invite happen to invite fifty-six others. M’dear, that just isn’t proper form.”
Of course it wasn’t, and Ophelia did no doubt know that. But then Sabrina had never spoken to her aunts about Ophelia’s attempt to sabotage her engagement to be rid of what had been an unwanted fiancé. She just hadn’t felt comfortable talking about it, when she so disapproved of it, and Ophelia’s mother was Hilary’s good friend.
This latest scheme of Ophelia’s to have half the ton descending on Summers Glade had likely been done just to infuriate the marquis. But then that was before she had actually met her fiancé, and if she had met him by now, she was undoubtedly regretting what she had set in motion.
It was all very complicated, Ophelia’s plans and means of accomplishing them. Sabrina was quite glad to be out of it. She had been raised to be straightforward. Setting up complicated schemes in the hopes that they would have a particular desired effect just wasn’t her cup of tea. It had never been dull, being around Ophelia, but Sabrina was actually looking forward to a bit of dullness again.
However, she was hoping for one more sight of Duncan MacTavish before she left Summers Glade, since she wasn’t likely to see him again after today, at least not until the wedding, which they were sure to be invited to. With Ophelia gone back to London, he would probably be going there as well. But wherever he was in the big house, it wasn’t near the entrance, and they were soon on their way home.
Chapter Fourteen
“Well, where is she? I mun admit I’ve been looking forward tae meeting this most bonny lassie in all o‘ England that ye found for the lad.”
Neville bristled as the large Scotsman barged into his dining room where he’d been partaking of a solitary dinner. Neville’s butler, arriving a second later, gave him a pained look, that he hadn’t arrived first to give him warning of this intrusion.
“Archibald?” Neville guessed.
“Aye, and who else were ye expecting?”
“Certainly not you,” Neville said disagreeably. “What the devil are you doing here?”
The Scot pulled up a chair across from Neville and stared at the butler, as if expecting him to serve him, now that he was there. But to Neville he said, “Ye didna think I’d be leaving it tae ye tae make sure the wedding goes forward in a timely manner, did ye now?”
“Duncan made no mention that you were coming,” Neville pointed out.
Archie chuckled at that. “Perhaps because he didna know I was. The boy doesna do things in a relaxed manner, ye ken. Once he sets his mind on a course, he follows it straightaway. Not a bad trait tae have, but a wee bit tae fast paced for these auld bones o‘ mine. He would’ve been impatient tae hae me holding him back on the trip here, sae I decided tae follow after at a slower pace, withoout telling him. Impatience annoys him, after all, and ye wouldna hae wanted him arriving here annoyed—more’n he already was.”
The last was added in an unmistakably smug tone. Neville didn’t miss it and just managed to keep from grinding his teeth in his own annoyance.
“Yes, that’s quite a large chip he arrived with on his shoulder. I wonder why.”
Archibald snorted. “Ye’ll no‘ be blaming me for that, mon. ’Twas no‘ me tha’ decided he should hae the stability o‘ knowing only one home whilst growing up, ’twas ye and his muther decided that. A good decision, mind ye, tha‘ I was happy tae agree wi’, but ye could’ve come tae visit him, tae let him know ye afore he was full grown.”
“After the first trip I made up there to do that nearly killed me?”
“Och, ye English are weaklings, tae shrivel in a wee bit o‘ cold,” Archie said in disgust, aware of that one time Neville had tried to venture into the Highlands. “But if he hasna told ye, it wasna that he never met ye afore now that has him in such a fash, ’tis that yer taking him from his home and expecting him tae live amongst strangers.”
“We won’t be strangers to him for long.”
“And that he had nae warning that ye’d expect him tae move here.”
Neville blushed slightly, unable to dispute that accusation, and said weakly in his defense, “Elizabeth should have told him.”
“Aye, and likely she would’ve if she’d lived long enough tae, puir lass.”
“You could have told him long before now yourself,” Neville added. “Why didn’t you?”
Archie raised a brow at that. “When I was hoping ye’d die afore he reached his majority sae he’d ne’er have tae know at all?”
Neville’s cheeks reddened fully this time, but in anger rather than embarrassment. “So sorry to disappoint you, but he would still have become the next marquis, no matter when I happen to pass on.”
“Ye’ve nae other kin, no‘ even some distant, distant, long-forgotten cousin?”
“I was an only child,” Neville said stiffly. “My father was an only child. My grandfather had two sisters, but they both died in childhood. The generations before that had brief lines, but none that have survived. Duncan is my only heir, and I still do not understand your insistence that he can’t be your heir as well.”
“Ye wouldna mind him living the year round in the Highlands then?” Archie said in feigned surprise. “Och, mon, ye should’ve said—”
“Of course he can’t remain there permanently,” Neville cut in impatiently. “He’ll have duties here that—”
“As I thought,” Archie cut in as well. “But ye ken for yerself tha‘ for most o’ the year ‘tis nae wise tae travel far in the Highlands, even for those who live there. Yet ye’d hae the lad doing it? Or are ye suggesting that his duties here would be more important than his duties in Scotland? Or mayhap yer just suggesting that he come home, tae the only home he’s ever known, for only a few weeks oout o’ each year, during our short summer?”
“No, what I think is that you don’t have enough confidence in him to manage an empire on his own. But he’s got Thackeray blood in him. Unlike you, I have little doubt that he can do just that.”
“That boy can do anything he sets his mind tae,” Archie all but shouted. “I’m just nae wanting tae see him kill himself trying tae spread himself tae thin, as yer willing tae let him do.”
“So we disagree on what he’s capable of, or rather, what you’ll allow him to be capable of. This is beginning to sound like those ridiculous letters that passed between us. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if you would disagree and end up spiting yourself, just so you can disagree.”
Archie actually laughed. “They dinna raise fools in the Highlands.”
“I beg to differ—fools aren’t raised, they are born, and they can be born anywhere. That you’re sitting here arguing with me in my own house is proof of that.”
“So yer calling me a fool now?” Archie chuckled. “Actually, sounds tae me like yer calling yerself one.”
To which Neville said in crisp abruptness, “Get out, MacTavish.”
“I’ll be staying till the lad is wed, sae the sooner ye make sure that happens, the sooner yell be rid o‘ me. Sae when is the wedding?”
Neville gave up the idea of getting rid of his nemesis, as aware as Archibald no doubt was that Duncan wouldn’t be very pleased if this grandfather of his was refused a welcome. “Your guess would be as good as mine, since he has no one at the moment that he wants to marry.”
Archie shot out of his chair in a grand display of Scots temper. “He wouldna have her? I could’ve swore he said he’d at least meet the lass afore—”
“He did meet her.”
Archie’s brown eyes narrowed on Neville at the conclusion that answer drew. “Then she wasna as bonny as you claimed she was?”
“Oh, she’s definitely the most beautiful chit I’ve ever seen,” Neville replied.
Archie sighed as he sat back down, truly disappointed. “I’d hoped the lad wouldna let his anger get in the way o‘ his own happiness, but apparently he needs
a wee bit more time tae adjust tae these changes being forced on him.”
“Whether he does or doesn’t has nothing to do with his refusal of the girl. Would have done the same thing myself, after the way she insulted him. A pretty shell is all she turned out to be, with the sense of a twit, not at all what we want for the boy.”
Archie made a mumbling sound, then, “So who was next on yer list of brides for him? Or did ye no‘ investigate more’n this one lass?”
“There are a few other possible choices, but I won’t be making the same mistake again of not meeting them prior to making an offer.”
“Ye’ve made arrangements tae bring them here, then, tae get the meeting oout o‘ the way?”
Neville stared up at the ceiling for a moment. He would have preferred to roll his eyes for effect, but doing so these days gave him headaches.
Calmly, though, as if explaining to a child, he said, “He only just refused the first girl this afternoon. I’ve barely had time to absorb the fact of all that time wasted on her, much less think of how to go about meeting the others without letting them know why—”
“Yer tae much of a recluse, mon, or ye’d ken tha‘ the easiest way tae bring folk t’gether is a blasted party. Throw one, a big’n, and make sure each o’ yer other candidates shows up for it. The lad can then do his part and decide which he wants tae offer for.”
Neville almost laughed. A party? After he’d just kicked a good portion of the ton out of his house, he was now to invite them back?
“A party might not be a good idea—”
“Och, yer disagreeing just tae disagree wi‘ me, and well I ken it. A big party is just the thing tae gather ’em all in sae the lad will be having a good selection tae choose from. If ye dinna know how tae throw one, get one o‘ yer society dames in here tae show ye how.”
Neville flushed with color once more. “It hasn’t been that long since I’ve entertained.”
Archie was less restrained. When he felt like laughing, he laughed, and just now was no exception. Neville did grind his teeth a bit this time, listening to him, and longed for the days when a duel at dawn was an acceptable way to get rid of one’s enemies.