Continuing her season had been out of the question. Even to think of marrying someone else just then, when it was Lincoln she wanted…well, maybe in a few years, but definitely not now.
She had finally decided to go home, had actually been packing for it, when Megan told her that Lincoln was back. She’d given up hope herself, another reason she’d been so angry. She was usually optimistic, could see a bright side to just about anything. Not this time.
But Lincoln was back. She now had to worry again about butting heads with her father over him—that was, if he still wanted her after what her family had tried to do to him. And she couldn’t even blame him if he wanted nothing more to do with her. Another reason she was still so angry. She had no idea where she stood now, nor would she know, until she saw him again.
She should try to find out. She’d said she wouldn’t see him until her father arrived, but that was before her uncles had decided to act like barbarians.
She was debating whether to visit the Burnett ladies again as she went downstairs for lunch. Seeing Ian Six coming in through the front door almost turned her around on the stairs. He noticed her, moved to the bottom of the stairs to wait for her. She stiffened, glared at him, and continued down the stairs and on to the dining room.
He didn’t take the hint, or perhaps he simply chose to ignore it. He followed behind her, remarking in a chipper tone, “Ye’re still no’ talking tae us?”
“Nae,” she said as she took a seat and nodded to the servant waiting to serve the meal.
“It ended lucky, wi’ Linc managing tae get off that ship afore it sailed too far,” Ian reminded her as he took the seat across from her.
“Lucky for you,” she mumbled.
“Why? If ye’re no’ talking tae us, there’s no’ difference, I’m thinking.”
“Because I’d no’ be talking tae you e’en more if that wasna the case.”
“Ah.” He grinned at her. “Put that way, I see yer point more clearly. If it’s any consolation, he got revenge on some o’ us. Though since ye’re no’ talking tae me, I guess ye dinna want tae hear aboot it.”
She ignored him. She’d said too much to him already. If he weren’t her friend as well as her uncle, she wouldn’t have said a word.
“Now, that’s commendable willpower ye’re showing, Meli,” he commented cheerfully after a few moments of silence. “Ne’er seen the like.”
“Oh, shut up and tell me.”
He laughed this time before he replied, “Ye’re a veritable font o’ contradictions today, lass. But as it happens, we all o’ us met Linc at a sporting hall early this morning—at his request, mind you—where he proceeded tae make short work o’ more’n half of us.”
“How badly was he hurt?”
Ian rolled his eyes over her first concern. “Ye should be asking how badly yer kin were hurt.”
“At sixteen-tae-one odds, I dinna think so. How badly was he hurt?” she repeated.
Ian snorted. “Barely a’tall, which canna be said for some of us.”
She raised a brow at him, pointing out, “You’re looking fit and too amused. I take it you werena in the half that got beat on?”
“No indeed. Lucky for me, he gave up the notion o’ defeating us all afore it was m’turn.”
“Your turn?” She frowned. “Sae this wasna him against all o’ you at once?”
“Nay.”
“Bah, why’d you no’ say that tae begin with?” she admonished him. “You had me picturing a grim repeat o’ what happened years ago.”
“It was nothing like that,” he admitted. “Though his intention was still crazy, tae take us on, one after the other, wi’oot any respite. Had he suggested one of us a day, that would hae been reasonable.”
“But would you have agreed tae that?”
He considered it for a moment, then replied, “I dinna see why not. In sixteen fights the odds are still that one of us gets lucky. No’ that it matters. He called it, proving he’s just as crazy as e’er.”
“Nonsense. It was actually the honorable way tae do it, if he was determined on revenge. No surprise visits tae catch any o’ you alone. Even if he didna expect tae win, he made his point.”
“Och, now, that’s just it, he did expect tae win. And in fairness tae him, I should mention he claims it had nothing tae do wi’ revenge, that he wanted no retribution for his wee boat trip.”
“Then what?”
“It was for ye,” he said in a scoffing tone. “Or rather tae get us tae back off sae he could finish his courting wi’oot our interference.”
She ignored the tone, gave him a brilliant smile. “Was it?”
“Bah, none o’ us believed that, Meli. We e’en told him we’d be going home as soon as yer da got here, which could be today, for that matter. Sae there was no point tae his fighting us, other than he wanted tae inflict some suffering for what had been done tae him.”
“No’ if you look at it from his point o’ view. He sees no’ just one but sixteen men standing in the way tae what he wants. He’s still got m’da tae deal wi’, which is daunting enough. But here’s sixteen others, and doing things unthinkable like shipping him off tae China. Aye, you better believe he’d consider getting rid o’ you and your brothers o’ more importance than any revenge.”
Ian frowned, conceeding, “When ye put it that way, I suppose he might’ve been speaking true.”
She nodded pertly. “Who did he defeat?”
He named off the names. Her eyes widened over a few. “Ian Two?”
“Aye, in one punch.”
Her eyes widened a lot more. “Really?”
“Dinna look sae amazed. That was his strategy and, come tae think of it, the only thing that would hae made it work, tae take us each oot in short order, afore he took tae much damage himself. Had there been a few less of us, he would hae fought tae the end, I dinna doubt. But he was running oot o’ steam wi’ seven of us tae go.”
“And that’s the mark of a sane man, tae retreat when you know you canna win,” she said triumphantly.
Ian snorted at her. “I ne’er said he didna hae his sane moments.”
“Bah, you. I told you he’s no’ like the child anymore. Admit you’re trying tae see things in him that just are no’ there now.”
“The only thing I’m admitting is it was a pleasure tae watch him in action today. He’s become a damn fine fighter. Unfortunately, that’s another mark against him.”
“How?”
“Because now it’s no’ that he might hurt ye if he should lose control. He showed us all today he could well kill ye if he e’er took one o’ his fists tae ye.”
She stood up, furious with him again, and snarled on her way out the door, “If, if, if! I refuse to live m’life based on ifs, Ian. Tell that tae your brothers.”
Thirty
KIMBERLY was annoyed with him. Well, in truth, steaming mad would better describe her mood. Lachlan had tried to cajole her out of it, but that didn’t work. Which didn’t surprise him. Concern for Melissa could make her very unreasonable, and she was very concerned after they’d received Ian’s note.
She had wanted to leave for London immediately to find out what was going on. He’d already adjusted his schedule to accommodate their planned trip the following week, had crammed everything that needed doing into that week, including several important meetings. The soonest he could leave would be the end of the week. That wasn’t soon enough for his wife, which was why she was mad at him.
She had even started to leave without him. He put his foot down about that, which only made her madder. Unlike her, he wasn’t that worried over Ian’s note. It was probably no more than some silliness, the same as had happened at home when they’d chased off Melissa’s first suitors. Lincoln Burnett wasn’t like them. He’d met the man, liked him. And he knew that Kimberly’s brothers could and most often did overreact. Whatever was bothering them about Lincoln Burnett could be worked out, he didn’t doubt.
But that wasn’t Kim
berly’s concern either. It was that Melissa was upset. That was the key word that had set her off. Her anger with him was nothing compared to her present anger with her brothers. They’d let their protective instincts get out of hand. They all shouldn’t have gone to London. Only Ian Six was to have been Melissa’s escort. And this time they’d upset her baby. Whatever they’d done, they shouldn’t have done it, and she was going to make sure they never did it again.
She’d said all that before she stopped talking to Lachlan. It had been an uncomfortable journey south. He sighed every once in a while. She ignored it. His Kimber all stiff, prim, and glaring was usually an amusing sight. He just didn’t like it when she got angry with him for something that her brothers started. A most frequent circumstance over the years, unfortunately. So he wasn’t too pleased with them at the moment either.
He’d often wished Kimberly’s father had never gathered all his bastards under his roof. Separate, they would’ve been rarely heard from. Banded together, they were a distinct pain in the backside.
Kimberly’s mulish expression didn’t change even when they rolled into London that afternoon. However, she was showing some signs of renewed impatience the closer they got to the St. James residence.
Ironically, they arrived to the sound of laughter—a lot of it—including Melissa’s, which they easily recognized. Hearing it, Lachlan gave Kimberly an I-told-you-so look. She snorted at him and moved toward the parlor, where the laughter seemed to be coming from.
The duke and duchess were there, along with their son, Justin, plus Melissa and Kimberly’s youngest brother, Ian. Devlin St. James had been regaling them with a few of the more amusing mishaps that had occurred during his long trip across Europe. He’d apparently only just arrived home himself.
Melissa squealed in delight when she noticed her parents standing in the doorway, and she rushed over for hugs and kisses. Ian Six was looking for the nearest exit, but they were blocking it. Only Lachlan noticed his obvious desire to be gone and wondered about it.
There was a round of greetings. Megan remarked in an aside to her husband, “What perfect timing. I was afraid you would get involved in the drama of Melissa’s courtship, but with her parents here now, you won’t have to.”
He raised a brow at her. “Why would I want to?”
“Because it’s quite a mess. Her suitor, Lord Cambury, is severely outnumbered by her uncles, and I know how you love to champion the underdog.”
“I could have sworn that your sponsoring of her was to have been a simple matter.”
The duchess winced. “It was. But how was I to know that all sixteen of her uncles would come to town and start undoing my good efforts?”
While Megan filled Devlin in on what had transpired during his absence, Kimberly pulled her daughter aside, asking in a whisper, “You’re not upset anymore?”
“I am,” Melissa said with a contradictory smile.
Considering the smile, as well as the laughter they’d walked in on, Kimberly couldn’t be faulted for assuming, “Then it’s not really serious?”
“It is.”
Kimberly’s brow knitted in confusion. “So you’re just taking a break from being dejected?”
“Nae, I was just expecting you to show up soon, and I was thinking everything would be fine once you did.”
Kimberly rolled her eyes. “I’m glad you have such confidence, Meli. I could have used some of it myself this week. Now, what’s this all about? Ian’s note said only that you were upset and that he and the rest of my brothers were the cause of it.”
“They’ve been busy, your brothers. Ian Six figured out that they knew m’Lincoln personally, e’en though it’s been nineteen years since they’ve seen him. He let the rest of them know, and they all came tae town wi’ their prejudice firmly in place. They’ve no’ given Lincoln a chance tae show them he’s no’like the lad they once knew.”
“What is it they have against him?”
“They think he’s crazy or, more precisely, capable o’ going crazy. That he seems perfectly sane doesna matter tae them. They’re basing their objections on ifs. If he gets angry, he could go crazy again. If he goes crazy, he could hurt anyone in his path, including me. And now that they’ve seen him fight and how good he is at it, they’ve changed that tae if he goes crazy, he could kill me.”
Kimberly was seriously frowning by then. “What led to all these…ifs?”
“That thing that happened nineteen years ago. I’ve heard both sides o’ it and can see how it got out o’ hand. You and Da should hear Lincoln tell it. And I’m sure your brothers can’t wait tae be giving you their account.”
“Are they talking real crazy?” Kimberly asked. “Or just seems crazy?”
“O’er the deep end for real, tae hear them tell it,” Melissa said in disgust.
“I think I’d rather hear you tell it.”
“Nae, tae be fair tae them, I’m biased. I’ve heard it all, and I still want Lincoln for m’husband. But tae give you the gist, your brother Dougi was Lincoln’s best friend back then—his only friend. His da had died, his mother secluded herself because o’ it, so Dougi was all Lincoln had in the way o’ companionship. But that ended when some teasing atween them went bad. Dougi took it wrong and started a fight that more o’ your brothers finished.”
“Bah. Now, why does that sound just like them?”
“Because it is just like them. And they beat Lincoln pretty bad. That should’ve been the end of end. It would’ve been for them. It probably would’ve been for Lincoln, too, ’cause he knows how they are. But they wouldna let him set things right wi’ Dougi. And that’s when it got out o’ hand, because in his mind Dougi was all he had.”
“Out of hand how?”
“There were a lot of fights, wi’ Lincoln taking on more’n one o’ them at a time and getting hurt worse and worse. He wouldna stop trying tae get tae Dougi. But they blamed him for that first fight and felt they had tae protect Dougi from him. He was angry by then, but in so much pain he doesna remember e’en half of it. Sae aye, he probably did seem crazy, when all he was was desperate to make things right wi’ Dougi.”
“How did that end?”
“He got sent tae England, where he’s lived e’er since,” Melissa said.
“So he never set things right with Dougall?”
Melissa shook her head. “Your brothers make a good solid wall when they’ve a mind tae.”
Kimberly sighed. “Aye, I know it. And how does your Lincoln feel about it now?”
“Bitter,” Melissa replied with a sigh. “He apparently lost his mother o’er it as well, since she stayed in Scotland when he was sent off tae live wi’ her relatives. I dinna think he’s forgiven her for that.”
“So he hates them all?”
“If he didna hate them when they all showed up here just tae tell him he couldna have me for his wife, he probably does now.”
Kimberly winced, knowing her brothers, and asked, “What’d they do?”
“Aside from no’ telling me that they’d warned him off, sae I was waiting and waiting for Lincoln tae get on wi’ courting me, and didna know why he stopped coming around, they had him shanghaied, actually dumped him on a ship tae China.”
“Shanghaied!” Kimberly exclaimed.
Ian Six bolted out of the room upon hearing that, so when Kimberly turned around to pin him with a baleful look, he wasn’t there to receive it.
Across the room Lachlan excused himself from his chat with Devlin and came over to his wife and daughter to ask, “Is there something I should know about?”
Kimberly was too incredulous to answer him immediately. Melissa didn’t answer either, at least not his question. She put her arms around his waist, hugged him, and said, “After you’ve heard it all, Da—and you will as soon as m’uncles find out you’ve arrived—keep in mind that their worries are no’ based on anything current but on the past. And keep in mind, too, that Lincoln Burnett is the only mon I’m wanting tae wed. I’ve heard
both sides. I trust m’instincts, that he’d ne’er hurt me. But I’ll abide by your decision. At least—I hope I will.”
Thirty-One
“D’YE realize that Melissa actually said she might no’ obey me?” Lachlan grumbled to Kimberly as they changed clothes for dinner that night, the first moment they’d had alone together since they arrived. “Ye did hear that? I wasna imagining it?”
“Do you realize that she’s been with us only eighteen years, but in all likelihood she’ll be with her husband three times as long at least?” Kimberly replied.
“And what has that tae do wi’ it?”
“Everything, or at least it puts the matter of ‘husband’ at a higher priority in her mind.”
“But she’s ne’er disobeyed me, Kimber. No’ once, no’ ever.”
“Of course she hasn’t. She’s a good daughter. We couldn’t have asked for better. But this is the rest of her life we’re talking about. And it’s not as if we’d disown her if she didn’t do as we say, like my father—or rather—who I thought was my father—threatened to do to me. And besides, put yourself in her shoes—Well, maybe not you, since you weren’t all that eager to marry me—”
“I was.”
“You weren’t,” she insisted. “The decision sort of took you by surprise. It wasn’t something you thought about for the longest time.”
“Kimber, dinna ye dare tell me I didna want tae marry ye. Once I realized I did, getting ye wed was all I could think about.”
“Faugh, you didn’t let me finish. I was going to say ‘at first.’ Which is neither here nor there. My point was, what would you have done if a parent—yes, I know, yours were no longer around—but if you still had one at the time, would you have stood for being told to forget about me and find someone else?”
He scowled at her. “The choice was mine tae make, either way.”
She narrowed her eyes on him. “Because you’re a man? Your parents wouldn’t have interfered because of that?”
He gave her an aggrieved look. “Ye know it’s different for a woman, Kimber. There’s no point in arguing about that. She’s only eighteen. And if for some reason she’s set on a mon who really isna right for her, then it’s our duty tae see that she makes the right choice.”