Ann Lethbridge (20 page)

Stunned, she stared at him, her jaw dropping, her mind scrambling to catch up.

‘It is not the first time I have made this offer,’ he continued. ‘I approached your cousin some years ago and was rejected out of hand.’

‘I’m sorry. I did not know, until very recently, that there had been any other offers.’

He bowed slightly. ‘As I suspected. Your cousin plays a deep hand. And so I watched his machinations from afar. Your arrival here is more fortuitous than you could possibly imagine. The second chance I had hoped for.’

There was an odd note in his voice. It almost sounded as if he was gloating. ‘Why did my cousin object to your suit?’

His eyes hardened. His jaw flickered with tension. ‘My family are merchants, Lady Jenna. They gained great wealth through trade. Your cousin finds the idea distasteful.’

‘Are you engaged in criminal activity?’

‘You are suspicious, too, I see?’

‘No. No, of course not. I am trying to understand.’

‘I beg your pardon. It is foolish of me to be so sensitive when at long last I have the chance to plead my case with you. Your cousin was insulting to say the least.’ His eyes narrowed a fraction. ‘I must say I was shocked when I heard the gossip about his scheme to send eligible bachelors to your door.’

‘You heard about that, too?’

He bowed. ‘It is common knowledge in Edinburgh that you seek a wealthy man in exchange for a title.’

It sounded dreadful coming from his lips. ‘Braemuir needs a great deal of work if it is to be saved. Expensive renovations.’

‘And I am one of the few men who could afford such a restoration.’

‘But would you?’ She could not help feeling this was all too good to be true.

‘I would. The finest view in all of Scotland, Lady Jenna, and a woman equally as beautiful. What man could resist?’

‘That is your only reason?’

A small smile curved his lips. ‘The title, too. I have a hankering to sit in the House of Lords.’

A guilty conscience made her face heat. ‘I am not perhaps the unspoiled bargain you would think me.’

He flicked his fingers in dismissal. ‘The past does not interest me. Only the future. I am a very wealthy man, Lady Jenna. Honour me with your hand and your title, and I will give you Braemuir. And the children to carry on the Aleyne traditions.’

Braemuir on a golden platter. Promises fulfilled. Responsibilities met. It was all she had ever wanted. What her father had requested with his dying breath.

And the man himself? He was reasonably handsome and his manners were impeccable. Indeed, gentlemanly, by anyone’s standards, even if his surroundings declared him a little more acquisitive than was normal. Many men had interests in collecting things.

Then why was she hesitating? Why wasn’t she jumping for joy, the way she had when Carrick announced she would have three suitors to choose from? Not one of them cared about Braemuir with this man’s apparent passion. Not even Niall. No, especially not Niall. To him, the house, her beloved home, was no more than bricks and mortar and stone.

Yet Drummond’s enthusiasm seemed almost too much. A little too smug.

Her heart seemed suddenly too weighty for her chest. Her breath did not come easily and she could not force the acceptance past her lips, because the image before her gaze was of Niall, of how he would react when she gave him this news.

She cared about Niall’s good opinion. Admired his loyalty and steadfastness, and his courage in keeping her safe. But he did not love Braemuir. If she gave in to her feelings for him, she would fail her father’s trust. Fail generations of Aleynes for her own shallow needs.

She squeezed her eyes shut to force the thoughts into some logical order, but when she opened them again to Mr Drummond’s curious gaze, she still could not answer. A strange pressure on her heart held her back, kept the words from her tongue.

‘This is so sudden, Mr Drummond. May I have some time to consider? I assure you I will not keep you waiting long.’

‘There is someone else making as good an offer?’ His voice had chilled.

‘I... No. But I must break off my current engagement before entering into another.’

‘Ah, yes, Murray. A bit of a nincompoop in my opinion. And his finances remain under his parents’ thumb, you know. I am well aware of his family.’

A threat lay beneath his words. Murray did not have control of his fortune. He might not have the authority to spend any of it on Braemuir. ‘Will you grant me two days?’

‘I have waited many years, Lady Jenna. From the first time I saw Braemuir when undertaking some business with your father, I have waited. What will two more days matter? But let me assure you, I am prepared to do all that is right. The proud name of Aleyne will not be ground into the dust, if you entrust me with its care.’

A prickle of alarm ran across her back. Did he mean it would be, if she did not? How could it? He had no power over her property. ‘You are most forbearing.’

He took her hand and raised it to his lips. ‘I believe a woman of your intellect cannot help but see the worth of my offer.’

‘Your tea is getting cold,’ Mrs Hughes called out.

‘Allow me to return you to your companion,’ Mr Drummond said once more, holding out his arm. ‘I will look forward to you making the right decision.’

Right for whom?

Oh, why did she have such doubts?

* * *

When Niall finished putting away the gig and stabling the horse, he was delighted to discover Lady Jenna pacing back and forth outside the stables. Waiting for him. Delighted was too weak a word. His pleasure was on a much deeper level. It felt like joy.

He smiled at her, then realised she was frowning, her expression clouded with worry. Had she also heard of her attackers’ presence in the area? The odd part was that Sean seemed to think they were now in the pay of the man they had visited today. Could it really be a coincidence that they had found work here after failing in their kidnapping attempt? Sean had seemed to suggest it was not, in that mysterious way he had of speaking. Niall wasn’t certain what to think. But he did not want Lady Jenna running scared.

‘What is it?’ he asked as she strode to meet him in the middle of the courtyard.

She pressed her hands together at her breasts. ‘Mr Drummond is offering marriage.’

His stomach fell away so fast he felt as if he was falling off a cliff. No, it felt worse than falling, because his chest radiated pain. ‘That old man?’ The words left his lips before he could stop them. ‘Why would you even consider it?’

She stiffened. ‘He is the same age as my father when he married my mother.’

So that made it all right? Her father had died when she was little more than a child. He bit back his retort, keeping his voice calm, his expression neutral. ‘You plan to accept him, then?’

She rolled her lips inwards, as if she was unsure, and that made him feel a little better. Not by much. ‘He is willing to sink a fortune into Braemuir.’

‘A generous offer, then.’ He sounded as bitter as he felt. And she had caught it because hurt filled her eyes.

‘He offered once before. Carrick refused him on my behalf.’

Drummond. Now he remembered exactly where he’d heard the name before. In Carrick’s study. ‘Your cousin didn’t approve of him.’

‘Because his family aren’t landed gentry. They earned their wealth.’

‘You deem him worthy, then?’

‘As worthy as Murray, if not more. The man has a fortune to spend and is keen to spend it on Braemuir.’ Her eyes met his and they were full of worry. ‘I can’t see getting a better offer. The strangest part is that he does not lease the land directly from Carrick, but has it by way of a sub-lease from an intermediary. Not only did Carrick refuse his offer of marriage, he also refused to lease him pasturage. So Drummond found another way to get what he wanted.’

‘Did he now?’ The man sounded ruthless. A strange prickling stirred the hairs at the back of his neck. A warning. ‘Jenna I think you should be careful of this man.’ Did he tell her about what Sean had said, or should he try to discover the truth first? If Sean was wrong, he might ruin Jenna’s only chance to save her house.

She sat down on the small bench outside the stable door. ‘He is prepared to pay for everything the house needs. I am no fool, Niall. I will make sure it is written into the marriage settlement.’

Numb, dead inside, and not fully understanding why, except the knowledge he would lose her, which was nothing new, Niall sat down beside her. ‘Why does he want Braemuir when he already has such a fine house of his own?’ Fine in some people’s eyes, anyway.

She rested her elbows on her knees and her chin in her cupped hands. ‘He desires to be part of its heritage through its future generations.’

Niall felt ill at the thought of future generations. He stood up. ‘I see you have decided.’

She rose slowly. ‘Niall, does it really matter if it is Drummond or Murray?’

Not one jot. He’d feel the same whichever man she chose, but somehow he’d begun to think, to hope, there might be a chance for him. He couldn’t talk about this right now. If he stayed, he might do something they would both regret. He needed to think it through. Decide what he should say. He bowed. ‘If you will excuse me, I ordered my dinner at the tavern.’

His stomach revolted at the thought of food, but agreed that a drink wouldna come amiss.

She put out a hand to stay him, a kind of desperation in her eyes. ‘I thought we might meet later, at the house.’

Cuckold the new betrothed, did she mean? Surely not? His body hardened hopefully. His mind rebelled. The anger he’d been trying to suppress pushed its way to the surface. ‘Thank you, but no.’ He turned and stalked off.

Oh, he wouldn’t leave her here alone, not until she was duly married off and under the protection of her husband, but he certainly wasn’t going to have any more to do with her than necessary. He was too angry. Too shattered.

* * *

The pleasant chatter in the tavern had not suited his black mood. He’d been argumentative to the point of rude. Ready for a scrap, something most unlike him, but the innkeeper had kindly suggested he leave before he could entice anyone into fisticuffs. And the anger that had sustained him earlier had faded into melancholy. He had never been a mean drunk. He normally got mellow and affectionate.

Tonight he was neither. He kicked at a stone in the road.

Perhaps he’d been a fool not to take Jenna up on her offer of an evening together. One last night. If he thought he could have stuck to conversation, then he would have said yes. But in his heart he knew he would not.

Damn it all. What sort of man wants to make love to a woman he knows is betrothed to another? Conceivably, it was worse than what Drew had done to his heiress. Ian had sent him away, shipped him off to America, for that misdeed.

Yet he now wanted to make love to her. Badly. Ah, but would she turn him away after his show of temper? She would be wise if she did. And surely she would not have walked to Braemuir in the dark in the hope he would change his mind?

He squinted at the moon. ‘What do you think, lassie?’ Bright Phoebe smiled and seemed to wink.

‘All right. What about this? If there is a light showing in the window, then I’ll knock on the door.’ He stopped and stared at the ground. ‘And if not, you ask?’ He thought about it for a moment, his mind wrestling with the thought of leaving and never seeing or touching her again. It felt wrong. In his heart he knew she would be there. Waiting. ‘Och. If there is no light then I will know I was right the first time.’

Content with his decision, and hoping with all his might for the faintest glimmer from inside the house, he strolled on, letting his mind wander, thinking about the strange meeting with the gypsy, remembering Sean’s warning about their abductors and them being seen on Drummond’s property, apparently with his permission. In his anger and disappointment at her decision, he’d forgotten to warn Jenna as he’d intended.

His heart pounded hard in his chest. What if they came for her and she was alone in the house? He started to run, stumbling in the ruts, tripping over stones in his haste.

There was a light in the kitchen window and as he drew close, he could see two shapes at the table. Who had she let in? Was she even now in the hands of those ruffians?

He burst through the door. And stopped short at the sight of the person slurping down a cup of tea. ‘What is he doing here?’

Chapter Fifteen

T
he Tearny boy looked up in terror. As well he should.

‘Where did he come from?’ Niall asked, glaring at the boy who had led them into a trap.

‘I’ll let him tell you once he has finished his tea,’ Jenna said.

There was an odd note in her voice and she wasn’t quite looking at him. What the devil was going on? Niall leaned against the door and folded his arms across his chest, forcing himself to be patient. To resist demanding answers. There was an undercurrent in the room he didn’t like, and he had the feeling he should not try to battle it. Not yet.

Finally the boy put down his cup.

‘Are you done?’ Niall asked.

The boy nodded, his eyes huge. He looked at Jenna, who nodded. ‘Tell Mr Gilvry what you told me. Take your time. Forget nothing.’

‘The men...’ again he looked at Jenna ‘...the ones who gave me the message to bring to the castle. I didn’t want to, but they made me go with them.’

‘I saw no sign of force,’ Niall said.

‘They said they would shoot my ma if I said one word.’

He could only imagine how scared the lad must have been after such a threat. Anger flared. ‘Aye, well, when I am done with them they will be a little less cocky.’

‘You don’t have to look far,’ the boy said.

So once more, Sean and his dreams had been right.

‘You don’t seem surprised,’ Jenna said, raising a brow.

‘Sean told me he thought they were in the area.’

‘You saw Sean?’

‘In your most recently betrothed’s stable.’

Her spine stiffened. ‘He is not my betrothed.’

‘But he will be.’

‘No, he will not.’

The determination in her voice caught him off guard. ‘Why? What has he done?’ The anger he’d been nursing all night flared brighter.

‘Go ahead, William. Tell him what you told me.’ She frowned at Niall. ‘Don’t interrupt, please.’

Blinking, he sat down at the table and gave the lad a nod of encouragement.

‘I’ve been locked in the attic in a big house that looks like a castle. When I saw you come there today, I escaped down the drainpipe.’

A cold chill swept down Niall’s back. At the thought of the lad climbing down and the dawning realisation that Drummond must be involved in Jenna’s abduction. He stared at Jenna, who gave him a meaningful look.

‘They told my ma she would never see me again if she said one word to anyone about them taking you,’ the boy went on. ‘They said I would go home after the wedding.’

‘The wedding to Murray?’ he asked, confused.

‘To Drummond,’ Jenna said. ‘It seems Drummond intends to wed me by fair means or foul. He said my arrival here was fortuitous. At the time, I did not fully understand his meaning. It seems in running from Fred and his gang, we ran right into the arms of their employer.’

All the pieces fell finally into place. ‘Because of the title.’

‘He was quite open about it. He wants to be a peer of the realm. And he also wants Braemuir.’ She gave a short laugh. ‘And there was I thinking I had found a man who would care for it as I did. You didn’t go inside his house, Niall.’ She hesitated. ‘It is as if anything he lays his eyes on or touches, he has to own. To hoard it away. I can’t think of any other way to describe it. He saw Braemuir, entered its doors while my father was alive and he wanted it.’

‘And he has touched you.’

She shivered. ‘For the first and last time.’

Relief flooded through him, swiftly followed by despair. No matter whom she chose, it would not be him. She had made that perfectly clear, no matter what Sean had said about their being married. And he didn’t blame her. She had her duty, just as he had his. And his required that he get her to safety. And the way to do that was to return her to her real guardian.

‘We leave for Carrick Castle in the morning.’

She shook her head. ‘There’s more. William, tell Mr Gilvry what you did for Mr Murray.’

The boy puffed his chest, as proud as punch. ‘The part where I fetched him a gull’s egg, or the part where he slipped and fell on the seaweed getting into the boat?’

Niall stifled the urge to laugh at the look of outrage on Jenna’s face and tried to suppress the unreasonable feeling of delight coursing through him. ‘So that puts an end to him? Jenna, are you sure? What will you do?’

For a long moment she looked at him and there was longing in her eyes. A heartbreakingly lost look. And he said nothing, refusing to speak the words hovering on his tongue in case he had it wrong. He wasn’t going to grovel. If she wanted him, she would have to say so.

She heaved a sigh. ‘Start again, I suppose. Next Season. In Edinburgh.’

The pain was worse than anything he might have expected. Shattering. ‘Then we must leave first thing in the morning. I’m no waiting any longer for Carrick to act on your letter. You will be safe at the castle and from there we will set the authorities on Drummond and his band of ruffians.’ He picked up his hat. ‘Jenna, I will walk you home. Come on, lad, you can bed down in the stables at the inn.’

‘You won’t let them get me will you, sir?’ William quavered.

He ruffled the lad’s copper curls. ‘No fear of that, young Tearny.’

He just wished they’d try, because right now he was spoiling to connect his fists with something that would fight back.

* * *

By the next morning, Jenna had resigned herself to the idea of returning to Carrick’s protection. William Tearny had brought word early that Niall had walked to the livery stables in the nearby town and Jenna had walked with the boy to Braemuir to bid the place farewell. For a short time, she hoped. She picked her way gingerly through the grand hall and gazed up at the proud display of shields showing crests of her family’s connections. They went all the way back to what her father had said was King James V of Scotland. She looked at the pathetic pile of debris of what had been the grand oak staircase. Niall was right. There was nothing she could do here without a great deal of money.

She still had to keep her promise to Father. And would have by now, had the men Carrick had picked for her to marry...

Liar. The men Carrick had chosen were perfect for the job. She just hadn’t wanted any of them. She’d let emotion rule her decision. Next time she would do better.

At least she knew the truth now of exactly what she had to offer. The house was more a liability than a prize. But the land was good. As was the title. And the view. The best view in Scotland, according to Drummond. She repressed a shudder at the thought of that man.

She turned away.

A small figure hurtled through the baize door that led to the back of the house and attached itself to her waist.

‘They are here!’

‘Mr Gilvry is back already?’ He must have guessed she would come here.

‘No. Them. Those men.’

Jenna’s mouth dried. Her heart picked up speed.

‘They’ve come to take me back,’ the boy wailed. ‘They are sneaking up to the back of the house.’

A loud knock sounded at the front door. How had they known she’d be here? Had they been watching her?

The boy clenched harder.

‘Go, up the backstairs. They will never find you up there. But be careful. Stay at the back of the house where the floors are safe.’

The boy raced off.

Another knock.

Jenna took a deep breath and wished she had a pistol. She manoeuvred around a heap of plaster and opened the front door.

Drummond pushed his way in.

Her mouth drying, her throat feeling tight, she stepped back. ‘Why, Mr Drummond, to what do I owe the pleasure of such an unfashionably early call?’

‘’Tis the early bird and all that,’ he said with a cheerful smile as his eyes darted around, taking in the devastation. ‘It is worse than I thought.’ His gaze came back to her face. ‘Where is that man of yours—Gilvry, I think his name is?’

‘What business is it of yours?’ She certainly wasn’t going to tell him that Niall wasn’t with her.

Another man strode in behind him. A man she remembered all too well. Fred. She turned on Drummond. So he truly was behind her abduction. She lifted her chin. ‘I can’t say I think much of the company you keep.’

Fred ignored her and spoke to Drummond. ‘No luck so far, but I found the lad’s coat in the stables. He’s here somewhere.’

‘My dear Lady Jenna, where is the Tearny boy?’ Drummond asked gently. ‘Better if you tell me now than see him punished if I have to spend valuable time looking for him.’

‘Boy? Do you mean the gardener’s boy who was here yesterday?’

At a sound behind her she turned to see Pip coming through the baize door. Not Niall as she had hoped. Her stomach dipped.

‘Cor,’ Pip said, stumbling over a pile of wood. ‘What a mess. He’s not back here.’

‘Find him,’ Drummond said, his voice as cold as ice. ‘Look upstairs.’

Fred looked at the half-demolished staircase. ‘Can’t get up there.’

‘The servants’ stairs, you fool,’ Drummond snarled, and Jenna recoiled from the ugly expression on a face she had thought reasonably handsome.

The two men went through to the back of the house.

‘There is no boy here,’ Jenna said. ‘Please leave my house immediately.’

‘Now, now, Jenna. Jake saw both of you leave the vicarage this morning. Didn’t your father teach you it was wrong to lie?’

So they had been watching her. And probably had been when she was at Carrick. Under this man’s orders. ‘Telling the truth is not a lesson you have learned,’ she snapped.

As if he had not heard her, he pushed at a pile of rubble with the end of his riding crop. ‘There isn’t a man alive who would want this wreck of a place.’

‘Except you.’

He gave her a small smile and bowed. ‘Except me. Don’t be a fool, Jenna. I will put it to rights for you.’

‘I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man on earth. You had your men abduct me.’

‘Aye, and if not for Gilvry, we would have been married by now and Braemuir would be in my hands.’

‘Why?’

He looked surprised at her question, then he laughed. ‘You don’t know what it is like to be poor, do you? You’ve never lived fourteen to a house. Been scorned for your lowly beginnings. Well, I intend to have the last laugh when I am a peer. Let me see them turn their noses up then.’

‘But you built that awful monstrosity you call a house. You don’t need Braemuir, too.’

His face darkened. ‘My house is better than this.’ He kicked at a length of timber and it crumbled to dust. ‘But it doesn’t have quite the same cachet.’

The sound of heavy footsteps came from upstairs at the front of the house. Hopefully they would fall right through and break their necks.

‘My father would never have approved of a man like you.’

He blanched, his smile transforming into a sneer. ‘Agree to marry me and I will let the boy go. Otherwise...’ He spread the fingers of his gloved hand and shrugged. ‘Well, who knows what can befall a small boy far from home?’

The threat made her throat close.

Fred returned. ‘We’ll never find him in that rabbit warren up there,’ he whined. ‘Half the floors are rotted through. Nothing holds my weight.’

Jenna swallowed.
Niall, please, hurry.
Oh, but she’d told no one of her intention to come here. She folded her arms across her chest. ‘There is no boy here. And you, sir, have outstayed your welcome. Go.’

Drummond’s lip curled. ‘Take care, Lady Jenna. You will pay for your insubordination once we are married.’

Jenna stared at him, horrified. How could she have thought him even close to being a gentleman? ‘Get out! Now.’

He put his hands on his hips and glared at Fred. ‘All right. If you can’t go up, we’ll smoke the little rat down. Light that pile of wood.’

‘No!’ Jenna yelled. ‘Don’t you dare.’

Fred looked at his boss.

‘Do it,’ Drummond snarled.

Fred took a piece of timber and soon had one end alight, like a torch.

‘Perhaps you would like to tell the boy to come down of his own accord, Lady Jenna. I am sure if you shout loud enough he will hear you.’

‘You can’t get away with it. It is murder.’

‘Ah, so he is up there. Marry me, and I won’t burn the place down.’

‘Burn it down and you lose Braemuir,’ she said, desperate to stop him.

‘I will soon build another.’

‘But it won’t be Braemuir.’

‘Of course it will.’

‘No. It can’t be. It would be new.’

He laughed. ‘You are as mad as your father. How he hated handing over that parcel of land to me.’

‘I understood it was Carrick who let it go?’

‘Did you? Your father owed me money. I threatened to take everything if he didn’t give me Braemuir. That is when I learned about the entail. He was so pleased with himself that day, only able to give me a ninety-nine-year lease on a tiny piece of land. But it was what he said just before I left that made me realise what I should do.’

‘What did he say?’ she said, her voice quavering.

‘That the man who would get everything would be your husband. And it would never be me. He was wrong.’ He turned to Fred. ‘Light it.’

‘Why harm the boy?’ she asked.

‘He knows too much.’

And a man cornered was a dangerous man. He would not hesitate to kill the boy to save his own life. ‘All right. Let me go to the backstairs and call him down.’ She headed for the green baize door.

Drummond grabbled her arm. ‘Not until you agree to our wedding.’

The front door crashed back, revealing a furious-looking Niall. ‘Release her.’

Drummond pulled her close to his side, his eyes narrowed. ‘Ah, your lover.’

Jenna blushed.

Niall’s eyes blazed. ‘Let her go,’

Pip was circling around, picking his way around the piles of rubble to get to Niall.

‘Niall!’ Jenna called out. ‘Watch out.’

A hand clapped over her mouth, but she’d warned him in time. He backed up against the wall.

‘Light it,’ Drummond ordered.

Jenna struggled. He took his hand from her mouth and put his arm around her throat, cutting off her air, forcing her to remain still.

Niall’s fists clenched as he waited for Pip to close in.

Jenna struggled. She could not let them burn the house, not with the boy upstairs. ‘I’ll do whatever you want,’ she gasped. ‘Just don’t set fire to the house.’