"I"m afraid I can"t. If they"re married, that"s all there is to be said about it." Sir Henry sighed. "I suppose I can do one thing, though. I was already thinking about this, so I"ll make it official." He quirked a brow at Strath. "What do you think of a bride gift in the form of this castle?"
Strath"s eyes widened. "Tulloch? For us?"
"Aye." Sir Henry looked fondly about the library. "I love the place, but it needs someone who"ll live here and invest the rents back into the lands. I"ve no time for that, but you could do it, lad. You"re young and have the intelligence."
Strath looked down at Sorcha. "Well? Would you like to be the lady of Tulloch?"
Sorcha beamed. "I"d happily be the lady of a crofting hut, as long as you were there."
He hugged her and turned to his uncle, grat.i.tude in his voice. "I can"t thank you enough, Uncle. You won"t be sorry. I"ll implement every change you"ve suggested."
Sir Henry looked pleased. "You"re a good one, Strath. I"ve always thought so. And I"m ashamed I haven"t kept Tulloch up as well as she deserves. Now I can visit every year and you can show me the improvements you"ve made."
He c.o.c.ked his brow at Lady Malvinea. "There, my lady. I"ve sweetened the pot with a castle and all of its rents, which are considerable. Your la.s.s will be well cared for. Not hugely wealthy, but she"ll be comfortable and safe, and will have a grand home for herself and her bairns."
"I"ll live close by, too," Sorcha added, beaming. "You can visit all of the time."
Alexsey caught Strath"s wince, but Lady Malvinea glowed.
She turned to Sir Henry. "I can"t thank you enough."
"Och, "tis nothing. It"s settled, then, and we"re all quite happy for it." Sir Henry straightened, his gaze turning to Alexsey as his expression turned grim once more. "But that dinna fix our other problem."
Tata waved a hand. "He"s not a problem. Bronwyn is the problem." She turned to Lady Malvinea. "Our plan would have worked, if not for this complication."
Alexsey asked, "What was this plan, Tata?"
"Ha! You would have liked it. It was for your own good."
"And Bronwyn"s," Lady Malvinea added.
"So you both knew I would never choose Sorcha."
"Of course we knew that!" Tata scowled.
"Unlike other people"-Lady Malvinea sent a meaningful glance at Sorcha and Strath-"everyone knew how you felt about Bronwyn, and she about you."
"Everyone?"
Sir Henry cleared his throat. "Actually, I had no idea."
"Neither did I," Strath said.
Sorcha looked up at her husband. "Really? It was so obvious."
Alexsey threw up his hands. "Tata, just tell me what mischief you"ve been up to! I"ve no patience for this."
Tata smirked. "It has been obvious to me for some time that you meant to have Miss Bronwyn, will she, nill she. She is a very independent miss. Very strong-willed."
"Which you did not like. You threatened to withhold the kaltso."
"I didn"t like it at first, perhaps. But Lady Malvinea came to see me. She told me things about Bronwyn that I did not know. About her strength and her caring. I decided the girl would do very well."
"You said she was too uncomfortable in public to be a princess."
"Easily overcome with practice."
"You also said she was too old to marry and have children."
"Pah. At twenty-four, she is a mere child. I was twenty-seven when I had your mother."
"So you just pretended not to like Bronwyn?"
"I wanted to see how hard you were willing to work to be with her."
"So that"s why you had me do all of those useless errands."
"And protested, and demanded you stop seeing her. But no matter what I did, no matter what Lady Malvinea did, you did not let it stop you. You didn"t let anything stop you. But then you botched it royally when you let her get caught leaving your room. What a foolish move!"
"I did not mean for that to happen. But it is nothing. I will have Bronwyn for a wife. Tonight I was going to ask her to marry me."
Tata threw up her hand, a pained expression on her face. "And she would have thought it was only because you were forced to."
"I would tell her that is not so."
"She would think you were merely being kind," Lady Malvinea said softly. "She would have refused you. That"s why, at Her Grace"s suggestion, I made certain Bronwyn would not be here tonight, so that this would happen."
Alexsley slowly nodded in understanding. "And I would have to make a choice."
Lady Malvinea smiled. "And you would have chosen Bronwyn."
"You think that would have softened her to my cause?"
Tata blew out her breath. "Did you not listen to a word we have said? Her pride would not let her accept a forced marriage. If you had a clear way to get out of it and didn"t take it, then her pride would no longer be an obstacle. Of course then she would say yes."
Strath moved impatiently. "I"m surprised you would play with Sorcha"s reputation in such a way."
Tata waved her hand. "No one would have known what happened here except us."
Lady Malvinea added, "And if anyone did come upon us, Her Grace would claim she was in the room the entire time. No one would dare challenge her. We thought of everything. Or thought we had."
Alexsey walked toward the door.
"Wait!" Tata took a step after him. "Where do you go?"
"To see Bronwyn, wherever she is."
Tata said, "Take her flowers."
"Or a gift," Lady Malvinea said. "That would be nice."
"A ring is always welcome." Sorcha glanced at Strath, who chuckled.
"Soon, my love," he murmured as he tucked her hand in the crook of his arm. "We will go to London this week and you can select one."
At the door, Alexsey looked back at Lady Malvinea. "She is at Ackinnoull?"
She nodded.
Sorcha added, "She was to come with us but she never came down, and we couldn"t keep Sir Henry"s coach waiting."
Lady Malvinea winced. "Actually, I locked the door to her room."
"Mama!" Sorcha"s eyes widened. "Why would you do that?"
"Because if she"d been here, we"d have never gotten the prince away from her long enough to enact our plan."
At Alexsey"s dark look, Tata said defensively, "We couldn"t just tell her to stay away from you. You can"t tell a strong woman not to do something. That"s the same as-"
But Alexsey was already gone.
Gentle readers, love is elusive, but worthwhile. So, so, so worthwhile.
-The Black Duke by Miss Mary Edgeworth Alexsey galloped up the drive to Ackinnoull and was halfway out of the saddle before the horse had even stopped. He threw the reins over an iron ring and then slammed his hand against the door.
No one answered.
He banged louder.
Still no answer.
He was debating kicking in the door when he heard Mrs. Pitcairn"s frantic voice behind the house.
Bronwyn. He ran to the rear of the house and found the cook standing under a large oak tree, one hand covering her mouth.
"Mrs. Pitcairn! What"s wr-"
She let out a wailing cry and threw herself upon him. "Ye have to save her! Ye must!"
His heart thudded sickly as he looked around. "Where is she?"
Mrs. Pitcairn burst into tears and pointed up.
Confused, Alexsey looked up . . . and saw Bronwyn high in the oak. She stood on one limb, her skirts hooked on another branch, a great tear in her sleeve, and her hair falling down about her face. As he looked, the branch on which she stood gave a crack and dropped down an inch, bouncing Bronwyn madly.
"Her skirts are caught," Mrs. Pitcairn said, wiping tears from her eyes. "She was climbin" oot the window to escape, and her skirts got caught upon a branch and now she canno" move."
"Are you injured?" he called to Bronwyn.
She cast a startled glance down. "Lovely," she muttered. "The one time I want to look composed, and what does the a.s.s do but show up as if he"s some knight in-"
"I can hear you."
There was silence, and then, "Oh."
"Are you injured?"
"Only my pride, but that is quite bruised."
The humor in her voice should have calmed him, but didn"t. "Stay where you are."
"As if I had a choice," she returned. "My spectacles fell. Could you-"
"They are not important. Mrs. Pitcairn, there"s no way to climb this tree; the bottom branches are well over my head. How do I reach the window nearest Miss Murdoch?"
"Follow me." She stopped to yell, "Hang on, miss! His Highness is comin" fer ye!"
Bronwyn muttered something that Alexsey was fairly certain was inappropriate for a woman of good birth, but he couldn"t blame her.
He followed the cook up stairs upon stairs until they reached the top floor.
"Oh, look!" Mrs. Pitcairn pointed to the key in the lock. "Tha" is why she climbed oot. Someone locked her in."
Alexsey opened the door, and Walter and Scott bounded upon him. "Down, you pestilent pups!" he growled, pushing past them to the open window.
Bronwyn was several branches below him, and he could see where her skirt had twisted around a knot well over her head. She was short a shoe, too.
"Don"t move," he ordered. It took him a few minutes, but with care, he climbed out the window and into the tree, and slowly worked his way to her side, careful not to disturb the branch upon which she stood.
She let out her breath. "I can"t believe this. I never slip, but I was in a hurry."
To see him. "You shouldn"t have been in a hurry, lyubovnitsa; I would have waited. And now, you"ve torn your gown and lost your spectacles and your shoe."
"I can do without the crticisms. I"m well aware of my precarious situation."
"Good. Hopefully, you are done with climbing." He placed his foot securely on a thick branch and wrapped an arm about another. Finally, he could reach her.
"You didn"t complain when I climbed the trellis to your room," she pointed out in a fair voice.
"That was different." With his free hand, he bent down, slipped an arm about Bronwyn"s waist, and lifted her up.
She clung as he lifted her level with him. As her feet found purchase, she loosened her ferocious grip from his neck. "Whew! I was quite frightened. Thank you so much for your help. Mama locked me in my room and- Do you already know about that?"
"I will help you back into your window, and then we"ll discuss all of the evening"s events. Unless you wish to do it here. This is quite comfortable, but I cannot kiss you properly without endangering our lives."
She turned a pleased shade of pink but almost immediately shook her head, regret clouding her eyes. "We will wait."
He bent down to carefully untangle her skirt from the broken branch. "This reads like one of your novels."