SirJasper leapt up the stairs after her, but the laird’s voice caused him to stop in his flight.
“My lord!I will nae hae this shameful matter between ye and my sister made any more public than ye hae both already made it. Let me escort ye to my library, and I will send for Eufemia to come and join us there. I would bid ye remember that this ismyhome.”
The Englishman nodded, but said, “My men must be allowed entry to the house, sir.”
“There is nae any danger to ye here, Sir Jasper,” the laird replied stiffly. “I will open my door to show my good faith, but yer men will remain outside.”
“Very well,” came the agreement.
Robert Hamilton opened his front door and said to the assembled troop, “Yer master bids ye await him here.” Then turning back to his unwanted guest, he led him upstairs to the second level of the house, into his library. “There is wine, my lord. I bid ye help yerself while I go and fetch my sister.” He hurried from the room and up the staircase to the third story of the house, where the bedchambers were located.
In the upper hall he met with old Una, the children’s nursemaid.
“‘Tis a wicked man that comes courting wi’ a troop of armed rogues at his back,” she noted matter-of-factly.
“Aye,” he concurred. “Take the bairns to safety, and if there be those amongst the servants who have nae hidden themselves, bid them do so before it is too late. We may get out of this alive, old woman, and we may nae. It is too late to seek help from the earl, I fear.”
He continued down the hallway to his eldest sister’s room, entering the chamber without even knocking. There he found Eufemia, flushed, excited, and as anxious as a maid with her first love. He marveled that anyone as willful and selfish as she was could be so beautiful. Her sapphire-blue eyes were almost black with her mood, and he observed she was wearing her very best gown, a dark green silk with pearls embroidered on the bodice.
“He hae come for me, Rob!” she said excitedly. “I knew he would!”
“Dinna be a fool, Eufemia,” the young laird said sharply. “If the Englishman had come to offer marriage to ye, he would hae asked me first, as ‘tis proper. Certainly he knows yer willing, sister.”
Eufemia Hamilton frowned. “Yer right,” she said slowly, as if unwilling to admit to the truth of his words. Her eyes flashed angrily as her mood turned. “Damn him, Rob!” Now she was almost close to tears. “Damn his black soul! Send him away!”
“Tis easier said than done,” Robert Hamilton replied quietly. “Only ye can send him away.”
“I’ll nae see him!” she said petulantly.
The laird gripped his sister’s arm in a bruising grasp, and his voice was so uncharacteristically harsh that Eufemia’s eyes widened in surprise. “I may be yer junior in years, sister mine,” he told her, “but I am the head of this family, and as such,I will be obeyed!Ye’ve endangered us all wi’ yer shamelessness, and by God, ye’ll put an end to it this night before the earl hears about it. Do ye understand me, Eufemia?”
“Aye,” she whispered.
“Then come down to meet wi’ yerlover.He’s awaiting ye in my library.”
“Ye’ll nae come wi’ me?”
“Nae unless ye want me to, sister.”
She shook her head in the negative.
“Then bind up yer hair and go before his men start stealing the livestock.”
“He likes my hair loose, Rob, and so if I would appeal to his softer side, ‘tis best I leave it,” she said. Then she hurried from the room.
The laird as quickly exited his sister’s chamber, and hurrying to his own, shut the door firmly, bolting it behind him. Moving to the fireplace wall, he felt along the molding. A small door, well hidden in the paneling, sprang open. Stepping through, the laird closed the door behind him, and slipped down the interior staircase within the wall. He knew the way well and had no need of a torch. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he stood quietly, peering through a small opening cleverly concealed in the wall from anyone on the other side of it. He saw the door to the library open and Eufemia enter the room.
Sir Jasper Keane strode masterfully across the room and, sweeping her into his arms, kissed her fiercely.
Eufemia pushed him away impatiently. “Dinna touch me,” she said coldly. “Ye disgust me, Jasper.”
“And you fascinate me, you border bitch!” he answered her.
“Why are ye here? My brother is most angry wi’ me, and ye’ve frightened the bairns wi’ all yer men,” she told him.
“You know why I’m here, Eufemia. I’ve come to take you back to England. You have not yet formally celebrated your betrothal to this earl of yours. ‘Twill be no shame to him if you cry off now. You know I love you. At least as much as I can love any woman,” he amended.
“Are ye asking me to be yer wife, then, Jasper?” Eufemia Hamilton somehow managed to keep the eagerness out of her voice, although it trembled just slightly.
