Ballard laughed. “Hurry up, lads. From what I can smell, there is a fine meal awaiting us.”
Clover was just helping Molly set the last dishes on the table when Ballard, Shelton, and Lambert entered the dining room. She hid a smile as she noted their clean homespun shirts and breeches, and their still damp hair. For a brief moment after she had ordered them to wash and change, she had worried that she had overstepped herself, but it had been a fleeting concern. Ballard said he wanted to learn good manners and the way of the gentry. There wasno need to wait until they were married to start those lessons.
As they ate Clover took careful note of their table manners. They were not as unschooled as she had feared, but there was certainly a lot of room for improvement. Ballard, Shelton, and Lambert clearly had only one concern at mealtime, and that was to get as much food as possible into their mouths as fast as they could. When Ballard glanced up at her, she just smiled, however. Their first meal together was not the time to start their lessons in genteel dining.
A little hesitantly Ballard returned Clover’s smile. It took only one glance around at Clover and her family to make him uncomfortably aware that his table manners were all wrong. He watched Clover more carefully, imitating her actions, but knew he looked awkward. It pinched at his vanity and he fought his wounded pride. All he needed was a little education, which Clover would provide.
After the meal was over, as they gathered in the parlor for an after-dinner drink, Ballard felt his wavering confidence return. Their sobriety restored, it was not long before Shelton and Lambert slipped away to tour the waterfront for drinks and excitement. Soon afterward, Agnes ushered the twins off to bed, her intention of giving him some time alone with Clover so clear that Ballard had to smile. He finished off his brandy and moved to sit next to Clover on the settee, grinning at the nervous glance she gave him as he draped his arm around her shoulders.
“Weel, lass, ye still have time to change your mind.” He nuzzled her thick, sweet-smelling hair and felt a light tremor pass through her slim frame.
“I do not want to change my mind.” She turned to look at him. “Icannot.”
He lightly traced the shape of her face with his fingertips. “I willnae argue with ye, lass, for I am getting what I want. Now, your mother left us alone to learn to ken each other a wee bit better.”
“I do not believe she intended you to try andkenme this well, sir.” Clover made what even she recognized as a weak attempt to wriggle out of his hold.
“A kiss between betrothed folk isnae such a bad thing.”
“It is not very proper either.”
“Ah, wee Clover, there are times when ye aretooproper. I shall have to break ye of that.”
Before Clover could respond, Ballard kissed her. Clover gave only one fleeting thought to pushing him away before she wrapped her arms around his neck. She savored the taste of him as he stroked the inside of her mouth with his tongue. For awhile she immersed herself in the pleasure his kiss inspired. Then she felt his hands slide up the sides of her breasts. The way he moved his thumbs against the swells made her shiver with desire, but it also shocked her back to sensibility. She abruptly moved out of his hold and stumbled to her feet.
“I believe we have been alone long enough, Mr. MacGregor,” she said, inwardly cursing her breathlessness.
Ballard reached for her, laughing when she jumped back. “I was thinking we had just begun.”
“You can think again. Now, although it has been a very pleasant evening,” she said as she backed toward the door, “I believe I must retire for the night. ‘Twillbe a very busy day tomorrow. Good night, Mr. MacGregor.”
“Sleep weel, lassie,” he called after her as she hurried out the door. “Ye willnae be able to run away on the morrow.”
She shut the door on his soft chuckles and muttered what few curses she knew as she went up the stairs. The man had a disturbing ability to turn her mind to mush. Clover sighed as she entered her room. Marriage to Mr. Ballard MacGregor might prove to be an even mix of delight and aggravation.
