Chapter 1
Men!I’m surrounded by them!Outnumbered and outranked.Sadly, there is nothing to be done for it when one is the youngest of eleven siblings and the only lass amidst a herd of lads at that.
~From the diary of Lady Fiona MacKintosh—April 1895
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The Old Course
St.Andrews, Scotland
April 1895
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“Francis!”
“Nay, Blossom.I willnae consider it!”
“Francis!”
“Nay!And dinnae be getting yer feathers in a bunch about it!”
It was an incredibly simple thing to tell when her brothers felt passionate about something.Their usually cultured accents gave way to the heavy brogues of their ancestors when they were angry, frustrated, or drunk.
And Fiona was fairly certain—at least at this particular moment—they weren’t drunk.
However, they weren’t the only ones frustrated by this conversation either.As much as she preferred to approach the trials of life with ebullient good cheer, Fiona was becoming downright infuriated with her brother.
It was nothing new, of course.The MacKintosh siblings, all eleven of them, were known to be mercurial in temperament, and it would be safe—even a bit of an understatement—to say that there was no shortage of verbal outbursts and occasional physical bouts in the MacKintosh household.
One might postulate that the character trait—Fiona refused to consider it a flaw—might have weakened by the time her parents got to her.But Fiona MacKintosh, last of the bunch and the only female among them to boot, possessed all the hot-headedness of any of her older brothers, along with whatever excess that might have remained.
As a toddler, her father had taken to calling her Blossom because even then, she was as prickly as a heather blossom.The nickname had stuck among her brothers, only to be repeatedly validated as the years went by.
And would likely be confirmed once again quite soon if her eldest brother, who had been most accommodating of her wants and wishes throughout the course of her twenty years, became any less obliging now.
“Francis, this is ridiculous,” she grumbled with no little exasperation.“Lord Ramsay is the man I want to marry.”
“If Ramsay is the man ye trulywantto wed, Blossom, I’ll eat my hat.”Fiona’s eldest brother, Francis MacKintosh, the Earl of Glenrothes, told her as he considered a chip shot from the fringes of the seventeenth green of the St.Andrews Old Course, where they were playing an early round on a perfect spring morning.
A perfect morning, she’d thought, to partake in her beloved pastime with her brothers on their favorite course and to address the matter of her future.However, the conversation wasn’t going as she had imagined it.
One of the other gentlemen present harrumphed.“And if he is, we hae no’ given ye enough options.”
“Vin!”Fiona spun around to gape at the next eldest of the ten MacKintosh brothers in astonishment.Maybe theyweredrunk.Fiona couldn’t think of another reason for their contrary behavior.A denial from one was rare.Two, unheard of.And to have Vin deny her?He, especially, had pampered and indulged her since his return to Scotland two years ago.“Options?I’ve seen the options.Lord Ramsay is the only one who’s come up to snuff!”
“He’s not come up to snuff, Blossom,” the third of her brothers, Richard, weighed in.Unlike the two oldest brothers, Richard’s temper hadn’t yet been tapped if his brogue were any indication.In fact, he seemed rather entertained by the entire conversation...which only served to heighten Fiona’s displeasure.“He’s simply not as smart as the others.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’ll be happy to explain,” Richard said, swinging one of his golf clubs casually before lifting it to point in her direction.“You, my dear sister, are shockingly direct, far too progressive, and disconcertingly liberal-minded.”
Having nothing to offer in opposition to his assessment, Fiona waited impatiently for him to continue.Inarguably, she was all those things and more.Her determination to have her way wasn’t a mere byproduct of having been spoiled by her brothers.They’d raised her following their parents’ deaths to think and act independently, to fight for what she wanted.
“I dinnae think that comes as a surprise to anyone here, Richard.What’s your point?”Glenrothes said, his heavy brogue ebbing with his anger as he chipped his ball onto the green.
“My point is that Blossom’s...shall we call ituniqueperspective on life isn’t what most gentlemen are looking for in a wife in this day and age.My apologies, dear lass, but that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise either,” he added.
