He wasn’t worried much over Fiona’s pique.She was clever enough to soon realize that her brother had known the truth of how they had spent the afternoon before she’d even departed the room.She would come around.She might even see the humor in the situation much as he could now, looking at the position he had put himself in.
The events of the past two years had stripped him of that ability to see the lighter side of life.To find humor where, by rights, there should be none.Fiona had given that back to him.Returned hisjoie de vive,and to his surprise, he felt happier and more carefree than he had in a very long time.Even with the beating that undoubtedly awaited him.He laughed aloud at the ridiculousness of it all, deepening the frowns around him with bewilderment.
Grinning broadly, he bowed shortly to Glenrothes and then turned to the women who stood between him and certain bloody agony, offering a deeper, courtly bow.“Lovely ladies, fair beacons of reason and rationality, I beg you to grant me sanctuary.”
“Sanctuary?”Glenrothes repeated.“Och, man!Ye should take yer medicine like a man, no’ hide behind a woman’s skirts.”
“And I will, old chap,” Aylesbury assured him with a short laugh.“You’ve got yours.Let’s see, shall I take appointments then?Working down through them?Vin, tomorrow then?Richard the day following?James, as he is not present, perhaps Haddington might like to stand as his second?Then Colin, then Sean?By the middle of next week, I might...”
“Enough,” the earl grumbled, though he was stifling at least a small amount of amusement.“I ought to drag ye before the preacher this verra night!”
“I would be willing, but your sister might not be, as she has so far denied me her hand and heart.You will have to take it up with her.I will call on you, Glenrothes, in the morning to discuss how best to finish off Ramsay and his henchmen.You might consider that a quick wedding will certainly work well enough there.In the meantime...”He turned back to the door.“Ladies?Might I at least beg an escort as far as the door?”
Eve looked hard put to maintain a straight face but nothing stopped Moira from grinning back at him, her eyes dancing.“For you, Harry, as far as the door.Abby?”
Abby laughed as well, nodding her agreement.“To the door.”
“Regrettably,” Eve added.“After that, you’re on your own.”
“Ladies, I find your terms agreeable.”He executed an elegant bow before walking toward them with his arms held out from his sides.“I am at your mercy.”
Chapter 41
I will tell you, Jamie, I’ve never seen a man take his comeuppance with such delight.Aylesbury is a braw fighter.He took us all on, one after the other, until he could hardly stand.Even so, he took a fair piece out of some of the lads in the process.
I tell you, I never thought I would meet anyone who I thought would be a proper match for our Heather Blossom.
~From the correspondence of the Earl of Glenrothes to James MacKintosh—June 1895
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Aylesbury, England
A week later
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