“Put your weapons down!” she yelled, charging the drive. “Gabriel! Don’t shoot anyone!”
Lattimer swung out of the saddle, but his gaze remained on Graeme as he put his left arm around his sister, moving her to one side. The Beast of Bussaco, they’d called him when he’d served as a major in the army, and that had only been four months ago. The man was a fighter, and he had Marjorie. If one man in the would could remove Marjorie from him it was Gabriel Forrester, and Graeme wasn’t going to allow that.
“What are you doing here?” she asked her brother. “And how did you even find me? I told you I was well and would write you within the week.”
“No. First you explain why you’re residing beneath the roof of a Maxwell chieftain. Then we can have a reunion.”
Clenching his jaw, Graeme handed his rifle to Brendan and started around the wagon. “Why are ye giving me yer weapon?” his brother whispered.
“So I dunnae shoot my almost brother-in-law,” he grunted back. He still had a knife in his boot and the one at his back, but if Lattimer thought he could talk to Marjorie like that, Graeme preferred to use his fists.
Marjorie saw him coming, and her eyes widened in response. “Graeme, he came all this way to make certain I’m well. I do owe him an explanation.”
“From the sound of his barking, he came all this way to accuse one of us of someaught. AndIwant to know why.”
The duke gave him an assessing look. “One Samuel Cooper delivered a letter to me yesterday. He told me that just before he took the mail stage north to Lattimer, a man who called himself Sir Hamish Paulk ran him down, read the letter, and then told him to make certain I received it. I then persuaded Mr. Cooper to tell me where he’d gotten the letter in the first place. And that led me here. To you. Your turn, Ree.”
So Lattimer liked things straightforward. Good. It made for less confusion later. And Graeme wasn’t in the mood to be polite, anyway. “First, ye might have thought to inform Ree that ye put yerself into the middle of a clan war with the Maxwell. If she’d known, I doubt she would have risked coming up here with only a lady’s companion and two coachmen.”
Finally the duke looked at his sister. “I didn’t ask you to come up here.”
“It was supposed to be a surprise. We’ve missed sharing every important moment in our lives. I wanted to meet Fiona.”
“You came to surprise me. That still doesn’t explain why you’re here.”
“Because my brothers kidnapped her. Because the Duke of Dunncraigh put oot word that any harm done to ye would be a favor to him. I’m nae on good terms with the Maxwell, and the lads decided bringing her to him would improve the situation. I objected. Yer turn.”
A muscle in Lattimer’s jaw twitched. “Why is shestillhere, then?”
“Two reasons. Hamish Paulk’s been staying two miles from here with my uncle, and he stumbled across Marjorie. We—”
“I pretended to be Connell’s tutor,” she broke in. “He’s Graeme’s youngest brother. Graeme didn’t want word about who I was getting back to Dunncraigh, and once I found out about your trouble with the Maxwell, I didn’t want to risk traveling up to Lattimer Castle. Not while Paulk was about, anyway.”
The duke nodded. “That makes a degree of sense.” He looked back at Graeme. “What’s the second reason?”
“Yer sister is a fearsome lass, and I didnae want her to leave.” Reaching out, he took her left hand in his, and lifted it. “She wears my grandmother’s ring. She’s mine. I’m marrying her.”
Thatmade Lattimer blink. “Three months ago you announced how happy you were to be living in the middle of Mayfair. This isnotthe middle of Mayfair.”
Marjorie looked around at the very attentive men surrounding them now on every side. “Perhaps we could go inside and chat,” she suggested. Aside from the fact that a lady didn’t want her troubles out on the wash line for everyone to see, Graeme looked very close to punching Gabriel. If that happened, she’d rather it be in front of fewer witnesses armed with fewer weapons.
“Your brothers aren’t going to attempt to kidnapme, I trust?” Gabriel said dryly, glancing from the lads behind the wagon to where Graeme still stood holding her hand.
“Nae. There’s nae chance of me making amends with Dunncraigh now.”
“Is that the reason your trees are bristling with rifles?” her brother asked.
“Aye. More conversation fer inside.”
“My men’ve been riding all night. They could use some breakfast.”
Graeme nodded. “Kitchen’s around the left side of the hoose, behind the garden.”
Gabriel released his grip on Marjorie’s shoulder and turned around. “Get yourself something to eat, lads. Those two,” and he gestured at Brendan and Dùghlas, “will show you the way. We’re all friends for the moment.”
“Fer the moment,” Graeme repeated. “I reckon the morning room’ll do.”
They trooped inside with Marjorie putting herself between the two tall men. Normally she would have been thrilled to see Gabriel; she saw him so infrequently that any time it happened was a treat. But nothing was normal today. And her brother’s brusque manner pitted against Graeme’s need to protect everyone around him—and her in particular—could be volatile.
