Yanking her scattered thoughts back in, Miranda hurriedly stood and made her way down to the cobblestones. “Nothing’s wrong, Mama. I was just daydreaming.”
“About anyone in particular? A Highlander? Or a retired naval captain, perhaps? You’ve always had men in pursuit, but if I’m not mistaken this is the first time you’ve returned their interest. And two of them at once.” Elizabeth Harris grinned, a bit of cheeky amusement in the expression. “You are very nearly scandalous.”
“I would like to meet this Vale fellow,” her father put in. “He’d best not be too modern to ask my permission for ma—”
“Don’t embarrass her, dear,” Elizabeth interrupted. “She is cautious with her heart, and I applaud her for being so.”
That was her. Cautious with her heart. That was why, even after receiving nearly a dozen marriage proposals over the past five years, she remained single. That one drank too liberally, this one was short, the next one seemed more taken with Matthew than with her, and the one after that… She couldn’t even remember. More than likely he’d been a gambler. She’d turned away several of those.
Perhaps if she’d been less cautious with her heart, if she’d taken a chance that the man asking her to share a life offered something more than he showed on the surface, she wouldn’t be in this mess now. Matthew wouldbe, but she might have been blissfully unaware that he’d ruined himself—and their parents—over a short six weeks. At least until it was too late, because she would have had no action she might take to prevent the disas—
“If ye dunnae pay heed to where yer feet are taking ye,” Aden’s low brogue came from directly in front of her, “ye may end up somewhere dangerous.”
Chapter Eight
Miranda looked up to find that she’d wandered past the Oswell House drawing room doors and on down the hallway halfway to the kitchen. Well behind her noise and laughter emanated already from the large, brightly lit room, but she didn’t feel a part of it. The future she faced wasn’t anything she could discuss, and it made her resent the happiness of Eloise and Matthew. It wasn’t right, and she certainly didn’t want to reverse the punishment to hurt them instead of her, but their joy made her pain seem more vivid.
“Lass, did someaught else happen?”
Aden stood to one side of the hallway, his back against the wall and one long leg bent with his boot bottom flat against the hard surface behind him. He was in a kilt again, as if he was determined not to fit in among the so-called Sassenach. “Why haven’t you told your family about this mess?” she asked, continuing forward until they stood toe-to-toe and she had to look up to meet his gaze.
“Ye asked me to nae say anything,” he returned, not moving.
“You don’t know me. In fact, all youdoknow aboutme is that I don’t like you.” That wasn’t true any longer, but she was making a point. “Why would you do as I ask when your sister’s future could well be at stake?”
His eyes narrowed just a little. “I challenged ye to a card trick, and ye guessed it. We have an agree—”
“No. That’s not sufficient.”
“Ye made a bargain with me. Ye show me how to act more like a Sassenach, and I’ll help ye navigate a gambler’s mind.”
Miranda shook her head. “I am navigating a gambler’s mind. Yours. Are you playing a game? Do you mean to dabble in my life, stir up more trouble, and then walk away when you don’t see an easy solution? Will you ruin things for Matthew and your sister when you can’t snap your fingers and fix everything?”
“I dunnae mean to snap my fingers and surrender, but aye, if I’m nae satisfied that yer brother can be trusted, I will tell the rest of the MacTaggerts what I’ve learned. I’ll nae risk Eloise.”
Down the hallway someone cleared his throat. “I’ve been sent to ask where you are, Mia,” Matthew commented, looking uncomfortable as she turned her gaze to him.
“I’m having a private conversation, Matthew,” she snapped. “Tell them… I’m discussing literature, and I’ll be in shortly.”
“I… It’s not seemly, you know, for you to be out here with a man.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Really? It’s not? Are you worried over my reputation, brother? Over my future prospects?”
“Mia, don’t—”
Miranda took hold of Aden’s lapel and, leaning up along his chest, kissed him full on the mouth.Ha.That would show Matthew.
Then Aden’s mouth softened, molded with hers, and while none of the rest of him moved, she felt encircled, heated, and wanton. Oh, God, he could kiss. Tangling the fingers of her free hand into his lanky hair, she leaned harder against him. Then, before she could decide to sink down onto the floor with him right there in the hallway, she broke the kiss and looked over at her gaping-jawed brother.
“Well? Aren’t you going to tell Mother and Father that I’m a wanton harlot or something? No, you won’t, because you’re far worse. I’ll join you shortly.” Waving a hand at him, she returned her glare to the clearly amused Aden. “Go away, Matthew. I can look after myself.” She jabbed a finger into Aden’s hard chest. “And you. Stop laughing.”
“I’m nae laughing,” he countered, in the same low voice he’d been using since he’d appeared in front of her. “I’m standing here being flayed and burned all at the same time.”
Once Matthew had backed down the hall and vanished back into the drawing room, she shook herself. “I apologize for using you to make a point.”
“The only thing ye need to apologize for, Miranda, is if ye didnae mean that kiss. Because otherwise I’m feeling fairly magnificent this evening. And that’s even with ye flinging yer insults at me, and doubting that I mean to finish what I began.”
Oh, yes, she had been doing that, hadn’t she? “You are very upsetting to my equilibrium, Aden MacTaggert. I like things to make sense. You don’t make sense.”
