“We hardly would have been noticed if it had only been us, but fifty-six people arrived here today, all invited by Ophelia, as if she were already the marquise and had every right to invite whomever she pleased. It’s no wonder Neville put his foot down after he finally got a full head count. I would have, too, I don’t mind saying, if the guests Idoinvite happen to invite fifty-six others. M’dear, that just isn’t proper form.”
Of course it wasn’t, and Ophelia did no doubt know that. But then Sabrina had never spoken to her aunts about Ophelia’s attempt to sabotage her engagement to be rid of whathadbeen an unwanted fiancé. She just hadn’t felt comfortable talking about it, when she so disapproved of it, and Ophelia’s mother was Hilary’s good friend.
This latest scheme of Ophelia’s to have half thetondescending on Summers Glade had likely been donejustto infuriate the marquis. But then that was before she had actually met her fiancé, and if shehadmet him by now, she was undoubtedly regretting what she had set in motion.
It was all very complicated, Ophelia’s plans and means of accomplishing them. Sabrina was quite glad to be out of it. She had been raised to be straightforward. Setting up complicated schemes in the hopes that they would have a particular desired effect just wasn’t her cup of tea. It had never been dull, being around Ophelia, but Sabrina was actually looking forward to a bit of dullness again.
However, shewashoping for one more sight of Duncan MacTavish before she left Summers Glade, since she wasn’t likely to see him again after today, at least not until the wedding, which they were sure to be invited to. With Ophelia gone back to London, he would probably be going there as well. But wherever he was in the big house, it wasn’t near the entrance, and they were soon on their way home.
Fourteen
“Well, where is she? I mun admit I’ve been looking forward tae meeting this most bonny lassie in all o’ England that ye found for the lad.”
Neville bristled as the large Scotsman barged into his dining room where he’d been partaking of a solitary dinner. Neville’s butler, arriving a second later, gave him a pained look, that he hadn’t arrived first to give him warning of this intrusion.
“Archibald?” Neville guessed.
“Aye, and who else were ye expecting?”
“Certainly not you,” Neville said disagreeably. “What the devil are you doing here?”
The Scot pulled up a chair across from Neville and stared at the butler, as if expecting him to serve him, now that he was there. But to Neville he said, “Ye didna think I’d be leaving it tae ye tae make sure the wedding goes forward in a timely manner, did ye now?”
“Duncan made no mention that you were coming,” Neville pointed out.
Archie chuckled at that. “Perhaps because he didna know I was. The boy doesna do things in a relaxed manner, ye ken. Once he sets his mind on a course, he follows it straightaway. Not a bad trait tae have, but a wee bit tae fast paced for these auld bones o’ mine. He would’ve been impatient tae hae me holding him back on the trip here, sae I decided tae follow after at a slower pace, withoout telling him. Impatience annoys him, after all, and ye wouldna hae wanted him arriving here annoyed—more’n he already was.”
The last was added in an unmistakably smug tone. Neville didn’t miss it and just managed to keep from grinding his teeth in his own annoyance.
“Yes, that’s quite a large chip he arrived with on his shoulder. I wonder why.”
Archibald snorted. “Ye’ll no’ be blaming me for that, mon. ‘Twas no’ me tha’ decided he should hae the stability o’ knowing only one home whilst growing up, ‘twas ye and his muther decided that. A good decision, mind ye, tha’ I was happy tae agree wi’, but ye could’ve come tae visit him, tae let him know ye afore he was full grown.”
“After the first trip I made up there to do that nearly killed me?”
“Och, ye English are weaklings, tae shrivel in a wee bit o’ cold,” Archie said in disgust, aware of that one time Neville had tried to venture into the Highlands. “But if he hasna told ye, it wasna that he never met ye afore now that has him in such a fash, ‘tis that yer taking him from his home and expecting him tae live amongst strangers.”
“We won’tbestrangers to him for long.”
“Andthat he had nae warning that ye’d expect him tae move here.”
Neville blushed slightly, unable to dispute that accusation, and said weakly in his defense, “Elizabeth should have told him.”
“Aye, and likely she would’ve if she’d lived long enough tae, puir lass.”
“You could have told him long before now yourself,” Neville added. “Why didn’t you?”
Archie raised a brow at that. “When I was hoping ye’d die afore he reached his majority sae he’d ne’er have tae know at all?”
Neville’s cheeks reddened fully this time, but in anger rather than embarrassment. “So sorry to disappoint you, but he would still have become the next marquis, no matter when I happen to pass on.”
“Ye’venaeother kin, no’ even some distant, distant, long-forgotten cousin?”
“I was an only child,” Neville said stiffly. “My father was an only child. My grandfather had two sisters, but they both died in childhood. The generations before that had brief lines, but none that have survived. Duncan is my only heir, and I still do not understand your insistence that he can’t be your heir as well.”
“Ye wouldna mind him living the year round in the Highlands then?” Archie said in feigned surprise. “Och, mon, ye should’ve said—”
“Of course he can’t remain there permanently,’ Neville cut in impatiently. “He’ll have duties here that—”
