“I’m feeling decidedly accommodating,” Monty said with a grin. “So I don’t mind a’tall—Nessi.” He chuckled as he walked back to the food basket.
Vanessa hated how amused he was by this discovery that she was a lass, but she swung back around to Donnan. “We donotneed to explain every bloody little thing to that man.”
Donnan shrugged. “I met the mon last night and now he kens we were with ye. Ye trust him enough tae guard his back, ye can trust him with the truth.”
“You were supposed to join me earlier this morning when we would’ve had time to talk before he noticed you,” she reminded him, still furious that the Scot had revealed so much about her.
“I was nearby,” Donnan assured her. “I was just waiting on Calum tae catch up before we joined ye.”
Calum spoke up. “I asked the bonny maid tae wake me after a few hours. I think she thought I wanted something else from her, so she didna show up tae get me oot o’ bed. A disturbance ootside woke me, or I would’ve slept the rest o’ the day away—which is what I still feel like doing.”
He headed toward the coach, climbed to the top of it, and started pushing the trunks around before lying down between a few. She stared at him incredulously until Donnan said, “Dinna begrudge him a wee bit muir sleep when he was awake all night guarding ye. At least he isna asking the haughty lowlander for a seat in his coach for the nap. Getting a nay would add hot spice tae the pot.”
That remark gave her pause. “You’re both annoyed with me, aren’t you?”
“Aye. Ye be playing a dangerous game, sleeping in a mon’s room and accompanying lowlanders who’ve clearly been marked by every thief ’tween here and London. Yer father certainly wouldna approve.”
“There was nothing untoward when he thought I was a boy—until you just informed him otherwise.”
She thought about telling him that it wasn’t robbers who were after her traveling companions, but that would just make the situation worse. Besides, the brothers would be alert to any kind of threat.
Instead, she said, “This is my last chance to be myself before my mother starts ordering me around for my debut. And after what happened last night, my companions are going to take the precaution of not stopping at any more inns to eat or sleep, which will lessen the chances of their being attacked at night, but I still want to help protect them during the day.”
“Championing them, are ye?”
“If you didn’t notice, one of them is just a boy. Pompous and haughty, but still a boy who won’t be a bit of help in a fight. Yes, I’m going to help them until their path diverges from mine.”
“Does the laddie need lessons in firing a pistol?” he asked.
She chuckled, trying to picture Charley holding one. “Undoubtedly, but you won’t like his response if you offer to teach him, so maybe you shouldn’t offer. The boy acts like he’s a bloody royal, so protecting himself would be beneath him.”
She was still utterly frustrated that the choice of revealing her true sex had been taken out of her hands, but she reminded herself that she’d already concluded it didn’t matter if Monty and the boy knew she was a girl, they just couldn’t know that aLadycame before her name.
She looked over at the blanket and the basket of food. “Can you join us for lunch without spilling any more secrets?”
“I’ve eaten already.”
That wasn’t the answer she wanted. “Donnan, they can’t ever know my real name, is that clear? It would cause a scandal if it were to get out. That sort of tidbit could hurt my sisters—and me—if it made its way to London before our debut this Season. Absolutely no scandal can be attached to my family’s name.”
“A thought that should’ve took guid hold before the disguise, aye?” he countered.
“No one was supposed to see through it, and Monty didn’t until you called me a lass.”
“Is he blind, then?”
“No, he guessed, but I convinced him he was wrong.” And she yanked her hood up, adding, “How much can you really tell about me when I wear this—if you didn’t know?”
“It mun be hot under there.”
She laughed at the evasion. But she had to agree it was hot on such a beautiful spring day and she had nothing to hide any longer. No one approaching from a distance could distinguish that she was female, and she would have enough time to pull up her hood before she spoke to any strangers.
She pushed the hood off her head before saying, “Well, I’m hungry if you aren’t—and glad you can ride beside me now. So even if I’m presently annoyed with you, I’m still glad you’ve joined us.”
He chuckled as he took his and Calum’s horses over to the grass alongside the road. She headed to the blanket where Monty was sitting by himself. She looked around for Charley and spotted him and Arlo. They’d stopped strolling and appeared to be having an argument.
“D’you need to break that up?” she said, gesturing toward the pair.
“His manservant from the day he was born was how Charley referred to Arlo. I think not. Perhaps Arlo is trying to talk some sense into the boy.”
