“Of course I turned him down. I’m not a stupid looby who can’t see through false flattery when it’s poured on with such ruthlessness. But he didn’t give up. He continued to pretend a great love for me even while I could see the cold hatred in his icy blue eyes.”
“Very well, now I have all that, I still don’t see why you have to rush onto the marriage block.”
“With Gramp gone, I’ve got no protection. Iwouldn’t need protection but for Geordie. He’s asked me to marry him too many times, you see. He’s made it clear in every way he wants the Cameron wealth, and he’ll do anything to get it.”
“But what can he do?”
Roslynn snorted in disgust. “I thought nothing. But Gramp was wiser.”
Frances gasped. “The money wouldn’t go to Geordie if anything happened to you, would it?”
“No, Gramp made sure of that. The thing is, Geordie can force me to marry him if he can get his hands on me. There are ways, drugging or beating, or even an unscrupulous parson, and there’d be no signing of the marriage contract that Gramp had drawn up for me. Geordie would have control of everything if he could manage it, and as I said, it would only take his getting his hands on me. Once I’m his wife, he’d have no use for me, would he? In fact, he daren’t keep me around to tell all that he’d done.”
Frances shivered, despite the warm summer night. “You’re not making this up, are you?”
“I wish I was, Frances, I really do. Gramp always hoped Geordie would marry, but he never did. Gramp knew he had just been biding his time, waiting for the day I’d be left alone with no one to protest very loudly if he forced me to marry him. And he’s too big for me to fight, even if I am right handy with a dirk and keep one in my boot.”
“You don’t!”
“Oh, I do. Gramp made sure I knew how to use it too. But what help would a little dirk be if Geordie hired help to abduct me? Now you know why I had to leave Scotland so quickly, why I’m here.”
“And why you want a husband.”
“Yes, that too. Once I’m married, there’s nothingGeordie can do. Gramp made me promise I’d marry, and quickly. He planned everything, even my escape. Geordie will search Scotland first before he looks for me here, so I have a little time to choose someone, but not much.”
“Dash it all, it’s not fair, none of it,” Frances said with feeling. “How can you fall in love in such a rush?”
Roslynn grinned, remembering Gramp’s stern admonishment. “Protect yerself first, lassie, wi’ a ring on yer finger. Ye can find love later.” And how she had blushed, understanding exactly what he’d meant. But he had also conceded. “Of course, if love falls into yer lap, dinna be pushing it off. Hold fast and dinna let go, fer it could work, and then ye’ll have nae need tae be looking fer it later.”
Gramp had had other advice too, about whom she should consider. “They say a rake makes a dandy husband, that’s if a bonny lass can catch his heart—no’ his eye, mind ye—his heart. He’s sowed his oats, ye see, more than sowed them, plowed the whole field, sae tae speak. Sae when he settles down, he’s ready tae do just that.”
“They also say, once a rake, always a rake,” Roslynn had been compelled to point out. This bit of advice from Gramp she hadn’t been at all thrilled with.
“Who says sae? If that’s sae, then the heart hasna been caught. Ye catch the heart, lassie, and ye’ll be glad of it, ye will. But I’m no’ talking ’bout the young hellions, nae, nae. Ye want tae find a mon wi’ enough years on him tae ken he’s had his wild days aplenty and doesna need more. But ye dinna want him jaded either. Be careful of that.”
“And how do you tell the difference?”
“If he still has feeling. If ye can excite him—och, never mind those blushes, lassie. Ye’ll be exciting more young bloods then ye’ll ken what tae do wi’, and enough rakes as well, sae ye’ll have plenty tae choose from.”
“But I don’t want a rake,” she had insisted.
“Ye will,” Duncan predicted. “Happens they’re the ones the lassies canna resist. Just make sure ye get the ring afore ye allow—”
“Gramp!”
He snorted at her exclamation. “If I dinna tell ye, who will? Ye need tae ken how tae handle such a mon.”
“With the back of my hand, that’s how.”
He chuckled. “Now, hinny, ye’re no’ being open-minded about this,” he cajoled her. “If the mon attracts ye and sets yer heart tae fluttering, are ye going tae ignore him simply because he’s a rake?”
“Yes!”
“But I tell ye they make the best husbands!” He had turned to shouting in the face of her stubbornness. “And I want the best mon fer ye, even if ye willna have much time tae find him.”
“How in the blue blazes do you know, Gramp? Just tell me that, if you can.” She wasn’t angry, just flustered. Gramp didn’t know she already had knowledge of rakes through Frances, and as far as she was concerned, they were to be avoided like the plague.
“I was one myself, and dinna look sae surprised. I’d had sixteen years of plowing the fields afore I met and married yer grandmother, and I was faithful tae the lass until the day she died.”
