The tiny part of Jack that wanted to be duke had doubled upon his arrival here today, despite the cold and the rain. There was beautiful scenery to be had in Dunmore and Kinmarloch, both mountainous and feminine. Barring the countess, of course, whom he had flattered and flirted with and gawked at merely as a matter of courtesy, but who was clearly a dirty, savage example of her species. And who vexed him with her resistance to his charms.
Yes, hehadbeen thinking maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to be duke of this brutal, wild place.
Now, after what this killjoy of a shrew had said? That part of him that had wanted to be duke? It shrank. Considerably. To nothing.
Yes, yes, there was the public house in Cumdairessie she had mentioned. The town was outside the duchy, and he had enjoyed himself there last night with a buxom Scottish doxy who had been willing to do far more for far less money than the whores at Madame Flora’s. But the town was four hours away by horseback. Four hours. A daily fuck would be impossible.
He would live as a monk in Scotland.
He grimaced. If he became duke—oh, please, let Elizabeth be pregnant—he would have to do as his cousin Norman did. Stay away from Scotland.
“Are ye listening to me, Jack Pike?”
“Yes. I’m listening. I will not besmirch any of the maidens—” Helen opened her mouth. “—or any of the other women of Kinmarloch.”
She closed her mouth.
“Now, can we get out of the rain, my lady?”
Helen turned on her heel and stomped back into the keep, and he followed her. The dog ran up and herded him inside.
Not that it was much drier in the keep. He looked up. Surely something could be done about the leaks?
Helen sent the angel girl Mags away to some other part of the keep and invited him to sit in a chair which was settled in a dry patch. She directed the dog, who had been circling Jack, to lie by the fire. The dog got down on his belly but kept his head up, his tongue out, looking at Jack with suspicion.
Jack sipped his tea gingerly. It was weak. Very weak. It was hot water, basically, which had been briefly introduced to a few leaves of tea. Of course, tea was expensive and it was a miracle it had been offered to him at all, given the poverty he was surrounded by.
Helen made no apologies. She blew on her own tea and gulped it greedily. She must be used to the weak brew and didn’t know what real tea should taste like.
“My lady, is this where you grew up? The keep?”
“Nae, I grew up in the castle of Dunmore. With my grandfather. But of course, once he died, I dinnae have the right to live there. I came here. And people hadnae lived here for two hundred years.” She smiled. The first smile he had seen cross her face. A tired smile. “Ye should have seen it when I first came. I spent the first week just mucking out the sheep shit.”
He couldn’t help it. He smiled back. A countess who saidprickandshit. Damn, this place suited him in so many ways.
“But why hasn’t the roof been fixed? Why isn’t there a man to help you with herding your sheep?”
“A good many men went off to fight Napoleon and America and dinnae come back. But even more left once the clearances started in Dunmore under the last duke. We are mainly women and children. But there are some men, mostly farmers who are busy on their farms. We have a good blacksmith in Kinmarloch, and he and his son Duncan are a blessing.”
‘The clearances?”
“Aye.”
“Explain the clearances to me.”
Her eyes widened. “I thought ye were the new steward.”
“Not exactly, no. I’m more of a personal representative for the duke-yet-to-be-named.”
“Do ye have John MacNaughton’s ear?”
“I can fairly say I have both of them.”
“And ye really dinnae know what I’m talking about?” Her tone was incredulous.
“I know very little.” He knew nothing. But this impertinent countess was not to know that.
She gestured with her cup. “This is poor land for farming. Yet, there are farmers here and they have been here for centuries. There is a great deal more money nowadays to be made in sheep since the price for wool is high. Many, many lords have had the farmers cleared off their lands to make way for more sheep.”
