“Not for years,” Mairi said. “I’ve got a tub set for you in Miss Rees’ chamber.”
“I’ll run to the stream,” Liam said, “and meet you when you’re ready. We’ll go into the great room together.”
Clara nodded, then Liam added an extra command so that none would have a question as to Clara’s status in this house.
“And while we are doing that, Mairi, have my wife’s clothing brought into this bedchamber.”
There was silence for a long moment as everyone absorbed the meaning of that. Then Mairi dipped into a half-mocking curtsey. “Right away, my lord.”
“Lilah,” Aaron said. “Why don’t you go with Clara. See if you can talk sense into her.”
Miss Rees snorted. “Clara walks her own path. Always. Do you honestly think—”
“Just try!” he said, and his fiancée dipped her chin in agreement.
A moment later, the three women left. Which meant it was time for the man to man reckoning. Already tired on what was to be a difficult day, Liam did his best to dispense with the confrontation as quickly as possible. He gathered soap and a razor, barely giving Aaron a sidelong glance.
“Tell me what it’s to be then. Duel? Fisticuffs? Murder while I sleep? I know you’re angry. So am I. But if you want to kill the culprit, then slap my father with your glove. I’ve been courting your sister honorably.”
Liam waited, his shoulders tense. If he were Aaron, he’d be looking for a pistol. Instead, the man remained stubbornly silent. And when Liam finally turned around to face his new brother-in-law, he found the man staring at him with a dark expression. He waited, silently willing the man to get on with it. And when that didn’t work, he poked some more at the man.
“I’m equally skilled in sword and pistol, so it matters not to me,” he said. “Otherwise, get out of my way.”
Aaron held out his hand. “Stop. Think for a moment.”
Liam paused, his mind slowing as he focused. “You have my attention.”
“Really think how much money you want. You’re a reasonable man with an eye to the future. If you get the royal warrant for your whisky, that would go a long way to adding coin to your coffers. Five thousand pounds right now would be enough to set your home to rights. Then you could pick a woman you want. A wife who will love you and serve you as a man deserves. My sister will never be that. She’s prickly and determined. She goes off in odd starts, and she’s already said she doesn’t want to live here.”
“She just said she would.”
“Because you lied to her, and she thinks there is no other choice. How many men do you know who are trapped in horrendous marriages with a woman who despises him? Do you know the misery of that? Even worse, imagine the expense of keeping her away from here just so you can have a measure of peace.”
Scores. Indeed, the people in unhappy marriages far outweighed the good.
“You could have a future with a woman who loves you, as I have found with Lilah. We are in love.” Aaron straightened to his full height. “I believe you have some fondness for Clara. Do not doom her or yourself to a miserable future just for money. Especially when I can get you funds another way.”
It was tempting. Indeed, it was exactly the solution he had been looking for, but hadn’t expected. No man in his position—a future laird of a poor county—could expect to marry happily. His future was inextricably tied to the future of his people. And they needed food in the winter, education for the future, and modern plumbing right now. That all required money which Aaron was offering. Right now.
“Five thousand pounds,” Aaron pressed. “What could you do with that coin?”
A great deal. Liam found his hands clenching as if to hold on to the very idea. Liam tried to keep his expression flat, but Aaron was no fool. He understood better than many the pressures of a lord who paid attention to his responsibilities.
“Five thousand pounds,” the man repeated. “You can have that without constantly having to negotiate with Clara. You know how unreasonable she can be, how demanding and pricklish about the oddest things. I love her to distraction, and that is exactly where I have been with her year after year: tearing out my hair because she is completely unmanageable. That is not the future you want.”
No, it wasn’t. Certainly not how he described it. “For a loving brother, you take a very dim view of your sister.”
“Am I wrong?”
Looking now at Aaron’s honest face, Liam certainly remembered every single frustrating moment he’d had with Clara. She was not one to try new foods easily, and he’d had to coax her to taste common Scottish dishes. She became impossible when absorbed in one of her hobbies. She’d once talked for hours about African animals and how they differed from English creatures. Plus, small things could upset her for days. Back in London, she’d discovered that registry offices often exploited their ignorant customers. She’d learned it from Lilah, of course, but her outrage had lasted well beyond when a typical person would have moved on.
By all reason, he should leap at Aaron’s offer. He thought about the most irritating aspects of Clara’s personality and extended those moments into the years of his life. Horrible! She didn’t even like haggis.
“No.”
“Then—”
“No, I will not throw her over. No, I will not release her back into your indifferent care.”
