She snorted. “I am a Scot with a missing dowry. I am no more accepted than you.”
“If that is what you believe, then I ask you where are your wits? Why are you here searching for a husband among them if they fill you with such disdain?”
She swallowed and forced herself to speak plainly. “Because, Mr. Bates, as a woman, my options are disgustingly limited.” She lifted her chin. “I should like to speak with you about that, if I may. It is my hope that you will assist me in an unusual endeavor.”
His brows rose. “I am intrigued.”
“Good—” she began.
“But I am currently otherwise occupied.” And then he grinned as he tipped his hat to someone just beyond her left shoulder.
Iseabail turned to see Lady Rebecca approaching at a rapid pace. She was grinning as she headed their way, and it was clear that the girl would be skipping if her maid hadn’t said something sharp to her. Iseabail shook her head and wondered if she had ever appeared so joyously carefree.
“Hullo, hullo!” Lady Rebecca said as she caught them. “I feared I’d miss you.”
“Nonsense,” Mr. Bates replied as he extended his arm. “I would wait hours upon hours to greet you.”
The girl giggled and blushed prettily, but then her expression sobered. “You must not say things like that, you know. Mama was very cross that I accepted your invitation to walk. She said I must not do it again.”
“Because I am scandalous?”
“Because Papa owes you a great deal of money, and she does not want to suggest that I could marry you to end his debt.” Her gaze dropped to the ground. “She wants me to marry for love, you see, because she married for money and look where it got her.”
Mr. Bates nodded and patted her hand. “I understand. But you see the problem is not that she married for money, it was that she married someone who is very bad at managing money. Whereas I, on the other hand…” His voice trailed off suggestively.
“You’re very good at it?”
“Extraordinarily excellent with it.” He smiled down at her. “I bought up all your father’s debt just so that we could get to know one another.”
The girl nodded, her expression sober, and Iseabail saw his entire plan laid out in excruciating clarity. He had needed an entrée into the ball so as to meet Lady Rebecca, and Iseabail had provided that. And now he had a debutante on his arm, one who was young enough to be impressed by his charm. The two would marry, Mr. Bates would never be fully accepted into society, but his children would be because her parentage was excellent.
And he would have no need whatsoever to help Iseabail.
“You know,” Iseabail said as she caught up with Lady Rebecca. “You are not responsible for your father’s debts. You cannot be a slave to your father’s misdeeds.”
“Hear, hear,” agreed Sadie as she came alongside Lady Rebecca.
Naturally, Mr. Bates disagreed. “Have you no family feeling, then? Do you owe nothing to your clan?”
“Allegiance is something that men invented for each other. Men protect one another, they fight together, and do great or evil things together. Each man is therefore responsible for what the others do as he has a voice in what the clan does.” She waved her hand at Sadie and Lady Rebecca. “What voice do we have in what our families choose? Lady Rebecca, can you stop your father from gambling?”
The girl shook her head. “I have tried.”
“And he paid you no mind. Neither do I have any say as to how my clan gains or spends their money. And even Sadie who has the most generous cousin as the leader of her clan, what have you to say about how the Aberbeag act in the world? Were you ever consulted?”
Sadie’s laugh carried gayly through the air. “You know I was not, but such is the way of the world.”
She could say that because Connall was generous with her and the women of his clan. But he was the exception, not the rule. “If I have no say in what my clan does, then why should I be bound by their choices?”
Mr. Bates shook his head. “That is radical thinking that will get you nowhere.”
“Is it? You are doing the exact same thing, are you not? You’re making up to Lady Rebecca to gain entry to the peerage for your children, if not yourself. You want a voice in the country and the world.” She shrugged. “So do I.”
“And you refuse to obey the law until someone listens to you?”
She threw her arms wide. “I am not breaking any laws. I simply will not sacrifice my life or my happiness to benefit family who care less for me and my future than a night of revelry.”
She was referring to Lady Rebecca’s father, but Mr. Bates understood it differently. “There is no love lost between you and your uncle then. What of the rest of your clan?”
