It was clearly a joke between nephew and aunt. He chuckled loudly and she bussed his cheek, and then he turned to her. “Best say your goodbyes. We’re heading north immediately. I don’t want Hamish and his men to beat us to your home.”
She stared at him, her mind completely blanked. They were heading to Scotland?Now?
The countess joined them, her voice overloud in Iseabail’s ear. “Smart decision,” she said. “Get away from all this gossip here, manage things back home, then come back next Season and I’ll throw you a ball. Show everyone what a hero and heroine look like, yes? That’s the story I’ll tell. The two of you off to right a horrible wrong. Come back here for your victory party.”
Reuben grinned. “An excellent notion.”
Was it? It sounded like they would just wander up to Scotland and clean up a dirty room. They were going to confront her murderous uncle, and the idea that she was headed northtodaymade her choke.
Good God, was she going to be sick?
“Easy—” Reuben began, but it was Sadie who came to her rescue.
“There, there,” her friend said as she drew her aside. Then she held Iseabail’s frozen hands until the nausea passed.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she murmured.
“Attacked, married, and now off to Scotland? What could possibly be wrong?”
“But I have wanted this. I proposed to him for just this reason!”
Sadie touched her cheek. “It still takes time to adjust. I was ready for my mother to pass. We all were, but I still cried when it happened.”
Sadie’s relationship with her mother had not been easy. Indeed, her mother had been a vicious shrew whom everyone despised, Sadie included. But the girl had stayed by her parent’s side until the cruel word was finally spoken. And still it had taken a long time for the end to come.
She hugged her friend. “I don’t know if I will ever see you again,” she whispered.
“Ach, no,” Sadie said, letting her Scottish brogue become thick. “I’ll see ye fer the victory ball, and do’ ye forget it.”
But that was so far away, and in the meantime… she shuddered. “What have I done?” she whispered.
“What you had to,” Sadie returned. “And you’re strong enough to see it through.”
Was she? She felt like the harshest word would make her shatter right now. But before she could confess such a thing, her new husband interrupted. He came to them carefully, but his words were clear enough.
“It’s time, Iseabail. Say your goodbyes.”
She nodded. “This is what I wanted,” she whispered to herself. Sadie heard it and nodded, her expression bracing. So, too, did her husband, and his expression tightened. It wasn’t an angry expression, but neither was it kind.
“Come along,” he said, his voice brusque.
She obeyed because she knew he was right. One last hug for Sadie and the countess, and then she joined her husband at a rented carriage. He handed her in, then followed, his expression serious and distracted. A moment later, the carriage started moving and she realized that she was alone with her husband.
Alone was scary. He was her husband now, and by rights could do anything he wanted to her. She sat in her seat, her hands folded in her lap while fears compounded inside her. What would she say to him? What was his plan? What would he do to her?
It was with a rude kind of shock that she realized he intended nothing whatsoever. He sat across from her with his brows furrowed as he ticked off things on his fingers as if committing them to memory. He never said his words out loud. Indeed, she wouldn’t have known he was thinking so hard if she hadn’t seen his lips moving. There was no sound, but his concentration was fierce.
She let him be. God knew she hated it when someone interrupted her thoughts. But a few minutes later her gaze went to the window, and she saw just how quickly they were traveling out of the city.
“I don’t have any bags,” she murmured. She looked down at her lovely green gown. As a wedding dress, she could have done much worse. “Am I to wear this all the way to Scotland?”
His head jerked up with a frown. “What? No, of course not. My men will bring your things to the inn tonight.”
Oh. Did she dare ask him where they would sleep tonight? Normally, she would boldly demand answers. Indeed, the urge to do so was strong inside her, but every time she started to open her mouth, she heard her mother’s voice in her head urging caution.
A man is different in private. Be careful how you upset him.
She knew it was true, and so she stuffed down the urge to ask questions. She suppressed her need to manage her own future, and she prayed that she had not made a bad choice today.
