Caroline unfastened the necklace Sophie had insisted she wear. She put it around Megan’s neck instead. “There. That looks lovely”
Sorcha leaned in to examine the jeweled violet, and pouted. “I still think it’s quite unfair that I’m not allowed to come down to dinner. I dine with the family every other night.”
“Mama says we must strictly observe English rules tonight,” Alanna said. “And in England you’d be a child, still dining in the nursery.”
Sorcha stuck her tongue out at her sister. “I’ll still be there, watching from the gallery above the hall.”
“I’ll tell Muira to fetch you down and send you to bed,” Alanna retorted, her hands on her hips.
“Muira’s probably more likely to be up there beside her, watching too, muttering about ‘bloody Sassenachs,’ ” Megan said, then raised her hand to her lips and looked apologetically at Caroline. “Oh, I’m sorry, Miss—Lady—um ...”
“It’s time to go downstairs, or we’ll risk being late,” Caroline said primly, and herded her charges toward the door. She took a deep breath, and wished for a moment that she could stay with Sorcha. Alanna slipped her hand into Caroline’s as they descended the stairs, and Caroline was glad of the comfort, though she supposed Alanna thought Caroline was comforting her. She steeled herself to face her half brother’s anger and the sting of Charlotte’s scorn.
The gentlemen rose as the ladies entered the room. “There you are, Lady Caroline. We were just speaking of mounting a search since the rain has stopped at last, but you would know that since you are quite dry,” Viscount Speed said.
“How well you look, Caro,” William said, coming to clasp her hand and kiss her cheek. He was almost a stranger, though they’d grown up together, had been friends once. She’d dreamed of being his wife, though she couldn’t imagine marrying him now. Or anyone. She avoided looking at Alec, and gave William a brilliant smile.
Her brother stood waiting for her to come to him, his hands clenched into fists, his color high. She curtsied, feeling his blistering gaze boring into her. “Well, well, here you are at last, and looking very well indeed.” He said it as if the fact of her good health annoyed him. “We have a great deal to discuss, and even if your foolish little adventure has lowered your value as a wife, I have other plans for your future. We will speak immediately after dinner is finished.” He made it a command. Caroline felt a wave of anger. Did he truly expect things would simply go back their last conversation, as if nothing had happened?
She raised her chin. “I’m afraid I will be putting Lady Sorcha to bed after dinner. Perhaps tomorrow, after the girls lessons conclude at eleven o’clock.”
She watched Somerson’s face change from red to purple with rage. His fist clenched, and for a moment she feared he intended to strike her. She felt Lottie’s eyes on her, and Alec’s, but she kept her eyes fixed on her half brother. He lowered his hand.
“Of all the nerve—” Charlotte began, but Lottie put a hand on her mother’s arm.
“Perhaps we should take our places at the table,” Lottie said. “Perhaps it’s the Highland air, but I for one am quite famished.”
“Lottie!” Charlotte turned her ire—and the vast bulk of her person—upon her daughter. “A lady never describes herself as famished!”
“Och, there’s a laugh—I saw Her Ladyship at tea, devouring all the tea cakes,” Angus said to Georgiana from their perch in the gallery, right behind young Sorcha, who pressed her face eagerly through the railing. “I’ve known warriors who could not eat as much as she—but they weren’t as big, of course.” He laughed at his own joke.
Georgiana was gazing at her granddaughter, pride clear in her eyes. “Caroline does look fetching tonight, doesn’t she? I don’t think Alec has even glanced at anyone else in the room since she arrived. And I rather liked the way she stood up to Somerson. That took courage.”
Alec felt himself bristle when Somerson had threatened Caroline. He would not allow him to harm her, guardian or not. She had faced him down, and as with most bullies, his bluster had collapsed at her show of strength.
He watched Caroline turn away, fix Mears with a doting look. She hadn’t even glanced at Alec.
Muira announced the meal and Alec took Sophie’s arm and led his fiancée to a place on his left, but Devorguilla patted the seat beside herself, farther down the table. “Come and sit here, my dear girl, between myself and Brodie, so we can all get better acquainted.” He watched as Sophie took that seat instead, and offered Brodie a soft smile. Brodie giggled. Everyone in the room looked askance at the hulking young man, who was staring at Sophie and blushing like a lass.
Megan eagerly moved to sit beside Brodie, but her mother shook her head. “You must sit further down the table. Next to Viscount Speed, perhaps? Alanna, you sit next to Lord Mandeville.” Angus noted that Megan looked devastated. Lord and Lady Somerson took their places, and the reverend Mr. Parfitt sat next to Viscount Mears and beckoned to Caroline, who took her place to the left of Alec’s seat at the head of the table. He could smell her perfume, see the agitated pulse in her throat, hear the rustle of the taffeta gown as her breath caught in her throat. Her color was high, and in the candlelight, she was lovelier than any other lady in the room. Mr. Parfitt cleared his throat and intoned the grace, and Caroline kept her eyes downcast, as if the pattern on her plate was intensely fascinating.
Caroline refused to even look at Alec, since it was his fault that Somerson was here. When he moved his knee to nudge hers, she shifted her skirt out of reach, and ignored him. On her other side, William grinned as she bumped him. She moved her knees back toward Alec again.
Alec turned as Viscount Speed leaned forward. “I think tomorrow would be a grand day for hunting, Glenlorne. Mears, Somerson, are you ‘game’ to come shooting?” He chortled at his own poor joke. Alec forced a smile. He tried to imagine Caroline married to Speed, and could not.
“I have a taste for boar,” Charlotte enthused. “Do you have boar here?”
“Alas, no, my lady. They’ve been extinct for several centuries, I believe,” Alec replied. “I can offer grouse, or venison, perhaps, if the shooting is good. The loch is filled with fish, and the river teems with salmon.”
“I adore the way Muira makes grouse in whisky sauce,” Alanna chirped, and Mandeville sat up.
“Whisky sauce? What an ingenious use of the spirit,” he said.
“Indeed I think we simply must have that for dinner tomorrow, after the hunt,” Charlotte said eagerly.
“I think I will join the hunt as well,” Sophie said. “For the fresh air.”
“I’ll go too,” Brodie added at once, his eyes on Sophie.
