Page 12 of Highlander’s Lust

6

Home for a Short While

Jean felt strangely listless after returning to Macanroy Lodge. Her normal daily routine of riding and then touring the distilleries with her father was done in a desultory fashion. Her past enthusiasm for these duties had waned; Jean’s mind was occupied with other, more important, things. Laird Brisbane’s proposal, her mother’s acute sickness—most pronounced in the mornings—and her father’s sadness at the knowledge he was to soon lose his daughter to another man, whichever one he turned out to be: all of these events swirled around inside her head, never giving her a quiet moment.

Lachlan’s teasing did not help matters.

“Hoots! She’s off wool-gathering again,” he would tease whenever he caught her staring off into space at the dinner table, the food on her plate standing untouched.

Lady Kirsty, her resolve greatly improved since traveling back to the lodge in such grand style, understood why her daughter’s manner had changed since their trip to Brisbane Castle. Jean might not know it yet, but her heart had been touched. Lady Kirsty was unconcerned by her daughter’s faraway attitude and vacant stares; it was time Jean moved away and started her own domestic establishment. Also, Lady Macanroy would not lament the fact that this was happening at a propitious time. The arrival of the new bairn was proof enough of that. As pleasant as it was to have her daughter on hand to run errands for her and tell the cook what to prepare for dinner that day, the girl would be in the way after the bairn was born.

If she were honest with herself, Lady Macanroy had to admit she would prefer for Jean to be married off to some laird within the next few weeks so that when the bairn arrived, Kirsty would be able to give it all of her attention without having to worry about her eldest child.

And so she told her husband.

“Callum, this offer could not have come at a more fortuitous juncture. During our visit to the castle, I could see at a glance that all was in order, so it’s no’ as though we’re sending the girl off to go live in a hovel. She will have everything of the very best there for the asking.”

Callum agreed with his wife but then brought up the subject they had been so studiously ignoring.

“But what of those rumors of his philandering? I dinnae wish for Jean to be unhappy in her marriage.”

Impatient, Kirsty shrugged her shoulders. “There are no’ many faithful husbands in the world, Cal. Up in the northern isles, I hear tales of men who have recourse to two women! When one is with child, the other keeps the bed warm for her.”

At these words, her husband came and put his arms around Kirsty, “We dinnae live in those barbaric places, love, and I can assure ye that I have need for only one wife in me life...ye.”

Kirsty lifted up her face and gave him a kiss. “Aye, I ken. I am a lucky woman to have ye, Cal, and I want this same wedded bliss for our daughter. But when all is said an’ done, the facts are thus: Jean does not hate the idea of marriage with Charlie Brisbane, and I would prefer for her to be wedded and out of the lodge before the bairn’s birthing. This child is a blessing from heaven, and I’ll be forsworn if I didnae tell ye that I don’ want to be pestered with betrothals an’ weddings for the next five years when I could be giving all me attention to the wee babby.”

The next day, while they were inspecting the whisky stills, Callum told Jean of his decision.

“Ye are to wed Laird Brisbane, Jean. Me mind is made up. Since our return, the man’s been sending messengers forth every day with pleas and entreaties for me to agree to the match. He offers me anything, and I can only be happy to marry ye off to a man who is prepared to give ye the world. Anything ye want will be yers at the click o’ yer fingers.”

Jean had been expecting her parents’ decision to be made known to her ever since their return home. The flurry of letters coming from Brisbane Castle had put the countryside in an uproar of speculation. Never before had any Highland laird offered up so much for a maiden’s hand in marriage. Rumors began to fly. What magick did Miss Jean Macanroy possess to make a man so mad for her?

Eby was happy for her mistress when she heard the news later that day.

“The betrothal has been announced, Eby. I am to be wed. Faither and Laird Brisbane have caused the banns to be read.”

Her maid gave an excited squeal. “Och, Miss Jean, I am overjoyed for ye! I ken it wouldnae be long afore ye walked up the chapel aisle at Brisbane Castle. How long do we have to prepare yer bridal?”

Jean dithered a bit, picking up pins and pieces of lace ribbon from the dressing table and then putting them down again. “‘Twill be soon, Eby. Mither wants me safely out of the way and hurries to make the arrangements so she can give all her adoration to the bairn.”

Jean could not help allowing her disgruntlement to show. But if she was to be honest with herself, when she heard the news of her mother’s pregnancy, her immediate thought was to leave Macanroy Lodge at the first opportunity she got. It was humiliating that at the age of nine and ten years, Lady Kirsty was having a bairn before her.

And then there was Laird Brisbane himself to be considered. Now that she was indubitably promised to his lairdship forever, Jean allowed her mind to dwell on how his mouth made her feel when he had kissed her fingers. Every time, the memory made her stomach quiver, as though a flutterby was caught somewhere a few inches below her navel. The brush of his thumb on the palm of her hand; the way his penetratingly blue-eyed stare seemed to ravish her, as though he wanted to imprint her image in his memory and keep it there, trapped.

Jean was torn between a delicious sensation of suppressed excitement at the thought of her wedding night with such a man and dread that maybe she would do something to disappoint his expectations. She decided to ask Eby.

“I ken Mither has given ye permission to speak freely with me, Eby, ye havin’ been married before. I-I want ye to tell me about the experience, if ye will be so kind. What...what happens at the beddan?”

Eby knew Jean would have a hundred questions to ask her once the maiden knew she was to be married. Sighing, the woman sat down on the dressing room settle and patted the cushion beside her. When Jean sat down, she began.

“It seems a long time ago, now, I was only married for a year, and that was over ten years back. He was a soldier here at Pitloch Tay. Yer faither set up a garrison there after that Sassenach lord tried to steal the Macanroy whisky. I was a simple village maiden; what did I ken of how complicated marriage could be?”

“Whatever do you mean?” Jean was interested and wished she had asked Eby to tell her story before.

“Well...he was all a maiden could ask for in a man: pleasing to the eye and charming enough to lure the birds out of the trees. But that should have been me first warning: if ye find a man handsome and charming, sure enough, there will be half a dozen wenches with the same idea!”

Jean heaved a sigh. “Aye. I ken that happens to be the case with Laird Brisbane. But surely that stops when the holy vows are said in kirk?”