“My wing. Then it floated to Cam’s wing and disappeared.” Mac shoved most of a scone into his mouth and chewed noisily.
Ian had difficulty knowing when Mac was teasing or serious. Hart and Cameron were straightforward with their speeches—sometimes loudly so—but Mac made up stories or played with words, bursting out laughing in the middle of them. Ian had learned to wait until Mac wound down to judge whether what he spoke was truth or exaggeration. He returned to his letter and let the others at the table play it out.
Breakfast at Kilmorgan was an informal meal, with food placed on the sideboard for all to enjoy. Some days the ladies indulged in breakfast in bed, but most mornings they made their way to the dining room to eat with the family. The younger Mackenzies were welcome—no banishment because they had not yet reached a specific age. The four brothers had made that decision years ago.
Ian liked the breakfast gatherings. He read his letters or newspapers while various Mackenzies chattered around him. At the house he shared with Beth and his three children, breakfast could be intimate or rowdy, the five of them crammed around the table.
As soon as Mac ceased speaking and began to eat, Ian’s daughters, Belle and Megan, entered and helped themselves at the sideboard.
Megan finished filling her plate first and took a seat next to Ian. Megan was thirteen now, and becoming so beautiful. Ian lost himself in looking at her eyes, so like her mother’s, and her hair that was glossy brown with a touch of red.
Belle, her plate heaped almost as much as Mac’s, sat on the other side of her sister. Ian noted they kept to the placement that was usual at home—they knew he preferred it if everyone sat in the same seats day after day.
“Good morning, ladies,” Daniel boomed at them. “Uncle Mac has seen a ghost at the top of Kilmorgan Castle. What awful specter haunts our midst? A Highlander of old, calling to his clan? Great-great-grandfather Malcolm bellowing for his whisky? A lady waiting for her lover to return from one of our many rebellions?”
“Papa.” Fleur shook her head at him. Like Violet, she was a skeptic.
Megan shivered. “I hope it’s not the lonely lady.”
Belle scoffed. “There are no ghosts. They are seen only by people who are drunk or mad.” She caught Mac’s grin and flushed. “Not that I mean you are mad, Uncle Mac. Or drunk. But it has been shown that oil of turpentine and the components of paints can make one’s brain behave as though it is intoxicated. You might have breathed in too much last night.”
Mac winked at her. “An excellent theory. Very scientific. I assure you, dear niece, I keep plenty of air flowing through my studio and avoid a buildup of fumes. I truly did see a ghost. Kilmorgan is quite haunted.”
“Poppycock,” Belle said, but Megan shivered again. “There has been absolutely no proven existence of ghosts and spirits,” Belle went on. “Those who pretend to have gathered evidence are frauds. Oh, I beg your pardon, Cousin Violet.”
“No need, sweetheart,” Violet answered calmly. “I know all about frauds and hoaxes. Do not worry, Megan. Whatever your uncle Mac saw, it wasn’t a ghost.”
“If you say so,” Mac said before he fell to devouring the rest of his breakfast.
Megan did not return the smile, from which Ian deduced she was not reassured. He reached over and squeezed her hand.
“There are no ghosts,” he said firmly. “They do not exist.”
“Quite right,” Belle said on Megan’s far side.
Belle looked for rational and scientific explanations for everything, from a flower pushing through the earth to how far away the stars were, to how rain clouds formed. Her inquisitive and eager mind had worked through most of the books in Ian’s library, and she’d quickly absorbed everything her brother’s tutors had taught them.
Jamie, Ian’s oldest, had gone off to Harrow, leaving his sisters behind, but Ian had insisted they hire another tutor, one who could keep up with Belle’s swift mind. She was determined to go to university, to study to be a doctor. Ian saw no reason why she should not—Belle was brilliant and ought to be allowed to do anything she wanted.
Beth tried to explain to Ian and Belle that education for a woman was very difficult, but Belle only furrowed her brow and said she’d do it. Ian knew she would, and he’d certainly use all his might as a Mackenzie to ensure that she found a university that would take her.
Megan was no less intelligent, but in a different way. She was highly imaginative, constructing entire worlds in her mind and acting them out with her dolls or the dogs. Where Belle made her way through scientific journals, Megan read fairy tales and lengthy novels. Megan was also quite musical, able, like Ian, to learn a piece of music by hearing others play it through once. Unlike Ian, though, Megan could play it back with feeling, often ending up sobbing by the close of the piece.
Megan was compassionate; Belle a force to be reckoned with. Beth expressed surprise that the two got along so well, but Belle was Megan’s defender, and Megan’s gentleness eased Belle when she grew frustrated and impatient.
“What is this talk of ghosts?” Isabella Mackenzie floated into the room, her red hair drawn up in the latest fashion, which Ian privately thought resembled a giant pincushion. Isabella changed her hair nearly every week.
Mac rose from the table, wiped his mouth, and kissed his wife soundly on the lips. “Saw one. Upstairs last night.”
“How exciting.” Isabella helped herself to toast and tea from the sideboard, sat down, and raised her cup to her lips. “Tell me all about it.”
Mac launched into his tale once more, and Ian returned to his letter. He’d written to a man in London, asking for particulars on what was in the photographs and line drawings—an antique necklace with intricately worked loops of gold and hung with emeralds and lapis lazuli. It was ancient, Roman, and had purportedly been taken from the tomb of a Roman consul’s wife. Somehow it had ended up in the treasury of a church in Norwich, and when the parish needed to raise money, they’d decided to sell it, as it was nonecclesiastical and had been hidden away for a rainy day.
They’d sold it to a small museum in London that hadn’t really been able to afford it, and the necklace hadn’t proved a great attraction, giant fossil bones being more interesting to the museum’s patrons. The museum had quietly sold it on to a collector in Paris.
Ian had decided the necklace would look perfect on Beth, and wanted it for her Hogmanay present.
There was a problem, however. The necklace had disappeared after the sale, and no one knew where it was. Ian, with the determination Belle had inherited from him, set out to find it.
The letter, from a London acquaintance who’d photographed the piece when it had lain in the museum, confessed he did not know where the necklace had ended up. The Frenchman who’d purchased it claimed it had never reached his Parisian mansion. Somewhere between London and Paris, the necklace had vanished.
Ian read the words, studied the man’s photographs and drawings of the necklace, and made up his mind that nothing would deter him.
“Excellent,” Isabella said. “Once we trap it, we’ll know whether it is a true ghost or someone playing tricks on poor, sleepless Mac.”
Ian looked up. “Trap it?”
“Yes indeed.” Isabella’s green eyes sparkled as she gave Ian her wide smile. “We’re off to catch a ghost.”
“Poor thing,” Megan said, her mouth turning down.
“It’s only someone playing tricks,” Belle said. “You’ll see. We’ll catch them and give them a good talking-to.”
“Poor thing,” Megan repeated.
Ian squeezed Megan’s hand again and slid one of the photographs toward her. “I’m going to find this for your mama,” he said. “Will you help me?”
Also by Jennifer Ashley
Historical Romances
The Mackenzies Series
The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie
Lady Isabella’s Scandalous Marriage
The Many Sins of Lord Cameron
The Duke
’s Perfect Wife
A Mackenzie Family Christmas: The Perfect Gift
The Seduction of Elliot McBride
The Untamed Mackenzie
The Wicked Deeds of Daniel Mackenzie
Scandal and the Duchess
Rules for a Proper Governess
The Stolen Mackenzie Bride
A Mackenzie Clan Gathering
Alec Mackenzie’s Art of Seduction
The Devilish Lord Will
A Rogue Meets a Scandalous Lady
A Mackenzie Yuletide
(in print in A Mackenzie Clan Christmas)
Historical Mysteries
Kat Holloway “Below Stairs” Victorian Mysteries
A Soupçon of Poison
Death Below Stairs
Scandal Above Stairs
Death in Kew Gardens
Captain Lacey Regency Mystery Series
(writing as Ashley Gardner)
The Hanover Square Affair
A Regimental Murder
The Glass House
The Sudbury School Murders
The Necklace Affair
A Body in Berkeley Square
A Covent Garden Mystery
A Death in Norfolk
A Disappearance in Drury Lane
Murder in Grosvenor Square
The Thames River Murders
The Alexandria Affair
A Mystery at Carlton House
Murder in St. Giles
Death at Brighton Pavilion
Mackenzie Family Tree
Ferdinand Daniel Mackenzie (Old Dan) 1330-1395
First Duke of Kilmorgan
= m. Lady Margaret Duncannon
|
Fourteen generations
|
Daniel William Mackenzie 1685-1746(?)
(9th Duke of Kilmorgan)
= m. Allison MacNab
|
6 sons
Daniel Duncannon Mackenzie (Duncan) (1710-1746)
William Ferdinand Mackenzie (1714-1746?)
=m. Josette Oswald
|
Glenna Oswald (stepdaughter)
Duncan Ian Mackenzie (1748-1836)
Abby Anne Mackenzie (1750-1838)
Magnus Ian Mackenzie (1715-1734)
Angus William Mackenzie (1716-1746)
Alec William Ian Mackenzie (1716-1746?)
=m. Genevieve Millar (d. 1746)
|
Jenny (Genevieve Allison Mary) Mackenzie (1746-1837)
=m2. Lady Celia Fotheringhay
|
Magnus Edward Mackenzie (1747-1835)
Catherine Mary Mackenzie (1750-1836)
Malcolm Daniel Mackenzie (1720-1802)
(10th Duke of Kilmorgan from 1746)
= m. Lady Mary Lennox
|
Angus Roland Mackenzie 1747-1822
(11th Duke of Kilmorgan)
= m. Donnag Fleming
(ancestor of David Fleming)
|
William Ian Mackenzie (The Rake) 1780-1850
(12th Duke of Kilmorgan)
= m. Lady Elizabeth Ross
|
Daniel Mackenzie, 13th Duke of Kilmorgan (1824-1874)
(1st Duke of Kilmorgan, English from 1855)
= m. Elspeth Cameron (d. 1864)
|
Hart Mackenzie (b. 1844)
14th Duke of Kilmorgan from 1874
(2nd Duke of Kilmorgan, English)
= m1. Lady Sarah Graham (d. 1876)
|
(Hart Graham Mackenzie, d. 1876)
= m2. Lady Eleanor Ramsay
|
Hart Alec Graham Mackenzie (b. 1885)
Malcolm Ian Mackenzie (b. 1887)
Cameron Mackenzie
= m1. Lady Elizabeth Cavendish (d. 1866)
|
Daniel Mackenzie = m. Violet Devereaux
|
Cameron Mackenzie = m2. Ainsley Douglas
|
Gavina Mackenzie (b. 1883)
Stuart Mackenzie (b. 1885)
“Mac” (Roland Ferdinand) Mackenzie
= m. Lady Isabella Scranton
|
Aimee Mackenzie (b. 1879, adopted 1881)
Eileen Mackenzie (b. 1882)
Robert Mackenzie (b. 1883)
Ian Mackenzie = m. Beth Ackerley
|
Jamie Mackenzie (b. 1882)
Isabella Elizabeth Mackenzie (Belle) (b. 1883)
Megan Mackenzie (b. 1885)
Lloyd Fellows = m. Lady Louisa Scranton
|
Elizabeth Fellows (b. 1886)
William Fellows (b. 1888)
Matthew Fellows (b. 1889)
David Fleming = m. Sophie Tierney
|
Lucas Fleming (b. 1894)
McBride Family
Patrick McBride = m. Rona McDougal
Sinclair McBride = m.1 Margaret Davies (d. 1878)
|
Caitriona (b. 1875)
Andrew (b. 1877)
m.2 Roberta “Bertie” Frasier
|
Marcus (b. 1886)
Elena (b. 1888)
Elliot McBride= m. Juliana St. John
|
Priti McBride (b. 1881)
Gemma (b. 1885)
Patrick (b. 1886)
Ainsley McBride = m.1 John Douglas (d. 1879)
|
Gavina Douglas (d.)
= m.2 Lord Cameron Mackenzie
|
Gavina Mackenzie (b. 1883)
Stuart Mackenzie (b. 1885)
Steven McBride (Captain, Army)
= m. Rose Barclay
(Dowager Duchess of Southdown)
|
Helen Rona (b. 1887)
Note: Names in bold indicate main characters in the Mackenzie series
About the Author
New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Jennifer Ashley has written more than 100 published novels and novellas in romance, urban fantasy, mystery, and historical fiction under the names Jennifer Ashley, Allyson James, and Ashley Gardner. Jennifer's books have been translated into more than a dozen languages and have earned starred reviews in Publisher’s Weekly and Booklist. When she isn’t writing, Jennifer enjoys playing music (guitar, piano, flute), reading, hiking, and building dollhouse miniatures.
More about Jennifer’s books can be found at
http://www.jenniferashley.com
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A Rogue Meets a Scandalous Lady
Mackenzies Book 11
Copyright © 2019 by Jennifer Ashley
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
All Rights are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author.
Excerpt of A Mackenzie Yuletide Copyright © 2019 by Jennifer Ashley
Cover design by Kim Killion
A Rogue Meets a Scandalous Lady: Mackenzies, Book 11 Page 20