She couldn’t meet his gaze, and she couldn’t lie. “Once I stole a shilling from Jamie. I felt so guilty, I never spent it. I still have it, in a box in my room at home.”
Even now the guilt of that small sin tore at her and made her feel ashamed. Nevertheless, she risked a glance at MacLachlann, to see him smiling with delight. “Dear me, I’m consorting with a criminal!”
While what she’d done was no great crime, she immediately regretted having revealed her secret.
MacLachlann stopped smiling. “Good God, I think you feel worse about that than I do about…” He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Some of the things I’ve done that are much worse. I do appreciate your confidence, little plum cake,” he said, “and rest assured, your secret is safe with me.”
He spoke so earnestly, she was sure he would keep her confidence.
Although that was a relief, she couldn’t help wondering why he was suddenly being so kind, so sincere, so serious and chivalrous. And why was she finding it so easy to believe that he was being honest about keeping her secret, and that he really would?
As she looked into his eyes, trying to decide if she could truly trust him, another unwelcome knock heralded the arrival of a servant to take away the tray.
As MacLachlann wordlessly waited, Esme reached for her book and pretended to read. She was trying to act as if nothing extraordinary had happened, and as if she stayed with a man—a handsome, compelling, seductive man—every night.
After the servant had gone, she held her breath, expecting MacLachlann to leave, too.
He didn’t. He sat in the chair across from her, and he didn’t say a word.
His silence was tense and unnerving, filling her with uncertainty and stress, because…because he was there. Watching her.
Finally, after reading the same paragraph five times, she’d had enough. She closed her book and said, “I’d like to retire.”
“Please do,” he replied as he stretched his long legs out in front of him.
“I wish to go to sleep,” she added pointedly.
“So do I.”
“You should go below until I’m in bed. Then you may return and sleep on the floor. You can have the blanket.”
“How very generous. However, I’ve seen quite enough of the taproom and its patrons for today, especially if you’re expecting me to sleep on the floor.”
“Where else could you—?”
His gaze flicked to the bed.
Good heavens! “Never!” she cried, jumping up. “Not here and not in Edinburgh, either!”
“Calm yourself, Miss McCallan,” he said, rising as well. “I have absolutely no desire to make love with you tonight, or ever.”
She believed that, too, and felt a most ridiculous pang of disappointment.
And although there was no obvious change to his expression, she had the sudden horrible feeling that he could sense that disappointment.
She immediately straightened her shoulders. “If you did touch me, I would have you charged with attempted rape.”
“I doubt that,” he said as he went to the door. “That would mean telling the world we aren’t really married.”
With his hand on the latch, he paused and looked back at her, his expression enigmatic. “Good night, little plum cake.”
After he was gone, Esme sat on the bed and rubbed her temples. Even for Jamie’s sake, how was she ever going to endure this untenable situation with the most insolent, infuriating man in Britain?
Who tempted her beyond reason.
It seemed MacLachlann might be regretting his revelations, for he apparently had no more desire to converse than she did as they continued their journey north to Scotland. Unfortunately, she couldn’t easily ignore him. During the day, when MacLachlann hunched in the corner of the carriage, either asleep or staring moodily out the window, she could fill her mind with legal precedents and possible scenerios that could explain the earl’s financial distress; at night, though, when they stopped at an inn and had to play their roles of husband and wife, it proved more difficult to pretend he wasn’t there.
At least MacLachlann never again made a fuss about sleeping on the floor. Every night, he went below while she prepared to retire, then returned when she was already in bed and presumably asleep.
But she only feigned sleep to avoid another confrontation. More than once she’d been rewarded—or cursed—by the sight of MacLachlann’s naked back, all hard muscle and sinew, with a few scars marring his marble-smooth skin. His shoulders and bare arms were likewise muscular, as if he’d spent several years at the oars of a boat. Or boxing. Or fencing.
The rest of him was equally fit, muscular and well-formed.
So now during the day she was too often aware of his body beneath his fine new wardrobe, even as she reminded herself that he was still Quintus MacLachlann and they had a job to do that required her utmost attention.
At last, however, Edinburgh Castle appeared in the distance and the city beneath it came into view. She wasn’t surprised when the carriage went toward the New Town, where all the gentry and aristocracy lived since the Great Flitting at the end of the previous century, when they’d abandoned the older, inner part of the city for fine new houses.
MacLachlann continued to stare out the window, a deep, disgruntled frown darkening his features. Either he was annoyed with her, or as concerned about their purpose and their ability to achieve their goal as she, or else Edinburgh held no happy memories for him. Given what she’d learned of MacLachlann, she wouldn’t be surprised to discover all three reasons brought that expression to his face.
The carriage came to a halt outside a large, imposing three-story stone house with a huge fanlight over the door. She’d assumed that the town house of an earl would be a large and fine one; even so, she was not quite prepared for a house as big as a palace, with an abundance of windows and black double doors that gleamed like liquid pitch. No doubt there was an enclosed garden at the back and a coach house and stables off the mews for horses and carriages, too.
“Home sweet home,” MacLachlann muttered with an absence of anything remotely like joy as the doors of the house opened and a butler appeared on the threshold, looking suitably austere and grave.
MacLachlann hissed a curse and before she could ask what was the matter, he said, “It’s McSweeney. Been with the family forever.”
“Do you think he’ll recognize you?” she asked, trying to hide her own dismay at this unforeseen turn of events.
“If he does, we’ll just have to brazen it out. If he doesn’t, he’ll probably go out of his way to avoid me. He never liked Augustus.
“And remember to act vapid and stupid,” he added. “I daresay all the servants will be more curious about you than they will be about me.”
That wasn’t exactly comforting, Esme thought as a liveried footman came out from behind the butler, trotted down the steps and opened the door.
MacLachlann got out of the coach, then held up his hand to help her down.
She tried to ignore the warmth of his touch, and his expression that could be encouragement as she stepped onto the pavement.
“McSweeney, you old dog!” MacLachlann cried as they started up the steps. “I thought you must be dead by now.”
“As you can see, my lord, I am not,” the butler replied, sounding exactly like an undertaker in a house of bereavement.
“Nor hired by another family?” MacLachlann asked.
“I was, until your solicitor inquired about the possibility of my return to Dubhagen House, my lord.”
“He offered you a pretty penny, too, I don’t doubt. That’s a solicitor for you, always ready to spend a client’s money.”
Esme’s grip tightened at the insult, but MacLachlann ignored her as they continued into the house.
MacLachlann glanced over his shoulder as the butler ordered the coachman to drive around to the mews, then whispered with obvious relief and delight, “McSweeney didn’t bat an eye. If we can fool him, we can foo
l anybody.”
She was relieved, too, but she couldn’t share his confidence. For one thing, he’d been raised to his role. She had not.
Nor had she grown up in such opulent surroundings. A round mahogany table with an enormous oriental vase full of roses stood in the center of the marble-tiled foyer, their scent lost amid the stronger odors of beeswax and lemons. Pier glasses hung on sea-green walls decorated with ornate white plaster work.
Two middle-aged maids holding brooms and dustpans were in the corridor leading to the back of the house, a hall boy with an empty coal scuttle lurked by a door that probably led below stairs, another footman in scarlet livery waited by the door to what was likely the drawing room and three more maids peered down from the landing above, reached by a wide hanging stair.
“See that our baggage is unpacked at once,” MacLachlann ordered with a casual flick of his hand. “I’ll show her ladyship to her bedroom myself. I trust it’s ready?”
“Absolutely, my lord,” the butler replied. “Your solicitor has hired a most excellent housekeeper, so all is quite prepared despite the lack of time.”
MacLachlann turned on the butler with a speed that was shocking. “Are you presuming to criticize me, McSweeney?” he demanded.
The poor man took a startled step back. “No, my lord. Of course not, my lord.”
“Good.” MacLachlann addressed Esme as if that confrontation had never happened. “Come along, my dear.”
He gave her that…that Look. She stiffened, waiting for a kiss. He pulled her close—and squeezed her bottom.
It took every ounce of self-control Esme possessed not to slap him, especially when she saw the sly look of amusement on his handsome face, and his bright eyes gleaming in a way that sent the blood rushing through her veins.
Then, without a word or even a look of warning, he scooped her up in his arms and started toward the stairs.
Appalled and afraid he was going to drop her, Esme threw her arms around his neck. She was going to demand he put her down at once, until she saw the butler’s shocked expression.
She had a part to play and play it she must, so instead she whispered loud enough for the butler and other servants to hear, “Put me down, dearest ducky, or what will the servants think?”
He didn’t answer as he continued up the stairs.
Not sure what to do, she started to babble like a ninny. “Oh, you’re such a romantic fellow! I’m glad you’re so strong. And you didn’t tell me your house was so magnificent, Ducky, or I would have asked you to bring me here sooner. All that time courting me and you never said. And your servants—so very proper. I do hope they like me!”
Still he was silent as they passed the maids, who dutifully bowed their heads.
Perhaps Augustus was not a loquacious man.
MacLachlann carried her along a corridor full of portraits and paintings of landscapes, the walls behind painted sky blue, until they reached a room nearly at the end of the hall. Finally he spoke as they crossed the threshold. “This is my lady’s chamber.”
Distracted as she was being carried like an invalid, she couldn’t help noticing that it was a beautiful room. The walls were papered with a delicate design of pale green and blue, the draperies green velvet and the cherry furniture polished to a gleaming gloss.
Nevertheless, her surroundings were less important than the fact that he was still holding her in his arms. “You may put me down now.”
He did, slowly setting her on her feet. Very slowly. Her body close to his. Very close.
Suddenly his expression darkened and her heart seemed to stop beating as she wondered what she’d done.
“Who the devil are you?” he demanded, and she realized he wasn’t addressing her, but someone behind her.
She turned swiftly to see a woman in a plain gray woollen gown and white mop cap with a pillow in her hand standing on the other side of the bed curtained with pale blue silk.
She must be a maid, Esme thought, and a very pretty one, too, although not so young as Esme first supposed. She immediately hoped she didn’t have to worry about her alleged husband seducing the servants.
“I am Mrs. Llewellan-Jones, the housekeeper, my lord. I wasn’t informed you had arrived,” the woman replied with a Welsh accent as she dipped a curtsey and met MacLachlann’s genial smile with a frown.
Esme was suddenly quite sure that even if MacLachlann tried to seduce the housekeeper, Mrs. Llewellan-Jones was quite ready and able to resist him.
As she, apparently—and to her chagrin—was not.
“Ah. The solicitor hired you as well?” MacLachlann asked.
“Yes, my lord. I was recently working for Lord Raggles.”
“How is old Rags?” MacLachlann asked with one of his more charming smiles, while Esme sidled toward a huge armoire near the door.
“His lordship was quite well the last time I saw him, my lord,” Mrs. Llewellan-Jones answered evenly.
“Glad to hear it. Now if you’ll excuse us, Mrs. Jones,” he said, “my wife and I would like to rest before dinner.”
Esme darted him a sharp glance, then flushed when she saw The Look on his face.
“It’s Llewellan-Jones, my lord, and what would you like done with your baggage?”
“It can all be taken to the dressing room and unpacked—but no one should enter this room until we ring for a maid.”
Until…? What was he thinking?
“As you wish, my lord. My lady,” the housekeeper replied, her expression serene as she left the room and closed the door behind her.
Chapter Five
On guard and ready for anything, Esme waited with bated breath.
Fortunately MacLachlann didn’t come any closer. He shoved his hands into his trouser pockets and rocked on his heels as he surveyed the room. “I see Augustus hasn’t paid for any redecorating.”
Determined to act as if she were perfectly calm, Esme began to remove her gloves. “Was it really necessary to be quite so primitive? I’m not one of the Sabine women to be carried over the threshold.”
“It seemed appropriate,” MacLachlann absently replied as he strolled toward the cheval glass that was cracked in one corner. “Gad, this place is in worse condition than I imagined. Augustus should have sold it if he was going to let it fall into ruin.”
“Perhaps he expects to return and repair it someday.”
“Perhaps, but I doubt it,” MacLachlann said as he continued toward the barren dressing table, running a finger along the top as if checking for nonexistent dust. Despite the slight state of disrepair, the room had obviously been recently cleaned.
“Your solicitor seems to have hired a considerable staff.”
“Augustus always had a considerable staff.”
“For which, I assume, my brother is paying?” Esme asked as she began to pull the pins from her hair and set them one by one on the dressing table, making a tidy little pile.
“I certainly couldn’t afford it,” MacLachlann shamelessly admitted. “Jamie was well aware there were going to be considerable costs, no matter how much I try to economize.”
“And are you?” she asked.
“As much as possible. Everything will be accounted for.”
As she pursed her lips with disdain, for the money would still be gone, he strolled to the window and pulled back the draperies, peering into what must be the back garden.
“I don’t think I’d be quite so willing to pay so much to help a woman who jilted me,” he said under his breath, as if thinking aloud.
She wouldn’t be so willing to help a man who’d broken her heart, either, Esme silently agreed, but she wasn’t going to make any more confessions to MacLachlann. “My brother is a very kind and generous man.”
“Obviously,” MacLachlann replied, “or he would have left me on Tower Bridge.”
He turned back into the room, and she was sorry to see that the usual sardonic, mocking expression had returned to his features. “Makes me damn glad I’ve never been in love
.”
He hadn’t?
“What about you, Miss McCallan? Has any young gentleman ever stirred your heart?”
As if she would ever tell him if one had! “No.”
“Thought not,” he said with another infuriating grin.
Then, without a word of warning or explanation, he suddenly launched himself at the bed and rolled around on it as if he were possessed.
“What on earth are you doing?”
“Making it look as if we’ve been engaged in intimate marital relations.”
“Whatever for?”
“I warned you that the men in my family are passionate.”
Passionate was not what she would call it. “How unfortunate for the women in your family, to be always put upon.”
“Put upon? There speaks a virgin.”
Esme wouldn’t let him make her feel ashamed or ignorant. “Of course I am, and so I shall stay until I’m married.”
He rolled off the bed and onto his feet in one fluid motion. “Until that day, should it ever come to pass—or, I should say, the day after that blessed event—I wouldn’t presume to comment on how other women feel about their husbands’ passionate attentions.”
As she flushed and tried to think of an appropriate response, he started toward a door in the wall to Esme’s right. “Now if you’ll excuse me, my little plum cake, I’m going to change.”
“Isn’t that my dressing room?”
“We have adjoining rooms. As I said, the men in my family are passionate,” he replied, giving her another mocking smile before he left the room.
That evening, delicate bone china sparkled upon the long table covered by fine linen, silver, crystal and lit by candles in silver holders in the earl’s enormous dining room papered in burgundy and with mahogany wainscoting. Footmen stood ready to wait upon the lord and lady, with the butler to oversee them.
Esme, however, was blind to the glories of the expensive setting and scarcely tasted the excellent meal. She was discovering it wasn’t nearly as easy to pretend to be ignorant and silly as she’d supposed. Not only did she have to guard her tongue constantly, but wearing costly clothes like this beautiful, low-cut gown of emerald green silk was also a nerve-wracking torment. She worried she was going to spill wine or soup, a piece of sauced fish or roast beef, on it and ruin it.
Highland Rogue, London Miss Page 5