How to Marry a Royal Highlander

by Vanessa Kelly

  “Oh,” she said weakly. It was one thing to go for a walk or a drive around the estate, but to go off with him on a longer outing felt much too . . . intimate.

  “I don’t know if I should leave Mamma that long,” she said.

  He drew her to a halt in the shelter of an archway that led back to the stable yard. He propped one hand on the brick wall as he gazed down at her, tall and formidably masculine, looming over her with easy assurance. She had to struggle against the sensations that weakened her knees and quickened her breath.

  “Your mother is in good hands,” he said in a quiet voice. “She can spare you for a few hours.”

  “Well . . .”

  “Miss Whitney, we both know you’ve been avoiding me, and we both know why,” he said in an uncharacteristically serious voice. “I sprang some unexpected news on you, and I apologize for my stupid and clumsy manner in doing so. You and your mother had every right to know my status, and I should have informed you of it before we left London.”

  Edie took refuge behind a polite manner. “Your business is your own, Captain Gilbride. You don’t owe us any explanation. In fact, I don’t know why you think I would even care about your status.”

  “You seemed to care a great deal the other night, when you called me a great Scottish oaf and stomped away from me. And you’ve barely uttered two words to me since.”

  Edie thrust her chin forward. “Perhaps I simply had nothing to say,” she said in a lofty tone.

  He looked incredulous. “You always have something to say, at least to me, but you’ve been doing your level best to freeze me out since our discussion. If you have no interest in my situation, why are you treating me like a blasted pariah?”

  Her temper finally flared. “Because you’ve been acting like a bounder, flirting with every woman under the age of eighty while pretending you’re the most eligible bachelor in London. Do you know how many girls have been standing on their heads to get your attention? You’ve been leading them on in the worst possible way, and now I discover that you have a fiancée!”

  His eyes narrowed with irritation. “Until a short time ago, as you will recall, I was engaged in preventing a deadly conspiracy and keeping your sister from getting murdered. When would I have had time to carry on all those flirtations?”

  Edie fumed. It was true that he’d been absorbed by his spy work until recently, but that didn’t excuse his behavior since the danger passed.

  “And we’re all grateful for your efforts, but that was weeks ago. You’ve had plenty of opportunity to make your situation known since then. By the way,” she said, suddenly recalling a comment by her mother, “Wolf does know about your betrothal, doesn’t he? I know you’re both in the habit of skulking around and lying about things, but you’re no longer in the Intelligence Service. You might try acting in a normal fashion for once instead of pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes.”

  Gilbride straightened away from her. “Wolf doesn’t know either.”

  That was a stunner. “Why would you keep something like that from your best friend?”

  He studied her for a few moments before answering. “I’ll explain, but first I’d like to apologize for my behavior the other night. I was an idiot, and I’m sorry.”

  She must have looked skeptical, because he let out a rueful laugh. “Clearly an apology isn’t enough. Fortunately, I have come prepared with a gift.”

  Edie was beginning to feel embarrassed. The conversation was so odd she didn’t know what to make of it—except for the fact that she still hated that he had a fiancée.

  She flapped a careless hand. “Really, Captain, you needn’t worry. As I said, your personal life is none of my business.”

  His firm mouth lifted into a disarming smile that teased her with an almost boyish charm. “I know, but you still deserve a present. And if it makes you feel any better, it’s an exceedingly practical one.”

  Even as she registered another weak protest, he exacted a small object from an inside pocket. He popped open the top of a green leather case and carefully pulled out a pair of gold spectacles, finely wrought and lightweight but with an unusually ornate bridge. They had delicate earpieces and clear, sparkling lenses.

  They were beautiful.

  “There,” he said. “You no longer have to bumble about like a blind mole.”

  Chapter Seven

  Alec watched wrath heat up Edie’s sky blue gaze.

  “Really? A blind mole?” she asked. “Isn’t that redundant, for one thing?”

  He winced, both from his verbal blunder and her tone. Her voice was normally warm and full of laughter with an unconsciously husky note that had men slavering around her like lapdogs. She didn’t screech, but referring to her as a sightless rodent had certainly altered her pitch.

  She propped her gloved hands on her lovely plump hips and glared at him. “Is that how you think of me, Captain Gilbride?”

  He’d been so undone by her expression when he showed her the spectacles that he’d blurted out the first idiotic thing that had come into his head. Her pretty face had lit up with an appealing combination of surprise, pleasure, and vulnerability. Perhaps because Edie was not one to show what she would call her weaker side, her look had been like a lethally honed blade to the heart.

  “I believe you employed a similar term during a discussion about your eyesight only a few days ago. Surely you remember.” He finished with his most charmingly rueful smile. It had never worked on her¸ but there was always a first time.

  She huffed out an exasperated breath. “Oh, very well, but that doesn’t mean I want to hear the term thrown back in my face.”

  “I’m an unthinking cad, and I offer you another abject apology. You couldn’t possibly look anything less than delightful, spectacles or not.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “You are an insufferable coxcomb, but I accept your apology.”

  “You are all that is gracious and kind, Miss Whitney,” he said in a solemn voice.

  Edie let out a reluctant laugh. “I’m anything but, as is evident from the fact that I’m not jumping all over you in gratitude for such a generous gift.”

  Alec would certainly relish her jumping all over him. “Are you not pleased with it?” he asked, trying to banish the image of a naked Edie bouncing around in bed with him.

  “It’s much too generous. It wouldn’t be right for me to accept.”

  “Nonsense. It’s more of a practical matter than a gift. A necessary tool to keep you safe. If you can see correctly, then you’ll be able to ride again, and drive my curricle, if you wish.”

  She longingly eyed the gold frames. “That would be lovely, but . . .”

  “Try them on,” he coaxed.

  Her mouth curled up in a wry smile. “Blast you, you’ve discovered my weak spot.”

  “Which is?”

  “I’m incurably vain.”

  He laughed. “I see, but think of it this way. You’re a stranger in Scotland, so you don’t have to worry about the petty censures of the ton. And I assure you that no one at Blairgal Castle will care one whit. In fact, you wouldn’t be the only person there to don spectacles.”

  “Are any of them under the age of fifty?” she asked drily.

  He hesitated.

  “I thought not,” she said. “I know it’s dreadful to be so conceited, but you have no idea how merciless people can be about a female’s appearance. Most girls I know would rather fall headfirst down the stairs than risk being labeled as a dowd or a bespectacled bluestocking.”

  “No one would dare characterize you that way. Besides, do you think your sister looks like a dowd? Evie is a lovely girl, and Wolf has never minded her spectacles.”

  She frowned slightly. “No, he never has.”

  “So, just try them on.”

  She studied him for a few moments longer, as if he puzzled her, then shrugged and took the spectacles. Carefully, she settled them on the bridge of her nose. When he slid his hands under her bonnet to adjust the earpi
eces, brushing her soft cheeks, she blushed. He thought she looked utterly adorable, reminding him of an earnest and rather shy schoolgirl. There was an appealing vulnerability to her at that moment that Alec thoroughly appreciated.

  She stared straight ahead across the stable yard, blinking several times as she waited for her vision to adapt. “Good heavens,” she said with a laugh. “These are much better than Evie’s pair. Where did you get them?”

  He took her by the arm and directed her across to the other side of the yard where one of his grooms waited patiently with his curricle and pair. “From a specialist in Glasgow. He’s been making my father’s and grandfather’s spectacles for years.”

  “Splendid. I’m now on the same footing as your elderly relations, which will thrill Mamma. I might as well say I’m in my dotage and get it over with.”

  Alec helped Edie into the carriage then climbed in after her. “I’ll take care of your mother.”

  “You do seem to have her wrapped around your little finger.” She didn’t sound very happy about it.

  He nodded to the groom to step back and then guided the pair through the archway leading out to the drive.

  “I’m not sure what to make of that remark,” he said once they were bowling down the drive. “Do you think your mother will object to my gift? They were rather expensive. Shall I send her the bill?”

  “Are you mad? Of course Mamma won’t object to you spending money on us. I might not approve, but she certainly won’t have a problem.”

  He’d spent the money on her, not her mother. “Are you worried she’ll deem them too unfashionable and forbid you to wear them?”

  She shook her head. “No, she lost that battle ages ago with Evie. If I’d ever wanted to wear them, I would have.”

  “What worries you then?”

  She took her time smoothing out an imaginary wrinkle in her glove. It was an uncharacteristic display of the fidgets.

  “You do know why Mamma is so sweet on you, don’t you?” she finally said. “I should think you would have figured it out by now.”

  Though she tossed the comment out in a careless fashion, the color staining her cheeks spoke to her discomfort.

  “I expect she thinks she’ll bring me up to scratch at some point this winter,” he said.

  He felt her slight jerk of surprise. After all, her rounded hip and thigh were pressed up against him. It was a wonder he could even concentrate with all that warm, gorgeous flesh so close at hand.

  “I’m sorry,” she said with a sigh. “It’s rather beastly of her to impose on your hospitality on the basis of so false an assumption. I do hope you realize that I certainly didn’t encourage her to come to that conclusion.”

  Which, as far as Alec was concerned, was unfortunate.

  “Of course not,” he said, “but I’m well familiar with matchmaking mammas. I’ve met dozens over the years.”

  “It’s gruesome, isn’t it?” she said. “And more than slightly embarrassing.”

  “There’s no need for you to feel that way. Your mother loves you and simply wishes the best for you.”

  “And that would be you, I take it?”

  He laughed. “Very well, that did make me sound rather like a coxcomb.”

  “Surely you jest,” she said, exaggerating a tone of disbelief. “No one could possibly think that about you.”

  “You are a vixen.”

  “Lord knows I try,” she said with an airy wave.

  They passed the stone gatehouse and made the turn onto the road that led through the village and to Mugdock Castle.

  “So, given your campaign of avoidance these last few days,” Alec said, “I take it that your mother insisted you come out for a drive with me today. As part of her long-range plan.”

  Her shoulders hiked up slightly. “Yes.”

  “And did you tell her about . . .”

  “About your mysterious fiancée?” she said.

  He managed not to wince. Barely. “Yes.”

  “I did, and I can’t say she wasn’t disappointed,” Edie said candidly. “Still, she insisted that I come out with you today, which was rather odd of her. She’s usually such a high stickler.”

  She gave a little shrug and then a wiggle, as if getting comfortable. It had the opposite effect on Alec, since it pushed her thigh more closely against his. Suddenly, his breeches began to feel too tight.

  “But she obviously wasn’t this time,” Alec said, trying to ignore his body’s inconvenient reaction.

  “She seems to think my reputation is safe precisely because you are betrothed.” She frowned. “That doesn’t make any sense since I’m not the one betrothed to you.”

  Ah. Clearly, Edie’s mamma had not yet given up when it came to his status as a potential husband for her daughter.

  It was nice to have at least one ally in the fight.

  “Oh, well,” Alec said. “She probably looks on me rather like family. Just think of me as a cousin or some other annoying family relation.”

  “No, thank you. I have plenty of those without adding you to the mix.” She was silent for a few minutes, deep in thought as they trotted through the village of Milngavie and then started up the long hill to Mugdock Castle. Then she slid him a sideways glance. “May I ask you a question?”

  “Anything you wish.”

  She let out a short laugh that held little amusement. “You may regret that.”

  “Let’s see.”

  “Why have you kept your betrothal a secret from even your closest friends? Is your fiancée a madwoman, or does she squint or have a hunchback, like some character from a lurid novel?”

  She tried to make a joke out of it, but Alec wasn’t fooled. Edie was still upset with him for what she clearly saw as a deliberate attempt to mislead her and everyone else. And he’d better not make a botch of explaining it this time—not when he needed her help to free him of the anchor that had weighed on him for ten years.

  He braced his foot against the dash, affecting a relaxed attitude. For his plan to work, he’d have to bring her along by easy degrees, not spring everything on her at once.

  “The short answer would be to say that it’s an arranged match. One that I never agreed to in the first place.”

  She’d been gazing out at the countryside—no doubt struck by how clear and vibrant everything appeared now that she could actually see—but his answer brought her head whipping around. She stared up at him, her eyes wide behind her new spectacles. “Good Lord. Do people still really do that sort of thing?”

  “They do in the Highlands,” he said grimly.

  “Your grandfather’s doing, I suppose?”

  “Who else? I didn’t know until I was older, but he’d been planning it from the time I was barely out of leading strings. Probably within days of Donella being born.”

  “Is that your betrothed’s name?”

  “Yes, Donella Haddon, my second cousin. I’ve known her all my life, since the family grew up only a few miles from Blairgal Castle. Her brother, Fergus, is now my grandfather’s estate steward.”

  He glanced at her to gauge her reaction. She was staring straight ahead with a frown that indicated some confusion.

  “You wish to ask something but are afraid of giving offense,” he said.

  She gave him a rueful grin. “Oh, blast, is it that obvious?”

  “I’ve spent a great deal of time thinking about the subject, so I’m keenly aware of its many odd aspects,” he said.

  He was also learning to read Edie very well. Reading people was a necessary skill in the spy game. She wasn’t an adversary of course, but she’d run him around in circles if he didn’t stay a step ahead of her.

  She gnawed on her plump lower lip, as if still struggling with a reluctance to satisfy her curiosity.

  “Miss Whitney, you need not be reticent with me.” He flashed her a quick grin. “You haven’t held back on me before, and I wouldn’t know what to do with you if you began now.”

  She burst into lau
ghter. “What a wretchedly backhanded compliment that was. Very well, I’ll be brutally frank.”

  “As I hope you always will be.”

  “Hmm, I doubt that. Then again, there’s probably very little I could say to offend you, given your thick hide.”

  “You wound me, Miss Whitney. I assure you that my heart beats with all the ardent sensibility and delicacy of a poet. Lord Byron has nothing on me.”

  “There’s nothing delicate about Byron, and you know it. Now, stop trying to distract me.”

  “I stand corrected. Fire away.”

  “Your grandfather holds one of the oldest and most distinguished titles in Scotland, correct?”

  Alec kept his eyes on the narrow road that snaked up the hill leading to the castle. “Yes, it’s an ancient title in both England and Scotland.”

  “And it’s a well-endowed title from what I understand,” she added.

  Clearly, she—or her mother—had been asking questions about him. “Yes, although our estates aren’t as extensive as some other Scottish titles. We do have a hunting lodge on Loch Venachar, but most of our principal holdings are between Loch Lomond and Loch Katrine. It’s good land, and we pull a prime income in the linen trade and cattle.” He threw her a sideways grin. “We distill some of the best scotch in the Highlands, too.”

  “How lucky for you,” she said with a smile. “So, your wealthy and distinguished family holds one of the oldest titles in the land.”

  “Correct.”

  “And does your betrothed also come from such a family?”

  “Hardly. If she did, my cousin wouldn’t be working as an estate steward.”

  Her pretty features once more adopted a thoughtful frown. “That’s what I thought. So I take it that Miss Haddon will not bring a large dowry to the match.”

  “There won’t be a match, if I have anything to say about it,” Alec said in a grim tone. “But to answer your question, her dowry would be negligible.”

  She twisted sideways in her seat to stare at him. “You truly don’t want to marry Miss Haddon?”

  “That I never wanted to marry Donella would surprise no one, including her. I told my grandfather that as soon as he made his plans known to me.”