“Yes.”
“Take the squire to the house,” Constable Black told them. “We’ll send a footman to fetch the local authorities.”
Without another word, Ross and Alexander dragged Chadwick out of the stable. Blaze put Beau into his stall and lifted Sugar into her arms.
“Raven, grab those tainted carrots,” Blaze said. “Come, Puddles.”
Cookie?
Cookie for Puddles.
Blaze and Raven followed the men down the path to the mansion. “Look at them,” Blaze said. “You’d think they caught the culprit instead of us.”
Raven nodded. “And they don’t seem too concerned about our health.”
Blaze and Raven entered the house through the rear door and climbed the servants’ stairs. The sisters could hear the Duchess of Kilchurn before they reached the second-floor drawing room.
“My son would never murder anyone or hurt an animal,” Celeste MacArthur was insisting.
Blaze and Raven paused in the drawing room’s doorway. Their sisters were there as well as Dirk and Amanda Stanley and Mairi MacArthur.
“Do you think all the Stanleys are involved?” Blaze whispered.
“No.”
“How do you—?” Catching her sister’s look, Blaze shut her mouth.
“I cannot believe Chad is involved,” Dirk Stanley defended his brother, his sister nodding in agreement.
Chadwick Simmons looked at the Duchess of Kilchurn. “Tell them, Mother.”
“What do you mean?” Celeste asked.
“I’ll not hang alone,” Chadwick told her, and looked at the constable. “I did my mother’s bidding.”
“That’s a lie,” Celeste exclaimed. “Unnatural son—”
“You’re the unnatural one, Mother.” Chadwick looked at Dirk. “I should have held the title since I was the earl’s oldest son.”
“Stop lying,” Celeste cried.
“While she was married to Simmons, Mother engaged in an affair with the Earl of Boston,” Chadwick told his siblings. “I am a product of that union as are you. She poisoned Simmons and married the earl.
“That wasn’t enough for her, though. She wanted to be a duchess. Mother dispatched our father”—Chadwick looked at the Duke of Kilchurn—“and arranged an accident for your wife.”
“That’s a lie,” Celeste screamed. “James, he’s lying.”
When Ross took a step toward her, the Duke of Kilchurn put his arm in front of his son. “Let it play out.”
“Mother wanted you to marry Amanda so she could live in luxury when your father passed,” Chadwick told Ross. “Your first wife stood in her way and sickened when my mother visited the Highlands that October.”
“What did Celeste gain by murdering a jockey and poisoning my son’s horse?” the Duke of Kilchurn asked.
“Mother did that for Dirk,” Chadwick answered, looking at his brother. “You could never measure up when compared to Ross. She considered you a loser and wanted you to best Ross one time.”
Tinker interrupted, escorting the local authorities into the drawing room. Constable Black forced Celeste off the sofa and tied her hands behind her back.
“These two are facing charges for multiple murders,” the constable said. “We may need to transport them to London.”
“James, I’m your wife,” Celeste shrieked.
The Duke of Kilchurn turned his back on her.
Constable Black looked at Alexander, who said, “I’ll follow you in a few minutes.”
Blaze could not believe how many lives had been ruined by the witch’s malicious greed. Dirk Stanley was white with shock. Amanda Stanley was weeping while Mairi MacArthur tried to comfort her. Ross had lost his mother and Kyra’s mother. The Duke of Kilchurn had lost a beloved wife.
“Amanda, ye arena responsible for yer mother,” the Duke of Kilchurn said. “I consider ye my own and want ye to live with us.”
“I’ll take Amanda home with me,” Dirk Stanley said. “My sister can decide what she wants in a few days.”
“Dirk, ye suffered a bad shock, too,” Ross said, surprising Blaze, “and I dinna think ye should be alone. Pass the night at MacArthur House.”
Dirk Stanley looked surprised by the offer. “I don’t want to impose on your own sorrow. After all, my mother caused—”
“Family isna an imposition,” Ross said, “and we consider ye our family. Mairi, take them home now.”
“Someone send for my hartshorn,” the Duchess of Inverary said, fanning herself.
Aunt Bedelia passed her the whisky. “Take a swig.”
Surprising everyone, the Duchess of Inverary gulped whisky out of the bottle. And then she took another swig.
The Duke of Inverary put his arm around his friend’s shoulder. “Come with me, Jamie,” he said, ushering his friend out of the room. “We’ll sit in my office and share a drink or two.”
“If the candle was Chadwick,” Raven asked her aunt, “where did Celeste fit?”
“Ye canna take visions at face value,” Bedelia answered. “Ye need to ponder the meaning of the symbols. What’s another word for heavenly?”
“Celestial.”
Blaze crossed the drawing room to her husband’s side. “I’m sorry about your mother and your wife.”
Ross put his arms around her, holding her close. He dropped a kiss on the crown of her head. “Ye gave me a fright when I saw that pistol pointed at yer head.”
Alexander advanced on Raven. “I want to know the reason you’ve been cold to me.”
“I saw you kissing Amanda Stanley at my sister’s wedding,” she told him.
“I wasn’t kissing Amanda Stanley,” Alexander said. “She was kissing me.”
“Oops,” Blaze whispered to her husband. “He should have apologized and begged for forgiveness.”
Raven narrowed her gaze on him. She held her left hand out and pulled the betrothal ring off her finger.
“Don’t do this,” Alexander warned her. “You’ll regret it.”
Raven looked from the ring to his face and the ring again. She caught her stepmother’s horrified expression.
Then Raven slipped the betrothal ring onto the third finger of her right hand. She lifted her nose into the air and walked out of the drawing room.
“What does that mean?” Alexander followed her out of the room. “Are we betrothed or not?”
Ross smiled. “Yer sister is an expert tormentor.”
“Our stepmother schooled us on tormenting men,” Blaze told him. “Raven was her star pupil.”
“Let’s sleep in your bedchamber tonight,” Ross suggested, “and we’ll take Kyra home in the mornin’.”
“Is there any dinner left?” Blaze asked. “My baby wants food.”
“Tinker,” Ross called. When the majordomo appeared in an instant, he said, “Fetch my wife somethin’ to eat. We’ll meet ye in the dinin’ room.”
“What shall I serve you, Lady MacArthur?”
“No meat, no fish, no poultry.”
Eleven Months Later
“Here we are,” Blaze said. “Clean, fed, awake, and smiling.”
Holding her stepdaughter’s hand, Blaze led a small parade into the drawing room. Kyra’s nannies, Morag and Jean, carried the twins. Dodger followed behind, carrying a tray of refreshment.
“Kyra, you sit here with Papa MacArthur,” Blaze said, and the six-year-old climbed on her grandfather’s lap.
Blaze lifted one of the twins out of Nanny Morag’s arms. “Papa, you hold Baby Colin.”
“Jamie, our grandson resembles you more and more each passing day,” the Duke of Inverary said. “Look at those black eyes and hair.”
“Aunt Bedelia, you hold Baby Bedelia.” Blaze lifted the other twin out of Nanny Jean’s arms and passed her to her aunt.
“Baby Bedelia inherited your red hair,” the Duchess of Inverary said.
“I’m old, Roxie, not blind,” Aunt Bedelia said. Then, “Dodger, ye forgot the whisky and Puddles’s cookies.”
/> “Come on, wife.” Ross walked into the drawing room. “Juno is waitin’ to show ye her foal.”
Blaze rolled her eyes. “How do you know?”
Ross winked at her. “She told me.”
“Colt or filly?”
“A chestnut red colt.”
Ross and Blaze left the drawing room and walked downstairs. Leaving the mansion, they headed down the path to the stables and paddocks. The nearest paddock to the stables had Juno and her son, the MacArthur stables’ newest addition.
“You have a handsome son,” Blaze praised Juno, standing at the fence. The colt veered between wobbly legs, spurts of energy, and the security of leaning against its mother.
“I want ye to name him,” Ross said.
“A champion needs a special name that commands respect,” Blaze said. “Give me a couple of days to consider it.”
Blaze stroked Juno’s face and then turned to her husband. “Our company is waiting.”
“Family isna company, darlin’.” Ross put his arm around her shoulders and steered her away from the paddock. “I’m glad we named the twins Colin and Bedelia.”
Me love.
Blaze stopped short. When her husband looked at her, she placed a finger across her lips for silence. Had she imagined those two words?
Me love.
Turning around, Blaze walked back to the paddock. The colt stood at the fence beside his mother. Blaze stared into its eyes.
Love Peg.
Me love.
Blaze laughed, even as tears streamed down her cheeks. Love Peg.
Me love.
“What is it, darlin’?”
“Pegasus has returned to me.”
“Huh?”
“Pegasus is here.” Blaze gestured to the colt. “Juno’s son is Pegasus. He told me.”
“The twins keepin’ ye up at night isna good for mental alertness,” Ross said, managing to get her away from the paddock. “Company is waitin’ for us.”
“Family isn’t company,” Blaze said, glancing over her shoulder at the colt. “We’ll need Bender and Rooney. I wouldn’t trust anyone else.”
“Jeez, I’m livin’ with a madwoman.” Ross rolled his eyes. “Horses canna come back from the dead.”
“I’d know Peg anywhere,” Blaze insisted.
“Even if a horse could come back,” Ross said, “Pegasus was female and the colt’s male. Females canna be males.”
“Jeez, I’m living with a spiritual brick.”
Ross yanked her into his arms and kissed her. “I might be a brick, but ye love me as much as I love ye.”
“I do love you,” Blaze said, “but the colt is Pegasus.”
“If ye say so.”
“I do say so.”
Ross put his arms around her shoulders and ushered her down the path toward the mansion. “Did I ever confess aboot lyin’ to ye?”
Blaze stopped walking. “You lied to me?”
“I didna save Beau from a beatin’,” Ross told her. “I bought the donkey and concocted the fairy tale to impress ye.”
“Your rescuing Beau did impress me.” She gave him a seductive smile, an invitation in her eyes. “I was more impressed the first time you dropped your breeches.”
“The old folks can care for the twins,” Ross said. “Let’s sneak up the servants’ stairs and hide in our chamber for a while.”
“I’m game,” Blaze said, and started walking down the path again. “Do you think Baby Pegasus will balk at holes?”
“Men dinna balk, darlin’.”
She smiled. “If you say so.”
Ross pulled her into his arms, his lips hovering above hers. “I do say so.”
And then he kissed her.
ZEBRA BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2009 by Patricia Grasso
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
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ISBN: 978-1-4201-1359-4
Marrying the Marquis Page 27