by Jane Charles
“Davina, where have ye been?” her Uncle Aiden demanded as she walked in the door.
“I just beat Ian Grant in an archery match.” She didn’t dare tell her uncle that Ian had also kissed her most thoroughly. She’d either be betrothed within an hour, or Uncle Aiden would beat Ian to death. Neither was an outcome she wished for.
“Well, Cook has been lookin’ for ye. Somethin’ about menus. Yer sisters need ye to help sort somethin’ or other, and the governess had a question.”
“I’ll see to it right away.” She sighed and turned toward the kitchen.
It didn’t matter if Ian did find a way to prove himself to her, or if he professed his love with his last dying breath and begged her to marry him, which she certainly did not expect. Even if he did, she couldn’t marry him.
His attention had taken her by surprise, shocked her to be exact, and she reveled in it. However, she shouldn’t even be enjoying kisses, let alone kissing at all. Her lot in life was in this home. She was the oldest lass and since her Aunt Meg had died in the childbed, it had fallen to Davina to be mistress of Annagburn. She was the one who planned the menus, instructed the servants, assisted her sister and cousin, and watched the little ones when the governess and tutor had a day off or the nursery maid was too busy. She was the one who helped balance the household accounts because Uncle Aiden was too busy with the distillery. She was the one who held everything together. If she left, what would become of her family? Neither her Uncle Aiden nor her brothers or male cousins had any idea what it took to run a household, especially one this large.
At least she knew that for a small bit of time she did have the attention of Ian Grant. He had held her and kissed her. And, it would have to be enough because the only way she could ever leave this home was if Uncle Aiden married, and Davina couldn’t imagine that ever happening. Aunt Meg had been the love of his life, the other part of his soul. Nay, he’d not marry or love again and Davina would not be free to leave Annagburn until he kicked up his toes. Given he was only six and thirty, she’d be well into her spinsterhood before that happened.
Ian stepped into the distillery where Alistair, Davina’s older brother, was sitting at a table with her cousins, Donovan and Cameron.
“What is wrong with ye?” Alistair asked.
How could they tell anything was wrong, even it if was? “What makes ye think anythin’ is wrong?”
“Ye’re frownin’ and look angry and contemplative,” Donovan answered.
Well, perhaps he was a bit of both of those, and confused, as well as disappointed since today hadn’t gone as he’d planned. Not at all. And, it wasn’t like he could discuss it with these three. If they found out Ian had kissed Davina, first they’d beat him, then they’d force him before the vicar. It was the beating he minded. Though, he’d like a bit of courtship before the vows. He wouldn’t have kissed Davina in the first place if he hadn’t been seriously considering her for a wife. Not that marriage had been on his mind when he was chasing skirts in London, but none of those English ladies even came close to stealing his heart. That gift belonged to only Davina MacGregor. It had for a few months now. Though today was the first day he’d done anything about it.
How did their archery match escalate into kissing? He’d meant to ask if he could call on her, but she wouldn’t stop long enough to have a simple discussion, so he had kissed her.
“Are ye goin’ to tell us?” Alistair demanded, concern laced in his tone.
“Davina accused me of meltin’ hearts and then movin’ on. I doona do that.”
Donovan, the oldest of the cousins snorted. “Ye’re a rake.”
“’Tis not true,” Ian defended.
“Are ye really so blind to yer own reputation?” Alistair laughed.
“I doona have a reputation,” Ian complained.
“I doona ken about London, but the ladies in Edinburgh seem to love ye well enough,” Cameron offered. “So much so that they’ve started asking me if ye will make an appearance at various entertainments.”
He dismissed Cameron and took a seat. “Ye ken that isna so.”
The cousins shared a look. “Ye are blind, are ye not?” Alistair finally said. “Lasses love ye because ye dance and show them individual attention. Ye do melt hearts and from what I’ve heard, ye’ve kissed quite a few, not that anyone has caught ye doin’ so, or ye’d be married by now, but there are far too many stories for them not to be true.”
Perhaps he had been a bit free with his affections. He hadn’t really given it that much thought. He liked women. All women. And, aye, he had kissed a few debutantes and more than a few widows. And, he’d done far more than kiss some of those widows. However, Ian had no idea he had such an unsavory reputation. No wonder Davina wanted nothing to do with him. If he were a lass, he’d be ruined beyond repair and forced to hide from Society.
Well, he would prove to everyone that he could attend a Season and not dance, not kiss, and not visit a widow’s bedchambers, if that was what it took to get Davina to trust him.
Ian suddenly came to his feet with determination. “I’m off to London.”
“All this talk of ladies make ye long to be around them?” Alistair asked with humor.
“Nay. To prove to yer sister that I can survive a Season without sullyin’ my reputation further.”
Alistair sobered and pinned him with a look. “Why is it so important to prove something to Davina?”
Bloody hell, he couldn’t tell Alistair the truth. At least, not right now. “She called my honor into question, and I’ll not have it.”
Cameron and Donovan shared a look, and Ian feared he wasn’t fooling any of them.
“How much?” Cameron asked.
“Ten pounds,” Donovan answered.
“That Ian will succeed or fail.”
Donovan laughed. “He willna last a fortnight.”
“Nay, he’s determined enough, but I only give him three weeks.”
Bloody hell, they were betting on whether he could remain true to his word?
“A month,” Alistair said then looked at Ian.
“I’ll prove ye all wrong, and I will collect from all three of ye when I return reformed.”
Alistair barked out laughter. “Impossible.”
“Just in case, I’ll be sure and write to Lachlan so he keeps an eye on ye so we ken if ye are tellin’ the truth,” Donovan added.
As if he lied about something as important as his honor.
“Aye, and I’m sure Davina is probably writin’ Fanella and Jesse right now to make sure they watch ye too.”
Bloody hell! It was bad enough when his sisters were underfoot under ordinary circumstances. This would be ten times worse. However, as he would be on his best behavior, they would soon become bored. Or so he hoped.
“At least stay for dinner,” Donovan said. “Uncle Aiden is already expectin’ ye.”
Dinner, aye, he’d do that and he’d also take the opportunity to explain to Davina that he would prove her wrong and that when he returned in the summer, he would court her whether she liked it or not.
Chapter 3
Nobody told Davina that Ian Grant was joining them for supper. Not that she should have been surprised since whenever a Grant visited, they usually joined them for dinner. But she’d never kissed a Grant beforehand. It had made for an uncomfortable meal as she tried not to look at him too often, but that was more difficult than she could have imagined. She’d never been terribly conscious of how much she ate or how she held her spoon, and yet tonight, she fretted over every little detail.
“Why has Ian suddenly decided to go off to London? He told Ewan and me last week that he wasna goin’ this year.” Sheena, her younger sister, plopped down on the settee in the parlor. It was just the three of them as the men were still in the dining room enjoying whisky and cheroots.
“How would I ken?” Davina answered.
Her cousin Arabella snorted. “I heard it was because ye challenged him.”
Dav
ina pivoted from her pacing and pinned them with a look. What did they know? Nothing had been mentioned during supper.
“Alistair said ye called Ian’s honor into question.” Sheena grinned.
Why would Alistair tell their sister such a thing and how the blazes did he know?
“He complained that ye accused him of kissin’ and breakin’ hearts and that he couldna go a Season without doin’ the same.”
“Why would ye accuse Ian of such a thing?” Arabella asked curiously. It was not possible her cousin suspected there was anything more between Davina and Ian than their usual friendship and competition, was it?
“It’s the truth, isna it?” Davina retorted. She would never confess to her cousin and sister what happened today, and she prayed nobody had seen them.
Of course nobody had witnessed that heavenly kiss. If they had, someone would have already hauled the pair of them before Vicar Brown.
Why was it that men like Ian could go off and kiss whomever they liked when they wished, but if a lass allowed one kiss, it was her honor that was damaged? Nay, not just damaged, but a reputation entirely destroyed.
With a huff, Davina dropped into a chair. It was all very unfair.
“I do wish Ian was in London.” Sheena sighed as she lay across the settee, her legs stretched out before her. “The letters from Jesse and Fanella arena the same with him here.”
“We’ve only received two,” Arabella complained. “Those were right after they arrived in Town.”
“Maybe without Ian sneakin’ off and breakin’ hearts there’s nothin’ to write about,” Sheena suggested.
Davina didn’t want to talk about Ian, and she certainly didn’t want to think about all the women he’d kissed. “Ye had better sit up. If Uncle Aiden comes in, he’ll start lecturin’ ye on how a lass should comport herself.”
“Then he’ll start in on all the reasons why ye shouldna fish, I shouldna have falcons, Davina shouldna practice archery and why none of us should be golfin’,” Arabella added. “By the time he’s finished, he’ll be threatenin’ to find us husbands again.”
Their uncle did have particular ideas about what they should and should not do simply because they were lasses. And his favorite threat for the past two years was that he was going to marry them off.
Sheena rolled her eyes, sat up and straightened her skirts. “It isna like there is anyone here to impress,” she whined. “It isna like anyone calls on us.”
That was true. The only bachelors who came to Annagburn were Ian and others who were more interested in barley and whisky. Nobody ever came here to see any of them.
Well, except Ian. Today, to kiss her.
It was one of the reasons Davina never feared Uncle Aiden’s threat. Where would he find a husband if he decided she needed one? But as he knew nothing about the kiss, he wouldn’t consider Ian, of that she was certain, so there was no cause to worry about any of them being married off without their permission. Not that permission was ever asked of the lass. No, when the time came, it would be Uncle Aiden who decided.
Davina sighed. If only things were different. If Aunt Meg were still alive, Davina would be free to be courted. But unless Uncle Aiden suddenly fell in love again, which was about as likely as Ian surviving a Season in London without kissing anyone, her place was at Annagburn.
“Do ye think Ian can do it?” Arabella asked with a grin.
“Do what?”
“No kissin’ or breakin’ hearts.”
Why couldn’t they find a different topic to discuss?
“He’s a rogue or rake, accordin’ to Jesse.” Sheena’s grin widened. “A real life Lothario. A modern day Casanova.” She ended with a sigh.
“What do ye ken of such things?” Davina demanded. “Ye’re only sixteen.” Not that she knew much more than her younger sister. Davina hadn’t even been kissed until today.
She sniffed and tilted her nose in the air. “I read a lot.”
“Romantic tales.” Arabella tossed a pillow at her cousin. “I’d still like to ken why ye made such a challenge,” Arabella asked Davina pointedly.
Only a year younger than Davina, Arabella knew her better than most and Davina had to think of something that was close to the truth. “We were competin’ and I was about to beat him…” What the blazes could she say that didn’t give anything away?
A slow smile came to Arabella’s lips. “I was thinkin’ maybe he finally kissed ye.”
“What?” Davina screeched. “Why would ye suggest such a thin’?”
“I’ve seen the way he looks at ye when you arena lookin’,” she teased.
Sheena looked meaningfully at Davina. “And, I’ve seen the way ye look at him when ye think he isna lookin’.”
All she could do was sit there staring at her sister and cousin, her mouth hanging open. Slowly she closed it. They were fishing for information. She did not look at Ian a certain way. She’d been very careful to never let anyone know what was in her heart where Ian Grant was concerned. And she was just as certain he didn’t look at her a certain way either.
“Ye are both being foolish, and I doona ken what ye are talkin’ about.” Davina huffed and stormed out onto the terrace.
“Did my niece actually question yer honor?” Aiden MacGregor asked Ian in all seriousness after Davina, Arabella and Sheena left them following supper. “Donovan told me what ye said to them.”
Bloody hell! Since when did his friends share private conversations with their uncle? How would they like it if he discussed their personal lives, such as Donovan’s mistress in Edinburgh, or that Alistair was a favorite at Madame Fleur’s, or that Cameron had nearly been compromised by a lass last spring, or that Ewan, who was only eighteen, tended to lose his head when a pretty lass smiled at him? All of them were younger than Ian and quickly developing reputations far worse than his. Well, except Niel, who was twenty-one, and the only respectable one of the bunch, as far as Ian knew.
“I mentioned that I may not join my mother and sisters in London then she mentioned my reputation.”
Alistair handed him a glass of whisky and Ian took a quick drink.
“She ended up claimin’ that I couldna be in London and not kiss or dance.” Blast, his face was hot.
Aiden threw his head back and laughed. “So ye plan to take up the challenge? What of the widows who are waitin’ for ye?”
“Unless ye can make yer sisters disappear so they doona report back everythin’, it will be a very dull Season,” Cameron laughed.
“I think I’d rather lose to Davina than go a Season without liftin’ a skirt or two,” Alistair said.
“Or three or four or more.” Donovan grinned.
Those two also had a bet riding on the fact that he’d not be able to go for so long without enjoying the intimacies of a woman. “Sisters or no, I have somethin’ to prove.” He put his glass down. “And I will.”
Alistair sobered and studied him. “Why is it so important to ye?”
That he could not answer, not at this moment, though he was very tempted to.
“She finally beat him at archery,” Donovan suggested with a slow grin. “I think his pride has been bruised, and then to have his honor called into question, a man must respond.”
Aiden leaned in, resting his elbows on the table. “This is a lesson, not to let a lass have the upper hand or they’ll be walkin’ all over ye and thinkin’ they’re in charge.” He sat back and lifted his glass. “I ken my niece and she needs to learn her place or she’ll always be bossing the men around. I trust that Ian can win, and if ye canna, doona get caught.” He grinned.
Thankfully the conversation turned to whisky and crops and Ian could finally relax.
When they finished their whisky and stood, Ian went to find Davina, who was not with the other women but in the garden.
“I’ve come to inform you that I leave for London tomorrow.”
He thought she’d be elated. Instead, she looked stricken. Did she not want him to go now? Was she re
thinking her challenge because she would miss him?
“Ye doona need to.” Her voice was tinged with disappointment. Did she fear he’d find another lass if he left?
“I’ve got somethin’ to prove.” His argument was weak because the last place he wanted to be was in London during the Season, but he also had to stand his ground so Davina knew he took her words to heart.
“Nay. Not to me.”
Ian glanced back at the house. They were within view of the back sitting room and he did not wish for any of her family to witness their discussion.
“Walk with me.”
She glanced back at the manor and then nodded.
Why was she so solemn? Ian thought Davina would be over the moon and taunting him, insisting that he could not enjoy a Season without also enjoying the lasses.
Once they were further into the gardens and out of sight of anyone who may wish to spy, he turned to her. “I’m goin’ so ye ken that I meant what I said earlier.”
“It truly isna necessary to prove anythin’ to me.”
Of course it was necessary. She issued a challenge and he’d meet her expectations. No, his expectations, he corrected, since everyone else seemed to believe he’d fail.
Ian took her hands in his. “I want ye for myself, Davina. I’ve come to care for ye. I’d hoped that once I returned after provin’ myself that ye’d let me court ye.”
“Nay.” She pulled away.
His heart ceased. After their kiss earlier, he was confident she returned his affection.
“Nay? I thought …” He stopped speaking when he saw that tears sparkled in her eyes. “What’s wrong, lass?”
“Oh, Ian, I am honored that ye wish to court me.” She looked into his eyes. “More than ye ken, but it matters not.”
“How can ye say so? Do ye no’ think I can be faithful?”
A smile pulled at her lips. “I think if ye put yer mind to it, ye can, but it is no’ necessary as we willna court or anythin’ else.”