Love in the Highlands (9 page)

Very slowly and very softly she began to play, joining in with the Marquis. There was the briefest possible hesitation in his playing, but then he continued, without looking round. She wondered if he guessed who had joined him.

When the music came to an end she waited for him to turn and speak to her. But he remained still, and now it occurred to her that he might be angry at her intrusion.

Perhaps he thought that if he ignored her, she might go away.

Then, just as she was deciding that this might be the best thing to do, the Marquis turned round and looked at her with an expression in his eyes that she had never seen from him before.

"So it's you," he said in a quiet, almost wondering voice. "I couldn't imagine who it was whose musicianship seemed so much a part of my own. I did not know that you could play the violin."

Lavina laughed.

"And I had no idea that you could play the piano," she replied.

"I have played since I was very young," the Marquis told her. "Now I live alone, I find there is no company so consoling as the piano."

"I feel the same about the violin," she said. "I can also play the piano."

"You can?" he exclaimed. "From what your father has told me about you I thought of you as being an outdoor girl, liking only riding horses."

"I do enjoy those things," Lavina told him, "but I find that music is almost as thrilling and exciting as jumping a high fence."

The Marquis looked at her with new interest.

"What a fascinating comparison. But then, you're a very unusual young woman, in every way. If you were not, I suppose we wouldn't be here, on this boat together. I've thought of you as many things, but never before as musical."

"Nor I, you," she said. "But now I know why you don't feel lonely when you are at the castle."

Even as she spoke she realised she had said the wrong thing. Immediately the Marquis turned and started to play another popular tune, a very fast one, this time. It was almost, Lavina thought, like someone dancing wildly and madly to prevent him or herself thinking of what they had lost or what was impossible to possess.

Just for a moment she hesitated.

Then, as she knew the tune, she began to play it with him, matching him speed for speed, and knowing that she was playing extremely well. He gave her a quick glance and upped the tempo. She managed to stay with him, and they rattled away together until the tune came to a triumphant finish.

As the last notes died away he looked at her, his eyes alight with satisfaction.

"That might have come from the Albert Hall," he said. "Perhaps one day, if we were to lose all we possess we might get ourselves hired there."

Lavina laughed.

"Thank you for the compliment."

"You deserve it. You play extremely well and I can only think you were taught by a very experienced musician."

"Actually, it was my mother who wanted me to play, to please my father," Lavina told him. "I have loved music ever since I heard the first note when I was in the cradle."

He was silent for a moment, before nodding in agreement.

"Music makes me forget all grief and woe," he said. "When I play I pass into another world, one that has never been spoilt."

For a moment Lavina could not think of an answer.

After a pause she said:

"Play me one of your favourite songs and I will see if I know it well enough to join in with you."

The Marquis turned towards the piano and began to play a gentle, yearning piece of music that, for all its slow tempo, was very difficult. For a few ecstatic minutes they played as one.

When the last note had died away he rose from the piano and looked at her, as though something about her puzzled him.

"I didn't think it possible that I would find someone

with whom I am so much in harmony, whose music seemed to come from the same well-spring as my own."

Lavina was silent for a moment, thinking the answer to this was very obvious. He had spent too much time alone, seldom visiting other houses, and not knowing of the music that was made in them.

Suddenly he seemed to become aware of how he was talking to her. She could almost see him withdraw back into himself. He turned towards the door, saying abruptly,

"Goodnight, I hope you sleep well."

Before she could answer, he had shut the door behind him.

Lavina was left alone. She was aware that the yacht had also come to a standstill, presumably in some quiet bay where it would rest until tomorrow morning.

"Goodnight," she said to an empty room.

Then as there was only the sound of the waves lapping against the sides, she walked quietly, without seeing anyone, or being seen, towards her own cabin.

Jill was waiting for her. She helped her off with her lovely clothes and into her elegant silk nightdress, then began to brush her long dark hair.

"Did you have an enjoyable evening, Your Ladyship?" she asked.

"Yes thank you, Jill. It was certainly a very – a very unexpected evening."

Before Jill could ask what she meant by that Lavina said hurriedly, "You can go to bed now. I'll manage the rest for myself."

She sat alone, slowly drawing the brush down her hair, thinking what a strange discovery she had made that night.

"If anyone had told me he was like this, I would not have believed them," she said to herself.

"I thought he was just rude and brusque, but there is another side to him, a side that I can reach, and which seems to be reaching out to me."

She got into bed and lay gazing into the darkness, listening to the soft murmuring of the sea. Then she fell asleep, only to dream, as she had dreamed before, that the music was whispering in her heart, and as her mother always said, in her soul.

The next day they docked in Aberdeen. From there they went to the railway station and began the train journey to Ballater.

Remote as the location was, it was well supplied with railways on account of its nearness to Balmoral, the Scottish country estate that Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had acquired twenty years before.

During the Prince's lifetime they had spent a part of each summer there. After his death Victoria had continued the visits alone.

At Ballater Station they piled into carriages to head for the McEwuan estate. Lavina was thrilled to see how beautiful the Scottish countryside was.

The green of the grass, the touches of heather were something new and thrilling.

She felt she was entering a new world which, thankfully, was not as frightening nor as difficult as the world in the south had become.

"What is the house like?" the Marquis asked.

"It's called McEwuan Castle," the Earl replied, "and it is somewhat like a castle, but not as grand as the Towers."

"That's a relief," the Marquis said at once. "I still lose my way in that huge place. I hope your cousin has a cool head, or he will be overwhelmed at our descending on him without warning."

"But we do have an invitation from him to drop in at any time," the Earl pointed out. "I received it only three days ago."

"But Papa," Lavina laughed, "when people say that, they never mean it literally."

"Then he shouldn't have said it," the Earl replied. "We are visiting them as an act of courtesy, to mark your betrothal."

"Then they are to believe that we are really engaged?" the Marquis asked.

"Would that not be best?" the Earl asked.

"Certainly. The fewer people who know the truth the better."

At last McEwuan Castle came into view. It was not a great castle, but it had towers and turrets, and presented a very romantic appearance.

"There is my cousin!" the Earl exclaimed suddenly.

A large, well-built man came out of the front door and stood regarding them as they approached. His face wore a big grin, and he waved to them, not seeming in the least put out by their sudden appearance.

"Ian!" the Earl called out.

Sir Ian McEwuan hurried forward so that he reached the carriage as it stopped. Without waiting for the coachman he pulled open the door, grabbed his cousin by the hand and almost yanked him out to a crushing embrace.

"So you decided to accept my invitation, after all! This is wonderful! Come on out everybody! They're here after all this time!"

The last words were directed inside the house, and at once a young man came running out. He was very good-looking and seemed only a little older than Lavina.

"This is my son, Andrew," Sir Ian said. "Now, Andrew, here is your Cousin Edward, whom you haven't met since you were very young, and your Cousin Lavina whom you've never met at all."

By this time the coachman had handed Lavina down, and the Marquis had followed. Now he was standing watching the commotion with an expression of faint amusement.

The young man held out his hand.

"Cousin Edward, Cousin Lavina, it's wonderful to meet you at last."

Then the Earl suddenly remembered they had a guest with them and said,

"I want you to meet our guest, the Marquis of Elswick, who has come with us to Scotland. He wants to see if it is as wonderful as we have told him."

This remark was very well received. The McEwuans ushered them joyfully through the front door into the castle.

"Welcome! Welcome!" Sir Ian said to them all. "I've been hoping for years that you would come and visit me. Now, almost as if you had dropped down from heaven, you have arrived."

"We are very pleased to be here," the Earl replied. "As we left England unexpectedly we didn't have the time to warn you of our arrival."

"We need no warning," Sir Ian said. "This is Scotland. The door is always open to friends and family."

Sir Ian took them up the stairs to what Lavina thought must be the drawing-room where their hostess was waiting to receive them.

She was a handsome woman in her early fifties, with red hair and a smiling face.

"This is a great surprise," she said to the Earl, "but a delightful one. I'm having rooms prepared for you at once, and in the mean time, let us have sherry."

Looking around, Lavina realised that the inside of the

house was charming, and far more comfortable and pretty than she had expected. She had thought that because it was in the far north, that the house would be somewhat chilly and austere.

Instead she found everywhere comfortably furnished with pictures which she was sure were very valuable. There were curtains and carpets which would have been acceptable in any drawing-room in Mayfair.

"I do hope that you'll stay long enough for our friends to meet you," Lady McEwuan said.

"We want to see as much of Scotland as we can," Lavina said.

"But we have another reason for coming," the Earl added. "And that is, to announce the engagement of Lord Elswick to my daughter."

Everyone expressed their delight. There were toasts and more toasts. The Marquis stood beside Lavina, receiving congratulations with an air of ease, but she wondered how this felt to him.

Even after last night, when they had played music together and she had felt a sweet communication between them, she had no insight into his mind.

He had withdrawn into himself again. Although his manner this morning was coolly friendly, the wonderful moment might never have been.

Yet now he played his part to perfection, apparently the devoted fiancé. But when she looked into his eyes, she saw nothing there.

Dressing for dinner that evening, Lavina took great care about her appearance. She wanted to make an excellent impression on her new relatives.

It was only when she went downstairs that she discovered that there were other guests for dinner, who had been out fishing that day.

"Cousin Lavina," said Andrew, "let me introduce my friend, Sir James McVein, whose estate runs next to this one."

Sir James was six feet tall and had been, she learnt later, in the army until he came into his father's title. He had then retired to look after his very large estate.

She found herself sitting next to him at dinner, and realised that he was definitely one of the best looking young men she had ever seen. Also one of the most amusing.

He kept her laughing by telling her the things which had happened in the north since he had served in the army and the difficulties he had encountered since he became a land owner.

"My father was Scottish and my mother was English," he told Lavina. "So when I have a problem to solve I ask myself which will be the most sensible or the most valuable."

Lavina laughed.

"One always gets back to money in the south," she

replied. "I am sure people in the north are the same, although I expect you to be more patriotic."

"I think we are patriotic," the Scotsman agreed. "At the same time we try to be sensible and not in any way so easily aroused to anger as our ancestors were."

Lavina laughed again.

"As far as I remember, the history of Scotland is full of battles and I have always felt I should be careful in case I insulted anyone, and suffered in consequence."

Sir James smiled.

"I think you are quite safe," he said. "I assure you the Scots love beauty, whether it is a flower or a woman. You will find yourself admired wherever you go."

Lavina blushed.

"Thank you," she said. "Now I will not be so frightened of saying or doing the wrong thing."

"Then Scotland welcomes you with open arms," he replied. "I will give a party immediately in your honour at my own house."

"I shall be delighted to accept," she said. "And so, of course, will my fiancé."

"Your fiancé?" he asked in dismay.

Then she realised that he had not been there for the announcement of her engagement.

"Tell me it isn't true," he said. "This is an imaginary fiancé."

"No, he's sitting over there, next to Lady McEwuan, Lord Elswick."

There was silence. Then the young man said,

"That makes me more sad than I can say."

As he spoke Lavina looked up into his eyes. She felt for a moment as if they held her captive.

Then she blushed and turned away, feeling that something strange and unusual had happened.