The Lady Most Willing . . . (4 page)

“But he’s not—”

“Oh, he’ll still feel like he is. Ferguson is his uncle.”

“I suppose.” She was quiet for a moment, then asked, “What about the other one?”

“Rocheforte, you mean?” he asked, after the tiniest pause.

She nodded. “Yes, although . . . Is he Mr. Rocheforte or Lord Rocheforte? I feel quite
awkward not knowing what to call him. I’ve never met a French comte before.”

The duke gave a little shrug. “Mr. Rocheforte, I believe. It would depend upon the
recent Royal Charter.”

Catriona had no idea what he was talking about.

“He won’t mind whatever you call him,” the duke continued. “He takes nothing seriously.
He never has.”

Catriona was silent for a moment. “An odd set of cousins,” she finally said.

“Yes, they are.” Then he turned to her abruptly and commanded, “Tell me about the
rest of them.”

For a moment she just stared in surprise. His tone had been so imperious. But she
did not take offense. It was likely a more usual tone of voice than the one he had
been using. He was a duke, after all.

“We’re to be stuck together for several days,” he said. “I should know who everyone
is.”

“Oh. Well . . .” She cleared her throat. “There is Lady Cecily, of course. But her
father is the Earl of Maycott. Since you were at Bellemere, you must know her already.”

“A bit,” he said offhandedly.

“Well, that’s more than I know of her. Her family has been renovating Bellemere for
nearly two years. It seems a folly to me, but . . .” She shrugged.

“You’re quite practical, aren’t you?”

“May I take it as a compliment?”

“Of course,” he murmured.

She smiled to herself. “I don’t think the Maycotts plan to be in residence for more
than two weeks per year. It seems an inordinate amount of money to spend on a house
one rarely uses.”

“It’s lovely, though.”

“Well, yes. And I cannot complain. The village has not been prosperous since—” She
stopped herself. Better not introduce politics with an Englishman. Especially one
who likely owned half of England. “The Earl of Maycott has provided many jobs for
the villagers, and for that I am grateful.”

“And the others?” he asked.

“The Chisholm sisters,” Catriona said. Dear heavens, how to explain
them
? “They are half sisters, actually, and . . . not terribly fond of each other. I don’t
really know Fiona that well—it’s Marilla who is my same age.” She pressed her lips
together, trying to adhere to the whole if-you-don’t-have-anything-nice-to-say doctrine.
“They’ve both been down to London, of course,” she finally said.

“Have you?” the duke asked.

“Been to London?” she asked with surprise. “Of course not. But I had a season in Edinburgh.
Well, not really a season, but several families do gather for a few weeks.”

“I like Edinburgh,” he said agreeably.

“I do, too.”

And just like that she realized that she no longer felt on edge with him. She did
not know how it was possible, that she could kiss a man until she barely remembered
how to speak, and then just a few minutes later could feel utterly normal.

But she did.

And of course that was when Lord Oakley returned, scowling mightily. “My apologies,”
he said the moment he entered the room. “Miss Burns, we’ve found a room for you. I’m
sorry to say it’s not elegant, but it is clean.”

“Thank you,” she said.

“You can have my room, Bret,” Lord Oakley said.

“And where will you sleep?”

Lord Oakley waved off the question. “Robin will be down in a moment. He’ll show you
the way.” He turned back to Catriona. “May I show you to your chamber, Miss Burns?
I apologize for the lack of a chaperone, but there isn’t a female available who might
take my place. And I assure you, your virtue is safe with me.”

Catriona glanced over at the duke. She trusted him, she realized, although she could
not have articulated why. He gave a little nod, so she said, “That will not be a problem,
Lord Oakley. Your escort is the least improper event of the evening, I’m sure.”

Lord Oakley gave a tired smile. “This way, if you please.”

She took his arm and headed out of the sitting room. After a few twists and turns,
she realized she’d be sleeping in the servants’ quarters. But after all that had happened,
she decided that as long as she had a blanket, she didn’t care.

Chapter 4

The following morning

C
atriona had always been an early riser and was well used to breaking her fast with
only herself for company, but when she walked into the dining room, the Duke of Bretton
was already seated at the table, slathering butter on a piece of toast.

“Good morning, Miss Burns,” he said, coming instantly to his feet.

Catriona dipped into a brief curtsy, bowing her head less out of respect than the
desire to hide the faint blush that had stolen across her cheeks.

She’d kissed him the night before. She’d kissed a duke. Good heavens, her first kiss
and she had to start with a
duke
?

“Are you enjoying your breakfast?” she asked, turning to the well-laid sideboard.
Whatever Taran Ferguson’s faults, he’d provided an excellent morning meal. There were
two kinds of meat, eggs prepared three ways, salted herring, and toast and scones.
And, of course, homemade butter and jam.

“In all honesty,” the duke said, “I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a breakfast
more.”

“Mrs. McVittie is the best housekeeper in the district,” Catriona confirmed, loading
her plate with food. “I don’t know why she stays at Finovair. Everyone is always trying
to steal her away.”

“I recommend the scones,” Bretton said.

Catriona nodded as she took a seat across from him. “I always recommend Mrs. McVittie’s
scones.”

“I wonder why we can’t get them right in England?” he mused.

“I shall not answer that,” Catriona said pertly, “for fear of insulting an entire
country.”

He chuckled at that, as she’d hoped he would. She needed to keep this conversation
light, her observations wry. If she could manage that, she could forget that less
than twelve hours earlier, his lips had been on hers. Or at the very least, make
him
forget it.

It was going to be a very long few days if he thought she was pining after him. Good
heavens, if he so much as thought she might be trying to trap him into marriage, he’d
run screaming for the trees.

A distinctly non-noble Scotswoman and an English duke. It was ludicrous.

“You’ll have to pour your own tea,” the duke said with a nod toward the pot. “One
of Ferguson’s . . . Well, I don’t know what you’d call him, certainly not a footman
. . .”

“Men,” Catriona said.

The duke looked up at her, clearly startled.

“One of his men,” she said quickly. “That’s what he calls them. I don’t think there’s
a one below the age of sixty, but they are fiercely loyal.”

“Indeed,” Bretton said in a very dry tone.

“Loyal enough to steal women from a ballroom,” Catriona said for him, for surely that
was what he had meant.

Bretton looked to his left and then his right, presumably to make sure none of Taran’s
men were in earshot. “Whatever he wishes to call the gentleman who was here earlier,
I would not trust his grizzled hands to aim the tea into the cup.”

“I see,” Catriona murmured, and she reached out to pour for herself.

“It is probably no longer hot,” the duke said.

“I shall endure.”

He smiled faintly into his own teacup.

“Would you like some more?” Catriona asked. At his nod, she refilled his cup with
the lukewarm tea, then set about spreading jam on her scone.

“Did you sleep well?” he asked.

“No,” she answered, “but I did not expect to.” She would not complain about having
been put in a maid’s room. In truth, she’d been grateful just to get a bed; she’d
been half expecting Taran to try to stick her out in the stables. Still, the tiny
garret room had lacked a fireplace, and although Lord Oakley had handed her three
blankets, they were all quite thin.

At least with Mrs. McVittie as the housekeeper, Catriona could be assured that the
mattress was aired out and clean. Bedbugs truly would have been the final insult.

“And you, Your Grace? Did you sleep well?” she asked politely. He’d been given Lord
Oakley’s room, which had to have been more comfortable than hers. Certainly not up
to ducal standards, but still, presumably the best that Finovair had to offer.

“I’m afraid not, but as you said, I shall endure.” The duke cut off a piece of bacon,
ate it, and then asked, “Is it always this cold?”

“In December?” Her lips parted with surprise . . . and perhaps a bit of disappointment.
Surely he had not just asked her such a stupid question. And here she’d been thinking
she rather liked the highborn Englishman. “Er, yes.”

He did not so much roll his eyes as flick them upward in impatience. “No, I meant
here
. At Finovair. I was shivering all night.”

“Didn’t you have a fire in your room?”

“Yes, but I fear it was a mirage. And it was dead by morning.”

Catriona gave him a sympathetic nod. “My father says it’s why Scots marry young.”

At this, the duke paused. “I beg your pardon?”

“For warmth,” she clarified. “It’s tremendously difficult to heat these old castles.
I usually sleep with my dog.”

Bretton nearly spit out his tea.

“Laugh all you want,” Catriona said with an arch little smile, “but Limmerick weighs
seven stone. He’s like a giant furry hot water bottle that never goes cold.”

“Limmerick?”

She turned back to her food. “My grandfather was Irish.”

“Since I can only assume Ferguson did not loose the dogs on you,” Bretton said dryly,
“were you warm enough last night?”

“Not really.” She shrugged, resigned to her fate. “I’m in a maid’s room. No fireplace,
I’m afraid. And, as you surmised, no dog.”

His expression turned ominous. “You were put in the servants’ hall?”

“ ‘Hall’ might be a bit of a stretch,” Catriona demurred.

“Bloody . . . sorry,” the duke apologized, but not before Catriona heard the beginnings
of “hell.” “I will speak to Oakley immediately,” he said. “I will not have you insulted
by—”

“It’s hardly an insult,” she interrupted. “No more so, at least, than being informed
I was kidnapped by accident.” She set down her toast and regarded him with an arched
brow. “If I must go through the bother of being kidnapped, I should have liked it
to have been deliberate.”

The duke stared at her for a moment, then smiled, almost reluctantly. “I commend you
on maintaining your good humor.”

“There is nothing else to do,” she said with a shrug. “We are stuck here for the foreseeable
future. It behooves no one to flounce about in hysterics.”

He nodded approvingly, then said, “Still, the arrangement is unacceptable. I told
Oakley you could have my room.”

“Not to put too fine a point on it,” Catriona said, trying not to be delighted at
his ire on her behalf, “but your room is his room, and the last thing he will wish
to do is offend the dignity of a duke.”

“I have been kidnapped by a caber-wielding relic,” Bretton muttered. “My dignity has
already suffered a mortal blow.”

Catriona tried not to laugh; she really did.

“Oh, go ahead,” he told her.

She brought her serviette to her lips, smothered her giggle, then adopted a most serious
expression before saying, “It was a claymore, Your Grace, not a caber.”

“There’s a difference?”

“If Hamish had been wielding a caber, you’d hardly be talking about it over breakfast.”

He stared at her blankly.

“It’s a log, Your Grace. A
log
. And it’s not really used for fighting. We just like to toss them about. Well, the
men do.”

A good long moment passed before Bretton said, “You Scots have very strange games.”

Her brows rose daringly, then she turned back to her tea.

“What does that mean?” he demanded.

“I’m sure I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“That
look
,” he accused.

“Look?” she echoed.

His eyes narrowed. “You don’t think I can toss a caber.”

“Well, I know
I
can’t toss a caber.”

“You’re a
woman
,” he sputtered.

“Yes,” she said.

“I can toss a bloody caber.”

She arched a brow. “The question would really be, how far?”

He must have realized he’d begun to resemble a strutting peacock, because he had the
grace to look a little bit sheepish. And then he completely surprised her by saying,
“A few inches, at the very least.”

Catriona held her supercilious expression for precisely two seconds before she lost
control entirely and burst out laughing. “Oh my,” she gasped, wiping her eyes. “Oh
my.”

Which was precisely the moment Marilla chose to enter the dining room. Marilla, who
Catriona was certain rarely rose before noon. Clearly, someone had tipped her off
that the duke was an early riser.

“You’re very jolly, Catriona,” Marilla said. Although from Marilla’s lips, it sounded
more like an accusation.

Catriona opened her mouth to reply, but anything that might have resembled an intelligent
comment died upon her lips. For Marilla had abandoned her thoroughly impractical evening
dress in favor of a heavy brocade gown dating from sometime in the prior century.

Not that
that
would have given Catriona pause. She was all for making do, and if Taran’s wardrobes
contained nothing but leftovers from Georgian times, then so be it. But Marilla had
chosen a dress of the deepest, darkest, most sensual red, with a tightly corseted
waist and a square-cut neckline that dipped far lower than it ought.

“Isn’t it lovely?” Marilla said, smoothing her hand along the skirt. “There was an
entire trunk full of gowns in the attic. One of Taran’s men brought it down.”

Catriona just stared, speechless. As for the duke, he couldn’t seem to take his eyes
off Marilla’s breasts, which trembled like barely set custard with every movement.
Catriona would have been irritated, except that she couldn’t take her eyes off them,
either. They had been pushed up so high the tops had gone completely flat. She could
have balanced a dinner plate on them without losing a crumb.

“Marilla,” Catriona suggested, “perhaps you should . . . er . . .”

“I couldn’t possibly wear the same gown two days in a row,” Marilla remarked.

Catriona, clad in the same green velvet she’d been wearing the night before, decided
to refrain from comment.

“It’s a bit like a masquerade,” Marilla said with a jaunty little flick of her wrist.

Catriona and the duke gasped in unison, as Marilla very nearly tumbled free. But Marilla
must not have noticed, because she kept jaunting about, chattering on about her room,
her sister, her dress . . . and with every movement, Catriona flinched, terrified
that Marilla’s breasts were going to burst forth and pummel them all.

“Miss Marilla,” the duke said, finally rising to his feet. He cleared his throat.
Twice. “I hope you’re hungry. Mr. Ferguson’s housekeeper has outdone herself.”

“Oh, I rarely eat more than a square of toast in the morning,” Marilla replied. She
looked down at the feast before her, then added, “With jam, of course.”

“You might wish to make an exception for this morning,” Catriona said as the duke
sat back down. “You will need your strength. His Grace has expressed an interest in
caber tossing.”

“Caber tossing?” Marilla echoed. “How very, very noble you are to take an interest
in our Scottish customs, Your Grace.”

Catriona wasn’t sure how this made him noble, much less very, very noble, but she
decided to let that point pass in favor of: “I think it will be great fun. As long
as the duke is here in Scotland, he may as well learn some of our traditions.”

“It will be cold,” Marilla pointed out.

Marilla was right, of course. It would be viciously cold, and were Catriona arguing
the point with anyone else, she would have abandoned the suggestion in favor of a
hot toddy by the fire. But Marilla had always been a thorn in her side, and more to
the point, she kept
jiggling
herself at the duke.

“It will be invigorating,” Catriona said. Then added, “Of course we will have to cover
up.”

“I think it’s a grand idea,” the duke said.

“You do?” Catriona asked.

“You do?” Marilla echoed, followed by: “Of course you do. You have such a very fine
sense of sportsmanship, Your Grace.”

“Very, very fine,” Catriona muttered.

“Although we might want to wait until the snow lets up,” he said.

Marilla placed a fluttery hand on her heart. “Is it still snowing, then?”

Catriona motioned to the window. “The window is right in front of you.”

Marilla ignored her. “Oh, what will become of us?”

“I recommend bacon,” Catriona said flatly. “Surely we will need reserves to keep ourselves
going for the duration.”

The duke made a choking sort of sound.

“Well,” Marilla said, “perhaps just a piece.”

Or three, apparently.

Marilla came over to the table with her toast, jam, and bacon and sat at the duke’s
right, her chair somehow sliding to within inches of his. She smiled prettily at him
as her breasts very nearly poked into his arm.

Catriona could only stare in wonderment. Surely those old-fashioned corsets could
not have been comfortable. Marilla’s chest preceded the rest of her by at least six
inches.

“Did you sleep well?” the duke asked, valiantly trying to keep his eyes aloft.

“Oh heavens, no,” Marilla replied, laying a hand on his arm. “I was frightfully cold.”

“Perhaps Mr. Ferguson might lend you a dog,” he murmured.

Marilla blinked her pretty blue eyes.

Catriona, on the other hand, choked on her tea.

“And my bed was frightfully stiff and hard,” Marilla continued, sighing tremulously.
She turned to the duke with melting eyes. “What about yours?”

“My . . . er . . .
what
?”

“Your bed, Your Grace,” Marilla murmured. “Was it stiff and hard?”

Catriona thought Bretton might expire on the spot. And what was that . . . a blush?
He was blushing! He was!