To Tame a Highland Earl (38 page)

“
You have grown quiet,” he
said.

Eve jumped, and was thankful he didn’t open
his eyes.

“
Are you plotting my
murder?”

“
It would be nothing less
than you deserve,” she replied.

He smiled.

“
Was it difficult growing
up here in Mull?” Eve asked.

“
I had everything a boy
could possibly want.”

Except a father’s love, she wondered? The
marchioness clearly adored her son, but Eve had no sense of the
marquess’ feelings. He was a man of duty, that was easy to see, but
did he nurture affection for his son?

“
I haven’t seen my father
today. Have you seen him?” Eve asked.

“
He and my father rode into
Tobermory this morning.”

“
Why did they
go?”

“
They didn’t tell
me.”

“
I feel as though I should
be worried,” she said. “But I cannot imagine what I would have to
worry about. They have done their worst.”

He looked at her. “Is marrying me that
bad?”

Eve stared, uncertain what to say. “I do not
understand why you would ask. You had no desire to marry me and I’m
not taking it personally.” But she suddenly wondered how she would
have felt if he had preferred Grace over her as Lord Somerset
had.

He gave her an odd look. “We are married. Do
you hate the situation so much that you will be miserable?”

He used the word ‘situation,’ but Eve
couldn’t help think he meant ‘me—Do you hate me?’

“
Why have you avoided
marriage with such determination?” she asked.

He sent her a reproachful look. “Now who is
avoiding the subject?”

“
Perhaps your answer
relates to the answer I would give.”

He seemed to consider, then shrugged. “I
suppose because I had not met a woman who made me want to give up
other women.”

Eve’s pulse jumped. Had rakehell Lord Erroll
Rushton considered the possibility of cleaving to only one
woman?

“
So,” he said, “does my
answer affect your answer?”

Her heart squeezed. It did. “I think our
answers are similar. I had hoped to incite those feelings in the
gentleman I married.”

“
I am certain Somerset
would have been faithful. Why did you refuse his offer?”

“
I had hoped to marry for
love.”

“
Ah, yes. You did mention
that. Is that all it would take?” he asked.

Eve had to laugh. “If it were simple,
everyone would be happy, but few married couples are.”

A mischievous glint lit his eyes. “Perhaps
they did not court one another properly?”

Eve rolled her eyes. “What would you know of
courtship?”

In a flash, his good humor morphed into a
hard expression. “I suppose nothing.”

Eve realized her mistake and grasped his arm.
“Oh, Erroll, I am sorry.”

He seemed to turn to stone and her heart
twisted with the realization that she had wounded him. She let her
hand drop away and started to turn, but he caught her chin with his
fingers.

“
You are not completely
wrong, Eve. But a man can change.”

“
He can?” she said
stupidly.

“
Do you believe it is out
of the realm of possibility?”

In Eve’s experience, people seldom
changed.

He leaned close and brushed his lips against
hers. She closed her eyes and allowed her senses to revel in the
soft warmth of his lips.

He drew back and released her. “Perhaps we
should return to Ravenhall?”

“
Now?”

“
You did say you weren’t a
lady who allowed a man to tumble you just anywhere.”

“
You pointed out that man
would be you,” she retorted. “You said you would be a stickler on
that point.”

“
And I will be.” He rose
and pulled her up with him. “And you are not to forget
that.”

It made no sense. If he didn’t want her, why
would he care?

Chapter Twenty

Erroll awoke early the following morning to
find that his mother had whisked Eve and her sister off to the home
of the only decent dressmaker on Mull. He’d purposely stayed away
from her room last night—a feat which had taken Herculean
effort—but was fast regretting the decision. It was evening, sixty
guests already milled about the ballroom while the orchestra played
a Scottish reel, and he had yet to see his wife—or his mother.

He caught sight of his father entering the
ballroom from the east corridor, which led to a massive sitting
room for their party guests. Erroll had a feeling the guests would
surpass the two hundred the ballroom could hold, and would spill
into the sitting room. He strode toward his father, who had stopped
just inside the ballroom.

“
Good evening, sir. Have
you by chance seen the ladies?”

“
They arrived home two
hours ago, and locked themselves in your mother’s
chambers.”

“
I suppose they will make
an appearance when they’re ready,” Erroll said.

It seemed they were ready, for the three
ladies entered the ballroom from the north entrance, and Erroll’s
heart stopped. Eve wore a simple muslin gown adorned with
exquisitely embroidered flowers sewn in cotton and silver thread
with tiny gold sequins.

His mother spotted them and led the two
sisters across the room. Erroll’s gaze snagged on his father, who
stared at his mother with unabashed desire. Erroll had long known
that his father still desired his mother and bedded her regularly,
and had hoped that he would enjoy the same fate with his own wife.
Given the way Eve looked tonight, he had no doubt that would be the
case.

The ladies reached them and the marquess
said, “You ladies are looking particularly fine tonight,” though
his gaze rested on his wife.

She looked at him from beneath her
lashes—Erroll also knew that his mother was well aware of her
effect on her husband—and the marquess clasped her hand and brought
it to his lips. He released her, then bowed over Eve and Grace’s
hands.

Then Eve’s gaze shifted onto Erroll. “Good
evening, my lord.”

He lifted her hand and brushed his lips
across her fingers. “I missed you today, madam.”

He glimpsed the surprise in her eyes, then it
was gone and she said, “I would think you were busy all day
preparing for the party.”

“
That is my mother’s
affair, not mine.”

“
I’m sure you found a way
to amuse yourself,” she replied.

“
Perhaps.”

“
And what of me?” Grace
asked. “Will you ignore me now that I am your sister instead of a
prospective bride?”

Erroll bowed over her hand. “You were never a
prospective bride, Grace, but that does not mean I ever ignored
you.”

“
Of that I am certain. Will
you make introductions tonight, my lord? I suddenly find myself
back on the marriage mart.”

Erroll laughed. “My dear sister, one always
knows where they stand with you. As for introductions, my mother
will, I am sure, see to that, but you will find us less formal than
London
Society
.”

She looked at his mother. “I shall rely upon
you, ma’am, for direction.”

The orchestra began playing a country
dance.

“
There’s Ash,” his mother
said. “And Olivia.”

Erroll’s sister and brother threaded their
way through the crowd that had grown in the few minutes they’d been
talking.

When the two reached them, Olivia threw her
arms around him and hugged him tight. “Ash told me what you did for
Grant,” she said into his coat.

Erroll sent Ash a frown over her head, then
drew back. “It was more Val than me, love, but I put the final
screw to the admiral.”

She kissed his cheek. “I thank you both. Now,
introduce me to your wife.” Her eyes rested on Eve. “This is she, I
imagine.”

“
Eve, this is my sister,
Olivia Cunningham.”

Olivia pulled Eve into a hug, and Erroll
heard her whisper,
“I wondered who would catch him.”

They separated, Eve’s cheeks a very pretty
pink with embarrassment, then Ash stepped up and slapped Erroll on
the back. “I still haven’t heard that story. I think it must be
quite interesting.”

“
I suspect you’ve heard a
great deal of it,” Erroll said dryly. “By now, the gossip has
likely reached the Outer Hebrides.”

“
I see you made sure she
was clothed this time.” His gaze shifted onto Grace. “And this one
too. Though the nightshift was pleasant.”

“
Then I hope the picture is
burned into your mind,” Grace said, “for you shall never see it
again.”

Ash looked at Erroll. “That sounds like a
challenge.”

“
Beware,” Erroll said. “My
wife might—”

Eve elbowed him in the ribs—hard—and Erroll
jerked his head in her direction.

“
That is enough gossip for
the night,” she said.

She was right. It was best if his parents
never learned she had pointed a gun at Ash. Erroll realized the
guests seemed to have doubled while they spoke. “Have you any idea
how many guests are coming?” he asked his mother.

“
As I said, I invited four
hundred.”

“
I believe you said three
hundred.”

“
Did I?” She shrugged. “I
am terrible with numbers.”

“
Is that Hilary?” Olivia
asked.

Erroll turned to see his cousin dancing
alongside a young man. She had grown at least four inches, and the
woman’s body beneath her muslin ball gown would, in another year,
rival the beauties in London.

“
Good God,” Erroll
said.

“
I told you she had grown,”
his mother said.

She had. Erroll suddenly realized something.
“Has anyone seen Tolland and Somerset? I expected them
tonight.”

“
I saw them together in the
refreshments room earlier,” the marquess said.

“
Rush,” his mother said,
“do not make any plans with Eve just yet. Olivia will want to make
her better acquaintance, and we ladies will be introducing her and
her sister to all our guests.”

Erroll looked at Eve. “Do not say I never
warned you about the MacLean relatives.”

“
You will remember that I
said I am well equipped to deal with them.”

With that, his mother led her and the other
ladies into the crowd.

Ash stepped up beside him. “I would guess she
is a handful.”

Erroll watched her disappear into the crowd.
“You would be right.”

*****

Erroll stopped short at seeing Rebecca Reid
talking with two other women. He hadn’t seen her since he left for
the Navy. He’d thought of her in those first months after he’d
returned, wondered if she remembered him as fondly as he did her.
Her eyes shifted from the woman she was speaking with and rested on
him. For an instant she didn’t move, then her mouth curved upward
in a soft smile and he relaxed, then started toward her. Erroll was
suddenly sure every one of the four hundred guests his mother
invited had attended the party. When he finally reached Rebecca,
her female friends all looked expectantly at him.

“
Lord Rushton.” Rebecca
extended her hand.

Erroll clasped her fingers and bowed over
them, then looked at the other ladies. “Marianne, Jane, a pleasure
to see you ladies.”

They murmured greetings in response, then
Erroll said to Rebecca, “May I have this dance?”

She acquiesced with a nod and he excused them
from the other two ladies then led her toward the dance floor.

“
I wondered when you would
return,” Rebecca said.

He smiled at her. “Who would have thought it
would be under these circumstances?”

“
I am not all that
surprised,” she said.

“
You expected me to marry?”
he asked.

“
I expected you to get
yourself into trouble.”

Erroll laughed. “You know me too well.”

“
Well enough to know you
did not intend to marry.”

“
That was no great
secret.”

They neared the dance floor and she said, “I
believe everyone on Mull is here. The dance floor is over-full.
Would you mind if we got some fresh air instead?”

“
Rebecca, you are an
angel.” He steered her around the dancers and a moment later
stepped out onto the balcony and into the cool night
air.

“
That is wonderful,” she
said.

Erroll nodded at the bench near the railing.
“Shall we?”

“
Yes. I would love to rest
a bit.”

They crossed to the bench and sat down.

“
How have you been?” she
asked. “You look well.”

“
I am very well, thank you,
and you look wonderful. I don’t believe you have aged a
day.”

“
No need to charm me,
Erroll.”

He covered her hand with his and gave it a
squeeze. “I mean it. You are as beautiful as you always were.”

“
Thank you.” She gazed out
across the garden. “I’m very sorry about Val.”

He released a breath. “It’s been over a year.
I have accepted his death.”

“
I saw him a week before he
left.”

Erroll kept his gaze straight ahead, beyond
the light that spilled from the ballroom. “He served on one of the
ships in the fleet at Trafalgar. I was there, but didn’t speak with
him. How was he before he left?”