Delight (28 page)

28

D
ouglas stared with displeasure from the
doorway of the great hall. "What lackwit invited all these people here at this hour? I wished to celebrate our betrothal alone.
"

"
I invited them," Rowena said.
"
These are our dearest friends.
"

"
Friends? These men are pirates. I will not have my future bride subjected to an orgy. My crew cannot behave for five minutes.
"

The pirates rose respectfully from their benches as Rowena approached the dais. Dainty, Aidan, Shandy, Phelps, Gunther, Baldwin, Willie, Martin, Roy. They were no longer the servants of a Scottish cast
l
e. They were an assortment of the roughest, ugliest, raunchiest scoundrels to sail the Seven Seas. Brocaded hats, lace cuffs, knee-high boots, dirks and cutlasses. They had dressed for a royal occasion.

"
This is going to be a disaster," Douglas said.

Mrs. MacVittie was present, presumably to orchestrate the debacle. So was the doctor, and Henry, as a representative from the village. Jerome and Frederic hobbled to the table, looking as miserable as Douglas felt.

Douglas sat with a sense of impending doom. In a quarter-hour it would be midnight. He was too much a pirate not to fear announcing his betrothal at the witching hour.

Even though his betrothed had indeed bewitched him.

He studied Rowena with a fierce pride he could not conceal. Candlelight glinted in her hair, drawn in a figure-eight from her face. Gentle amusement moved across her aristocratic features as she addressed his men as if they were her equals. How amazing that he, with his nefarious past and sin-tainted soul, had won her loving heart. There would be no more deception between them.

His smile hardened into a scowl. How could her brothers have allowed such an enchanting creature out into the world to raise an army? Douglas
'
s blood near boiled at the thought of it, his princess leading unprincipled mercenaries into battle.

Of course, as her husband, he would have to
help rescue her papa. It looked to be a hell of a honeymoon.

"Ye're in fine shape tonight, sir," Baldwin lied. Douglas fingered his blackened eye, staring down the table at his men in apprehension. No one had stabbed anybody yet, broken wind, or bellowed a bad word. This could not possibly last.

"What is the matter with you?" he asked Willie, who sat red-faced and looking tortured with a waterfall of lace frothing at his throat.

"Gemma
'
s tied my cravat too tight." Willie sounded like a frog with a wheezy windbox. "I can
'
t breathe.
"

Douglas
'
s startled gaze stopped on Aidan. Aidan with his black shoulder-length hair tortured into lacquered ringlets. "What in God
'
s name happened to your hair?"

"
Frances took a pair of curling tongs to it,
"
Aidan said through his teeth.

"Your men are behaving like perfect angels," Rowena whispered in his ear.
"
But why is your cook standing in the door with such a lost look?"

He reached for his goblet.
"
She is probably ashamed of what she was.
"

"Why?" Rowena asked. "Was she a murderer?"

"No. She kept a bawdyhouse on Tortuga. She cared for Gemma when I sailed.
"
He took a deep drink of wine as he remembered those turbulent days. "We were the scum of the earth, princess.
"

"I want to speak with
he
r,"
Rowena said. "Summon her here.
The woman practically hides un
der the table when I visit her in the kitchen.
"
Douglas shrugged, then did as she asked. Frances turned pale, reluctantly trudging to the table with her eyes on the floor. She dropped Rowena a shy curtsy.

"
Please sit wi
th us, Frances," Rowena said. "I
understand you were a nursemaid to his lordship
'
s sister.
"

"A nursemaid?" Frances said in surprise. "Douglas said that?
"

"
Take a place at our table,
"
Rowena said firmly. "In my palace, the nursemaid is an esteemed member of the family.
"

Frances stood there in an agony of longing.
"
Your Highness,
"
she said, tears burning her eyes.
"
I can
'
t. I
'
m a fallen woman.
"

Rowena smiled at her. "Well, I
'
m a fallen princess so that makes us a good match. Mayhap my lord and I will have a place for you in our nursery."

"
You would trust me with your children?
"
Frances said in disbelief.

Douglas smiled.
"
You have a gentle hand and a loud bellow, Frances, both of which are needed skills for the raising of bairns.
"

"
You need only learn to turn a deaf ear to Hildegarde's worries,
"
Rowena added.
"
No doubt she will lord it over the nursery.
"

Douglas would have pursued this intriguing
interest Rowena had taken in their offspring, but a commotion from his other guests distracted him.

He sneaked a peek at his gold pocket-watch. He'd been wrong. The good behavior had not lasted even five minutes.

Trouble had erupted when Willie took a loud slurp of stew.

"
Shut up, Willie," Baldwin said in an undertone. "Ye're offending the princess.
"

Willie lowered his spoon.
"
Well, your face is offending the poor woman. I
'
ve seen the backside of a baboon that was easier on the eye than your ugly mug."

"
That wasn
'
t a baboon
'
s backside you were looking at,
"
Dainty shouted.
"
'
Twas a mirror.
"

Rowena rose to her feet to put a stop to this, but Frances, looking mortified, flung her back into her chair.
"
If you ruin her betrothal dinner, you weasels, I
'
ll throttle the whole bloody lot of you! I've never sat next to a royal princess in my life.
"

Shandy emptied a pitcher of ale over Frances
'
s head.

Frances picked up a knife.

Douglas leaned back in his chair with a deep sigh of resignation. Salty insults and eating utensils began to sail over his head.

"
Is this going to be an orgy?
"
Rowena whispered as a boot landed in her bowl.

Hr grinned, wrenching her by the hand. He
hauled her out of her chair. They broke into a run as four men overturned a bench.
"
I
'
m not staying here to find out. Would you like a walk in the garden? Gemma
'
s petticoats are still in bloom."

"
Good idea.
"
She stopped to hurl a loaf of bread at the man who
'
d thrown his boot into her bowl.
"
Thank you, my lord,
"
she said, hurrying after him. "That was the best formal supper I
'
ve ever attended.
"

T
heir laughter didn
'
t last long. The kisses Douglas planned to steal in the passageway were thwarted by the jingling of a horseman
'
s spurs and a devastatingly cheerful voice, which Douglas had hoped he would never hear again in his life.

"Is anybody at castle?
"
the cheerful voice cried.

"My God,
'
tis him.
"
His face stark with fear, Douglas pulled away from Rowena as a jaunty figure in a white cloak rounded the corner.

Matthew, with his shaggy blond hair and angelic grin, the other side of Douglas
'
s midnight soul.

"So there you are,
"
Matthew said.
"
Cornering the kitchen help, are we, brother? Where is everyone? It took me nigh on a half-hour to stable my horse. This is not what one expects from an earl.
"

Rowena stepped out from behind the broad shadow of Douglas
'
s back.
"
Kitchen help,
"
she said indignantly. "I take exception to that.
"

"
Rowena,
"
Matthew said in shock, then chuckled as she launched herself into his arms.

Douglas
'
s mouth tightened as he watched their warm reunion. He wanted to tear Rowena from his brother
'
s embrace, but said instead, "You're the only person in the entire world who could travel from Sweden to Scotland in a white cloak without a speck of dirt upon it. This is unnatural."

Matthew winked at him over Rowena
'
s head.
"
I changed in the stables. I would not appear before a princess in a disheveled state.
"

Douglas could not bear it any longer. He pried Rowena from Matthew
'
s embrace, not even pretending to be subtle.

Matthew held out his arms to Douglas. "Congratulations on your newfound respectability, brother. Do you realize that you now outrank me?"

Douglas pointedly ignored the outstretched arms.
"
For a man with a broken leg you appear to have made an amazing recovery.
"

"Haven
'
t I?" Matthew came a little closer, examining Douglas
'
s face in the torchlight.
"
I cannot say the same for you though. Dear me, Douglas. Have we met the wrong end of a battering ram?"

"
He rescued his village from raiders,
"
Rowena said, gazing up at Douglas
'
s forbidding face with a concerned smile. "And he refuses to rest abed for a proper recovery."

Matthew stared at them both for several moments, his gaze inscrutable. "I see. Well, perhaps I shall hear this stirring tale of heroism in the
morning. For now I need to talk to you in private, Rowena.
'
Tis most urgent.
"

Douglas folded his arms over his chest. He stared down at Matthew with a warning in his black eyes. "There are no secrets between us.
"

"
Not that you know of,
"
Matthew replied, giving Douglas a patronizing pat on the hand. "Do you have a private room that we may use, Rowena?
"

"
We can use Hildegarde's chamber," she said. "No spy or evil spirit could find entry there.
"

Matthew lowered his voice. "I have brought the ring."

Her eyes darkened in understanding.
"
Oh, Matthew, that means—"

The rest of her enigmatic reaction was lost to Douglas as she drew Matthew down the passageway, then up the winding stairs to Hildegarde
'
s room. Douglas shadowed them like an intruder in his own castle, unsuccessfully trying to eavesdrop on their cryptic whisperings. He envied them their closeness, the bonds they shared.

"
…
smuggled to me in Sweden."

"
…
Erich escaped and is ready.
"

They reached the top of the stairs, glancing back at Douglas as if they had forgotten his presence.

"Make sure we aren
'
t disturbed, brother,
"
Matthew had the gall to shout over his shoulder.

"Make sure our friends don't hurt themselves in the hall,
"
Rowena added as she bolted the door.

Douglas stared at that closed door, the demons of his piratical past rising in revolt. He swallowed over the lump in his throat. He felt alone, excluded, inadequate
…
afraid. He was the interloper.

He would not make a fool of himself.

He would not sprout horns of jealousy and use them to break his way inside.