Pleasured (2 page)

1

August 1807

T
he wheel of the carriage
hit yet another rut in the road, jerking the Earl of Mardoun awake. He glanced across at the opposite seat, where his daughter sat with her governess. Miss Pettigrew was awake, and she cast her eyes down quickly, doing her best, as always, to blend into the upholstery. Lynette, however, had obviously been dozing, for she straightened up, running her hands over her face and yawning. Reaching out, she pushed aside the curtains.

“Look! It’s beautiful!” Lynette cried, sticking her head out the window. “Papa! It’s like a carpet of flowers.”

“Miss Lynnette, be careful,” the governess fussed. “You might catch a chill.” She hastened to spread a carriage rug over the girl’s lap.

“’Tis nearly August,” Damon commented drily. “I think Lynette is unlikely to catch cold.” The woman’s constant caution and fussing wore on his nerves. He was beginning to wish he had sent her ahead to Duncally with the servants.

He glanced at his daughter and saw that her dark eyes, so like his own, were lit with laughter. “It’s good to see you smile.”

“Yes, poor dear,” Miss Pettigrew agreed, tucking in the robe more securely. “It has been hard, losing her mother. Such a saint as Lady Mardoun was. And, of course, Miss Lynette is a very sensitive child.”

“Mm.” Damon had no idea how to respond to that statement, given that he had felt more relief than sorrow upon hearing of his wife’s demise. But then, he was neither sensitive nor saintly. He cast a glance at his daughter and saw that the smile had vanished from her face. Blast the woman—Lynette’s governess seemed to have a perfect knack for casting gloom on every situation.

He pushed aside the window curtain on his side of the carriage. “Your ‘carpet of flowers’ is heather. It was not out when I was here before, though one and all, they assured us it was too bad we missed it. It seems they were right, doesn’t it?”

“Oh, yes! I am so glad we came to Scotland. Are we getting close? I see some buildings ahead. Is that part of Duncally?”

Damon craned his neck in the direction Lynette was looking and chuckled. “No, that’s not Duncally, not even the gatehouse. You’ll know Duncally when you see it.”

“But how? I’ve never been there before.” Lynette spoke
with a shyness that never failed to send a pang of regret and guilt through him.

He smiled at her. “You will see.”

“Is it like Edinburgh Castle?”

“No, it’s not grim. It looks—oh, like a castle on the Rhine, I suppose. Or a drawing in a book. My grandfather apparently had a sense of the dramatic. Those buildings you see ahead are, I suspect, the village nearest the castle. Kincannon, Kenkilling, something like that.”

“Kinclannoch,” Lynette corrected him, then looked a trifle abashed. “I looked it up when I learned we were coming here.”

“Yes, you are right. Kinclannoch. Not a very prepossessing village.”

“No. But look at the thatched roofs. They’re quaint, aren’t they?”

“Yes. I can see you are prepared to like the place.”

“Yes, I am.” His daughter blushed faintly. “Are we Scots, then?”

“I suppose. Partly. My grandmother, your great-grandmother, was Scottish, the last of her line. The Countess of Mardoun in her own right, so when she married, the title came to her husband, Lord Rutherford, and then to their son. But Grandfather was English, of course, and my mother, as well.”

“And mine.” Lynette sighed. “So I am only . . . an eighth Scottish?”

He nodded. “You sound disappointed.”

“A little.” Color tinged her cheeks. “It seems very romantic. Tragic Queen Mary, fleeing with Bothwell and riding through the night. Bonnie Prince Charlie.”

“Also fleeing. Not exactly comfortable fates.”

“No. I suppose not.”

“But decidedly exciting.”

Damon was rewarded by the way her delicate face lit up again. “But, look, we are stopping. Is this an inn? Will we not reach Duncally today?”

“No, it’s not far. I suspect the coachman’s gone to ask directions. The roads are rather ill marked.” He leaned across to look out the curtains on the opposite side of the carriage. His hand stilled on the drapery.

A woman stood across the narrow street, chatting with a young gentleman. She was attired in a simple blue cotton dress, a little too low-waisted to be fashionable, and not even a ruffle around the skirt for adornment—but then, that sweetly curved body needed no adornment. Her arms below the short cap sleeves were bare—white and soft and shapely—and she wore no gloves. Her head, too, was bare and, in the glint of the afternoon sun, was a riot of thick, red curls. Her face was heart-shaped, with rounded cheeks and a firm little chin.

She turned and looked toward the carriage and her eyes met Damon’s. For an instant it seemed as if his heart stopped. Her eyes were glorious—large and wide set and rimmed with thick, dark lashes, and their color was stunning, a brown so light, so clear, they appeared golden.

“Oh, Papa, look at that lady,” his daughter said in a hushed tone. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

“Yes,” he agreed, his voice a trifle husky. “Yes, she is.”

Meg Munro turned toward the noise of horses’ hooves, and her eyebrows rose at the sight of the elegant black vehicle and matched team of four coal-black horses. “Look at that.”

Beside her, Gregory Rose looked in the same direction. “Well, well.”

“The Earl of Mardoun, do you think?”

“I’d guess. All of Kinclannoch has been buzzing ever since his staff arrived last week. Still, I never thought he would actually come. Ah, look, the lord is surveying the peasants.”

A man’s face appeared in the carriage window. Thick, black hair swept back from a square-jawed face, his skin as fair as his hair was dark, his eyes under the prominent ridge of his brow echoing the jet black of his hair. Arrogance and boredom colored his expression in equal measure, but neither could detract from the handsomeness of his face.

He stared straight at Meg. She was accustomed to men’s stares. What was unfamiliar to her was the visceral pull she felt in return. She was suddenly, acutely aware of the sun’s warmth on her arms, the touch of the air on her face, as if her senses had awakened from a deep slumber. Even the scents carried on the breeze were suddenly sharper, the sounds brighter. Yet at the same time the world around her seemed to retreat, her focus narrowing to the carriage window.

“Meg? Are you all right?” Gregory’s voice pulled her from her trance.

“What?” She pulled her gaze away and looked up at the man she had known since childhood. “I’m sorry . . . what did you say?”

“Nothing important. Just wondering how long the earl
would last this time.” Gregory gave her an odd look. “Is there something amiss? Do you feel ill?”

Meg forced out a credible laugh. “Do I look so bad as that?”

“You never look bad, as you are well aware,” he retorted. “You just seemed . . . very far away.” He glanced over at the carriage. The man in the carriage had pulled back and was now only an indistinct form in the shadows of the interior. “I thought—I wondered—do you
know
that chap?”

“The Earl of Mardoun?” Meg’s voice dripped with scorn. “Oh, aye, I know him. I’ve never seen the man before, but his deeds speak for him. Tossing all his people out of their homes without the slightest thought for how they will live or where they will go, all so that he can make a few more pounds profit raising sheep instead. He’s a coldhearted devil.” No matter that he was a handsome one as well.

“Perhaps he is unaware of his steward’s actions,” Gregory suggested mildly.

Meg sent her friend a speaking glance. “It is like you to hope for the best in people. But I have dealt with too many of his sort to hold a rosy view of him. He is the sort Andrew was wont to bring home with him from Oxford—English ‘gentlemen’—haughty and fine and unaccountably full of themselves, certain that everyone else was put on this earth to serve them. Remember, it was the earl who hired MacRae as his steward, and I doubt that worm of a man would do aught but his master’s bidding.”

“No doubt you’re right. I wonder Mardoun dares to come here. Surely he must know how everyone around the loch despises him.”

“I doubt he cares. Or perhaps he is like MacRae and
he enjoys watching firsthand the misery he inflicts on the crofters.”

“MacRae.” Gregory made a disgusted noise. “That man is a snake.”

“Aye.” Meg’s jaw hardened.

“Has MacRae been bothering you?” Gregory narrowed his eyes at her. “If he has, I’ll have a word with the man.”

“Don’t you begin, as well.” Meg rolled her eyes. “I can handle MacRae; he is a pest, nothing more.”

“Very well. I shall not plague you . . . as long as you promise to tell me if the man needs a more physical reminder.”

“Yes, yes.” Meg heaved a martyr’s sigh. “I promise I will tell you if MacRae grows too difficult. At least I can count on you not to send the man to his grave, which is not something I can trust with my brother.”

“’Twould be no loss if he died.”

“It’s not MacRae I worry about. I don’t want to see Coll in gaol.” Behind them came a shout and a slap of the reins, and they turned to see the earl’s carriage rumble off.

“Well sprung, isn’t it?” Gregory said in an admiring voice. “Though I’d prefer something a little more flash myself.”

Meg chuckled. “The Highlands roads will put those axles to the test well enough.” She made a face and waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “Enough about the Earl of Mardoun. How do you fare?” She tucked a hand into Gregory’s arm as they strolled down the street. “How is your father? I heard you visited him last week.”

“Aye.” Gregory sighed, his face falling into unaccustomedly sober lines. “He seems better. The couple who look
after him are good to him, but they understand they must not let him out of their sight. Orkney is not far enough away, I know, but it seemed unwise to move him to a city. Jack has been very agreeable about the matter, more so than my father deserves.”

“Jack is not like most gentlemen. And your father is family to him now, after all.”

“True.” Gregory grinned. “I suspect the man would do most anything Isobel asked.”

“And vice versa.” Meg laughed. “They are almost enough to make one decide to marry.”

“No!” He put on a shocked expression. “Surely not you.”

“Nay, not I. Nor you, I’ll warrant. How are the happy couple? Have you heard from them?”

“Aunt Elizabeth received a letter from Isobel, and it seems they are enjoying London very much. Still, I think they miss the Highlands. I would not be surprised if they return soon.”

When they reached the edge of the village, Meg parted from her friend, following the road the carriage had taken until, after a few minutes, she came to an intersecting path. She paused for a moment, as she always did, to take in the landscape before her.

To her left along the path lay the woods and her home and the loch, though from this vantage point she could not see the water itself. At the farthest end of the loch, dominating the countryside around it, was Duncally, the seat of the earls of Mardoun. It rose in manicured layers of gardens and terraces up the hillside, crowned at the top by the magnificence of the castle itself. No medieval fortress, the Earl of Mardoun’s home was more akin to a palace, all narrow
towers and turrets and spires and terraces, sparkling white in the sun.

But Meg’s eyes were not drawn to this opulent sight. What always brought her to an admiring halt was the green clearing before her and the towering stones that stood in the center of it. Each weathered white rock was twice Meg’s height or more, and together they formed a massive oval with a gap here and a tumbled-down stone there that had once made the figure complete. In the distance was the grassy hump of a barrow, and on either side of the stone circle, but clearly apart from it, were two other standing stones, one smaller than the others and with a curious hole through the center.

Meg drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes, the familiar sense of peace settling over her. Sometimes here among the “old ones” she could almost believe the tales her mother and Elizabeth Rose told, legends of the fey folk and mystical beings. She could almost believe the whispers about the Munro women and their uncanny knowledge of the forest and caves, their special skills with herbs and potions. Isobel Rose had once said that Meg was “one with the land,” and standing here, Meg knew she was.

Until she opened her eyes and let out a sigh, and once more this was merely a lovely, peaceful spot, a bit of land special to the people of Kinclannoch, however little they knew now of what it had once been. And she was simply a woman who had grown up roaming the area and learning all its secrets, the descendant of a long line of women who were herbalists and healers.

She made her way around the stones to take the path home, and as she turned, she cast a glance up toward the
castle that dominated the horizon. She wondered if the carriage had made it to Duncally yet; it was a long way round the loch to the mansion at the far end. Why had the earl decided to grace the glen with his presence? She wondered if Lady Mardoun had been in the carriage beside him. He looked the sort of man whom a wife would be foolish to let out of her sight.