To Tame a Highland Earl (31 page)

“
Do you think you can
thwart me, lad?”

Erroll poured tea for himself. “You have a
choice, sir. Accept my decision, or I will be off with Miss Eve
Crenshaw as quickly as it takes to saddle a horse.”

“
I wager she will not
go.”

“
If my charm is not
sufficient enough to persuade her, I’ll throw her across my
lap.”

“
Isn’t that what Halifax
did to her?” the marquess asked.

“
I never said I was any
better than him.”

“
If what you say about the
lady is true, then she deserves better.”

Erroll spooned sugar into his tea. “She
deserves better than me, but what is done is done.”

“
I will speak with her,”
the marquess said.

“
You will not
.”
Erroll set the spoon down with a clank. “I warn you, sir, interfere
in any way and I will take Miss Crenshaw and elope. You wanted me
to marry, I have made my choice.”

His father regarded him. “What has your
mother to say on the subject?”

“
I suggest you ask her.
Now, is there anything else you needed?”

A rare hint of rare amusement appeared in his
father’s eyes. “There is.”

Erroll canted his head. “I am at your
service.”

“
What do you think of Ash
managing your affairs here in Scotland?”

“
I think you will have a
devil of a time getting him to agree. He is quite attached to his
own land.”

“
It won’t be as difficult
as you might think.”

Erroll paused in lifting his teacup to his
lips. “I take it you aren’t asking my permission, but are informing
me that you have already put him in charge.”

“
Since you are here, I
thought it best you should know.”

Erroll shouldn’t have been surprised—or hurt.
He had, after all, steadfastly ignored Scotland in all its facets.
He took a sip of tea, then grimaced. Cold. “What of Angus?” He set
the cup down.

“
Angus will deal with
Ravenhall only. The estate requires full time maintenance. He was
spread too thin.”

The gaping hole Val left when he died was
even bigger than Erroll had imagined. But, then, he hadn’t allowed
himself to imagine anything beyond what he’d tried not to feel.

“
Ash will deal with the
day-to-day workings,” his father went on. “When the time comes, you
will see to the ledgers.”

“
He will have complete
autonomy?”

“
He is capable,” his father
replied.

“
That he is. There is not
much else to say, then.”

“
Not necessarily. If your
venture goes well in Norfolk, I would like to try it here on
Mull.”

Erroll leaned an elbow on the table. “I am
not certain there is a great need. Here there is plenty of land to
plant.”

“
But many men have left for
Australia and the Colonies. Others were taken against their
will.”

Erroll nodded. “Better opportunities.”

“
Exactly. We must give our
men a reason to stay. Perhaps this new trade will be an
incentive.”

“
Perhaps. Bring Ash when
you come to Norfolk for the harvest. The two of you can learn as
much about this new brand of farming as I.”

His father hesitated, then nodded. “If you
think that is best.”

“
You and Ash can easily run
things here. I would only be in the way.”

*****

The maid set a plate of poached chicken on
the dining room table in front of Eve, shuffled left, put a plate
in front of Lord Somerset, then set a third in front of his father
at the head of the table. Eve lifted her fork and rooted the food
around on her plate.

“
Are you all right, my
dear?”

Eve smiled at Lady Rushton, who sat at the
other end of the table with Lord Somerset to her left. “I am fine,
thank you.” But she feared she wouldn’t be after tomorrow. Lady
Rushton had informed them they would be attending church in the
morning. Grace was as excited as a girl in her first season, for,
like Eve, she knew the marchioness hadn’t invited them simply to
sing praises to God. There was only one reason for a church
invitation: a marriage announcement was to be heard.

“
Eve doesn’t travel well,”
Grace said.

Eve looked at Grace, sitting across the
table, and frowned before realizing that Grace was offering sound
reason for her sour mood.

“
Forgive me,” Lady Rushton
said. “I should have realized you would be tired and had a tray
sent to your room.”

“
Not at all, ma’am,” Eve
replied. “It’s a pleasure having supper with you.”

“
We are so glad you did,”
said Camilla, who sat between Grace and Lord Rushton.

“
We don’t usually have
supper in the dining room,” the marchioness said. “But four guests
almost constitutes a party.”

The earl grinned. “Mother does love her
parties.”

“
No teasing from you,
Rush,” she said, then addressed Eve, “Perhaps you should retire
after supper. You did have a very trying trip. Rush tells us you
encountered a press gang here on Mull.”

“
I don’t think they were
any real threat to us, ma’am.” Eve recalled Lord Rushton’s brother
forcing his way into their room. Dear God, please say the earl did
not tell his mother that tale. “Poor Oscar received the only hurt
and, thankfully, that was not serious,” she said.

“
The brigands couldn’t have
appreciated Rush freeing the young men they had kidnapped,” Lady
Rushton said.

Eve looked sharply at the earl. “You stopped
the pirates from kidnapping men?”

“
My mother gives me too
much credit. I was one man among three who freed the
lads.”

“
Neither of you said
anything about this.” Eve stared across the table at Lord Somerset.
He, at least, should have related the story.

“
I stayed aboard,” he
replied. “Rushton led the rescue. He can recount the
tale.”

“
It is a tedious story, I
assure you,” the earl said.

“
How very brave of you,”
Grace said.

He laughed. “Not really. As I said, two of
Captain Mercantile’s men accompanied me. We and the young men
overpowered the four sailors who were guarding the boys.”

“
That is, indeed, brave,
and no small matter,” Grace insisted.

Eve hadn’t even been aware he’d gone ashore
until his brother broke into the room while they were bathing.
Other than the short conversation between the earl and his brother
while they were there, Eve knew nothing of what happened.

“
She is right.” An
unwelcome warmth spread through Eve.

Lord Rushton looked at her. “Do you think
so?”

She imagined him pointing a pistol at the
slavers to save the boys as he had Lord Halifax when he’d saved
her, and the warmth intensified. “I do.”

He shrugged. “I had little choice in the
matter. My companions took the matter very personally.”

“
What?” Eve frowned. “How
could they take it any more personally than you?”

“
Press gangs prey on the
lower classes.”

“
But there is nothing to
force the upper class to stop them as you did,” she
said.

“
You couldn’t be more
wrong. It was far less trouble to free the boys than face their
parents with the news their sons had been kidnapped into
slavery.”

The answer was ridiculous, and he was clearly
going out of his way to be irritating.

“
You are purposely
provoking her,” Juliet said, and Eve wanted to kiss her.

She had already decided she liked both girls.
The youngest was still a child, but sweet, if not a little spoiled.
Juliet was a young woman with a mind to match her brother’s. Eve
startled at the thought. When had she decided Lord Rushton had a
mind that considered anything beyond the next feminine conquest?
Perhaps last night, when she realized that Lord Somerset was in
love with Grace. It was the epiphany that brought her to the
realization that she had become another of Lord Rushton’s conquests
by foolishly falling in love with him.

“
She’s right, Rush,” the
marchioness said. “Behave.”

A corner of the earl’s mouth twitched and the
mischief that appeared in his eyes made Eve feel she was seeing the
thirteen-year-old earl instead of the grown man. He looked at her
and his eyes darkened, and Eve knew she was once again looking at
the man. She returned her attention to her plate. The marchioness
was right. She should retire to her room once supper ended.

The door opened and a maid appeared. “Forgive
me, laird,” she addressed the marquess, “there is a man here to see
you.”

“
At this hour? Who is it?”
he demanded.

“
Lord Tolland.”

Eve gasped in unison with Grace’s,
“Papa?”

“
It seems our guest list is
complete.” Lord Rushton started to rise.

“
Sit down,” his father
ordered.

“
Sir, I owe it to the baron
to explain,” Lord Rushton said.

“
This is a matter for him
and me to discuss,” his father replied. “You have no more
say.”

Eve’s heart pounded. How much say did she
have?

“
Forgive me, my lord,”
Grace said. “Surely we should speak to our father. He must be
frantic with worry.”

The marquess grunted as he rose. “No doubt.
But I will speak with him first. I’ll call for you when we are
finished.”

“
Sir,” Grace began again,
but she was cut off by the marchioness.

“
Ladies, we must leave the
gentlemen to their business.”

“
You will remember what I
said earlier,” the earl said.

The marquess didn’t reply, but Eve’s heart
pounded harder. What had he said earlier?

Despite Camilla’s pleas to be allowed to
adjourn to the drawing room with the adults, the girls were sent to
their bedchambers. Grace had asked the two men to play cards. Lord
Rushton declined, settling instead on the couch in front of the
large hearth centered in the east wall, a book in hand. Lord
Somerset agreed to a game of piquet and the two sat in the far
corner of the mammoth room where burned a fire in a small hearth
near one of three card tables.

Eve prowled the room, taking in the
magnificent tapestries that hung on the walls. She was no expert,
but it was clear the battle scenes depicted on the faded fabric
were at least a hundred years old. Whether the tapestry had been
woven when the battles took place, or later in an attempt to
capture days long past, there was no doubt they were quite old.

She turned from the last tapestry to see Lord
Rushton stretched out on the couch, ankle over ankle. His eyes were
closed in slumber and the open book on his chest lifted with each
breath he took. He had exchanged the buckskin breeches for dark
trousers, which hid the muscled thighs little better than had the
breeches. His softened features were just as compelling as the hard
lines that were present even when he smiled.

His eyes opened and Eve was startled into
immobility. His eyes focused, then darkened and heat spread through
her stomach. She tore free of the trance and whirled. She feared
she would stumble and make a fool of herself, for she knew his gaze
followed her. But she managed a casual stroll until she left his
line of sight, then continued to the settee near the French doors
leading to the balcony.

Eve sat down before realizing she should have
taken one of the books from the shelves. But they were near Lord
Rushton and she wasn’t going anywhere near him tonight—or ever
again—if she could avoid it. A few minutes later, the marchioness
rose from her chair near the shelves and came to sit down on the
settee near Eve.

“
How are you feeling, my
dear?”

“
I am fine,
ma’am.”

“
You look tired,” she said
with genuine concern in her voice.

“
It has been a tiring
week,” Eve admitted.

“
Is this your first trip to
Scotland?”

Eve thought of her elopement with Blane, but
said, “Yes, it is.”

“
Then you have not yet seen
Edinburgh.”

“
I hear it is
beautiful.”

“
It is,” the marchioness
replied. “But no more beautiful than Mull. However, the shopping is
far better in Edinburgh. It might surprise you to learn that
fashion flies as high in Edinburgh as it does in
London.”

“
I am sure it does.” There
was a faint noise beyond the front door and Eve jerked her head in
that direction.

When no one entered, Lady Rushton said,
“There is no use fretting. They’ll return when they have concluded
their business.”

“
It has been nearly an
hour. What could possibly be taking so long?

“
A marriage settlement is a
serious negotiation,” the marchioness said.

“
Surely they must consult
the parties involved?” Eve blurted.

The marchioness laughed. “Unlike our Scottish
counterparts, we Englishwomen have no sway in such matters.”

“
It is easy to be blasé
about being married off to a stranger when it is not happening to
you.”

“
True,” she said with
another laugh. “But it did happen to me. I didn’t meet Justin until
a week before the wedding and by then the terms of the contract had
been negotiated down to the pound and had been signed by all
parties.”