Chapter Seven #2
“Aye to that. It would have pained me mightily had she spent hours in torment wondering what had happened to ye.” He raised his cup of coffee.
“But here’s a toast to Gwenys and sleeping soundly.
The words I exchanged with her father moments ago might have overset her.
Dinna worry, I was as polite as possible when conveying to him that anyone who insulted Gwenys would answer to me. ”
“Bravo, Solway,” she said with another sincere smile that warmed him to his bones. “Thank you for this. Truly, I am so grateful for your kindness toward my niece.”
He ordered tea for Miranda and found it pleasant to have her beside him as he drank his coffee and she performed intricate surgery on her tea, adding sugar, milk, lemon, and honey in strictly measured proportions, and then stirring them into her cup with serious concentration.
But the satisfied smile on her face when she finally sampled her concoction and found it to her liking was quite fascinating to him.
She took genuine pleasure in the smallest things. Sipping a cup of tea. Warming her hands on the teapot.
He thought she might also be taking pleasure in sitting beside him. He surely was feeling the perfection of spending time with her.
Despite her elegance and excellent sense of fashion, she was not at all pretentious.
In fact, she was neither ostentatious nor demanding.
He had met her with her temper ablaze, but this was not who she truly was.
He would better describe Miranda as thoughtful, a little too vulnerable, and modest at heart.
Even her jewelry was modest, but it could be that he had not seen her wearing ornate jewels because they were traveling. Yet he did not think so. He liked her simple hoop earrings and the small cameo brooch she had pinned at the base of the fichu.
Of course, this immediately drew his eyes to her bosom again.
He turned away and cleared his throat. “The weather looks bad. I hope ye plan to stay indoors and rest, which is the entire purpose of our remaining in York another day.”
“Oh? I thought you said that you had business to attend to while we were here.”
Ah, yes.
He’d sort of made that up.
Well, he did have matters of finance to address with his York bankers, but that could have been attended to with a letter delivered by messenger this morning. He did not need to go to the bank in person.
But he would. He wanted Miranda to believe he was a man of his word.
Which he was. Everyone he’d ever dealt with knew he was honest.
But the only one who mattered right now was Miranda.
She felt so right seated beside him.
Lowery and Montrose left the dining room once the Lawson ladies came downstairs. Lady Lawson, who was quite full of herself and quick to put on airs, could be heard complaining about their rooms.
Miranda turned to him and gave another soft laugh. “They had reserved our guest rooms, hadn’t they? And the innkeeper kicked them upstairs because of us, didn’t he?”
Bram grinned. “Aye. Ye missed that row and I didna intend to tell ye about it.”
“Lady Lowery is still putting up a fuss, it seems. I should not be gloating, but it feels so good to give back a little of what they have been dishing out to me and Gwenys over the years. But I’ll add that to my list of things to atone for once I am back in London.”
Her eyes took on a dreamy sparkle as she continued.
“I long to be back home. I have the loveliest house on Duchess Square in Mayfair. I purchased it for myself after my husband died. Do you ever have the feeling that something is right? You don’t know why, but it strikes you in an instant and envelops your heart.
You just know it has always been meant for you. ”
“Aye, Miranda.” Did he not have this exact feeling upon their first meeting, as disastrous as it had been? Even now, watching her fuss over her cup of tea brought him endless delight.
“It is a beautiful home, and I have made the loveliest friends on Duchess Square.”
He encouraged her to talk about her life in London because he wanted to learn all he could about her, and her hopes and dreams. What better way to learn more than to listen to what she had to say about her house and the friends she held so close to her heart?
In truth, he enjoyed the velvet softness of her voice. He also felt her sincerity and passion as she confided in him, encouraged by the fact she felt comfortable enough with him to reveal more about herself. Bram did not think she had ever confided as much to anyone, not even her dearest friends.
He listened attentively as she told him how she had gained in confidence when taking her independent first steps upon becoming a widow.
“My friend, Berry—she’s really Lady Berengaria Thane—came over to welcome me shortly after I had moved in.
We became fast friends. Then Gwendolyn Carstairs moved in, and we became good friends, too.
Of course, Lady Fiona Shoreham was also a neighbor, and we became even closer when her husband, the Earl of Shoreham, passed away. ”
Bram nodded. “Ye must have been a comfort to her, for ye understood her loss.”
“Well, Shoreham was a nice man…unlike my husband. But Fiona has moved away now that she married the Duke of Durham. But Gwendolyn, Berry, and I remained on Duchess Square and have made nice lives for ourselves. Berry recently married, but still participates in all of our activities. We do charity work, attend scientific lectures, hold our society meetings, attend ton functions. Gwenys fit right into our lives when she joined me. I’ve loved having her with me.
I know she’ll marry soon and make a life with her husband.
I’ll miss her so much, especially if she moves away. Far away, if she is to marry Douglas.”
“I meant what I told the Lawsons last night. Ye’ll always be welcome at Lanark Castle, Miranda.
Right now, Douglas and Mongo’s mother is my chatelaine, and she’s doing rather a poor job of it.
She keeps the house running well enough, but there’s little kindness in her and nothing ever gets done without a complaint. ”
“Oh dear.”
He sighed. “She isn’t cruel or evil, just incredibly irritating. She also plays favorites with her sons and our staff. It is a problem at times, especially in her dealings with her sons. Ye’d think Douglas would be her favorite, but she dotes instead on Mongo.”
“Because he is a needy child,” Miranda said. “And despite the fact he is no longer a boy, she likes that he is inept because she needs to be needed.”
“We all need someone who loves us,” Bram said, “but our loved ones should support us, no’ hold us back.
She purposely indulges his childish ways and encourages his failures.
He’ll face my wrath over yer abduction, make no mistake.
His mother will weep and wail and beg me to be lenient.
Then she’ll be furious and unforgiving when I ignore her pleas.
But I must make him feel the consequences of his foolish and dangerous behavior.
How else will he ever learn to take responsibility like a man? ”
Miranda nodded. “He may never learn, and I am sad for him if this is so. To my own shame, I see a little of her in myself. I am trying so hard, Solway. I want to do what is right for Gwenys. But have I been thinking of myself all these years? Wanting Gwenys to need me. Holding her back when all along she has been this wonderful, capable sweetheart of a girl.”
“Och, Miranda, do no’ berate yerself for loving her and wanting to protect her.
Ye are no’ holding her back now. Everything ye do for her is because ye wish to see her happy.
Mongo’s mother is motivated by her own selfish desire, no’ her son’s happiness.
It is all the more important for me to see that he faces punishment. ”
“Even if he and his mother never forgive you?”
“Aye, even so. He hurt ye, Miranda. Look at the cautious way ye still move. I know yer ribs still hurt, and my heart aches every time I see ye wince. If I am compelled to be merciful, it will only be because ye ask it of me. But dinna ask me, for he’ll believe he can get away with his foolish behavior and unthinkingly hurt someone else. ”
Miranda gave a thoughtful nod, but said nothing more.
While they sat together in a quiet moment, Bram glanced into the entry hall and noticed yet another commotion courtesy of Lady Lawson. Honestly, how did her husband tolerate this woman?
Miranda followed his gaze.
“Oh, the last of the Lawsons’ trunks have been brought down,” she said, and pulled back her chair to rise. “Drat, Lady Lawson’s just noticed me. I ought to bid them farewell.”
He rose along with her. “I’ll go with ye.”
“You needn’t.”
“Aye, I do.” Servants were bustling back and forth just outside the dining room, and he did not want anyone accidentally jostling Miranda. More important, Lady Lowery would not dare insult Miranda if he were standing beside her.
She smiled up at him. “Oh, you have such a protective look about you. Are you worried what she’ll say to me?”
“I know ye can stand up for yerself. But ye are one against four, although Montrose is a good lad and no’ likely to participate in their pettiness. I’ll just be there to even the odds.”
“And make that horrid woman and her equally horrid daughter cower in fear of you? Brilliant idea,” she said with a trill of laughter. “You are a bad influence on me.”
“How? Because I want to protect ye?”
“I love the way you put them in their place yesterday. Is it sinful of me to cheer over the scare you gave them? I am reveling in it, in fact.”
He held out his arm and grinned. “Och, come along, ye wicked thing.”
She took his arm, but held him back a moment, and her smile turned soft and gentle. “In all seriousness, Solway…your standing beside me means so much to me. Thank you.”
Gad, she was going to rip his heart apart.