Tangled Up in Tartan (Seduced in Scotland #4)

Chapter One

Jane Atherton stared out the train’s rain-stained window, the billowy black smoke curling up into the dark gray sky above as the train tracks curved to the left.

Thousands of pounds of iron and wood tore through the drab countryside and though they were nearing the end of their cramped, two-day train voyage from London to Glasgow, Jane was not eager to continue her journey.

Cora, her sister, reached over and gripped her hand, having noticed Jane silently picking at her gloves.

“Don’t fidget with your gloves.”

“I can’t help it,” Jane said, though she forced herself to stop. “I’m nervous.”

“It will be all right. I know it will.” She exhaled. “You simply have to have faith during times like these.”

Jane let out a dull chuckle.

“I wish I could, Cora. But unfortunately, I know what awaits us at the next station. A couple of bitter cousins who will not appreciate having to take us in now that Mama has passed away.” She gently pulled her hand back.

“I won’t be so foolish as to believe that somehow, all of this will work out. ”

“You should have more faith, Jane.”

“Cora—”

“I’m serious. I know you don’t like getting your hopes up, but I wish you would allow yourself to imagine that something good and exciting might be waiting for us at the end of this trip. There’s a whole new world of possibilities ahead of us, and I for one—”

“Cora, I appreciate your, er, unwavering optimism,” Jane said, leaning toward her sister as her voice dropped.

“But we are currently on our way to the literal edge of society. There are no prospects, possibilities, or promises in Glencoe. We’ve been packed up and shipped north now that Jeremy doesn’t have Mama strongarming him anymore, and I don’t think looking ‘on the bright side’ is going to do us very much good.

” She rolled her shoulders back, grateful that her white-blonde hair was tucked away beneath her chocolate crepe bonnet.

Jane and Cora’s older half-brother, Jeremy, had allowed them to remain at Atherton House to mourn during the last six months. Yet the moment she and Cora went into half mourning, Jeremy produced two one-way tickets north, just like he used to promise when Jane and Cora were young.

It was no secret that Jeremy Atherton loathed his younger half-sisters.

It had stemmed from the dislike for his stepmother, and the brunt of that contempt had been inherited by Jane and Cora.

Jeremy had never forgiven his father for remarrying after his mother died and he held a grudge long after his father, Lord Atherton had passed away.

Jane could still remember what her mother said to her before her father’s death.

“Your father is not a strong man, Jane. He will not live to see your coming out at court. You must do what’s necessary,” her mother had said years ago. “You must make a match sooner than your counterparts.”

Jane had only been fifteen at the time, but her mother had been serious. She was not a woman to laugh easily, and she rarely joked or jested. For years, her mother tried to marry Jane off to a number of gentlemen, but every time she came close, something happened to deter the match.

“I wish Papa were alive,” Jane said absently to Cora as she stared back out the train’s window. A tiny village some distance away appeared from around the bend of a hill. “I wish…”

It really didn’t matter what she wished, though, did it?

Her father had died five years ago, and he hadn’t taken his wife’s warnings to heart.

He had believed Jeremy would fulfill his responsibility of looking after his sisters, but Jeremy had always been bitter toward Jane and Cora’s mother.

He reacted to her death the same way as if he was being informed of an incoming storm.

Inconvenienced by the moment, but aware that there was nothing to be done about it.

Which was fine, Jane supposed, as she continued to twist the seam of her gloved thumb.

“Stop that,” Cora murmured. “You’ll ruin them.”

Jane laid her gloved hands flat out on her knees. Though she knew her sister was right, Jane couldn’t help but fidget. They had been stuck on this train for two days now and she was anxious.

“I’ve become restless, I suppose. Perhaps I should have a walk.”

“A walk?” Cora repeated, looking around. “Where? There’s barely enough room in here to walk in a circle.”

That was true. Though Jeremy had paid for their train trip north, the first-class boxes were somewhat cramped. So, while Jane and Cora were afforded some privacy since they didn’t need to share their compartment with anyone else, it was still a tight space.

“Then I’ll walk up and down the corridor.”

“Please don’t, Jane. I don’t want to be left alone.”

“I’ll only be right out the door, Cora. It’s not as if I can leave the train, can I?”

Cora’s shoulders slumped.

“No.”

“And it might lessen my inability to stop ruining my gloves,” Jane replied with a small smile, holding up her one hand. Though she and Cora were only a year apart in age, Jane still had the unrelenting urge as an older sibling to put on a happy face and pretend that all was well.

Even if everything was going to hell.

“I guess. But don’t go far,” Cora said, before returning her attention to her book.

“I won’t,” she said with a smile.

Jane opened the door and stepped out into the empty train coach corridor. But upon closing the door to their compartment behind her, her shoulders slumped and her smile slipped away.

The truth of the matter was that despite being promised all the “comforts of home” by their brother about their trip north, Jane had overheard Jeremy speaking to his friends one evening a month ago.

He had expressed his true feelings toward his sisters, calling them “spoiled mistakes” and the “follies of his father.” As far as Jeremy was concerned, Jane and Cora were inconsequential.

Two insignificant expenses that he didn’t see as Athertons.

Which is why they had been packed up and shipped off to their mother’s family home in Scotland.

Which in and of itself was a curiosity. Never, in her soon-to-be twenty-one years of life, had Jane ever heard about any family living in Scotland.

It didn’t make any sense and yet, Jeremy had shown her a letter from Miss Arabella Harris, who had adamantly invited Jane and Cora to stay with her for an undisclosed amount of time.

Jane leaned her head and back against the compartment door and closed her eyes.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to visualize what life might be like for them in Scotland, but having never been so far north, she couldn’t even imagine that.

All she knew was that they were going to a place called Harris House and that it was in the country.

At least Cora would flourish in a quiet, country house, Jane thought.

Her sister was not the sort of woman who wished to be the center of attention.

Cora had never wanted to attend balls or musicals, but she had endured them for her mother’s sake.

Moving to Scotland would give her some peace from all that.

Jane, on the other hand, had enjoyed her life in town.

They hadn’t been the poshest of families, due to her mother’s wish to remain on the skirts of society for some inane reasoning, but that had only made them a little mysterious in the eyes of the ton.

Jane had never understood her mother’s reasoning to remain on the fringe of the peerage, but her mother had insisted that it was better to keep the people wanting more.

Remarkably, it worked. They had never suffered a lack of invitations, and when Jane finally had her coming out, she had been bombarded with cards and letters the following day from prospective gentlemen.

Yet despite her mother’s warning that Jane should marry as soon as possible, her mother evaluated and dismissed every single one of Jane’s suitors each and every time.

It hadn’t made any sense. Why had her mother been so adamant about marrying and then never let her marry? If she had supported any of the handful of offers Jane had received, then she and Cora wouldn’t be on a train barreling toward the highlands right now.

Confused and a little upset, Jane exhaled as she opened her eyes and she was instantly aware that she was not alone. Turning to her right, she saw a man at the end of the hallway, leaning against the back door at the end of the carriage, staring at her.

Immediately, her shoulders drew back as she inspected the man. He was impeccably dressed, with a handsome, if not squarish face, a dark mustache, and black hair that appeared beneath his angled top hat. He was smoking a pipe leisurely, his gaze fixed on her.

He was not smiling. Nor did it appear as if he wanted to be acknowledged.

Jane swallowed. All men, according to her mother, were dumb and dangerous, but not equally so. Some were more dangerous than they were dumb, or vice versa. Either way, they were not to be trusted, and as Jane had seen it play out with her own brother, she took her mother’s words to heart.

For a fleeting moment, she thought about hurrying right back into the compartment.

Of course, she would give the impression of being a child and not a full-grown woman.

She wouldn’t do that. Despite not trusting men, she wouldn’t advertise it.

Another shining example of her mother’s logic.

Dangerous and dumb they might be, but they also controlled the world and were needed, if not required.

The gentleman watched her as she walked the length of the carriage several times. Back and forth at a slow pace. When she reached the end of the carriage, she spun around and continued to do so for at least five laps.