Chapter Fourteen #2
“No, no hurry,” he agreed. “And I will have to tell my parents before you put the notice in. That was how they found out about Rory’s marriage, after the event. and they were no’ happy.”
The thought of explaining his current situation to his parents made Donal feel sick. Would they accept a hasty betrothal, and would they forgive him? Although his brothers had made hasty marriages and been forgiven, so why not?
Surreptitiously he watched Agatha, her round cheeks flushed and her lips a little pinker from their kisses.
They were compatible in most ways, on and off the dance floor, and after today, he knew they would be well suited in the bedchamber.
Although Donal had never put his skills as a lover to the test, he thought Agatha would enjoy being practiced upon.
Yes, she was a good choice as his wife, and she was Scottish. What was there for his parents not to like?
At some point, they all sat down to supper, and Lord Kilsyth ordered champagne, and they drank toasts to the engagement until they were tiddly. Miriam took Agatha up to bed when she began to fall asleep, and Kilsyth walked Donal to the door.
“I saw you kissing my daughter earlier,” he said with mock disapproval.
“I apologize,” Donal said quickly, although he wasn’t sorry for the kiss. He always enjoyed kissing Agatha.
“No need.” Kilsyth assured him. “You are engaged now. I know my daughter, and I think you will make her very happy, Donal. Do you plan to live at Bonnyrigg? I think that is a better idea than my home in Setholm. I’m sure you would find it cramped and uncomfortable.”
“We have not discussed it,” Donal said, surprised by his unflattering description of his home. “But I think she will like Bonnyrigg.”
Kilsyth had ordered his coach to drive Donal home, saying he was too under the weather to drive himself in the carriage, and he couldn’t have anything happening to his daughter’s future husband.
Donal was beginning to think Lord Kilsyth was far too pleased with the engagement.
He no longer seemed very upset about the possible scandal that had forced this decision upon them.
It was almost as if Agatha becoming engaged to Donal had been his aim all along.
On the way back to Mayfair, Donal thought about what could go wrong. For instance, what if Mary wanted him back after all? Most likely she wouldn’t, but if she did, he would have to find a way to reject her. It was now his duty to marry Agatha, he told himself sternly, whatever Agatha might think.
But was it all about duty? He felt strangely happy being engaged to Agatha, knowing he would eventually marry her and live out his life with her. He was happier than he had been in a long time. And that seemed to suggest that Mary had never been the right fit for him.
When he reached the house, Aunt Jennie wasn’t waiting up, thank goodness, but when he began the long climb up the stairs to bed, she called out to him.
He sighed, and then squared his shoulders and set off in the direction of her bedchamber.
He found her propped up in bed with Bothwell on her lap and a book in her hands.
“You are very late,” she said. “I had begun to wonder if this picnic was held in another country.”
He stumbled and then leaned against the door jamb and her eyes widened.
“Good heavens, Donal, are you foxed?”
Bothwell lifted his head and fixed him with those disdainful yellow eyes. Donal stared back, but the cat had his measure and refused to be put out of countenance.
“Donal!”
“Sorry, eh, we were drinking champagne.”
“At the picnic? In the dark?”
“No, at Lord Kilsyth’s house. Agatha and I are engaged. We were celebrating.”
Slowly, Jennie marked her place in her book and set it down.
“I thought you and Agatha were pretending to be fond of each other to make Richard and Mary jealous? How is it you are now engaged?” Her voice was slightly higher than usual.
Donal hoped she wasn’t going to start a scene or ask questions he couldn’t answer.
“It isna meant to be a real engagement. I mean Lord Kilsyth thinks it is, but Agatha said it isn’t.
She wants to bring Mary to her senses. I’m no’ sure Mary cares who I marry, not when she wants to wed Belvoir.
I want to marry Agatha, Auntie, even if she doesna think our betrothal is real.
I’m just going to bide my time, and I’m a patient sort of man. ”
“I think you need to start at the beginning,” his aunt said grimly.
He knew he was babbling as he went on to try to explain about the rainstorm and the house where they had taken shelter, and how the rain wouldn’t stop, and it wasn’t until much later that they learned their disappearance had caused a tempest of gossip equal to the tempest they had been caught in.
Jennie was watching him as if he had turned into a toad. “And what of Richard?” she asked. “Didn’t Agatha want to marry him?”
“Richard was there when we got back. He said Agatha was compromised and he would marry her. I couldna have that, Aunt Jennie. She doesna love him, and he certainly doesna love her. So I asked Agatha to marry me instead, and she said yes.”
Jennie seemed perplexed. “But don’t you love someone else?”
“I’m beginning to wonder about that, too,” he said.
“Let me see if I have it right. You and Agatha are pretending to be engaged to make Mary see sense, even though you no longer want Mary to see sense. And you have been drinking champagne to celebrate your pretend engagement.”
“That was Lord Kilsyth’s idea. He seemed inordin . . . ordinat . . . he seemed very pleased.”
“Of course he is,” Jennie said darkly. “He has exchanged a mere sir for a duke’s son.”
Donal was surprised. “I thought he was your friend.”
Jennie waved a hand. “He is, but recently I have heard things about him that made me wonder. If I had known you were about to become engaged to his daughter, I might have said something.” She closed her eyes.
“You had better go to bed, Donal. You are a dear lad but rather innocent when it comes to the ways of the world. We will discuss this again tomorrow when I feel stronger. Perhaps you do not need to be engaged to Miss Kilsyth after all.”
Donal wanted to protest her judgment of him.
Besides, he liked being engaged to Agatha.
He wanted to marry her. When they had sat together, making silly toasts and laughing, with her eyes alight and her warm smiles, he had thought she was one of the prettiest, nicest girls he had ever met.
But he didn’t think he would be able to say that to his aunt in his current state without it sounding like nonsense, so he said nothing and stumbled away to his bed.