Chapter Eight
Duncan didn’t pause long enough to hand his overcoat to Mrs. Green as he made his way to the sitting room the next night. His last day as stable master at Haddington House had been as chaotic as he’d expected it to be.
If not for his concern for the stable hands, he’d have left the Haddington family high and dry the moment he’d learned of Mr. Haddington’s treatment of Sophia. Instead, he’d spent the two weeks since planning a thorough mutiny.
“Why, Duncan. This is a surprise.” Mother rose from her armchair. “We were not expecting you until tomorrow at the earliest.”
“Where is Sophia?” He’d hoped she would be here when he arrived, knowing as she did that he was returning to stay.
Mother laughed. “I would be offended if I weren’t happy to know that you’ve missed our dear houseguest.”
“Missed her? That feels like a terribly inadequate word.” The room was empty other than him and his mother. “Where is she?”
She hugged him fiercely. “She is a lovely and good and kind young lady.”
“I know all that, Mother. What I don’t know is where she is.” Had his mother taken leave of her senses?
She patted his cheek. “I’m only happy that you are happy. Sophia is in the back garden, waxing silently poetic over the view of Ben Lomond.”
That sounded like his Sophia. He’d seen her love for this land in her eyes long before they’d first spoken. “I’ll be back shortly.”
She simply smiled. “Take your time, son.”
Sophia was, indeed, precisely where Mother had said he’d find her. And her gaze was, as predicted, fondly focused on the mountain Duncan had spent his childhood memorizing.
“’Tis a lovely sight, is it not?”
Her head jerked in his direction. Immediately, a smile curved her lips. “Duncan, you’re here at last. How did your day go?”
Duncan dropped onto the bench beside her. “Haddington House is in turmoil.” He wasn’t hiding his glee at their former employers’ distress. “There has been a coup.”
Her mouth dropped open a moment. “Good heavens.”
He could hardly sit still, he was so excited to tell her all that had happened.
“Knowing Mr. Haddington for the snake he is, I couldn’t imagine that you were the first or only member of the staff he had imposed upon.
A few subtle, vague questions in the right ears revealed the horrid enormity of his conduct. ”
Her sudden pallor concerned him.
He took her hands. “I did not ever mention you, nor your situation. I swear to you.”
But she shook her head. “That was not my concern. I hate the idea that he has caused other people pain.”
“Mrs. Haddington has been rather horrible as well. She makes a practice of forbidding those in her employ from moving freely or attending certain activities. And the entire family are terrible to the animals, as well.”
Sophia’s mouth and brows turned down. Life inside the house was likely even more miserable than it had been in the stables.
“I have spent the last two weeks finding new positions for my stable staff as well as the gardeners,” Duncan said. “The housekeeper and butler heard whispers and began searches of their own, finding new positions for the household staff.”
“Did they?” Amazement lit her expression. “What did the family say as this all came about?”
“They didn’t have the opportunity to say much. Only I remained behind long enough for comment.”
A triumphant smile tugged at Sophia’s mouth. “What did you say?”
“A great many things. Suffice it to say, Haddington now knows that if he mistreats his staff, should he manage to hire any and I hear about it, he’ll find himself in dire straits—more dire than a mere loss of staff.” It had been an extremely satisfying exchange, actually.
Sophia stretched and placed a kiss on his cheek. “You are a good man, Duncan Buchanan.”
“Yes, I am.” He settled his arm around her and pulled her next to him. She laid her head against him, her gaze forward once more. “My mother tells me you’ve been enjoying my mountain.”
“Ben Lomond is yours, is it?” The songlike quality her voice took on when she was amused had quickly become one of his favorite sounds.
“Not the entire mountain, just this view of it,” he said. “But I might be willing to share.”
“Which is a good thing, because you will be here often now.” She shifted in his arms, looking up at him. “Won’t you?”
“Every day, love.”
She leaned in to him once more, settling there as naturally as anything. There was really only one thing for a man to do when a woman held him that way. He wrapped his arms around her as well. Heavens, she felt good in his embrace.
“We have missed you so much,” she said.
“We?” he pressed.
“Nothing is the same without you. I hadn’t realized it until I came here, but your presence at Haddington House was what made life there bearable. Seeing you, if only from my bedchamber window, was a gift and a joy. I have missed that, and I have missed you.”
Hearing things like that from the woman who’d stolen away his heart did a man’s pride a world of good. “Spied on me from your window, did you?”
“Unrepentantly.”
He slid ever closer to her. “And if I promise to spend time beneath your bedchamber window here, will you spy on me some more?”
“Spend time with me, Duncan, and I’ll have no need to spy.”
That was an offer he would gladly accept. “I’ll spend every minute I can with you, love.”
She sighed, her breath tickling his lips. “I love when you call me ‘love.’”
He brushed his mouth over hers, kissing her slowly. She slipped her arms around his neck once more. He settled his arms around her waist. The late evening sun shone warm on them as he held her and kissed her and thanked the heavens for bringing her to Scotland.
“I have something for you,” he said.
“You do?”
He held her hand in his and led her out of the garden. “I explained to Squire Reynolds that you were owed back wages— that Haddington wouldn’t pay what you are owed.”
“I was afraid he would refuse.”
They turned the corner of the house and took the path leading to the stables. “Mr. Reynolds is a good man. He insisted that Haddington either send with me the money he owed you, or that he pay you in kind.”
“I’m to be paid?” She’d grown so accustomed to being mistreated that a good outcome fully surprised her.
Duncan slipped his arm around her waist and tugged her up next to him. “Haddington owed me wages as well, so we worked out an agreement.”
He led her into the stables, past Will and Johnny, past Aiden, and to a small, windowed stall at the back of the building. “I accepted this as payment of his debt.”
“The filly?” She looked up at him, eyes wide.
“She is yours, my dear. Yours to raise and train and make your own.”
“Where will— she live?”
There was far more in that question than the stabling of a horse. “She will live here, my dearest, sweetest Sophia. She will live here with us.”
A sudden redness rimmed Sophia’s eyes. “Us?”
He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Will you stay with me, love? Will you stay here and make this a home for the both of us?”
She took a shaky breath. “Us?”
“We’ve a tradition in the Buchanan family, one only recently adopted. A cantankerous, stubborn Scotsman finds himself desperately in love with a warm, caring, beautiful Englishwoman, whom he somehow convinces to marry him.”
Her heart leapt to her throat.
“I’d like to continue the tradition, my dear,” he said. “Would you consider it?”
“Marrying you?”
He brushed his thumb along her jaw. “I’d be the happiest man in all the world if you would.”
Joy bubbled through her, filling the aching voids left by a lifetime of heartache. “And I’d be the happiest woman.”
He kissed her fully, truly, then pulled her into his arms. “I love you, my darling.”
She nestled more snugly into his embrace. “Ours is to be a happy ending, it seems.”
“A happy beginning, love. A tremendously happy beginning.”