Chapter Two #2
“Is that what ye wish to drink as well?” Malcolm asked Lady Serendipity. “If ye would rather something else, I can fetch it.”
She twitched a shrug. “A toddy will be fine. I am simply ready for this day to be over.” She turned to Lady Merry. “We must stay together. Please do not wander away.”
Gathering her cloak tighter around her, Lady Merry returned her sister’s stern look. “Stop it, Seri. These people are the same as us, merely taking shelter from the storm.”
“Yer sister makes a fair point, lass,” Duncan said to Lady Merry, noting with some satisfaction that Lady Serendipity stiffened at his use of the informal address. “Lady Merry assured me our unusual circumstances warranted a temporary lifting of standard decorum,” he told her.
Lady Serendipity arched a silvery-blonde brow. “Did she, now?” Her words dripped with disapproval. “I would think it more appropriate if she granted you permission to call her Merry rather than lass.”
“Fine,” Merry said, spitting the word with admirable fierceness. “Lord Kirkston, Lord Malcolm, since you are our valiant heroes, do feel free to address me as Merry and my sister as Serendipity.”
“Splendid,” Malcolm said with his usual boisterousness before Serendipity could renege. “Then the two of ye must certainly address us as Duncan and Malcolm.”
Serendipity fixed Malcolm with a glare that should’ve turned him to ash.
Merry beamed at Duncan as if waiting for his nod of approval.
Damn those sapphire eyes of hers. They drew him in and made it hard to think of anything but her.
Yanking himself back from certain ruin, he rose to his feet and bowed.
“Excuse me whilst I speak to the innkeeper. Perhaps he knows of a forgotten bit of privacy the two of ye might share for the evening.” Then he turned and walked away, but not before noticing the hurt and confusion in her eyes.
It couldn’t be helped. The woman unsettled him more than he had been unsettled in a very long while, and he wasn’t entirely sure how to manage it—if he wished to manage it at all.
The more he thought about their parting ways and never crossing paths again, the more he disliked the idea.
This English lass had become like an itch he longed to scratch.
He spotted the harried innkeeper helping behind the bar and made his way over to him. Before he could even ask, the man shook his head. “No rooms, m’lord. Sorry that I am, but we be full up to the rafters.”
“The two ladies in my company are sisters to the Duke of Broadmere. Not only that, but they lost their carriage in the river and nearly lost their lives. They need privacy to collect themselves. Surely ye have a wee bit of space somewhere.”
The innkeeper sadly shook his head again as he loaded up a tray with overflowing tankards.
“I even got lodgers sleeping on the floor of me own room, m’lord.
There’s barely room for me own wife and children on this blustery night.
” He shoved the tray toward the ale wench with a nod for her to hurry it to their customers.
“All the rooms are not only full, but many of the lodgers are sharing their beds and the floors of each room.” He made a sour face.
“Doubtful the ladies of your company would like that any more than sleeping in that corner by the hearth. Leastwise there, yourself and your men can better guard them from strangers.”
Duncan turned and eyed the women to whom he had unwillingly become a guardian.
The stables would be more private, but they would also be colder.
He doubted either lady would find that option preferable to the corner by the hearth.
“Fine. Just hurry the hot toddies to them along with a good, hearty meal. As I said, they nearly lost their lives today. They need whatever comfort ye can provide.” He held up a gold sovereign.
“The best ye can provide, man, since so far, ye’ve provided verra little.
And dinna think to cheat me or forget what I’ve asked of ye.
My memory is sharp, and my blade even sharper, ye ken? ”
The innkeeper’s scraggly eyebrows rose higher.
He wet his lips while eyeing the coin. “Aye, m’lord.
Whatever can be provided will be.” He nodded faster.
“Yourself and your company will be seen to right away.” He turned, eased open the door behind him, and called out, “Meg, you be needed out here for some folk.”
A buxom woman with bright red hair caught up in a kerchief emerged, holding a small child astraddle her hip. “What say ye?” she asked her husband as she handed off the little one to an older child who disappeared back inside the room.
He held up the gold sovereign, then nodded at Duncan. “His lordship here needs the best we can do on this hard night. I know we ain’t got no more rooms, but we need to see that him and his companions don’t go ignored or overlooked.”
Meg took the coin, tucked it down inside the front of her dress, then stepped up to the counter and smiled at Duncan. “Where be the rest of yer people, m’lord?”
Pleased to hear the woman’s soft Scottish burr, Duncan pointed them out.
“We asked the ale wench for hot buttered toddies, and I also want a good meal provided. Those ladies nearly died in the river today. Lost their carriage and all their belongings. Sisters to the Duke of Broadmere. ’Twould serve this inn well to treat them kindly, ye ken? ”
“Aye, m’lord. I ken yer meaning well enough. Dinna fash yerself. We will do what we can to end this day in a better way than it started for those ladies.”
Somewhat mollified, but still not happy about failing to get the ladies the privacy they needed, Duncan returned to find Merry laughing with Malcolm while her sister sat in silent misery.
Their man Jasper had joined them, angling his chair a bit off to one side as if uncomfortable about sitting with them as though he were an equal.
As Duncan moved to take his seat, he purposely bumped into his brother and jerked a nod at the unhappy Serendipity, a silent signal for Malcolm to turn his attentions there. Merry was his.
That unbidden thought jolted him. Why would he think such a thing? The woman was not his. But she could be.
He ignored that dangerous inclination and shoved it aside. “I fear I failed ye, ladies.”
“That cannot possibly be so.” Merry gave the room a sweeping wave of her hand. “We are safe, warm, and dry. I daresay you have served us very well, my lord.”
Her lack of bitterness or pettiness amazed him.
Nothing seemed to make the woman cross—well, nothing other than his behaving like an arse.
He cleared his throat and glanced back at the bar, wondering where their refreshments were.
“I thought to convince the innkeeper to find the two of ye a bit more privacy, but he reports that every room is full. Many are sharing the beds and the room’s floors.
Some are even staying in his room with his wife and children.
It appears the storm drove every traveler in this region to this place. ”
Merry patted her lap and smiled at her sister. “We are fine right here. Are we not, Seri?”
“Yes, fine.” But the tense Lady Serendipity did not sound convinced. She sounded devastated.
“I ordered a meal along with the beverages,” Duncan said. “I thought ye might be hungry.”
“That was most kind.” Merry stretched taller and smiled at something behind him. “I believe our supper is on its way now.”
“And the table to put it on, too.” Malcolm laughed as he jumped up from his seat. “Make way, brother.”
Duncan turned to discover Meg with a large, round tray laden with linen-covered vessels.
Following her was the ale wench bearing another tray with steaming mugs and more covered containers.
In step with them was the lad who had taken their horses to the stable.
He carried a table high over his head, making the other patrons duck and shift to get out of the way.
“Make haste, my lovelies,” Meg said to her helpers. “We’ve many a customer to see to on this bitterly cold evening.”
In no time at all, the table was set with steaming bowls of barley stew, a platter of thickly sliced bread, heavily buttered, mugs filled with their requested toddies, and pitchers of small ale and tankards to hold it.
Sidling over to the ladies, Meg leaned in close and spoke in a lowered voice.
“The necessary house is much too cold on a night like this, but if ye have need of it, I can take ye to the corner me and the maids use. There’s water for washing, too, and a curtain to hide ye from prying eyes. ”
“That would be wonderful.” Merry nudged Serendipity into motion. “Come along, sister. Let us take care of ourselves so we can fully enjoy this wonderful feast.”
Still a bit pale and obviously struggling with the circumstances, Serendipity went along without a word.
“Have ye ever in all yer borned days met such a bright-spirited lady?” Malcolm asked as he reached for a slice of bread.
Duncan smacked his hand away. “Wait till they return. Did ye leave yer manners outside?”
“Lady Merry is the happiest, most sweet-natured of all the sisters.” Jasper dragged off his hat and scooted closer to the table. “But heaven help ye if ye ever stir her ire, ’cause there’ll not be enough of you left to pray over by the time she gets done with you.”
“What about her sister?” Eyeing Duncan, Malcolm hesitantly reached for one of the steaming mugs. “She seems…overwrought.”
“Ye may drink,” Duncan said, “but no eating until the ladies return.”