Chapter Five #2
She refused to acknowledge the wrenching tug to her heart. But it hurt her to find out he was an unworthy snake.
“Miranda?” He inhaled sharply. “Is Gwenys missing, too?”
She nodded. “Too?”
“Douglas is also gone. He’s sharing this suite with me and mentioned he was going downstairs to get us a bottle of brandy. That was over half an hour ago. I was just getting dressed to go in search of him. Give me a moment to toss on my shirt and boots.”
Her heart fluttered in relief.
After all, he hadn’t been waiting for Lady Wharton.
And how awful of her to immediately leap to that conclusion and think the worst of him, especially since that vile woman had soaked him with tea mere hours ago when he had refused her advances.
“Come in. Ye should no’ be seen outside my door.”
“Is it not worse to be found in your bedchamber?”
“I’ll make certain the hallway is clear before I have ye come out. This is safest.” He drew her inside and quietly shut the door behind them.
He grinned and shook his head when she refused to take more than a step inside and pasted herself to the door, leaning her back against it.
“Are ye afraid I am going to ravage ye, Miranda?”
“No, of course not.”
“Then are ye afraid of yer desire to ravage me?” he asked, obviously finding her discomfort with their intimate situation quite humorous. He grinned at her as he grabbed a shirt and donned it, now hiding that gloriously sculpted torso of his from her view.
“I am not in the habit of being alone with undressed men in their bedchamber or mine,” she replied, sounding quite priggish even to her own ears.
He sighed. “Ye needn’t worry about that. After enduring two embarrassing confrontations with Lady Wharton today, I am no’ feeling particularly masterful with the ladies. Gad, how stupid was I back then? She’s such a witch. And to my shame, I didna care about anything beyond getting her in my bed.”
“I was just as stupid when I was younger,” she admitted.
He sank onto a chair to don his boots. “Nay. Ye were wickedly deceived. There’s a difference. None of what happened to ye was yer fault. Even if yer husband had needed to marry to claim his inheritance, he could have treated ye with the proper respect due a wife.”
She paled and a tremble rushed through her body as she listened to him speak about the most anguishing moment of her life. “You knew? Dear heaven, does everyone in Scotland know what a fool I’ve been?”
Then she realized it was not possible for anyone outside her family or London Society to have known or cared. Gwenys must have told him.
She covered her face with her hands and groaned. “My niece told you everything.”
“Dinna be angry with her,” he said, nudging her hands off her face and tipping her chin up so that their gazes met.
“She loves ye and only meant to help me understand ye better because she so desperately wants to see ye happy. My heart aches that yer first experience with a man was so miserable. He—”
“May we please not talk about him? What’s done is done, and I do not want to think about those awful years.”
“All right.” He turned away a moment to tuck his shirt into his trousers and do up the last buttons of his falls before turning to face her once more. “I’ll walk ye back to yer room and then go in search of the pair. I’m sure they’re together.”
“Let me go with you, at least while we search the inn. I’ll wait by the registration desk if we must expand the search outdoors. I know I would only be holding you back if you had me by your side while on the streets of Edinburgh.”
“I’m sure we won’t need to look outside. Unlike his donkey of a brother, Douglas is a sensible lad and would never do anything foolish to put Gwenys in harm’s way.”
They made their way quietly down the hall and then downstairs.
Miranda chided herself for insisting on searching with Solway. She was slowing him down, but this was the least of her worries. She was feeling quite protective of Gwenys and wanted to be there to comfort her if the situation proved embarrassing.
Would they be too late? Had Douglas seduced the innocent girl?
Solway had to be worried about the same thing, for he now took her hand and held it gently while they began their search.
It did not take them long to notice there was a soft glow coming from the inn’s library. They quietly walked toward it.
Miranda’s heart tightened.
She would bash Douglas over the head with her candlestick if she caught them in an improper position.
Solway, she noticed, nudged her behind him as he peered in first.
He then let out a rush of breath and stepped aside so that she could peer into the library.
Gwenys and Douglas were seated together on a settee, both of them looking utterly miserable and doing nothing more scandalous than holding hands.
Miranda could see that the pair had done nothing improper while alone, for the telltale signs would have been written all over Gwenys’s face. Not to mention, her nightclothes would have been in disarray.
The pair rose, and Douglas placed a protective arm around Gwenys’s waist. “We were just talking.”
Miranda nodded. “I can see that. But it is late and we are leaving in a few hours for London.”
Douglas’s expression turned pained. “I’ve asked Gwenys to wait for me. I wish to court her, with yer permission. Well, even if I did no’ have yer permission…”
Solway groaned.
But Douglas was not about to relent. “Bram, ye need to let me join ye in London in a month’s time.
I’ll work day and night to put everything in order before I come down.
Gordon is still capable and can handle any problems while I am gone.
I dinna need to stay in London long, just a few days to see Gwenys and nourish my soul. ”
“Good grief,” Solway muttered.
“Then I’ll ride home and resume my duties. Is this asking too much? I canno’ lose her.”
Gwenys was nodding as he spoke. “Please, Your Grace. Aunt Miranda. We just want to be together and get to know each other. Is this not the sensible thing to do? We are trying to be cautious and behave responsibly. We want to make certain our feelings for each other are real.”
“Aye,” Douglas said. “We dinna want to run off and elope like a pair of heedless children. We’re willing to wait. However, it is no’ a matter of waiting to see if love might develop. For my part, it already has.”
“Mine too,” Gwenys said with a defiant tip of her chin.
“I dinna think either of us is in doubt what our hearts are feeling. The only question is, will it endure? I desperately hope it will, but I am no’ blind to the challenges.
Gwenys would be making her life up here with me.
I dinna know if she can manage being so far apart from ye, Lady Miranda.
Of course, ye would always be welcome to stay here with us. ”
Oh dear. Their feelings had progressed much further than Miranda ever realized. How could she encourage it?
Yet how could she deny them their happiness?
She blinked, trying to expunge the image of herself and her liar of a husband. But all she saw was that wretched man and the lies he had told her. “Have you kissed him, Gwenys?”
Her niece blushed as she nodded. “Just once. A few minutes ago. Kissing seemed important. We had to know it would please us to kiss each other, did we not?”
Miranda felt Solway’s gentle hand at the small of her back, as though he sensed her difficulty and sought to comfort her.
“Aye, Gwenys,” Solway said, his hand still lightly resting at her back, “ye’ve established ye like each other’s company, and it was logical to know that ye would care for each other in a more intimate way. Friendship and attraction are both important in a marriage.”
“Says the man who has never been married,” Miranda muttered, then instantly regretted it.
Her own past was getting the better of her.
Solway tucked a finger under her chin and forced her gaze to his.
“Says the lady who has been badly hurt by a fiend’s betrayal.
Neither Douglas nor I are anything like that low specimen of a creature ye married.
Dinna ruin Gwenys’s chance at happiness because ye are afraid she will repeat yer mistakes.
No’ that yer behavior was wrong in any way.
Trusting in yer husband and wanting to make a real marriage is never a mistake. ”
Tears formed in her eyes. “All you say is true. But I cannot change.”
“Aye, ye can. It will take time, that’s all. Fortunately, I am a patient man. I’ll wait for ye as long as it takes.”
“Oh, we are speaking of us now?”
“I didna mean to say anything to ye just yet, but yes. It is no’ only Douglas and Gwenys who hope to find love. Dinna stop them, Miranda. Let them forge their own path. They deserve that chance.”
Miranda’s lips were now pursed. “And us?”
“We deserve our chance at happiness, too. But I will never push ye to marry me. Ye’ll let me know when it feels right and ye are ready. I’ll ask ye then to be my wife. And if it never feels right for ye,” he said with a sigh, “then I shall respect yer wishes.”
Miranda stepped away from his touch, which was addling her senses and making her think marriage to Solway might work.
But how could it?
“Summers are lovely up here,” Douglas said. “Perhaps ye could join us here for the month of July or August…or both. I could show ye around. There’s lots of beauty in the Highland hills.”
It was so obvious these two young lovers ached to be together.
Not that they were children, by any means. Gwenys was almost one and twenty and Douglas appeared to be in his mid-twenties. Both of them were of marriageable age. Indeed, many couples married younger and had children of their own by now.
“Gwenys, come to bed,” Miranda said, holding out her hand to her niece.
“All right,” Gwenys responded, noticeably deflated. After a moment of struggling to hold back tears, she turned to Douglas. “Will I see you before we leave?”
He nodded. “Aye. I shall be here to see ye off. I would no’ wish to be anywhere else.”
Miranda steered Gwenys up the stairs to their quarters, feeling awful because her niece was quietly crying. She heard barely a sniffle, but the girl’s cheeks were moist and there were trails of tears running down them.
All Miranda could think of was that love hurt and she wanted to spare Gwenys the pain.
But she had to stop thinking like this. First of all, it was the separation from Douglas that was hurting Gwenys, not the unfaithfulness of his love.
In truth, Miranda hoped his feelings were real. She wanted Gwenys to be blissfully happy, as so many of her friends were in their marriages. Hers was the only one among their circle of friends that had been disastrous.
She latched the door behind them and slipped out of her robe. Gwenys did the same and then slid under her covers, no doubt to quietly sob some more.
Miranda sank onto her own mattress and blew out the candle so that they were now in the dark. “Gwenys, perhaps we could come up here for the summer months, as Douglas suggested. There’s really no reason for us to remain in London during the intolerable heat. Would you like that?”
Gwenys leaped out of her bed and hugged Miranda enthusiastically, then gasped and drew back as she recalled her bound ribs. “Yes, I would love it so much! Thank you, Aunt Miranda. I love you.”
Then she grabbed her robe and donned it while dashing out of their chamber.
Miranda groaned and grabbed her own robe, wincing as she wrapped it around herself, and hurried after Gwenys, who had to be running to the Royal Suite to report the news to Douglas.
She caught up to Gwenys as the door to the Royal Suite opened.
Solway stood there frowning and with his shirt off again. Honestly, did this man sleep naked? Well, he probably did.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
Gwenys tore past him and flung herself into Douglas’s arms. “She said yes! If the invitation is still open, we’ll come and visit you this summer.”
Douglas laughed and hugged her. “July and August?”
Gwenys turned to Miranda, awaiting her answer.
“July, and we’ll see how it goes about August.”
“Ye’re welcome to stay forever,” Douglas said with heartfelt sincerity, and hugged Gwenys again.
Solway glanced at them, chuckled, and then turned back to Miranda with a soft look in his eyes. “Ye did the right thing,” he said in a whispered rumble that was deliciously smooth and deep. “I know how hard this is for ye.”
She nodded. “I don’t want to see her hurt. This scares me so much. But I also want to give her the chance of happiness.”
“Ye wouldn’t have agreed to it if yer heart had doubts about Douglas.” He gave her cheek a light caress. “May I speak plainly?”
She nodded.
“Douglas was born with an old soul. Even as a lad he was serious, never shirked in his duties, and gave his whole heart to everything he did. I can see he has given his heart to Gwenys. She is the one likely to give hurt if her feelings for him change. His won’t ever change.
He’s made his choice, and it is Gwenys.”
Miranda closed her eyes and swallowed hard. “I felt this, too.”
“Ye’ll be coming up here with Gwenys. I’m glad, for I’ll also be here.
This will give ye time to get to know me better.
Do ye think ye can stand to be my company for an entire month or even two if Gwenys asks to remain through August as well?
I know I am a big oaf and obviously an idjit around ladies.
But I would sorely love to have ye with me… with us.”
Her eyes widened as she stared up at him.
Two months with Solway? It would be heaven for her.
And also the most frightening thing imaginable. What if she fell in love with him?
What if he then betrayed her?