Chapter Sixteen #2
Hugh nodded. “Although I prefer to think of it as taking him out for a night on the town…a very long night. In fact, he expressed his appreciation to us. It’ll probably be the most restful hours of peace he’s had since marrying that woman.
The friend of hers, Lady Trowbridge, is a piece of work, too.
The two of them nagging and goading the beleaguered Lord Lowery.
And that Lady Trowbridge. She’s bold as a brass monkey, she is. Did Bram tell ye?”
Miranda shook her head. “Tell me what?”
Hugh’s expression turned to one of displeasure. “She came to his home and propositioned him.”
“Tried to seduce him,” James added with a grumble.
“She did what?” Miranda stared at the three Lanarks, quite aghast. “In front of all of you?”
“No, Mortinson told us about it,” James said. “As if Bram would ever waste his time on her.”
Miranda turned to Bram. “You didn’t tell me?”
“What was there to tell, lass? I was never going to betray ye, so I tossed her out in the soaking rain and warned her never to set foot in my house again. I dealt with her. Telling ye what happened would only have upset ye, and haven’t ye been through enough already?”
She supposed he was right. Learning of the incident would have incensed her.
More important, she trusted Bram, and this confidence she had in him was of far more significance.
He was a man of his word. Miranda knew it in her heart. Once given, he would always be true to his wedding vows.
Perhaps this was a Scottish trait, this fierce loyalty to the woman they would marry, for Hugh and James were also nodding as though this was the responsibility of every husband.
It eased her mind about Lady Trowbridge’s schemes. The horrid woman was too low and crass ever to win Bram’s heart.
Her concerns were now for Gwenys’s father. What the Lanarks had done was kidnapping, no matter how politely they sought to dress it up. They could all land in prison.
Well, not Bram. Dukes might not even be put under house arrest unless there was murder or treason involved.
“Where have you put Lord Lowery now?” she asked.
“Best ye no’ know where he is,” Bram said.
She ought to have frowned to show her displeasure, but how could she when she considered the plan brilliant? Was this not a delicious turn of events after all the misery those horrid Lawsons had caused her and Gwenys?
“Oh, Bram.” The idea of Gwenys’s father bound and gagged had her laughing instead.
It was dreadful of her, of course. She ought to have been outraged. But she could not summon a scintilla of anger.
Too bad it wasn’t Lady Lowery they’d taken and trussed up like a Christmas goose, although Miranda understood why they chose not to take her. “And what is his ransom to be, exactly?”
“Well,” Bram said, “we’ve already collected it because all we wanted was his consent to Gwenys’s marriage. But we canno’ let him go just yet or else his wife will catch on to what we’ve done. So, he’ll be released once Gwenys is married. And he’ll be present at the ceremony.”
Miranda gasped. “He will?”
Bram nodded. “He wants to be there. He confessed as much to Montrose. Ye know, Lowery loves his daughter, but he’s such a weakling of a man and fears admitting it to his wife.”
“I have no pity for him,” she said. “Gwenys deserves a father who will fight to the death for her.”
Bram arched an eyebrow. “She has someone better, Miranda. She has ye.”
The comment had her blushing.
Then her blush deepened when Bram related to his kinsmen how he’d found her outside Parliament in the midst of a near riot. “She was beating some poor sod about the head.”
“Because he tried to steal my necklace.” She huffed in indignation, as though that would make her actions less foolish.
Bram cast her a look that was both affectionate and admonishing. His cousins had wide grins on their faces and were trying to stifle chuckles.
She got back on the topic of Gwenys’s father. “Will his wife not be screaming bloody murder by now?”
“No,” James said. “She thinks he’s gone to his club with Montrose.”
“You are jesting, are you not?” Miranda could not believe what she was hearing. “Is Montrose that deeply involved in your kidnap scheme?”
“Aye,” Bram admitted. “He loathes the influence Louisa’s mother and Lady Trowbridge exert on her. He’ll do anything to foil their underhanded schemes. Can ye blame him? He thinks Louisa shows promise, and they might make a happy marriage if only those two vipers are kept away.”
“And Bram’s had us watching Lady Lowery and that Trowbridge woman,” Hugh added. “Mr. Barrow told us that they sneak off to the gaming clubs whenever Lord Lowery is no’ around.”
“They do?” Miranda was not all that surprised, for these ladies represented everything that was rotten in the ton. They were bored, spoiled, privileged, and cared only for their own amusements.
“Aye,” James said, laughing as he took out his pocket watch and checked the time. “They went off to gamble the moment Montrose and Lowery left the house. They ought to be at the tables by now.”
“And how is this significant?” Miranda stared from one to the other, for all three men were grinning and guffawing once again.
James obliged with an explanation. “Mr. Barrow knows everyone in the London constabulary and…well, they are about to stage a raid on that gaming hell.”
She gasped. “What?”
Hugh gave up a hearty laugh. “They’re going to be rounded up and taken in with the other tarts.”
Miranda’s eyes widened. She tried to respond, but no words came out.
“Ye know, ladies of loose morals,” James said with a nod.
Miranda could hold back no more and burst out laughing again, then hastily placed a hand over her mouth because she did not like to think of herself as petty and vengeful.
But it was no use pretending to be appalled when she wanted to leap out of her chair and dance around the room with the wild delight of a pagan dancing around a bonfire.
“The two of them will be released at eleven o’clock tomorrow morning,” James concluded.
“By which time Gwenys and Douglas will be married,” she said in amazement, and turned to Bram. “And I assume Lord Lowery will be safely returned home by then and will not say a word about his consent, Gwenys’s church wedding, or your abducting him.”
“Well, it could be said that we just had a pleasant night out, just us lads,” Bram teased. “Abduction is such a vulgar word, especially when Lowery so quickly went along with it.”
Miranda was still amazed. “You set all this up? With Montrose? And Mr. Barrow? And your cousins? When did you find the time to plan this?”
“The night of the soiree.”
“Is this why you did not attend?”
“Aye. I knew something had to be done when Douglas, the moonstruck lad, showed up on my doorstep. Lanark Castle and all my holdings are going to fall into ruin if he does no’ marry yer niece fast and get his mind back on his work.”
Miranda shook her head. “And what of me?”
“Och, I love ye something fierce. Getting Gwenys and Douglas married took a bit of scheming, but it was always my plan to woo ye with all my heart and soul once they were safely husband and wife. I was never going to walk away from ye. Never.”
“I was so afraid you would,” Miranda admitted, her heart melting again at his words. “I thought you were avoiding me because you did not want to see me again. I had insulted you. How did you know I would change my mind?”
“And marry me?”
She nodded.
“I was no’ certain at all. In truth, I despaired that I might never win ye over even though I knew ye loved me. But I had to protect Douglas and Gwenys first. I did it for them. That it shall be a double wedding is an unexpected reward.”
Miranda hoped this was all going to work out. Could it possibly?
“A double wedding,” she mused, her thoughts now catching up to what he’d said about his love being true and eternal.
He was never going to leave her. She believed that.
“Aye,” Bram said in a tone of finality. “We’re getting married tomorrow. My heart canno’ take another moment’s delay, and I’ll no’ hear another word about it.”
“Well, I’d like to say something more,” Miranda added.
Bram sighed. “What?”
“Would it be sinful of me to contact the gossip rags and report Lady Lowery and Lady Trowbridge being caught up in that gambling raid?”
A slow, wickedly delicious smile spread across Bram’s face. “Ye needn’t bother, lass. Montrose is already on it.”