Chapter 27 #2
The consensus seemed to be that Averill McGregor was beautiful but ruthless, qualities that the ton admired. She was providing a spectacle, and society loved nothing more.
Once Struan and the men understood that, it became clear just why McGregor borrowed so much. It was expensive to launch a young lady into society the usual way. This would be ten times as much.
On the night of the first party they were aware of (though not the first party in Averill’s onslaught), Struan prepared for battle. He dressed in standard kit for evening, as did Calan. They had decided collectively that the others needn’t show their faces yet.
Getting into the event was surprisingly easy—he told them he was Elspeth’s husband. Calan just smiled, the bastard. He got in wherever he liked.
The party was a success by any standard, and Struan hated it from the moment he stepped inside. All he wanted to do was see Ellie, but it was difficult with so many damned people around.
And then he did see her.
She was dazzling. She wore blue satin that looked like the night sky.
But although she was the most beautiful woman there, her smile was stiff and she looked uncomfortable.
She was also wearing her hair in an odd style, with a curtain of blonde waves swept over one side of her face, covering most of her left eye and cheek.
Her stormcloud sister, Mairi, was close by. Mairi wore her hair the same way, so perhaps it was a new trend. However, he couldn’t help but notice that she was like a guard dog keeping any gentlemen from getting too friendly with Ellie, and Struan blessed her for it.
“Are you going to talk to her?” Calan asked quietly.
“With Mairi ready to bite my legs if I get too close?”
“She does resemble some of the irregulars we had to fight down on the Peninsula. Not the paid mercenaries, you know. I mean the ones who fought to see the blood.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Struan muttered. “I don’t think I’ll be able to talk to Ellie tonight.”
“I can distract Mairi.”
“No, I mean that I don’t think I can do it. She hates me.”
“You can at least tell her how you feel.”
Struan watched Ellie from a distance. “Not in front of all of these people. I need a minute.”
“You need to talk to your wife.”
Then Struan saw McGregor. “Now him I have a burning desire to speak to.”
Calan sighed. “Go after him if you’re afraid to go after his daughter.”
“It’s important.” Struan glared at him.
“I’m sure. But you can’t avoid your wife forever.”
Struan left the room and followed his quarry.
McGregor managed to get to the small room at the end of the hall and inside, but Struan prevented him from slamming the door shut by dint of his massive frame, and the fact that he simply pushed the door all the way open, in the process dislodging McGregor and forcing him a few steps backward.
“What do you think you’re doing here?” McGregor demanded. “We’ve no more business and you can’t collect any more from me.”
“I could re-collect the original payment,” Struan said. “After all, she’s here in this house.”
McGregor shook his head. “We didn’t think that she would come back for the festivities. It was a formality to invite her.”
“You didn’t intend to invite your own daughter to her sister’s engagement and wedding? That seems most unfamilial.”
“What would you know about it?”
“I know nothing about it, and I care even less. I’m here for Elspeth.”
“And if she doesn’t go back with you? What then?
You can’t threaten me, sir. If you reveal the details of our little arrangement to the public, it won’t merely damage me.
It will damage your own reputation as well.
There aren’t many in the city who would look kindly on a man who accepted a person in lieu of payment for a debt. ”
“No more than they would look kindly on one who would offer a person in lieu of payment,” Struan pointed out in a low voice. “However, you have made an error in your logic.”
“And what is that?” McGregor asked.
“You’re assuming that I give one ounce of shit what other people think.
Do you imagine that I care what a society matron, or some gentleman in New Town thinks of my actions?
I don’t live in Edinburgh. I live in the Highlands.
I live as a veritable hermit. So any rumors or scandals that could possibly arise are absolutely meaningless to me.
I’ve already got what I want from my time in the city.
I’ve got a wife, and there is no legal recourse anyone can take which will ever change that fact. ”
McGregor’s jaw worked, but nothing came out.
Struan went on, “However, you’re the man who spent a daughter’s worth of money in a vain effort to climb the social ladder.
You’re spending even more now for this other daughter’s wedding and dowry.
And since you’re not borrowing from me, I wonder who you are borrowing from…
and if they’ll be as understanding and flexible as I was. ”
Finally the other man blustered, “Perhaps you will regret accepting that first payment. Because Elspeth is back at home now, and I have a mind to keep her here! No one will wonder at it after they get a glimpse of you. I’ll explain that she is fleeing her monster of a husband, and that she’s all too happy to resume her old duties as a daughter of this house.
In truth, the place hasn’t been run so well since she’s left.
I didn’t really understand her role before.
Servants are only as good as the overseer.
Without a firm hand and a sharp eye, they grow lazy.
So I think that it is best for me if Elspeth remains here. You shall not have her back.”
“There is no force on earth that will keep me from Elspeth,” Struan said, the words bursting out of him louder than he intended. “You sold her off. Now she belongs to me. And if you do anything to prevent me from taking her back, you will regret it.”