Never Kiss a Laird (12 page)

“But Rupert, you don’t understand,”
Sally cajoled.
 
“We must get into the
Castle somehow, to leave a message for Bridget’s beau.”

Rupert looked at his sister as if
she were mad.
  
Seeing this, Sally chuckled.
 
“I see I must explain it all to you.
 
Until a few days ago Bridget was a maid up at
the Castle.
 
The Earl turned her off when
she fell in love with the carrier’s boy, and I found her with nowhere to go and
not a penny in her pocket.
 
So I brought
her here, and now we need to find the carrier’s lad, so she can marry him.”

“Very charitable of you, I’m sure.”
Rupert shook his head decisively.
 
“But I
do not see why I must call on the Earl of Kane, even so.
 
I’ll have no part in it, Sally.”

“But Bridget cannot write, and nor
can Robbie, so I have no way to tell him that she is in trouble and that he
must come to her.
 
We must get into the
Castle and leave a message with one of the maids to send Robbie here when he
comes with the next delivery.”

Rupert paled further.
 
“You want me to just drop in on a man I’ve
never met before, and then go find one of his housemaids to arrange a tryst
with some carrier’s lad?”
 
He gave an
outraged snort.
 
“And nothing bad can
possibly happen, you say?”

The absurdity of the situation hit
her, and Sally started to laugh.
 
“I’m
sure you can do it, Rupert,” she chuckled.
 
“It just needs a certain amount of finesse.”

“When have you ever known me to
have finesse?’
 
Rupert
asked,
a reluctant smile on his face.
 
“Give
over, Sally.
 
What’s this really about?”

Sally sobered, and looked at
Rupert.
 
“Bridget is just like me,
Rupert.
 
She was turned away from her
home by an unjust and autocratic male, because she was judged to have transgressed.
 
I refuse to let them win, Rupert.
 
So I am determined to find her carrier’s lad,
and reunite them.”

“Are you sure that is what Bridget
wants?”

“Oh yes,” Sally assured him,
reluctant to tell him about the baby. “And here is Millie with our tea.
 
Millie, my brother is here in the guise of
providence, to solve our difficulties.
 
He can call on the Laird for us, and get a message to one of the maids
for Robbie.”

Millie, seeing the indecision on
Rupert’s face, jumped in quickly.
 
“Oh, Master Rupert.
 
I
knew we could depend on you.
 
We are so
grateful, indeed and so will our Bridget be. Here we were, not knowing what to
do.
 
It’s like a miracle, really.”

For a moment Sally thought that
Millie had overdone it, but she saw her brother wavering.

Rupert, under the worshipful gaze
of Millie, and the determined one of his sister, accepted a cup of tea
weakly.
 
“Tell me what you want me to
do.”

Chapter Nine

The Earl’s very correct butler
entered the library, carefully balancing a silver salver on one hand, upon
which reposed a stack of mail and a bone-handled letter opener.
  
His master sat before the fire, his eyes
upon the dancing flames, but from the far away look in his eyes, the Earl’s
mind was clearly far from the warm, cozy library.
 
The fingers of one hand were brushing his
lips slowly, an odd smile on his face, and when Carr cleared his throat to get
his attention, Hugh started, his cheeks darkening, and he shot to his feet.

“What on earth are you doing, Carr?”
Hugh snapped.
 
“Creeping up on me, like
that!”

Carr’s face became stonier than
ever.
 
“I apologize if I have offended
your lordship,” he intoned in a voice carefully devoid of all expression.
 
“The carpet in this room is very thick, sir.”

Hugh’s face broke into a rueful
smile.
 
He accepted the stack of mail
that Carr presented to him, and met his affronted butler’s eyes.
 

“As you say,
Carr.”
 
Hugh agreed.
 
“Very thick.”
   
He shuffled through the stack of letters,
setting aside two that he knew would need to be discussed with his estate
agent.
 
He stopped when he came to one
that was addressed in spidery handwriting.

“That will be enough, Carr.
 
Thank you,” he said distractedly, turning the
letter over, and slitting it open neatly with the opener.
 

His butler, now feeling entirely
snubbed, left the room with dragging steps.
 
He reached the door and turned back.
 
Hugh was usually an exemplary employer, and on the rare occasions when
he made such an unfair accusation as he had just done, Carr was always most
gracious in accepting his apology.
 
However, Hugh had spread open a sheet of tightly crossed paper and was
perusing it, his butler’s feelings forgotten.

The letter, from Lady Waverly,
began with an appellation that he had never heard upon his godmother’s lips.

My
Dear Hugh,

The
most annoying circumstance has occurred since your visit.
 
I had been anticipating the arrival of my
grand-daughter, as I had informed you.
 
When her carriage arrived here, however, she was not in it.
 
Lest you think she had met with an accident,
let me inform you that the chit left a letter pinned to the seat, informing me,
if you please, that she had left the protection of her family, preferring to
make her own way in the world rather than accept its censure.
 
Have you ever heard of such outstanding
cheek?
 
I am outraged, and am determined
to find the wicked girl, and bring her to an understanding of her position.
 
Her mother has disavowed any desire to have
her restored to them, but I will not see her get away that easily.

I
write to ask you to assist me in making discrete inquiries into the whereabouts
of my granddaughter.
 
If you hear
anything of a Miss Sarah Denham, I insist that you inform me immediately.
 

I
shall expect to see you at Waverly immediately if you uncover anything that can
help me regain the dreadful girl.

Lady Waverly.

Hugh read this letter through, and
then read it a second time.
 
It would seem
that Lady Waverly’s granddaughter was a girl of some spirit.
 
He knew a moment’s concern, and hoped that
the girl’s flight would not lead her into danger.

A discrete tap sounded, and Carr
appeared at the door once more, interrupting his lordship’s thoughts.
 
The butler stood for a moment, an offended
look on his face.

 
“Well?”
 
Hugh asked, impatiently.

“Your lordship has a visitor,” Carr
stated impassively, staring at a point about twelve inches over Hugh’s
head.
 
‘I have put him in the morning
room, sir.”
 
He held out the same silver
salver, upon which lay a paste visiting card.

Hugh strode quickly to his butler,
and snatched up the card.
 
“The
Honourable
Rupert Denham.
 
What a coincidence,” he murmured.
 
“The morning room, did you say, Carr?”
 
Hugh turned the visiting card over between his
fingers, and arrested look on his face as a suspicion started to take root in
his mind.
  
When he got to the door of
the morning room he paused, slipping the little paste card into his pocket,
and, assuming his usual urbane, disinterested expression, entered the room.

A tall, handsome youth, his gold
hair brushed into a fashionably disarrayed style, turned from where he stood by
the window, and when he saw the Earl, his open countenance registered
surprise.
 
His fair complexion, blue
eyes, and something in the cast of his features was very familiar appearing to
the Earl, who strode forward, his hand held out.

“How do you do?”
 
Hugh smiled, his hunch confirmed in the strong
family resemblance he perceived on Rupert’s handsome face.

“How do you do, your lordship,”
Rupert stuttered, grasping Hugh’s hand.
 
He had been cursing his sister for putting him into the uncomfortable
position of visiting a man he had never met.
 
At the sight of the Earl, who was more than forty years younger than
Rupert had expected, he started to plot a hideous revenge against his
sister.
 
He thought he might have had a
hope of putting one over on an old man, after all he was pretty good at
handling Papa.
 
But this man, only a few
years older than himself, looked like someone who would be hard to fool.

“It is very kind of you to visit me,”
the Earl stepped into what was becoming an uncomfortable silence.
 
“I believe I know your grandmother, Lady
Waverly.”

“Good god,” Rupert blurted
out.
 
“Uh, I mean, do you indeed?”
 
He reached up with one hand and tugged at his
neck cloth, which felt all of a sudden as if it was strangling him.

Hugh grinned, now convinced that he
knew the true identity of his red-haired beauty.
 
The Denham siblings seemed to share an
inability to lie plausibly.
 
Taking pity,
he indicated a chair, and as Rupert sank gratefully onto the sofa, Hugh said,
“Yes, Lady Waverly is my godmother.”

Rupert looked at him with a
sympathetic smile.
 
“Tough
luck, old man.
 
I’ll admit she
terrifies me.”
 
He shuddered eloquently.

“She is certainly sharp-tongued,”
the Earl commiserated.
 
“She terrified
me, too, when I was a lad.
 
Whenever I
visit her I have to remind myself that she no longer has any hold over me.
 
She can’t actually do anything to one, you
know.”

Rupert looked up, amazed.
 
“That’s exactly what Sally said,” he
marveled.
 

“Who is Sally,” the Earl
questioned, suddenly intent.
 

“My younger
sister.
 
She refuses to be afraid
of our grandmother.”

“Good girl,” Hugh said approvingly.
“I perceive that she is a girl after my own heart.
 
But you have not told me how I can be of
assistance to you.”

Rupert looked miserable.
 
“Uh, I was travelling in the area, and
thought to visit an old crony of my father’s.
 
You cannot be a friend of my father, the Viscount of Denham?”

“No.
 
I think you must mean my father,” the Earl
said.
 
“I am sorry to tell you that he
passed away last year.”

“Oh, I say,” Rupert said with quick
sympathy.
 
“I am sorry, my lord.”

‘Thank you.
 
And please call me Hugh.
 
I admit to being curious about whom you are
visiting in Scotland
at this time of year.
 
I believe I know
all the families nearby.
 
Where are you
staying?”

If possible, Rupert’s face became
even more despondent.
 
Sally had not
prepared him to be questioned.
 
He had
intended to spend a polite fifteen minutes with the old Earl talking about his
father and grandmother, and then find a way to speak to one of the
housemaids.
 
He tried valiantly,
however.
  
“I had been visiting Lady
Waverly, at the request of my mother.
 
Just thought to see a bit of the country before heading back to London.”

“Will your sister
be
joining you in London?”
 
Hugh asked off-handedly.

“No,” Rupert replied, off
guard.
 
“She was to make her come-out this
year, but my mother has cancelled it after a spot of bother.
 
Poor Sally, she was supposed to make her
debut last year, but our grandmother died, so it was put off to this year.
 
And now this.
  
Sally is completely blameless, mind you,” he
added quickly, in defense of his beloved sister.
 
“She was caught up in a situation that made
her appear to have done something that she did not do.”
 
He stopped, feeling that he was getting off
track and confusing the issue.
 
Marshalling
his thoughts, he continued, “That’s one of the reasons I decided to do a bit of
travelling before heading south.
 
Family
in a bit of an uproar, don’t you know.”

“If you’re not in a hurry to get
back to town, please consider staying at Castle Kane for a few days,” Hugh
offered.
 
“I am staying a week or so
longer before I return to London
myself, and hoped to get in some hunting.
 
I admit
,
I should be very happy to have
company.”