Never Kiss a Laird (6 page)

“I must thank you for your obliging
offer, Mr. Atherly.
 
I admit it has taken
me by surprise,” she said stonily, playing for time.
 
“I must beg you to allow me to think about it
before making my answer.”

“Don’t think too long,” Simon
warned.
 
“I might change my mind, and
then where would you be?”
 
He laughed
heartily at his own joke. “I must be on my way anyway. I’ve left my horse
standing far too long in this chill weather.
 
I will take my leave of you, my beloved.”
 
He reached out unexpectedly and pulled her
into a tight embrace, trapping her hands behind her back.
 
“Until the wedding,” he said huskily, and
pressed his mouth to hers.
 
Sally stood
without moving, her lips tightly shut, until he released her.
 
With a laugh and negligent wave of his hand,
he was gone.

Chapter Three

Try as she might, though, Sally had
been unable to influence her father’s decision.
 
Over the next few weeks, despite her best arguments, Sally’s parents remained
unyielding, and paid no heed to her steadfast refusal to marry Simon Atherly.
 
They gave her an ultimatum.
 
Either she agreed to marry and regain her
lost reputation, or she would be exiled from Denham Park.
 
Her parents’ first plan, to send her to the
continent with a respectable woman for a chaperone had give way to their
current plan, to send her to Lady Denham’s mama.

 
“I will not be bundled off to Scotland
to be known as Grandmother’s unfortunate compromised granddaughter!”
 
Sally stormed to Rupert, her chief
confidante, as they waited for the grooms to saddle their horses on a bright,
cold afternoon.
 
The midnight blue of Sally’s
riding dress matched her eyes, and became her slim figure admirably.
 
Her brother, equally fine in his smart new
riding jacket, gave her a sympathetic glance, even as he was uncomfortably
aware of the proximity of the groom.
 
Had
he but known, the staff was uniformly well-informed on the subject of Sally’s
notoriety, and her subsequent offer of marriage.
 
He was happily ignorant of that, however, and
put a warning finger to his lips, jerking his head in the direction of the
stables.

Sally sighed, but said nothing
further until she had been thrown up into the saddle, adjusted her skirts, and
she and Rupert had cantered a safe distance from the house.

“You still can’t bring yourself to
consider Simon’s offer?”
 
he
asked sadly.

“Oh Rupert,” Sally sighed.
 
“I thought you would understand.”

“What, that you don’t love him?
 
From what I’ve observed in life, that is not
a luxury most people in our circle are afforded.”

Sally shook her head.
 
“I am not a silly girl, Rupert.
 
I know that I was never promised the
opportunity to wait until I fell in love for marriage.
 
And with Mama canceling my coming-out, and
Lady Greenly’s thorough spreading of the news of that dreadful evening at the
Saracen’s Head, I won’t even get the chance of a respectable, loveless
marriage.
 
And no, I cannot bring myself
to consider Mr. Atherly’s despicable offer.”

“He’s not such a bad fellow, Sally,”
Rupert offered, still confused at his sister’s resolve.
 
“We’ve known him all our lives.
 
He’s a bruising rider, he’s dashed handsome, and,
well, he did the honorable thing in offering for you.”

Sally smiled at her brother.
 
He was too decent to understand the
caddishness inherent in Simon Atherly’s nature.
 
“Nonetheless Rupert, my mind is made up on that score.
 
Let’s not discuss it anymore.”

They cantered through the park in
companionable silence, until they reached the road, and then they let their
reigns drop, and allowed the horses to walk side by side.

“I can’t believe that Mama is
packing you off to Scotland
tomorrow,” Rupert moaned miserably.
 
“I
say, it’s too bad, Sally.
 
Our
grandmother scares me to death.”

“I don’t see why she should scare
you.
 
She is certainly sharp-tongued, but
she can’t
do
anything to you.”

 
“Brave words,” Rupert scoffed.
 
“Still, I can’t even imagine going to live
with her.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”
 
Sally looked sideways at her brother.
 
“That’s why I’m not going to go live with Grandmother.”

Rupert started violently and
inadvertently tugged on his reigns, causing Midnight to toss his head in
protest.
 
           

“Sorry, boy,” Rupert crooned to his
horse.
 
He twisted in his saddle to stare
at his sister.
 
“What did you say Sally!”

“I refuse to dwindle into that
unfortunate, compromised Denham girl.
 
If
I’m to have no future, it shall be the lack of a future that I choose for
myself!”
 
She saw that Rupert was looking
confused, and pulled her horse to a halt, her brother stopping beside her.
 

“Think about it, Rupert.
 
My choices are to either marry a man
I
despise, or go live with my Grandmother,
who despises
me.
 
I will not choose either one of those
futures.
 
So I have a plan.
 
Do you swear on your life to keep this a
secret?”

Horrified by the rapt look in his
sister’s eyes, Rupert made a cross with his fingers over his heart and shook
the hand that Sally held out to him in their childhood pledge of secrecy.

Sally sighed with relief.
 
“I have rented a cottage in a village up in Scotland.
 
I sent the letter from the village, under an
alias, and used some of my pin money for the renter’s fee.
 
And I have received the confirmation of
receipt.”
 

Sally’s eyes sparkled
mischievously.
 
“I shall live in a
cottage and feast upon beans.
 
Or is it
potatoes?
 
Never mind.
 
I don’t know how to cook either.
 
But I must learn.
 
Oh, and how to dress meat, and hold house,
and all manner of things.
 
Will you come
and visit me, Rupert?”

“Yes, in the booby hatch.”
 
Rupert snorted.
 
“You cannot be serious.
 
You, to live alone
somewhere in Scotland?
 
Sally, you had much better go to my
grandmother.
 
I’m sure this will all blow
over, and you can return home before many months.”

Sally shook her head firmly, sending
her red-gold curls bobbing.
 
“No, you are
not being realistic.
 
You are trying to
see the bright side, but there isn’t one, Rupert.
 
Come, I have it all planned out. I still have
all of this quarter’s pin money, and most of last quarter’s. Over three hundred
pounds!
 
That’s almost five times what
Papa paid Miss
Brockham
for a whole year.”

“You can’t possibly be a governess,
Sally. You don’t know anything,” said her helpful brother.

“No, I know that,” Sally was not
insulted.
 
She had never been bookish.
 
“But it’s enough to live on, carefully, for a
number of years.
 
I might find a way to
earn some money, too.
 
 
I just wish I knew how to access the money our
grandmother left me.
 
That is all mine, I
just have no idea how to get my hands on it.
 
I’ve never been to a
bank,
in fact I don’t even
know what bank it resides in.”

“I’ve been to the bank in town with
Papa.
 
Maybe I could help?”

“No.
 
If you were caught trying to get my money,
Mama would quickly figure out that you know where I am.
 
And you know that you could never hold out
against Mama, Rupert.”

Rupert nodded acceptance of this
reading of his character.
 

“It wouldn’t help anyway, Rupert.
 
I am not of age yet, and am legally still
under the control of my parents.
 
In one
and a half years I shall be of age, however, and I can go to Papa’s man of
affairs, and demand my fortune.
 
Then I
can do anything I like, no matter what Mama and Papa say.
 
I could go abroad.
 
I believe Paris is the preferred destination for fallen
women.”

Rupert gave a dutiful laugh, but continued
to look grave.
 
Sally noticed, and
reached over to put an impulsive hand on his arm.
 
“Rupert, I have thought about this.
 
I’ve had little else to do for many weeks.
 
Mama has not let me leave the estate.
 
And
Grandmama
will
be exactly the same.”

Rupert nodded.
 
Knowing his mama, and his
grandmama
,
he was very sure that Sally’s estimation of her future was probably correct.

Sally’s eyes were troubled.
 
“I
kept believing
that our parents would change their minds.
 
Or at least that our father would.
  
They know that I am innocent of the rumors,
but they do not care, Rupert.
 
They want
nothing more than to be rid of me and the embarrassment that I represent.”

Rupert stretched out a hand, and
Sally put her gloved one into his.
 
Meeting his sympathetic look, she sniffed back the tears that threatened
and threw back her shoulders.
 

“Well, they will get their
wish.
 
But not in the manner that they
expect,” she stated firmly.

Looking up, Sally realized they had
strayed farther than they had intended.
 
They neared the spot where Beau had injured his fetlock, unwittingly
precipitating the events that had led her to this pass.
 
She sighed, and told Rupert that they had
better turn back, before they ran into someone they knew.
 

Rupert nodded, but he still looked
utterly miserable.
 
Sally’s heart went
out to him.
 
She knew exactly why he was
having such a hard time.
 
Deep in his
heart, he could not accept that his beloved sister was truly ruined.
 
He thought that if they just waited long
enough, this would all blow over.
 
Sally
knew better.
 
Simon Atherly was back in
town, and was being everywhere received.
 
He was known to have offered for Sally and been refused.
 
He had done the honorable thing, and was now
held blameless.

The same generosity would not be
extended to Sally.
 
And she had learned
her lesson at the Hunt Ball, when Lady Greenly had first betrayed Sally’s
secret.
 
That night of being slighted and
ignored, of having all the young men who had flocked around her turn away and
whisper had taught her all she needed to know.
 
When she had gone into the village a few days later, several people that
she had known her whole life had walked by without acknowledging her at
all.
 
It was as if she were
invisible.
 
She would not court that sort
of treatment again.
 
The thought of
leaving her home behind, and attempting to get by in a cottage in Scotland,
living on her wits and little else, frightened her considerably.
 
But she steeled her resolve, and firmly
intended to carry out this plan.
 
Somehow, sharing her plan with Rupert had been an enormous help.
 
Someone would know where she was and would
come to see her.
 
That would make it
easier.

Rupert interrupted her
thoughts.
 
“How do you plan to get to
this cottage?
 
Are you thinking that you
can just direct John Coachman to drop you there on the way to Grandmother’s?”

“I have it all planned out,” Sally
informed him as they turned their horses and headed back for Denham Park.
 
“I am going to ask if I can bring Beauty to
ride at Grandmother’s.
 
At the final change,
I will take Beauty, leaving a note, and disappear.”

“Sally, you’re mad.
 
It isn’t safe!”

“I will be perfectly safe.
 
Miles will be with me, as well as Millie of
course.”

“Our father’s
groom?”
Rupert blurted, astonished.
 
“I thought father turned him off?”

“He did. And it was wickedly unfair
of him to do so.
 
None of what happened that
dreadful night was Miles’s fault.
 
He
told Tom to go get me from the Saracen’s Head, but Tom mistook his directions
and thought he meant him to go in the morning.
 
I told all this to Father, but he didn’t care.
 
I spoke to Miles before he left, and he has
been most helpful.
 
He took my letter to
the village for me, since I have not been allowed to leave Denham Park.
 
Did you know,
Rupert, that
Miles has no family, and he has lived at Denham Park
since he was eleven years old?”

“I had no idea,” Rupert blurted
out, appalled.

“Neither had I,” Sally
admitted.
 
“But he insisted that he would
accompany me to Scotland,
when I confided my plan, and also was adamant that he would stay with me.
 
Miles will rent a conveyance, and he and my
maid will meet me after I leave John Coachman.
 
 
I told them that I would be
unable to pay them anything more than room and board, and they still insisted
on coming with me.
 
Miles said he would
stay with me even if he had to find work.”