To Tame a Highland Earl (37 page)

He smiled. “I cannot possibly refuse pie or
rolls.”

His mother shifted the tea pot from the
counter to the stove. “You’ll love the rolls.”

“
I have had
them.”

Eve didn’t look up, but he discerned a pink
tint creeping up her cheeks. Could she be remembering that night in
the galley when the smell of freshly baked bread had permeated the
ship and he’d gone to the galley to find her looking good enough to
eat?—just as she did now. Did she remember throwing her arms around
his neck? She’d hung on as if her life depended on it—until Oscar
arrived. Her presence of mind had probably saved him from getting
pounded by the brute. If it had been up to Erroll, he would have
ravished her then and there. As if conjured by mere thought, Oscar
entered the kitchen.

“
Oscar,” Erroll
said.

“
My lord.” Oscar gave a
slight bow. “I hear you are married.”

“
You don’t look
particularly pleased with the notion.”

The brute shrugged. “She had to marry
someone.”

Eve paused in rolling another piece of dough
into a ball. “Oscar, behave.”

“
I like Oscar,” Erroll’s
mother said.

“
I am glad to hear that,”
Erroll said. “He might join our household.”

“
Me?”

For the first time since Erroll met the man
he looked as though he’d been caught off guard. “Eve was concerned
her father might not be pleased with you.”

Oscar grunted. “He might not be. I haven’t
seen him.”

“
How is the roasted pig
coming along?” Erroll’s mother asked.

“
Very well,” Oscar replied.
“It’ll be ready for tomorrow’s party.”

“
Tomorrow?” Erroll said.
“Can you expect many guests on such short notice?”

“
We already have fifty
replies,” she said.

“
Indeed? One would think
you had sent the invitations before the signing.”

She laughed. “Not quite, but they did go out
very early this morning.”

Immediately after he and Eve retired for the
evening, he wagered.

“
Would you like tea, Oscar?
We are all having pie and rolls,” his mother asked.

“
No thank you, m’lady. I
have work.”

“
Later, then.” She pulled
four cups and tea strainers from the cupboard. “The party will be
tomorrow night, but the celebration will last three
days.”

“
Three days?” Eve twisted
and looked over her shoulder. “Ma’am, you need not go to so much
trouble.”

“
I think you are going to
far more trouble than I.” His mother’s eyes twinkled. “After all,
you are baking the bread.”

“
How many guests are you
expecting?” Eve asked.

“
We sent three hundred
invitations.”

“
Three hundred?”

That surprised even Erroll.

“
That is a crush, even by
London standards,” Eve said.

“
Yes, but not all will
come.”

“
How many guests to you
expect?” Erroll asked.

“
I am hopeful that half
will come.”

“
Half?” Eve looked as if
she would bolt.

“
That half could be
family,” his mother said. “We will not know the full number
until…well, until the celebration is over. Many are coming half a
day’s ride, so they will likely not RSVP.”

“
I assume, then, we will
have houseguests?” Erroll asked.

“
We will. Ash and Olivia,
along with their tribes will most certainly stay. That alone could
be fifteen or more guests. If Lord Sneddon and Venters attend, we
will have a house full.”

“
How do you feel about
this, madam?” Erroll asked Eve. “Are you up to three days of
festivities and MacLean relatives? You did say that
Society
was not to your liking.”

She didn’t look up from her dough. “I said
that London
Society
was not to my liking.”

“
There is plenty of the
same amongst the guest list, I wager.”

She dropped the ball of dough and tore off
another piece. “Perhaps, but the leftovers will compensate
nicely.”

“
You have clearly not spent
much time in MacLean company,” Erroll said.

“
I have spent enough time
with one MacLean to know I can deal well enough.”

“
You are a courageous
soul.”

Eve snorted. “Hardly. It is nothing more than
necessity.”

Erroll heard his mother chuckle in the
instant before the kettle whistled. She pulled it from the heat and
filled the cups.

“
If you find yourself
wanting that ride we spoke about, I am ready at your leisure,” he
told Eve.

Her head snapped up. “Of course, forgive me,
I should have remembered.”

He felt certain she hadn’t forgotten for an
instant.

“
We can go anytime you
like,” she said.

“
We must have pie and rolls
first,” he said, “and you most assuredly must finish your baking.
We must have everything in perfect readiness for our guests. I,
however, can await your pleasure as long as you like.” He lifted a
brow.

She frowned, then comprehension flitted
across her face and her eyes narrowed in a warning that couldn’t
quite hide her discomfort. Erroll decided he liked that.

*****

Eve felt as though she had stepped into a
whirlwind. She’d woken that morning and gone directly to the
kitchen, which seemed the safest place to hide in the massive
castle. Lady Rushton had appeared five minutes later, and Eve felt
certain someone had apprised the marchioness of the fact that her
new daughter-in-law was hobnobbing with the servants. To Eve’s
surprise, her ladyship was just as comfortable in the kitchen as
Eve, and they spent an enjoyable morning together until the earl
showed up. From there, things spiraled downhill with Eve now
finally alone with him on their ride—and they were very alone. All
of Mull, it seemed, was country, except for Tobermory, which they’d
left behind the day they’d arrived.

It felt strange being alone with a man
without thought for what
Society
would think. It felt even
stranger knowing that man was her husband. But she knew well enough
what the ton would think. They would pity him for being forced to
marry a woman of lower birth all because he’d had the misfortune to
be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

They started up the side of a green hill and
a moment later crested the rise and stopped. Eve gave a soft gasp
at the sight of crystal blue water lapping the white sand of a
cove. Sunlight streamed through thin clouds, sparkling the water
and sand.

“
It is beautiful,” she
said.

“
I thought you might like
it,” Lord Rushton said. “Would you like to go down?”

She looked at him. “Can we?”

“
Of course.”

They allowed the horses to pick their way
down the gentle incline through mossy grass and onto white sand.
Lord Rushton dismounted and came around as Eve swung her leg over
her horse’s rump. The earl grasped her waist and she found herself
lifted to the ground.

“
I shouldn’t be surprised
that you refused to ride sidesaddle,” he said.

Eve grimaced. “Would you ride
sidesaddle?”

“
I would not, but I don’t
wear a dress.”

Eve grinned. “I saw men wearing kilts. Not a
one rode sidesaddle.”

“
And you would never get
them to,” he said.

She gazed out over the water. “I imagine the
water is cold this time of year.”

“
The coves warm up in the
summer months, but one could never actually call the water
warm.”

“
I suppose it is too early
in the year to put my toes in the water, then.”

“
You are not faint of
heart, but even your toes might curl. However, if you like the feel
of sand underfoot, there is that.”

She liked that, but thought better of it.
“That would be unseemly.”

“
We’re not in Hyde Park.
You can take off your shoes—or anything else you like.”

Eve looked sharply at him. “Last night you
could have taken off every stitch of my clothing, but didn’t.
Today, in broad daylight
and
in public, you suggest that I
remove my clothes.”

“
We are not exactly in
public, and I did tell you that you deserved courting before the
bedding.”

“
Getting me out of my
clothes is courting me?”

He gave her a sheepish grin. “A bad
habit.”

“
Which will it to be, my
lord? You were quite willing to bed me when you thought there would
be no marriage, yet you shun me now.”

“
I am not shunning you, but
I was wrong to take advantage of you.”

Eve didn’t know how to respond to the
straightforward answer. “I don’t understand.”

He chuckled. “Then I am in good company. Mrs.
Henderson sent along some wonderful cold ham and shortbread. Are
you hungry?”

“
You are changing the
subject.”

He sighed. “If I don’t change the subject, my
resolve will snap. Now, take off your boots and dig your toes in
the sand. You know you want nothing more than that.”

She did want something else—and wanted it
very badly—but realized her folly, and accepted his hand. He led
her several paces closer to the water, then helped her sit. He
lowered himself beside her as she pulled out the skirts of the
riding habit the marchioness had leant her.

“
Here.” He grasped her
feet.

“
Sir,” Eve protested as he
shifted and laid her feet over his thighs. She froze. What was she
supposed to do now? It was only her feet, but she suddenly felt as
though he
had
stripped her of her clothes.

He loosened the lace on the left boot and,
one hand grasping her stocking clad ankle, gently tugged off the
boot. He laid her foot back on his lap, then removed the other boot
with as much care. He set the second boot beside its mate, but
didn’t release her foot. Instead, he stared at it.

Eve was struck with the memory of how he had
tickled her silly last night, and said, “If you tickle my feet, I
swear to avenge myself while you sleep.”

He slanted her a wicked glance. “I would like
to see you try and make good on that threat.” He lifted her foot
higher. Eve tensed to yank free, then froze when he kissed the top
of her foot. He then kissed the end of her toes.

A strange
tickle
raced up her ankle.
“My lord,” she whispered. “You can let me go.”

He nipped at her toes and the pleasurable
sensation connected like lightning to the juncture between her
legs. Holy God, what was he doing to her? He was only kissing her
stocking-clad toes with the barest brush of his lips against her
flesh. The warmth of his fingers around her ankle didn’t help.
She’d lost her mind if all it took was his hand around her ankle to
make her feel weak as a kitten. He grazed another kiss on the top
of her foot, then pulled up her skirt a few inches. Eve held her
breath as he kissed the spot just above her ankle. He then gently
set her foot back on his lap and looked at her, his hands resting
on her legs.

“
Perhaps you need to stick
your toes in the water after all.”

Eve blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

“
I need to douse myself
head to toe in cold water.”

“
I—” Her heel, she abruptly
realized, rested against the hard bulge that had sprung up between
her foot and his abdomen. She dropped her gaze to that area and a
devilish impulse caused her to rub her foot against the steel
rod.

He seized her foot. “
Eve
.”

She heard the gravely note in his voice and
knew exactly how he felt. The mere second her foot had remained in
contact with his erection had been enough to freeze all rational
thought. Lord Rushton lifted her feet off his lap and laid them on
the sand, then stared out over the water. She pulled her knees up
under her skirt and dug her toes into the cool sand. It did feel
very nice, though not as nice as when they’d rested on his lap. It
occurred to Eve that their ride had been relatively short, and Lord
Rushton had clearly set out with the intention of coming to this
cove.

“
Do you come here often?”
she asked.

A fond smile softened his face. “This was a
favorite spot of mine when I was a boy. We are too far inland to
ever see a ship here, and this is part of Ravenhall land, so only
our closest relatives dare hunt here. I spent many a night camped
under these stars.”

“
Why stay here overnight?”
Eve could well imagine that even in summer the nights were cool.
“You are only twenty minutes from home.”

His smile turned into a boyish grin. “For a
teenage boy who is angry with his father, this cove is preferable
to even the labyrinth of rooms at Ravenhall.”

Eve laughed. “Did you plan to run away from
home?”

On several occasions, as a matter of fact.
Though no captain would have allowed the Marques of Rushton’s son
aboard without his father’s permission.”

He braced his palms on the sand behind him,
then lifted his face toward the sun and closed his eyes. Eve
shifted slightly so she could see his face without making it
obvious she was studying him, and allowed her eyes to drift from
his dark hair down his cheek and square jaw to the tanned neck that
brought back the memory of her face pressed against its warm curve.
She hadn’t realized the pleasure looking at a man could incite.