School For Heiresses 3- Beware A Scot's Revenge (15 page)

“Now, that’s a wish I can grant,” he said enigmatically. He dusted off both their hats and handed hers over. “You’ll be needing this.”

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She tied it on, truly confused.

He lifted a shade to stare out the window. “Damn. Looks like rain.”

“Poor Jamie.”

He slanted a dark glance at her. “Not ‘poor Jamie,’ princess. Poor us.”

Before she could ask what he meant, the coach halted in front of a large wattle-and-daub cottage, scattering chickens in its wake. A milk cow munching grass in the scrubby field nearby looked up, and a burst of barks erupted from an outbuilding. That sent a stout, graying woman exploding from the cottage into the yard, wiping her hands on her apron.

As Jamie jumped down to catch the cottager in a tight embrace, Lachlan leaned over toVenetia . “Look here, lass. Telling the Widow McCain you’re being kidnapped won’t get you away from me. She won’t believe you and won’t care about it even if she does. All it’ll do is ruin any attempt yer family makes to save yer reputation.” He glanced out the window. “And mentioning yer father’s name to our hostess would be a very rash mistake.”

“Why?” she said acidly. “Because you’d shoot me for it?”

“No.” He jerked his head out the window. “But
she’s
liable to.”

Venetiablinked at him.

“You see, Princess Machiavelli, the only person who hates yer father more than me is the Widow McCain. If you’re wise, you’ll let me do the talking.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “And how will you explain my being here with you and Jamie?”

“Don’t need to. We won’t be here long, and Annie knows better than to pry. I’ll tell her it’s none of her concern.”

“But then she’ll think that I’m your—”

The word “mistress” was drowned out by the widow exclaiming, “Who is it you have with you, Jamie?”

The woman released him to turn her attention to the carriage.

Setting his shoulders as if bracing for a fight,Lachlan climbed out. The minute the Widow McCain saw him, she froze, the color draining from her features. She looked him up and down, then whispered, “Lachlan Ross, as I live and breathe…But you’re supposed to be…I thought that you were—”

“Dead?” He cast her a rueful smile. “You can’t always believe what you read in the papers, Annie.”

Cocking up his eyebrows in a hopeful expression, he walked haltingly toward her and held out his arms for a hug.

But she was having none of that. She snatched his wide-brimmed hat right off his head, then began to beat him about the head and shoulders with it. “How dare ye let me think you were dead, you big
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reckless lout!”

“Annie, stop that, will you?” he cried as he dodged her blows. “It’s not as if I planned it, you know. Come on, now, that’s my best beaver hat ye’re mutilating!”

“Mutilating! I’ll show you mutilating, you thickheaded clod!” She threw the hat at him, then began looking about the yard. “Where’s my broom? Or better yet, my fowling-piece…then you’ll wish you’d
stayed
dead!”

“Be still, damn you!”Lachlan ordered as he caught her about the waist from behind. “You know I would’ve told you if I could. And my life depends on yer keeping it secret, ye ken?” He waited until she’d stopped struggling, then murmured a few words in Gaelic that softened her frown. At that moment,Venetia would have given anything to understand Gaelic.

“Ye’re lucky I don’t set the dogs on ye,” the woman grumbled.

“I know, I know,” he said, his voice gentler thanVenetia had ever heard it. “Can I let ye go now?”

The widow nodded, but when he released her, she whirled on him and slapped him hard enough thatVenetia heard it in the carriage. “I cried for a week when I heard that you died,” she choked out, and as if to illustrate that very claim, tears leaked from her eyes. “Not that I mind learning that it was a sham, but it was cruel of you to let yer friends keep thinking you were dead. Right cruel.”

To Venetia’s surprise, remorse floodedLachlan ’s face before he enfolded Annie in his arms. “Aww, don’t cry. I’m here now. That’s all that matters.”

As Lachlan comforted her, Jamie came over to helpVenetia climb down from the carriage. “The widow wasLachlan ’s nanny when he was a lad,” Jamie explained, “and she’s looked after him in one fashion or another ever since. Sort of a second mother to him, she is.”

Venetia’s heart sank. That explained whyLachlan was sure the woman wouldn’t listen to her pleas for help. “Lachlansaid she doesn’t like my father.”

“Aye, she was married to your father’s—”

“What are you blathering about, Jamie?” Annie pushed away fromLachlan , blotting her eyes with her apron. “Lud, I don’t know what came over—” She broke off when she caught sight ofVenetia . “And who is this you’ve brought with you?”

It was rather amusing to seeLachlan at a loss. “Well, Annie, I…um…you see…”

Venetiasnorted. So much for his telling his beloved old nanny that the matter was “none of her concern.”

The man could be such a dolt when it came to women. “Yes, do explain,”Venetia told him blithely.

“We’re all waiting to hear.”

“It’s complicated,” Lachlan bit out, sparing a glare forVenetia . “She’s traveling with us, and that’s the end of it.”

That
was more like the overbearingLachlan she knew.

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But apparently that worked no better on Annie. “She’s your fancy woman, is she?” Annie’s face clouded as she lookedVenetia over, taking in her rumpled skirts and shamelessly unbound hair. “I suppose you thought I’d just look t’other way since ye’ve been raised up from the dead and all?”

That putVenetia ’s back up. “I beg your pardon. I am
not
his fancy woman.”

Annie’s eyes narrowed. “Well, aren’t we the la-di-da sort of mistress? Ye think because you’re English ye’re too good for the likes of a clean and decent—”

“First of all, I’m Scottish. Secondly, I’m not his mistress.” Without stopping to think, she spoke the only lie that would make sense. “I’m his wife.”

Chapter Twelve

Dear Charlotte,

You, of all people, should recognize that cynicism is necessary. Otherwise, your young ladies
would head into each season like lambs to the slaughter…much as you yourself did all those years
ago.

Your decidedly cynical friend,

Michael

H
oly Christ,”Lachlan muttered under his breath. Now he was done for. As Annie gaped at the lass, that scamp Jamie was trying not to laugh.

What had possessedVenetia to say something like that? A wife was permanent, someone he couldn’t explain away once this was over, and she knew it.

The light dawned. That was the point, wasn’t it? Princess Machiavelli had found a new way to make trouble for him, devil take her.

She offered her hand to the astonished Annie. “Good afternoon, madam. I’m Lady Ross. And I’m delighted to meet any friend of my husband’s.”

Poor Annie hesitated, then took her hand, her entire manner changing. “Pleasure to meet you, my lady.”

She made a quick curtsy. “Forgive me for misunderstanding.”

“Not at all,”Venetia said. “We’ve had quite a long stint in the coach, and I’m sure I look a fright.” She shotLachlan a triumphant smile. “Besides, my husband should have introduced me properly from the first.”

“Indeed he should have.” Annie glared at him, apparently happy to blame him after he’d hid the truth from her. “So this is what you were doing while the rest of us were worrying about you, is it? You were going off to find you a bride?”

Venetiadidn’t even bother to hide her smirk.Lachlan gritted his teeth. If he calledVenetia a liar, then he’d have to explain why she would lie. And despite what he’d said, he wasn’t at all sure Annie would approve of his actions.

The lass had left him no choice, had she?

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With a sigh, he slid an arm aboutVenetia ’s waist. “It wasn’t planned, Annie.”
That
was certainly an understatement. “We met inLondon and…er…decided to marry, despite her family’s wishes. That’s why we were forced to elope. It was all very sudden.”

“Yes, very sudden,”Venetia chirped. “And now—”

“And now,” he broke in, tightening his arm on her waist, “we’re hurrying to the north, which is why we can’t stay. I want my wife to meet my mother before the news gets out. I don’t want Mother hearing of it from anyone but me.”

He was just congratulating himself on finding a way to keep Venetia’s little lie from moving beyond Annie whenVenetia slumped against him with an exaggerated sigh.

“The man hasn’t given me a moment to breathe since we left,” she said plaintively. “I do hope you’ll convince him to let us rest here a bit.”

Mo chreach,
so
that
was her plan: wangle an invitation so she could manage an escape. Well, not bloody likely. “We’re not staying.”

Turning her pretty face up to his,Venetia cast him a sugary smile. “Oh, but my darling, I don’t know how much longer I can endure that carriage.”

He snorted. She was putting on quite the show for Annie, wasn’t she? “Surely,
princess
,” he said in a warning tone, “you don’t want to wound my mother’s feelings by letting her hear of the marriage before we arrive.”

Apparently the tone of voice that cowed his men didn’t work onVenetia . Her mouth drooped pitifully.

“So your mother’s feelings matter more than your wife’s?” she said, sounding exactly like the pouting miss he’d expected her to be.

Except that she wasn’t.

But Annie didn’t know it. “I’m sure he doesn’t mean that.” The widow tookVenetia ’s arm to draw her away from him. “Pay him no mind, my dear. Men sometimes don’t think.”

“Annie…”Lachlan growled.

“Can’t you see that the poor woman is all done in?” Annie said. “Ye can’t be racing her across the country like one of yer horses.”

“Yes,
darling
, I’m not one of your horses,”Venetia cooed, throwing him a gleeful glance as she let the tenderhearted Annie lead her toward the house.

He stepped forward after them, and pain shot through his bad leg. Devil take the scheming wench! Bad enough that his leg plagued him something awful from having her resting on it for hours. Now she had to try this. Oh, he’d make her regret it when he got her alone. Just see if he didn’t.

“Besides,Lachlan ,” Annie was saying, “yer mother isn’t the sort to have her feelings hurt. She’ll be so delighted you found a wife that she’ll pay no mind to how she heard of it. She’s despaired of yer getting married ever since that silly twit Polly threw ye over.”

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Venetiashot him a curious glance. “Polly? He never told me of any Polly.”

“She was a merchant’s daughter in Dingwall,” Annie explained. “They started courting after he returned from the war, but—”

“We didn’t suit,”Lachlan snapped. When Annie started to usherVenetia across the threshold, he caught the widow by the arm. “Now see here, my wife and I won’t be staying.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Annie snatched her arm free to pushVenetia inside. “The lady needs a good night’s rest before you go on.”

Grinding his teeth,Lachlan followed them into Annie’s elegant little hall with its neat staircase and its costly Turkish rug. Unsurprisingly,Venetia gaped at it. He could well imagine what she’d expected after seeing the chickens in the yard.

“We just want a hot meal and a couple of horses,” he said tersely as he and Jamie crowded into the foyer.

“You mean, a
change
of horses, right?” Jamie put in.

“No.”Lachlan cast Jamie a warning glance. “Horses for my wife and me. We’re riding the rest of the way alone.” How else could he get rid of Jamie?

“The hell you are!” Jamie cried. ClearlyLachlan had made his decision not a moment too soon. “You can’t drag the poor lass over the mountains like that!”

“Of course he can’t,” Annie said with a stubborn lift of her chin. “Don’t be daft,Lachlan .” She pointed through the open door to where raindrops had begun splattering the chickens. “You can’t take her out in this weather. You’ll stay here the night, and then the three of you can go on in the coach in the morning.”

“Jamie and the coach are needed elsewhere, for the shipment inAberdeen ,”Lachlan said, having already anticipated Jamie’s protests.

Jamie blinked. “That doesn’t arrive until next week!”

“And I want you there in case it comes in early. We need the barley, and my wife and I can manage without you.” Might as well use the lass’s lie to his advantage. “It
is
our honeymoon—surely you won’t mind giving us some privacy.”

He shotVenetia a gloating look, exulting in her clear panic at being alone with him. It served her right for concocting a story sure to complicate his life.

Then her eyes narrowed. “Don’t worry, Jamie.” She edged closer to Annie, her new ally. “I’ll be fine.”

BeforeLachlan could set her straight, the rain pelted down with a vengeance, forcing them to close the door.

“You’re not going out into that weather, any of you,” Annie announced. “You’ll have dinner here. Jamie will sleep in the barn and leave at first light.”

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“Jamie will have dinner and go on tonight,”Lachlan countered. “And right now he’ll go see to the horses. Won’t you, Jamie?”

The young man glared daggers at him, but mumbled an “Aye, sir” before heading out into the rain. With a disapproving cluck of her tongue, Annie bustled Lachlan andVenetia through the hall and into a parlor where she lit candles to banish the gloom. “You can wait in here while I find my maidof-all-work to make us some tea. Then we’ll see what we have to feed you. I know you’ll want to be to bed early—”

“Damn it, Annie, we’re not staying the night!”Lachlan snapped.