Tamed by a Laird (33 page)

“Sakes, woman, she is not your slave,” he retorted. “She is with her brother and quite safe, not that you inquired about her
safety.”

Reid looked from one to the other. “With her brother? The juggler?”

“Enough,” Hugh said sternly. “You may ask all your questions when we are in the solar with the door shut.”

“Aye, that would be best, lad,” Dunwythie said to Reid.

“Well, don’t,
any
of you, think you can keep me out,” Reid said belligerently.

Hugh heard Jenny say quietly to her uncle, “Truly, my lord, it
would
be better if we could talk to you privately first.”

Dunwythie looked at her, then at Phaeline.

Before Phaeline could intervene, as Hugh was sure she would, he said quietly to Jenny, “Reid and Phaeline do have a right
to hear your tale, lass.”

She gave him a fierce look, but he met it squarely and with a touch of warning in his expression. “Remember what I told you,”
he said.

“Just what
did
you tell her?” Reid demanded.

“That she deserves to hear all you would say to her,” Hugh replied, holding Jenny’s gaze. When her fierce look faded, he knew
she would hold her tongue unless Reid’s ranting became more than she could bear.

Relaxing, Hugh shut the door and suggested that everyone find a seat.

Before they had done so, Reid said in the same belligerent tone as before, “If Peg is with her brother, she and Jenny must
have left here with the minstrels.”

“Aye, that’s right,” Hugh said equably.

Rounding on Jenny, Reid said, “By God, would you make a fool of me? Leaving our betrothal feast to run off with a lot of common
minstrels!”

“Hardly common,” Jenny said. “They are highly skilled.”

“Do you ever hear such impudence, sir?” Reid demanded of Dunwythie. “By heaven, she wants a good thrashing for this trick
of hers, and I shall see that—”

“You scarcely have the right yet to beat her,” Hugh said, striving to sound matter-of-fact. “You are not yet married to the
lass.”

“Sakes, but she must be punished! Who knows what she got up to in such company? If you followed them, why did it take you
so long to fetch her back?”

“Because it did,” Hugh said.

“Damnation!” Reid exclaimed, flinging out his hands and turning away, only to turn angrily back again. “What am I to think
when you say only that to me? I have the
right
to know every detail—and, by God. I
will
hear them!”

“The details are unimportant now that she is safely home again,” Hugh replied calmly. “She can tell you all about her adventure
later if she chooses.”

Glowering at him, Reid said, “So, that is the tack you mean to take, is it? You have made up your mind and will say nowt more
on the subject. But, she
will
tell me everything and I’ll want a trustworthy woman to examine her before
I
will touch her. Sakes, but God alone knows whose brat she may be carrying!”

This last suggestion brought Jenny indignantly upright, but Hugh threw her such a fierce look that she sat back again without
speaking.

Satisfied, Hugh said softly, “I can vouch for her innocence if you insist.”

“Sakes, you weren’t with her the whole time!”

“Nay, but others were, women and men. They would all vouch for her from first day to last. However, you must do as you will.
Perhaps you have decided that you don’t want to marry her after all.”

Pausing to stare at Hugh, Reid gave a petulant shrug and said, “Oh, I don’t mind marrying her. I just want to know that when
she produces a child, it’s mine.”

“It occurs to me,” Hugh said thoughtfully, “that I ken nowt of your marriage settlements. I presume they are all they should
be.”

“Aye, of course they are,” Reid said, glancing at Phaeline. “Dunwythie and Phaeline saw to everything.”

She said, “I cannot think why they should concern you, my dear Hugh.”

“Why, how can they not when I am head of the family? It is no less than my duty to look them over. Just think what folks would
say of me if aught went awry.”

“There is no need to look at them, I assure you,” Phaeline said firmly.

Dunwythie, looking surprised, said, “Bless us, my dear! Hugh has every right to see them. As head of your family, he is responsible
for Reid’s well-being.”

“Pish-tush,” she snapped. “When has Hugh ever cared for that?”

“Can you lay your hand on them now, sir?” Hugh asked Dunwythie.

“Aye, sure,” Dunwythie said, getting up. “I’ll just fetch them, shall I?”

“Perhaps you could send someone else,” Hugh suggested. “In troth, I do not want to stay longer than necessary. I have information
that I must present to Archie Douglas’s attention as soon as possible. My intention was to deliver her ladyship to you and
then take my leave.”

He took care not to look at Jenny.

Dunwythie said amiably, “Aye, sure, I’ll just step out and ask one of the lads to fetch those documents.”

Phaeline glowered at Hugh, but he did not speak, and she apparently could think of naught to the purpose to say to him. The
blessed silence made Jenny decide that, for once, Hugh’s family reputation for obstinacy was serving a good turn.

Even Reid was silent.

When Dunwythie returned, Hugh said, “I did ask her ladyship about those settlements, my lord. She seems unable to recall anything
about them.”

Dunwythie shrugged. “There was no need to discuss them with her. Sakes, but a lass can know nowt of such matters.”

Jenny stiffened again but, encountering another look, held her tongue.

With a slight smile, Hugh said, “You must know that the late Lord Easdale taught her all he knew about managing their estates.
And since she is now Baroness Easdale in her own right, she is surely capable of understanding anything to do with her property.
Moreover, she has the legal right to know exactly what arrangements you have made on her behalf and with regard to that property.
In troth, if I do not mistake the law in such matters, she is
required
to sign any settlements.”

“I signed for her,” Dunwythie said. “As I doubt she can even read them—”

“My father taught me to read,” Jenny said indignantly, not caring this time if Hugh did shoot a warning look at her.

But he said only, “There, you see, sir. Legally, you cannot sign for someone who is herself capable of understanding your
negotiations and signing the related documents. No magistrate would uphold your signature if she challenged it.”

“But he is her guardian!” Reid exclaimed. “He has every authority over her.”

“Unless her father named him steward of her lands as well as guardian of her person, you are mistaken. Well, my lord?”

“He named me her guardian,” Dunwythie said. “One presumed, since she is a mere female, and so young…” He spread his hands.

“You assumed incorrectly and should, if I may say so, have inquired into the rights of it long before the betrothal ceremony.”

“Aye, well, we can set it all to rights,” Dunwythie said as the door opened and a manservant entered. “Here are the documents
now. She can just sign them, and all will be in order.”

As Jenny opened her mouth, Hugh said hastily, “Tell me this, Dunwythie. What arrangement did you agree to for the Easdale
estates?”

“Why the usual one, to be sure,” he said.

“Usual, sir? How would you
know
what is usual? How often have you negotiated for a baroness in her own right?”

Lord Dunwythie looked at his wife.

Phaeline said, “Naturally, Hugh, the management of her estates will be in Reid’s hands. That is as you would wish it to be,
I am sure.”

“Even if that were true,” he said, “you cannot make such an arrangement without her consent, not when her ladyship holds the
barony in her own right. Only she can release that right to someone else.”

Dunwythie, Jenny thought, looked honestly surprised.

So, in his own way, did Reid.

Hugh said, “I’ll just glance over those documents for myself now, shall I?”

T
ense silence engulfed the room as Hugh took the documents and began to read. Jenny noted that Reid was frowning thoughtfully
as he looked at Phaeline again, but Phaeline’s expression was indecipherable. Dunwythie watched Hugh.

He read fast, and Jenny could judge nothing by his expression. She did think, when he set aside the first page, that his movements
lacked their usual lithe grace.

She was wishing she could know what he was reading when he glanced at her and reached for the sheet of vellum he had put aside.

Without comment, he handed it to her and went back to his reading.

Seeing Phaeline’s lips press tightly together, Jenny did not look at Reid. Determined to conceal any reaction she might have,
she began to read.

By the end of the page, she knew why no one had discussed the settlements with her. Knowing she could not trust herself to
speak without losing control, she suppressed her anger, set the sheet aside, and accepted the second one from Hugh.

Reminding herself again of his advice not to let them see that they had disconcerted her—surely, such advice applied to fury
even more than to disconcertion—she kept her mind focused on the words.

It occurred to her abruptly that as Hugh was Reid’s brother, and Phaeline’s, family duty might stir him to approve their acquisition
of the Easdale estates, and the barony title, as well. He was, after all, head of their family.

Deciding she had no need to read more, she looked at him.

He was still reading. When she saw a muscle twitch in his jaw, she inhaled deeply and relaxed, not realizing until then that
she had been holding her breath.

He lowered the pages he still held and looked at Dunwythie.

“I will be civil enough to accept your word that you thought you were acting in her ladyship’s best interest,” Hugh said.
“However, we will have to renegotiate these settlements, and she will take her full part in that discussion.”

Looking bewildered, her uncle said, “Surely not the whole thing! Which particular agreements concern you, Sir Hugh?”

Impatiently, Hugh said, “Guardian or not, Dunwythie, you do not have any right to sign away her estates, let alone to sign
away her inherited title.”

Jenny detected a hard edge to his impatience. Looking at Phaeline and Reid, she knew that Phaeline at least had also recognized
it and knew Hugh was angry.

He went on, “Imagine, sir, if some well-meaning but ignorant person were to do this to the lady Mairi after you died. Would
you
want that to happen?”

“Sakes, I should hope that her guardian would choose her husband carefully and then do exactly as I did.” Dunwythie said.
“I selected Reid because I could be sure of advising him and keeping an eye on things. Mairi will likewise need good counsel.
She has no knowledge whatsoever of how to manage my estates!”

“Then it is your duty to teach her,” Hugh said.

“That is quite unnecessary,” Phaeline said testily. “Janet’s father never remarried or had a son, but my lord husband will
soon have a proper male heir, God willing. You speak most prematurely of training Mairi for the position, sir.”

“Do I? Mairi is eighteen and still has no brother. She deserves the same careful training that Jenny received from
her
father, training that Jenny must have described to you both. I’d wager the late Lord Easdale mentioned that training in his
will, too. He seems to have thought of most things she might need to protect her.”

For the first time, Lord Dunwythie looked flustered. “I own, I did not read the entire will. Once I saw that I was to be her
guardian…” He spread his hands.

“You assumed you’d take full control. Do you have a fair copy of his will?”

“Aye, sure,” Dunwythie said. “I expect you’ll want to see that, too, now.”

As Hugh nodded, Phaeline said testily, “That, too, is unnecessary. Look here, Hugh. You take too much upon yourself.”

“Peace, my love,” Dunwythie said gently. “You upset yourself to no purpose. Hugh is right about the will. Mayhap he is also
right about teaching Mairi. It can do no harm, after all, and may even help her find a husband.”

“ ’Tis only practical to teach her,” Hugh said. “We all know how abruptly an unexpected death can change the lives of everyone
it touches. Indeed, sir, you should teach both of your daughters. Thanks to years of strife and battle here in the Borders,
many
of our women have inherited titles in their own right. And, despite the present truce, such strife could reoccur at any time.
Therefore—”

“I see what it is,” Reid snapped. “You’re afraid that I’ll own more land than you do,
and
an older barony. That would give me precedence, and you have always resented me! You and Father just wanted to rid yourselves
of me. Only Phaeline—”

“That will do,” Hugh interjected in a tone that brooked no argument.

“But no woman can manage estates as well as a man can,” Phaeline put in swiftly. “You must know that, Hugh. In troth, you
should
support
Reid’s claim.”