Tamed by a Laird (34 page)

“You astonish me, Phaeline. I’d expect you of all people to agree that a well-trained woman must be a better manager than
an untrained man. Has anyone trained Reid, or is his sex alone enough recommendation for the task, in your opinion?”

“If anyone
should
have trained him, it is
you
!” Phaeline said waspishly.

“I should have, aye. But Thornhill is not on the moon, and having accepted your insistence that you knew what was best for
him, I left him to you. Moreover, as far as I can tell, he has shown small interest in learning anything.”

Jenny, seeing Reid grimace, wondered if he would speak for himself or if Phaeline would defend him again, but both remained
silent.

“Just so,” Hugh said. Hefting the pages he held, he added, “If any or all of the three of you thought you could simply seize
these estates, you would soon have learned your error. Not only does Jenny know that a husband cannot take her title against
her will, but the law would be wholly on her side if she had to fight these settlements. They are worthless. You must tear
them up and negotiate new ones.”

“Then that is what we will do,” Phaeline said, nodding reassuringly at Reid.

“No, we won’t,” Jenny said, standing. “I won’t sign anything of the sort. As every one of you has known from the outset, I
do
not
want to marry Reid Douglas.”

“We’ll see about that,” Reid snapped. “You are promised to me in the sight of God, and I
will
hold you to that promise.”

Hugh said gently, “You might succeed, too, were there no just impediment to such a union. However, much as you will dislike
hearing it, I’m afraid there is one.”

“What the devil are you nattering about now?” Reid demanded.

“Why, only that Jenny is already married,” Hugh told him. “To me.”

In the uproar that followed, Hugh’s temper—which had fought for release from the moment they had entered the solar—rapidly
subsided. The sight of his sister, Reid, and Dunwythie all bursting into speech at once was amusing enough to ease his fury
with all three, albeit not enough to obliterate it.

He made out only a few phrases here and there, but Phaeline and Reid seemed to accuse him of betraying the Douglas family
and Dunwythie of betraying his own. Dunwythie, oblivious to the other two, kept repeating demands for an explanation.

In the midst of it, Jenny stood still, looking cool and aloof, as if she were a visiting dignitary and a cluster of local
children had suddenly begun to quarrel. It had, she might as well have said, nothing to do with her.

To Hugh, she looked like an island of tranquility in the midst of a storm, although he had no doubt that under that cool façade,
she was seething.

Nothing she had said to him suggested that she harbored affection for any of the three, but she had to feel Dunwythie’s betrayal
especially. As her guardian—faith, as her uncle by marriage—he owed her his honest duty. But whether through ineptitude or
his unfortunate habit of bowing to his wife’s every whim and fancy in a natural, masculine desire for peace, he had let Jenny
down badly.

Reid’s voice suddenly soared above the others as he whirled toward Hugh. “I knew you would try to ruin everything for me!
Damn you, Hugh Douglas!”

“Peace, lad,” Hugh said, bracing himself hopefully. “None of this was my doing.” He nearly added that it was none of Jenny’s
either, but honesty forbade that, since her abrupt departure from Annan House had begun it all.

In any event, Reid did not give him time to speak, shouting, “
Not
your doing? How can that be if you have married the curst woman?”

“Mind your tongue, for I want to hear no more of that,” Hugh said curtly. “My following her to the minstrels’ camp created
a misunderstanding. Believing I was a suitor and that she liked me and needed a protector, they arranged a play about a marriage
in which we believed we played roles. The priest, however, was real.”

Reid sputtered, “But… but so what if he was?”

“It means the ceremony was likewise real, and a priest lacks authority to undo a marriage. Nevertheless, you will have no
difficulty getting it annulled, my lord,” he said to Dunwythie. “Their prior betrothal will ease the way. The process will
take time, of course, but ’tis time you will doubtless devote to sorting out things here. In any event, as I said, I must
go to Threave. It is at best a two-day journey from here, and there is some urgency.”

“If there is urgency, lad, you may want to travel faster,” Dunwythie said. “I can arrange for you to take a ship from Annan
to Kirkcudbright if you like. From there, I believe, it is but a few miles or so to Threave.”

“If you have men’s business to discuss now, I doubt anyone can think it concerns Janet,” Phaeline said. “And, as you will
remain here whilst we arrange your annulment, Janet, you may retire now to your bedchamber. When you are ready to apologize
properly for your rash behavior, you may do so. Until then—”

“No,” Jenny said flatly.

“No? By heaven, whilst you are under this roof, you will do as you are—”

“No, Phaeline, I will not. I am going to Threave with Sir Hugh.”

Hugh was still considering Dunwythie’s offer of a ship and had paid little heed to the exchange, but at these words, he looked
at Jenny.

“Now, lass,” he said firmly, “we’ve already decided that you’ll stay here.”

“
We
did not,” she retorted. “
You
declared that I would, but that was before I understood all that has taken place here. You
are
still my husband, are you not?”

“Aye, legally, I am,” he admitted.

“Then, until the annulment my place is with you. After all, it is your duty to protect me, and they have proven beyond doubt
that I cannot trust them.”

As Hugh tried to think of something sensible to say that would refute her logic, Reid said, “Faith, she’s probably already
slept with
him
!”

“Nay, lad, that is not—”

“Aye, sure,” Jenny declared roundly. “I
have
slept with him.”

“Now, see here,” Hugh exclaimed. “She does not know what she is—”

“I knew it!” Reid exclaimed. “By heaven, you
do
want thrashing, and I—”

“Enough!” Hugh roared, stepping between them as the thought of Reid touching Jenny snapped the tenuous hold he had on his
temper. “By God, Jenny is right. I
am
her husband, and as far as I’m concerned, the only way we’ll see
any
annulment is if Jenny wants one. Until that day, she
is
my wife and will remain so!”

Jenny swayed dizzily. Such an impulsive speech was the last thing she had expected to hear from Hugh. She had hoped only that
he would agree to take her to Threave, because she wanted less than ever to stay at Annan House.

Phaeline and Reid would both exert themselves to make her miserable. And although Mairi and Fiona would be kind to her, it
would not be enough.

But to stay married to Hugh… she had to think about that.

He was watching her now, narrowly, as if he would judge her reaction. Well, she would recall his good advice yet again and
reveal her feelings to no one.

Accordingly, she turned to Dunwythie and said matter-of-factly, “How soon can a ship set sail from Annan Harbor, my lord?”

“Sakes, lassie, we must talk about this,” he said, glancing at the others.

“How soon, sir?” Jenny repeated.

Looking at Hugh and finding no support there, he said, “ ’Tis best just now if ye leave on a morning tide. Sithee, Kirkcudbright
lies some fifty miles from here. But whilst that would mean two long days’ travel on horseback, or longer if snow flies again,
’tis nobbut a half day’s journey by galley if ye go with the ebbing tide.”

“Then we can leave tomorrow morning, sir,” she said to Hugh.

“We’ll see what his lordship learns of ships in the harbor first,” Hugh said.

“Very well, then I shall see to my packing. I do not mean to visit the Lord of Galloway with only this kirtle, two shifts,
one pair of boots, and a cloak.” Curtsying to Dunwythie, she added, “Pray, grant me leave to go to my chamber, my lord.”

“Aye, to be sure, lass. But ye shouldna go like this. ’Tis as if ye were running away again, and I cannot believe we’ve been
so unkind to ye as to make ye do that.”

“I’ll talk with her, my lord,” Hugh said. “But you should ask your conscience if it was kindness to negotiate those marriage
settlements without consulting her about them or referring to the late Lord Easdale’s will for his direction.”

“Aye, lad, I ought to have read the will. And I’ll grant ye, the lass did say summat about his teaching her. But she’s still
just a lass for all that. Still, ye were right to say I should teach mine own lassies summat about managing my estates.”

“An excellent notion,” Hugh said, but he was watching Jenny.

“I’ll leave you now,” she said. With another brief curtsy, she left the room and hurried upstairs, hoping Phaeline would not
follow her.

Reaching her own bedchamber, she found Mairi and Fiona inside, waiting.

“We knew she’d send you here as soon as they stopped scolding,” Fiona said.

“I’m leaving with Sir Hugh,” Jenny told them as she shut the door. “Prithee, do not try to dissuade me, either of you. Do
you ken aught of marriage settlements?”

Both Mairi and Fiona shook their heads.

“Apparently, Phaeline and my uncle contrived things so Reid would take over my estates and title, but Sir Hugh said they broke
the law. As he and I are married—”

“Married!” they exclaimed in unison.

Jenny explained, adding, “So I’m going with Hugh. I expect we truly are married now, for they all say they will seek an annulment.
But I can
not
stay here.”

“Did you really sleep with him?” Fiona demanded. “What was it like?”

Jenny chuckled. “I did
sleep
with him, but not as you mean or as Reid thinks, because Hugh did not want to make getting an annulment more difficult or
to get me with child. But after the wedding, the others prepared his tent for us, and I did not want to tell them what a coil
they had made for us. Nor did I want to make Hugh tell them, especially as it was my own lie that began it all.”

“Was Hugh furious?” Fiona asked. “My mother has spoken often of his fearsome temper.
Is
it fearsome?”

“I do not find it so, although he did say things I’d liefer not have heard. I had not seen him truly furious until today.
But I could tell he was angry as he read my marriage settlements, and he grew angrier yet when Reid said I must be punished.”

“Reid does have a right to be angry with you,” Mairi said reasonably.

“Aye, perhaps, but when he demanded punishment, Hugh declared that as far as
he
is concerned, we are married and will stay married unless I will it otherwise.”

“But you do will it otherwise, don’t you?” Fiona said. “You cannot want Sir Hugh for a husband. Why, you said as much, yourself,
the night you left.”

Jenny hesitated. “I don’t know what I want anymore,” she said. “But I am leaving with Hugh in the morning. So, if you two
mean to stay here and talk, you must help with my packing and tell me all that happened whilst I was away. Did they find any
of the missing jewelry.”

“How do you know any jewelry was missing?” Fiona asked.

“Hugh told me, of course, when he found me. Was much taken?”

“Aye, a good many pieces,” Mairi said. “But a traveler found nearly all of them not far from our gate, so it must have been
someone playing a prank. Phaeline was furious that she and Father had to return the missing pieces. She said it made it look
as if someone here had taken them, whilst she is sure the minstrels did.”

“Except they couldn’t have taken
all
of it,” Fiona said. “Recall that things were taken after they had gone, including Mam’s pearls.”

Jenny said, “I just don’t think minstrels would steal from houses where they perform. If people even suspected they might,
they would not let them into ordinary houses, let alone into places like Lochmaben and Threave.”