Tender Rebel #3

“But I don’t understand, Ros,” Lady Frances leaned forward to say. “Why would you want to tie yourself to a man when you don’t have to? I mean, if you were already in love, that’d be different. But you’re talking about marrying someone you haven’t even met yet.”

“Frances, if I hadn’t promised, do you really think I’d do it?” Roslynn asked.

“Well, I should certainly hope not—but who’s to know if you don’t keep the promise? I mean, your grandfather’s dead and—” Frances broke off at the look on her friend’s face. “Forget I said that.”

“I will.”

“Oh, I just think it’s such a shame!” Frances sighed with emphasis.

Lady Frances Grenfell was a striking woman by any standards. On the tiny side, she was not exactly beautiful but was, however, very handsome with her blond hair and dark brown eyes. At one time she had been the most cheerful, effervescent girl Roslynn had ever known, but that was before her disappointing marriage to Henry Grenfell seven years ago. Now she was demure, matronly even, yet she did still have her moments that could remind Roslynn of the happy girl she had once been.

“You’re as independent now as anyone could ever ask to be,” Frances continued determinedly. “With more money than you know what to do with, and not a soul to tell you what to do. It took me seven years and living with a man I didn’t love for five of them to get to where you are now, and still I have a mother who nags if she hears of me doing the slightest thing she doesn’t approve of. Even as a widow living alone with my son, I still have someone to answer to. But you, Roslynn, you have no one at all to worry about, and yet you must give yourself over to some man who will delight in putting a harness on your freedom as Lord Henry did to me. And I know you don’t want to do it. I know that very well.”

“It doesn’t matter what I want, Frances. It’s what I have to do.”

“But why?” Frances cried in exasperation. “That’s what I want to know. And don’t just say again because you promised your grandfather you would. Tell me why he made you make such a promise. If it was so important to him, he had ample time to have married you off himself.”

“Well, as to that,” Roslynn replied, “there was no one I wanted to marry. And Gramp wouldn’t have forced me on someone I didn’t want.”

“In all these years? No one at all?”

“Och, I hate the way you say all these years, Frances, I really do. Dinna remind me how difficult it’s going to be for me.”

Frances’ brown eyes widened. “Difficult?” She nearly laughed. “Posh! If ever there was going to be anything so easy, it’s getting you married. You’ll have so many hopefuls, you won’t know what to do with them all. And your age, m’dear, won’t matter one little jot. Good God, don’t you know how incredibly lovely you are? And if that weren’t enough, you’ve got a fortune that would make a banker positively drool.”

“I’m twenty-five years old, Frances!” Roslynn said in such a way that she might as well have said one hundred.

Frances grinned. “So am I, and I don’t consider that ancient, thank you.”

“It’s different when you’re a widow. You’ve been married. No one would think anything of you marrying again.”

“No, they won’t, because I never will.”

Roslynn frowned at the interruption. “But the ton will take one look at me on the marriage block next to all those young debutantes and laugh their heads off.”

Frances smiled. “Honestly, Ros—”

“It’s true. Hell’s teeth, I’d laugh myself to see a twenty-five-year-old spinster making a fool of herself.” Roslynn snorted.“Now stop it. I tell you—I swear to you, your age won’t matter.”

Roslynn couldn’t believe it, much as she wanted to. She hid it well, but she was very close to tears. This was the very reason she was so terrified of putting herself forward in search of a husband. She was going to make a fool of herself, and that was something she couldn’t bear.

“They’ll think something’s terribly wrong with me because I didn’t marry before now, Fran. You know they’re bound to. It’s human nature.”

“They’ll understand perfectly when they hear you’ve spent the past six years nursing your grandfather, and they’ll commend you for it. Now, not another word about your age. That is the least of your worries. And you have quite managed to avoid answering my question, haven’t you?”

Roslynn chuckled at the stern look on her friend’s face, a warm, husky sound that was uniquely her own. She and Nettie had arrived at the town house on South Audley Street late last night, so late that there had been no time for the two old friends to talk until this morning. And it was an old friendship, one that had survived twelve years with only one visit in the last ten, and that was when Frances had brought her son, Timmy, to the Highlands for a holiday four years ago.

Roslynn had other women friends in Scotland, but none as close as Frances, and none to whom she felt free to confide all her secrets. They had met when they were thirteen, when Gramp had carted her off to school in England to “ladify” her, since he swore she was turning into a wee hoyden with no sense a-tall of her station—which was certainly true, for all that, but not very fair as far as she was concerned at the time.

Roslynn had lasted two years at school before she was kicked out and carted back to Cameron Hall for “incorrigible behavior.” Gramp didn’t scold. Fact was he had missed her too much and was glad to have her back. But he enticed one of the fine teachers away from the school to continue Roslynn’s education, and there wasn’t any mischief terrible enough to make Miss Beechham quit; Gramp was paying her too much.

But during those two years in England, Frances and Roslynn had been inseparable. And if she hadn’t had her own coming out when she turned eighteen, she had shared Frances’ through their letters. Through Frances, she knew what it was like to fall in love. Through Frances, she also knew what it was like to have a husband you didn’t love. And although she never had any children of her own, there wasn’t a single thing she didn’t know about them, at least about a son, because Frances had shared every phase of Timmy’s development with her.

Roslynn had shared everything too in her letters over the years, though her life in the Highlands had been singularly lacking in excitement. But she hadn’t wanted to worry Frances these last months with Gramp’s fears, so she hadn’t told her about Geordie. And how to tell her now? How to make her understand that this was not just an old man’s senility to scoff at, but a very real and dangerous situation?

Roslynn decided to start at the beginning. “Frances, do you remember my telling you that my mother drowned in Loch Etive when I was seven?”

“Yes, a year after your father died, wasn’t it?” Frances said gently, patting her hand.

Roslynn nodded, trying not to remember how desolate she had been from both deaths. “Gramp always blamed his grandnephew, Geordie, for my mother’s death. Geordie was a mean child, you see, always hurting animals and causing accidents that he could laugh over. He was only eleven at the time, but he’d already caused one of our grooms to break a leg, our cook to be severely burned, and one horse to be put down, and no telling what he’d done at his own home that we never heard about. His father was my mother’s cousin, and when he came to visit, he always brought Geordie. And the day my mother drowned, they’d been visiting a week already.”

“But how could he have caused your mother to drown?”

“There was never any proof, Frances. The boat she took out was assumed to have overturned, and she was too constricted in her heavy clothing, it being winter, to be able to swim to shore.”

“What was she doing out on the loch in winter?”

“She had grown up on the loch. It was second nature to her to be in the water. She loved it, swam every day in the summer, and did all her visiting that could be done up and down the shore, both sides of the loch. If she could row herself, she’d have nothing to do with a carriage or a horse, no matter the weather. And she had her own little rowboat that was easy for her to handle. We both did, though I was never allowed to take mine out alone. But anyway, as good a swimmer as she was, she didn’t make it out that day.”

“There was no one to help?”

“No one saw it happen. She’d planned to cross the loch that day, so likely the boat went down too far in the middle. It was several days later when one of the crofters happened to mention to Gramp that he’d seen Geordie down by where the boats were kept, earlier in the week. If Geordie weren’t such a little devil for causing accidents, Gramp would never have thought anything of it. But the fact was, Geordie had taken my mother’s death near as bad as I did, which was most surprising since he had never really liked my mother or me.”

“So your grandfather thought Geordie had tampered with her boat?”

Roslynn nodded. “Something that would have caused a slow leak. It would have been just the sort of thing Geordie would have laughed over, to have someone get a dousing and lose a good boat. If he did do it, I don’t think it was any more than a nasty prank, one gone awry. I don’t think he meant to kill anyone, just get them wet and mad. He couldn’t have known that my mother wouldn’t have been rowing near shore. It wasn’t often she crossed the loch.”

“But still”

“Yes, still.” Roslynn sighed. “But Gramp could never prove it, and so what could he do? The boat was never found to show it’d been tampered with. Gramp never trusted Geordie after that, never let him come to the Hall but that he put one of the servants to following him. He hated him, Frances, deep down, yet without telling his father what he suspected, he couldn’t deny him his home. But he swore Geordie would never get anything out of him, and he was emphatic about that. When Geordie’s father died, he left him only a small inheritance. Gramp knew Geordie resented him having so much, while Geordie’s side of the family had so little, but that came with Gramp being the oldest son and inheriting the Cameron wealth. And Gramp knew for certain Geordie wanted the money when he asked me to marry him.”

“You do yourself a disservice there, Ros. You don’t have only money to recommend you.”

Roslynn waved that aside. “The fact was that Geordie had never liked me, Frances, even as we got older, and the feeling was more than mutual. He resented me, you see, being Gramp’s closest relative. It wasn’t until his father died and he learned how little was left him that he did a turnabout and became Mister Charming to me.”

“But you turned him down.” Frances pointed out the obvious.

“Of course I turned him down. I’m not a stupid looby who can’t see through false flattery when it’s poured on with such ruthlessness. But he didn’t give up. He continued to pretend a great love for me even while I could see the cold hatred in his icy blue eyes.”

“Very well, now I have all that, I still don’t see why you have to rush onto the marriage block.”

“With Gramp gone, I’ve got no protection. I wouldn’t need protection but for Geordie. He’s asked me to marry him too many times, you see. He’s made it clear in every way he wants the Cameron wealth, and he’ll do anything to get it.”

“But what can he do?”

Roslynn snorted in disgust. “I thought nothing. But Gramp was wiser.”

Frances gasped. “The money wouldn’t go to Geordie if anything happened to you, would it?”

“No, Gramp made sure of that. The thing is, Geordie can force me to marry him if he can get his hands on me. There are ways, drugging or beating, or even an unscrupulous parson, and there’d be no signing of the marriage contract that Gramp had drawn up for me. Geordie would have control of everything if he could manage it, and as I said, it would only take his getting his hands on me. Once I’m his wife, he’d have no use for me, would he? In fact, he daren’t keep me around to tell all that he’d done.”

Frances shivered, despite the warm summer night. “You’re not making this up, are you?”

“I wish I was, Frances, I really do. Gramp always hoped Geordie would marry, but he never did. Gramp knew he had just been biding his time, waiting for the day I’d be left alone with no one to protest very loudly if he forced me to marry him. And he’s too big for me to fight, even if I am right handy with a dirk and keep one in my boot.”

“You don’t!”

“Oh, I do. Gramp made sure I knew how to use it too. But what help would a little dirk be if Geordie hired help to abduct me? Now you know why I had to leave Scotland so quickly, why I’m here.”

“And why you want a husband.”

“Yes, that too. Once I’m married, there’s nothing Geordie can do. Gramp made me promise I’d marry, and quickly. He planned everything, even my escape. Geordie will search Scotland first before he looks for me here, so I have a little time to choose someone, but not much.”

“Dash it all, it’s not fair, none of it,” Frances said with feeling. “How can you fall in love in such a rush?”

Roslynn grinned, remembering Gramp’s stern admonishment. “Protect yerself first, lassie, wi’ a ring on yer finger. Ye can find love later.” And how she had blushed, understanding exactly what he’d meant. But he had also conceded. “Of course, if love falls into yer lap, dinna be pushing it off. Hold fast and dinna let go, fer it could work, and then ye’ll have nae need tae be looking fer it later.”

Gramp had had other advice too, about whom she should consider. “They say a rake makes a dandy husband, that’s if a bonny lass can catch his heart—no’ his eye, mind ye—his heart. He’s sowed his oats, ye see, more than sowed them, plowed the whole field, sae tae speak. Sae when he settles down, he’s ready tae do just that.”

“They also say, once a rake, always a rake,” Roslynn had been compelled to point out. This bit of advice from Gramp she hadn’t been at all thrilled with.

“Who says sae? If that’s sae, then the heart hasna been caught. Ye catch the heart, lassie, and ye’ll be glad of it, ye will. But I’m no’ talking ’bout the young hellions, nae, nae. Ye want tae find a mon wi’ enough years on him tae ken he’s had his wild days aplenty and doesna need more. But ye dinna want him jaded either. Be careful of that.”

“And how do you tell the difference?”

“If he still has feeling. If ye can excite him—och, never mind those blushes, lassie. Ye’ll be exciting more young bloods then ye’ll ken what tae do wi’, and enough rakes as well, sae ye’ll have plenty tae choose from.”

“But I don’t want a rake,” she had insisted.

“Ye will,” Duncan predicted. “Happens they’re the ones the lassies canna resist. Just make sure ye get the ring afore ye allow—”

“Gramp!”

He snorted at her exclamation. “If I dinna tell ye, who will? Ye need tae ken how tae handle such a mon.”

“With the back of my hand, that’s how.”

He chuckled. “Now, hinny, ye’re no’ being open-minded about this,” he cajoled her. “If the mon attracts ye and sets yer heart tae fluttering, are ye going tae ignore him simply because he’s a rake?”

“Yes!”

“But I tell ye they make the best husbands!” He had turned to shouting in the face of her stubbornness. “And I want the best mon fer ye, even if ye willna have much time tae find him.”

“How in the blue blazes do you know, Gramp? Just tell me that, if you can.” She wasn’t angry, just flustered. Gramp didn’t know she already had knowledge of rakes through Frances, and as far as she was concerned, they were to be avoided like the plague.

“I was one myself, and dinna look sae surprised. I’d had sixteen years of plowing the fields afore I met and married yer grandmother, and I was faithful tae the lass until the day she died.”

An exception. One exception. Certainly not enough for Roslynn to change her mind about that particular breed of gentleman. But she didn’t tell Duncan that. She let him think he had made his point. Still, this was one part of his advice she wouldn’t follow and so made no promises about.

To Frances and her question about love, Roslynn shrugged. “If it doesn’t happen right off, then it doesn’t. You managed to live through it.”

Frances frowned. “I had no choice.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have reminded you of that. But as for me, show me a fine-looking fellow who isn’t too much of a skirt-chaser and he’ll do nicely. If I think I can like him, that should suffice.” And then she grinned. “After all, I have my grandfather’s permission, suggestion even, to find love later if I don’t get it in my marriage.”

“He…would you?”

Roslynn chuckled at her friend’s shocked countenance. “Let me find the husband before I start thinking about the lover. Just cross your fingers for me that they turn out to be one and the same.”