Borrowed Dreams (Scottish Dream Trilogy) (40 page)

“One of Emma’s unforgivable flaws,
though,” he continued, “was her insistence on pitting the members of this
family against each other. She knew how much David and Pierce cared for her, so
from the start of her marriage, she used them as a means of riling Aytoun.
Complaints she had were not brought to her husband but to his brothers. If
anything at all displeased her, she would run to one of them. Of course, the
fault for every problem lay with Aytoun.”

“Were they so blind?” Millicent
asked passionately. “Couldn’t they see what she was doing?”

“She had been a part of this family
for too many years for them to doubt her.”

“What about the dowager? She must
have seen through her?”

“By the time she realized what was
happening, there were not many choices left to her. Emma was already Aytoun’s
wife. The dowager’s answer to the problem was simply to stay away and let her
son work out his own difficulties.”

“What happened the day of the
accident?”

“Everyone had been invited to Baronsford for the dowager’s birthday. Now, Emma had planned it, which made it very suspicious
to start with, for she didn’t have the best of relationships with her
mother-in-law. But still, they all came. Even Emma’s side of the family had
been invited.”

Truscott stopped again and turned
to look down at the rocks. Not far ahead Millicent could see the stretch of
stony beach at the bend in the river. 

“The morning of the party, while
most had gone out hunting, Aytoun and Emma had a row. I don’t know why or who
started it. And, to be honest, at the time I didn’t even think it strange, for
they often fought when they were together. But then, before we knew it, Emma
had run off on foot, and Pierce and Aytoun were growling at one another in the
gardens.” He turned to her. “I don’t know what was said or why Aytoun left
Pierce behind, but suddenly he was running after his wife, coming in this
direction. Pierce lingered here for only a few moments, and then he, too, went
off toward the river. He followed Aytoun and found the two of them down there.”

Millicent looked where Walter was
pointing and shivered.

“You are sure when you say that
someone pushed her down.”

“I am.”

“But why?” She searched Truscott’s
dark gaze.

“Because many had come to hate
her.”

****

“Jonah told me the stonemason was
finishing the first section of the river wall in the Grove,” Amina said. “Is
something wrong, Vi?”

“Nothing’s wrong. Thanks.” Wrapping
her worn shawl tightly around her shoulders, Violet hurried out the back door
of the kitchen and moved down the path toward the line of trees. 

Vi had immediately recognized the
face of the man who had visited the elder Lady Aytoun. He was the same one she had
run into on the stairs that night at the inn in St. Albans. The same one who
was going up to meet Ned in his room. Just to make sure she had the name right,
Violet had asked Mrs. Page about the dowager’s guest. The housekeeper had said
he was Jasper Hyde’s lawyer, a Mr. Platt from London. Vi knew that Jasper Hyde
was the scoundrel who had been trying to ruin their mistress before she had
married his lordship, but now the connection with Ned made her furious. 

Mrs. Page had also told her that
Platt had met his match in the meeting with the dowager, and there was nothing
to worry about anymore.

Violet had been too ashamed to
admit to the housekeeper that she had seen the lawyer meeting secretly with Ned
in St. Albans. She couldn’t think of any way of letting them know without
having to explain what she herself was doing in that tavern.

The double-dealing, lying,
cheating devil.

Jasper Hyde’s threat was not
completely eliminated. With Ned here, poking his nose and anything else he
could manage into the business of Melbury Hall, there was no saying he wasn’t
sitting and waiting for a chance to cause real trouble.  

When she reached the trees, Violet
gathered up the hem of her skirt and started to run. Now that she had her head
on right, she recalled with a clarity that made her queasy all the questions
Ned used to ask her about Melbury Hall. Her only consolation was that she
didn’t remember ever saying anything that could have caused any difficulties
for her mistress.

At a bend in the path, she ran square into the devil himself. Ned Cranch reached right out to steady her.

“What’s the rush, lassie? Eager to
see me?”

She shook off his hand and stood
her ground, refusing to let him intimidate her. “’Tis finished, Ned. Your true
colors having been shown.”

“That’s a good one, coming from a
whore.” His smirk turned to a frown. “But what do ye mean by that, I’d like to
know?”

“Everybody has figured it out,” she
lied. “Everyone knows you’re being paid by Jasper Hyde. The reason for your
being here is to spy on Lady Aytoun and Melbury Hall.”

“I don’t know no Jasper whatever
his name is.”

“Is that so? Then why did I see his
lawyer, Platt, going into your room in St. Albans? You remember the night.”

Ned’s gaze narrowed and he grabbed
her arm. “So are you going to let them know about us then? About how you played
the slut for a married man to—”

“I already told them,” she replied,
twisting her arm out of his grasp. “And as we speak, Mr. Gibbs has some of the
grooms coming down here looking for you. I probably just need to call out for
them to come running.”

“Ye’re a lying wench.”

“Believe what you want.” Putting on
a look of satisfaction, Violet started backing away. “Stand around and wait
until they come for you, Ned. I’d love to see them give you the beating you
deserve.”

*****

That night, when Jonah came up to the
house complaining about the stonemason disappearing midday and leaving a job
half done, Violet breathed more easily. Ned Cranch had gone away in a hurry.

Now her only hope was for him to
stay away.

The travels they had made to the
neighboring estates had added hours onto their day. It was far later than Lyon had ever intended to stay away, but it couldn’t be helped.

As soon as his chair was placed in
the entrance hall, Lyon asked about Millicent.

“Nay, m’lord,” Mrs. MacAlister
said. “She’s not yet retired. In the library, she is. Waiting for ye.”

“She is not unwell?” he asked,
trying not to sound anxious as the servants helped him remove his hat and
gloves and cloak.

“She’d not admit it, I’m thinking. But she looks tired.” Mrs. MacAlister shot him a look that bordered on reproach. “Her ladyship
pushed herself today. Far more than necessary. This morning, a wee morsel of
breakfast. Then she leaves with Mr. Truscott. Hoping to find you in the
village, she was. By the time she arrives, ye had already gone off to hither
and yon.”

“Yes, Walter told me that she’d
decided to remain in the village when he rode on to join me at Lord Dumfries’s.”
He looked carefully at the housekeeper, surprised by her unexpected concern for
Millicent.

“Well, he would have done better to
bring her home, if ye ask me.” The housekeeper sounded downright disturbed.
“The condition of the folk passing through upset her. Her ladyship stayed down
there far longer than she should have. And then she rode down along the river.
There are more vagrants gathered in the camps down there, where ye allow the
gypsies to camp in the summer. She spent time there as well.”

As the servants readied themselves
to lift his chair, Mrs. MacAlister continued. “I tried to tell her, m’lord. As mistress
of Baronsford, I told her, she is far above getting herself personally involved
with the needs of vagrants passing through.”

“I can just imagine her answer to
that.”

“I do not see how ye could,
m’lord,” Mrs. MacAlister said with a note of pride. “But my new mistress said
even if she were the queen herself, she’d never turn her back on those in
need.”

Mr. Campbell cleared his throat nervously,
drawing Lyon’s attention. “Her ladyship asked me about the number of bedrooms
at Baronsford.”

“Is that so?”

“Aye, m’lord. And how your lordship might feel about filling them up with
guests
.”

“Guests?” Lyon asked, pausing for a
moment before beginning to laugh.

****

She put the closed book on the
shelf. She took it down again. She clutched it under one arm and then held it
against her chest. She put it back on the shelf again. 

Millicent fought to keep herself
composed while the servants tried to settle Lyon onto the settee. The hours
that they had been apart felt like months, and from the first moment Lyon came
into the room, she sensed that his pleasure at seeing her matched how she felt
about him. 

“This is far better. I have never
been so tired of that deuced chair as I was today.”

The serving men had not even left
the room yet, but Millicent could hold herself back no longer. Sliding onto the
settee beside him, she threw her arms around him. He held her tight against his
chest before pulling slightly back and smiling into her face.

“I missed you, too.” He kissed her
lips with such tenderness that Millicent melted against him. The door to the
library softly closed behind the servants. It was some time before he pulled
away, and even longer before Millicent felt herself floating back to earth.

“I’m sorry I left before you
arrived in the village this morning.”

She shook her head. “I needed some
time to establish myself and get my bearings.”

“I understand you did that and
more.”

His right hand cupped her face.
Millicent nestled her cheek into his touch, still amazed that how quickly he
was recovering the movement in his hand and arm. “I might have disappointed
Mrs. MacAlister with my lack of sophistication.”

“Disappointed? You have won her over
completely. Out there in the entry hall just now, the woman spoke more words to
me than she would have normally used in a year.”

“I’m glad. I believe we shall get
along very well. She is very capable and quite efficient, and despite her sharp
manner, she is a very warm woman.”

“Well, I must tell you that you are
the first mistress of Baronsford who has noticed that quality in her. She did
not have much patience with Emma, who would have dismissed her a dozen times if
I hadn’t refused to allow it. And as far as my mother goes, their temperaments
were too much alike for anyone to guess they could even stand each other.”

“She stayed, though, so I suppose
your mother must have appreciated her efforts.”

“I suppose that is true.” Lyon stroked her cheek. “Since you do get along so well with Mrs. MacAlister, then probably
you will not mind what I am about to ask of you.”

“Is it painful?”

“Very!” He settled back with a
tired sigh. “We need to throw a party, very soon. I want to invite every
landlord and member of the gentility within an hour’s ride of Baronsford.”

“How large a group would that be?”

“About a hundred. Perhaps a few
more.”

Millicent settled back heavily,
too. “That is very painful.”

“And did I mention it that we need
to do it soon?”

She nodded tentatively, trying to
blot out of her mind the image of herself in a roomful of distinguished people
where no one noticed her presence.

“Campbell told me you were asking
about the number of guest rooms at Baronsford.”

Millicent looked up at Lyon and smiled. “Yes, I was.”

“This is the reason for the party.”

“To compare the size of castles and
manor houses?” she quipped.

“Even better. We will stuff their
bellies at the same time that we try to shame them into not pushing out their
tenants. We shall also try to get a few of them to offer positions to a few of
the vagrant families. I tried to do that today by visiting some of the
neighboring estates. But it is too difficult to press them one by one. Sir
Such-and-such is in London. Baron This-and-that was interested only in hearing
about you.” He waved a hand impatiently. “We need to bring them all here and
try to convince them at once.”

“With this kind of agenda, do you
think anyone will show up at the party?”

“I think they will
all
come.”

“Why?”

“They are all beside themselves
with curiosity about the new Countess of Baronsford. And…” He pointed to a
chair. “More than few of these curs will jump at the opportunity of looking
down on me.” 

“They’ll burn in hell first. I
shall arrange for you to be carried about on a pedestal ten feet high.”

“Such language!” he said, laughing
and pulling her more tightly against his side. “Does this mean you will arrange
the party?”

“Absolutely. We must do something
for those unfortunate wretches.”

Lyon kissed her again, and Millicent
felt the desire and even the love in his embrace. She felt cherished.

“I know this has only been your
second day at Baronsford, but I thought you should know that you have made a
great impression.” His fingers gently pushed a loose tendril off her face. “And though you have said you have no aspirations with regard to this place, the people here
already respect you. They already see your endearing concern for all.”

Millicent remembered what Truscott
had told her today about Emma loving Baronsford more than Lyon. She imagined
the pain that Lyon must have endured.

“I asked Walter to take me to the
cliffs overlooking the river today. I needed to see the place where you fell.
The place where you lost Emma.”

“You mean where she died.”

Millicent didn’t miss the hard edge
in his tone. “A wise man once told me about this road that both of us had once
walked before. He told me that we need to do better the second time.”