The Sherbrooke Series Novels 1-5 (96 page)

“Will you be able to keep her money, Colin?”

This was from Serena, who was flitting about the entrance hall, looking at herself in every shiny surface she passed.

He had no time to answer, for at that moment Murdock the Stunted appeared in the doorway, his frayed red cap in his gnarled hands.

“I be a mite worried, milor” was all he said.

Colin cursed, long and fluently. Murdock looked upon him with grave disapproval. Aunt Arleth opened her mouth to round on Murdock, but she didn’t have time. Colin was out the front doors.

He cursed all the way to the stables. His own stallion, Gulliver, was blown. He took Old Cumber, a gentle ancient fellow who’d known more feud fights than most men who lived here.

“Which way did she ride?”

“Toward the western end of the loch.”

He didn’t find her, not a trace, not a single damned track. He spent two hours searching,
alternately cursing her, then so worried that one of the MacPhersons had stolen her that he shook. He found himself doubting that Latham MacPherson, the old laird, had truly managed to forbid any further raids on Kinross land. Hell, it was quite possible Robbie MacPherson had left his father’s side—that is, if he’d ever gone to it in the first place. He sweated. Finally, as the sun was beginning to set, he returned to the castle. Her mare, Carrot, was munching on hay.

Murdock the Stunted merely shrugged, but he didn’t meet the laird’s eyes. “She came in a good hour ago, milor’. Quiet she were, but all right an’ tight.”

“I see,” Colin said, and flicked his riding crop angrily against his thigh.

He wasn’t overly surprised to find the laird’s bedchamber not only empty but as sparkling clean as the rest of the castle. It was still as dark as before, but not nearly so dreary now. He hated to admit it. When he went downstairs for dinner, bathed and dressed in formal evening attire, he decided he would hold his tongue. He didn’t want another scene in front of the entire family.

He saw her standing beside the empty fireplace, wearing the same gown, holding a glass of sherry. Aunt Arleth was holding forth about something doubtless unpleasant, Serena was seated on a settee looking dreamily off into space, and the children were there, sitting side by side on a love seat, Dulcie standing like a big-bosomed pixie guard behind them.

Sinjun looked up to see him striding into the room. Damn, but he was splendid. She didn’t want to take his place, the stupid lout. How could he be so blind? She wanted her own place, not his, she wanted to be beside him, laughing with him,
working with him, kissing him and feeling his body with her hands.

“Good evening,” Colin said to all assembled.

“Papa, she said we couldn’t have any dinner, but since you’re here she had to give in.”

Dulcie gasped and grabbed Dahling’s arm. “Ye’re a wicked wee mite, ye are, Dahling Kinross!”

“A veritable witch, I see,” Colin said.

“You overdid that one a bit, Dahling,” Sinjun said, smiling toward her stepdaughter, “but it was a worthy try. I will give you dramatic lessons. You mustn’t ever overdo a role, you know, that’s the cardinal rule of the theater.”

“I should like to tread the boards,” Serena said. “That is the correct way the English say it, isn’t it, Joan?”

“That’s exactly the way. You already walk so gracefully it’s as if you float. The rest would be easy for you.”

“All of this is nonsense,” Aunt Arleth said, standing. “What are your intentions, Colin?”

“To dine, Aunt Arleth. Joan, here’s Philpot to announce our dinner. Give me your arm.”

She didn’t want to, particularly, but everyone was watching and she had no choice. She tensed as he patted her hand, preparing for battle. “Oh, my dear, not here. When I tell you what I expect from you it will be from behind a locked door in my bedchamber—the laird’s bedchamber—the laird’s very clean bedchamber.”

C
OLIN WAS GOOD
to his word. He gently shoved Sinjun into the laird’s bedchamber, then closed and locked the door. He watched her even as he slipped the key into his vest pocket. He watched her walk to the center of the vast room and stop, rubbing her arms with her hands.

“Should you like me to light a fire?”

She shook her head.

“Perhaps it would be a good idea. You will shortly be naked, after all, and I won’t wish to have you shivering from cold. I want you shivering just from me.”

So this was a man’s punishment, she thought, looking back at him now. He was completely in control, his size alone gave him that, and he looked mean and determined and oddly angry. She’d said nothing to draw forth that anger, at least not at the dining table. He was probably smelling the dreaded beeswax and lemon again.

But Sinjun had been blessed with two singularly unmanageable, obstinate, very intelligent brothers, who had taught her a lot about men and their strange outlooks and unaccountable behaviors.

Here was Colin acting like the sultan, and she was here to be his slave girl. The image pleased her. It would have pleased her more were he
laughing and teasing her. Ah yes, veils, dozens of veils in all colors, and she would dance for him and . . .

“What the devil are you smiling about?”

“Veils.”

“Joan, have you lost your wits?”

“Oh no, I was just seeing you as the head sultan and me your slave girl for the night, and I was wearing veils and dancing for you.”

He paused, at a loss. She was unexpected; what she thought and said were unanticipated. Even when she said something that he could possibly expect, at the edge of his brain it still shook him that she could speak so clearly and candidly and without guile. He didn’t like it.

“I think that a charming and apt idea. However, tonight you will simply dance for me naked. I will clap my hands for you if you need accompaniment. I will fetch you some veils when I return to Edinburgh. Then we can try it again, conforming more to your vision.”

“Ah, so it is your intention to leave in the morning, then? Before dawn, I daresay. Whilst I’m still asleep, naturally. I understand, Colin. The last thing you want is to face a pathetic wife who just might beg you not to leave her here again, not to leave her stuck in your home, on your lands, in your damned foreign country. Do you think perhaps I could change your mind about leaving? No, I didn’t think so. Oh yes, I mustn’t forget the pleasant relatives you have immured me with. Aunt Arleth is a treat. She hates you, she hates me; as far as I can tell the only ones she loved were your brother and your father, who played her false, at least in her mind. As for Serena, I have no idea if she is of this world or of the fairies. She’s daft, but pleasantly so. The children—why, I will simply continue to beat them whenever it suits my fancy.”

“I don’t wish to argue with you anymore this night. Just know, Joan, that you will do absolutely nothing more whilst I’m gone. Nothing. You will try to present a pleasant face to all my people and to my children. That is what I expect of you, my wife.”

“Go to the devil, Colin.”

He watched her chin go up and felt his blood quicken, felt his damned blood rush from his brain to his groin. This girl, who’d worshiped him so ardently in London, who’d begged for his man’s body all the way to Scotland, ah, why she’d become a termagant. There was no ardent devotion in her Sherbrooke blue eyes at the moment. There was a good deal of fire, and oddly it looked cold as the moon. It also excited him.

He took a step toward her. She stood her ground. She wasn’t about to let him chase her around the laird’s bedchamber, although she’d heard Alex shrieking once when Douglas was chasing her. And then the shrieks had stopped and Sinjun had known that what they were doing was wonderful. But this wouldn’t be wonderful.

“I will let you kiss me, Colin. I much enjoy that. I already told you.”

“Oh yes, I will kiss you.”

“If you wish I will also kiss you.”

“Yes, I expect you to kiss me back.”

“No, I mean I will kiss your sex and caress you, if you wish. It was enjoyable that first time to hear you moan and see your body tighten and jerk and all because of what I was doing to you.”

He stopped dead in his tracks at that. He swallowed. He also hardened considerably. He easily pictured her above him, touching him with her mouth and her hands. He could still feel her hair spread over his belly.

“No,” he said, “I don’t want you to do that,” and felt his body nearly revolt.

“Why not? You liked it. I don’t know why you made me stop so quickly that first time. I was just learning how to do it. I could continue on and on tonight. I don’t wish to have you do the other thing to me. We have already decided that you will not. You are too large.”

“I told you that you didn’t know anything. For a girl who’s so intelligent, so very well educated, your ignorance in this matter is laughable. I will make love to you, Joan, and I will come inside you the way I am supposed to, the way men and women have come together since the moment God set them in Eden.”

“Very well, I see you are quite set on this. I was just testing the waters. I’m willing to compromise with you, Colin. I will be able to endure one time, I think. It shouldn’t be so bad. But more than one time I cannot allow. It would be cruel of you to insist.”

He laughed, he couldn’t help himself. God, he’d missed her, and he hadn’t wanted to, damn her Sassenach hide. No, he’d wanted to take other women, but he hadn’t, though several ladies had issued invitations that only a blind man would have missed. No, he hadn’t touched another woman, and he’d thought about her, those long white legs of hers, but most of all her absolute honesty. He cursed. He didn’t believe for a minute that she would ever lay a finger in anger on a child, any child, even Dahling at her most irritating.

“No, we’ll do it right. I have endured abstinence. I’m not meant for celibacy. At least no more of it. I will take you as many times as it pleases me to do so, and you will enjoy it, Joan. You will trust me.”

She didn’t move an inch, didn’t twitch. “You force
me to bare my soul, so to speak, to mortify myself, which I don’t like to do.” She drew a deep breath and stared him right in the eye. “I’m not pregnant, Colin.”

“It is just as well that you aren’t. You and I need more time together before you bear my children. We need more understanding between us. You must needs learn your role in my house and what I expect from you.”

“No, I mean I’m not pregnant right now.”

He felt an earthquake of frustration. He felt all the blood in his groin whoosh back to his brain. If there had been a full moon, he’d have howled and run like a crazy man over the Lomond moors.

He looked at her with a thread of hope. “You mean you didn’t discover you weren’t pregnant last week, say?”

“No, right now. Right this very minute as we speak.”

“Perhaps you are nearing the end of it?”

“No.”

Did he expect her to tell him the truth? As a matter of fact, he did.

“Well, blessed hell,” he said.

“That’s my brothers’ favorite curse,” she said, “all except for Tysen, who’s the clergyman.”

“I must have heard your dear brothers say it enough. It always preceded their attacking me.”

“They love me,” she said simply. She waited. He didn’t say a word, didn’t even look as though he wanted to, but simply lacked the proper words or the ability. “Yes,” she said, “blessed hell.”

“Come here and I will kiss you.”

It wouldn’t solve anything, but it would be pleasant, of that she had no doubt. She walked to him with no hesitation. “I would like that. Thank you, Colin.”

For a Colin kiss, it wasn’t his best, she thought, wishing he would kiss her as he had on their wedding night. He gently set her away from him but kept his hands on her upper arms. He breathed in the sweet scent of her. He felt the softness of her flesh beneath his fingers.

She said, her eyes never leaving his mouth, “Edinburgh is but a half day from here.”

“Yes, I know.”

“You could come home every few days, Colin.”

“Yes, but I won’t, not until everything is handled to my satisfaction.”

“Where is Robert MacPherson? Have you spoken to the old laird?”

“I have no idea where Robert MacPherson is right now. Perhaps he followed me back here. I don’t know. But it seems most likely that he will remain in Edinburgh, to try to get to me there. He hasn’t tried anything so far. I have met with old Latham, his father, and he doesn’t understand why Robbie is acting like such a cowardly sod. He’s put out the word for his son to see him, but to date he hasn’t shown himself. He says that Robbie told him I had no proof of anything and he himself would admit nothing to his father. We will see. He will have to come to me sooner or later.”

“Why don’t you just kill him?”

Colin blinked down at her. “You’re a woman,” he said slowly. “Women are supposed to be gentle, to despise violence and war. You want me to kill him?”

She looked thoughtful, then nodded. “Yes, I suppose you must. He sounds unbalanced, a bit like Aunt Arleth. I don’t wish to live in fear of his hurting or killing you. Yes, I think you should kill him, but cleverly, of course.”

He could find no words.

“I could write my brothers and ask them how best to proceed.”

“No,” he said quickly, “oh no, don’t do that. Listen, it’s possible he hasn’t had anything to do with the trouble. I don’t believe that myself, but it’s possible. After all, you were the one hurt in Edinburgh. Robbie is a good shot. It’s difficult to believe he missed.”

“You’re forgetting London. And I should say that trouble is a passionless word for trying to kill someone, Colin.”

“I can’t be certain. It is likely, but not certain.”

“So you will remain in Edinburgh until he either kills you or you manage to kill him in the act of trying to kill you?”

He gave her a lopsided grin. “I expect that’s about it.”

“Sometimes I think gentlemen are too soft.”

“I shouldn’t wish to hang.”

“Oh, you’re much too smart to have anyone think you’d done it. Aren’t you?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never before killed anyone with any kind of premeditation.”

He released her and watched her walk to one of the huge overstuffed leather chairs. She stood behind it. “Nor have I. I wish you would consider it, though. Now, Colin, I wish you would apologize to me for your distressing behavior today.”

He stiffened up like the fireplace poker. “You and I had a bargain. You didn’t keep to your end of it. You disobeyed me.”

“And if I weren’t indisposed at the moment, you would punish me for it.”

“Lovemaking isn’t punishment, damn you!”

“Ha! I’m your wife and I’m in a very certain position to know that it is! It’s painful, humiliating, and isn’t at all pleasant except for the man, who could
doubtless rut a goat and still enjoy himself!”

He cursed, nothing original from what Sinjun could hear, but it showed a frayed state of mind. Not being an unkind person, she said, “It’s all right, Colin, I will forgive you even though you can’t find it in yourself to apologize. I will continue to improve upon matters here, but I will tell you that I have spent all the two hundred pounds.”

“Good, then you will be done with your damned meddling.”

“Oh no, if you don’t provide me with more funds, I shall simply smile and let Mrs. Seton continue reminding all the tradesmen how you, the fortune-hunting laird, managed to snag an heiress.”

“Continue?”

“Oh yes, she much enjoys getting back her former consequence. She’s even fond of me, since I’m the bottomless pit of groats. It was quite easy to win her over.”

It was as if he were sinking in the treacherous Kelly peat bog with no hope of rescue. “I will speak to her and tell her to keep her tongue behind her teeth.” It was a pitiful attempt to regain a semblance of control and he knew it. However, she didn’t have to grin at him.

Colin sighed. “I came home to see you, truth be told. And my children, of course. I wish you would make a push to gain their affections.”

“Children do things in their own good time. Philip and Dahling are no different. I’m quite pleased with our progress, actually.”

“You are but nineteen, not ninety-nine! You don’t know everything about children!”

“Of course I do. I have found them to be unpredictable and perverse and immensely creative. But bad feelings don’t suit them, not really. We will see. It would help if you were to remain and assist them
to see their new stepmother as a very charming person.”

“I’m going to Clackmannanshire to oversee the purchase of sheep. The cattle are coming from Berwick. I will return home when that is taken care of and Robert MacPherson is either dead or I judge him innocent.”

Sinjun gave him a long look. “There are several lists for you in the estate room, from the crofters I have visited. I trust you wish to see to them?”

He cursed again, but she said nothing more, simply went behind the musty Oriental screen and put on her nightgown.