“Come now, Mr. Ables, that would defeat the purpose of this little demonstration, now wouldn’t it,” Megan said sternly. “Aside from the fact that Lord MacGregor is well known due to his lofty height, how else would you have been able to identify him that night unless you had heard and seen him before?”
He latched onto that remark swiftly. “Exactly,” he blustered. “I did identify ’im, so what’s the point of this, eh?”
Megan sighed. “Did I not mention clarity? Or perhaps you haven’t realized what a serious charge this is? It would be extremely unfortunate if due to no fault of your own, you were a bit confused in the matter, especially with Lord MacGregor being related to my husband—”
“’E’s what?”
“Related to my husband—you weren’t aware of that? They share the same aunt through marriage.”
Megan must have realized, as Kimberly did, that fact might influence Ables into changing his story. But that wasn’t what they were after, which is why she quickly added the assurance, “That is no concern of yours, of course, Mr. Ables. If MacGregor is guilty, he will be dealt with accordingly. I mentioned it only so that you understand why we wish there to be no doubt whatsoever.”
“I ’ad no doubt,” Will grumbled.
“Of course not, but Lord MacGregor does deny the charge, and with no other witnesses to be called upon, that pits his word against yours, doesn’t it? Which is why we are here now, to put any doubts that anyone might have firmly to rest. Simply identify him again, and that will prove him to be a liar as well as a thief.”
Silence again, and the man’s panic could almost be smelled. He’d tried to talk his way out of cooperating, but had failed. And he hadn’t been smart enough to simply grasp the excuse Megan had inadvertently handed him, to admit to uncertainty now. Most men wouldn’t bite the hand that feeds them, and condemning a member of your employer’s family could definitely be considered biting that hand.
Yet that wasn’t the outcome they’d been hoping for. It might have gotten Lachlan off the immediate hook, but it certainly wouldn’t have proved his innocence as far as Devlin St. James was concerned. And Kimberly was sure that Lachlan would prefer to be completely exonerated. Especially since he had been beaten for something he didn’t do.
Megan sighed once again as the silence continued, then called out, “Very well, gentlemen, Mr. Ables needs to hear your voices again, and give yourselves names this time, if you please. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John ought to do it, so he doesn’t have to deal with—counting.”
The Scotsmen complied, with only a slight thread of impatience in a couple of their tones. And they each claimed one of the names Megan had supplied, and in the same order she’d said them, so Ables didn’t have to tax his counting ability by coming up with a “first” or “second.” But when the last voice was heard, the groom still hesitated, and hesitated, in an agony of indecision. It was so obvious that he had no idea which voice belonged to Lachlan. He couldn’t even make up his mind which one to guess at.
Megan finally lost her own patience and said brusquely, “Mr. Ables, this is not a matter for guessing. Either you know or you don’t know—”
“Luke,” he blurted out with a cringe, as if he expected the ceiling to now fall on his head.
It felt instead as if it had fallen on Kimberly. No! Thrice bedamned luck! And probably because he associated Luke with Lachlan, the closest he could get to a similarity in his mind. Damn Lachlan, why hadn’t he picked another name, instead of following in order…
“So,” Megan said, disappointment clear in her tone. “You do know.”
Will Ables didn’t relax until then, and now you could almost see the tension slide off his shoulders. He smiled. It was a wonder he wasn’t laughing.
“Aye, and didn’t I say as much,” he bragged.
It was the bragging that infuriated Kimberly the most. She was so furious she took a leaf from Ables’s book and managed a wild guess of her own. Looking him right in the eye, she told him firmly, “It doesn’t matter. Howard Canston has already confessed everything to me.”
“Oh, my,” Megan said, as surprised as Kimberly to see Ables lose all his color again, then start turning bright red as anger replaced his horror.
“That bleedin’ bastard!” he burst out, half whining, half yelling, and then in his own defense, “’E offered me five ’undred pounds, more money than I’d see in me lifetime. I couldn’t refuse that, now could I?”
“Obviously not,” Megan said dryly. “But you had no qualms about sending an innocent man to prison.”
“I swear, Your Grace, it weren’t to be like that. ’E said ’e just wanted a little revenge, ’cause the bloke there embarrassed him. ’E said after the Scot suffered a little, ’e’d turn the ’orses loose so they could be found, then tell the duke ’e’d overheard a couple Cornishmen in a tavern bragging ’bout stealing ’em, which would clear the Scot.”
“And how would that clear you, Mr. Ables, when it was you who named MacGregor as the thief? Sort of makes you still involved, doesn’t it?”
There went the man’s color again. “That bleedin’ bastard!” he was shouting now. “’E never mentioned that part, and I never thought…
He bolted out of the door before he finished, overcome by his panic. The two menservants went after him immediately. Kimberly sank down in the nearest chair, her relief making her legs weak. The man’s wild guess had saved him. Hers, just as wild, had condemned him. Amazing.
And from the doorway to the duke’s suite, Lachlan remarked, “I’d say let him go, if I werena still feeling twinges as a result of the false words out o’ his mouth. But ’tis Canston I’m wanting.”
“I don’t blame you a’tall, Lachlan,” Megan replied, somewhat abashed. “But I really think you should let my husband deal with this.”
“Your husband hasn’t dealt well wi’ it so far, lass,” he reminded her.
Megan blushed. “He’s going to feel awful about this, I do assure you.”
“Aye, he will,” Lachlan agreed, then pinned Kimberly with his light green eyes. “And why did you wait so long tae mention that blasted confession?”
She stiffened, not liking his accusing tone. “Perhaps because there was no confession. I merely guessed about the viscount, the same as Ables guessed about you. But you should have had more sense than to pick the name Luke. You practically asked him to choose you.”
He blinked at her. Then he laughed. Then he crossed the room to lift her out of her chair and kiss her.
Behind them, Megan cleared her throat and said, “So…I’ll put Duchy and Margaret to work on the wedding preparations immediately…all things considered.”
34
All things considered.
Kimberly’s cheeks were still burning as she rushed down the hallway. What a polite way for Megan to say she knew wherein Lachlan had spent last night. But that made it no less embarrassing. And to think the duchess had conducted that whole interview with Ables without letting on at all that she’d already heard the gossip.
“And where d’you think you’re running off tae?” a soft burr asked at her back.
Kimberly started in surprise. She hadn’t heard Lachlan following her. But she’d reached the stairs and didn’t pause.
“Running?” she tossed back over her shoulder. “Hardly. I’m hungry, starving actually. Does that tell you where I’m going?”
“Aye, but it doesna tell me why you’re running.”
“I am not—” she turned to say, but stopped when she found him grinning at her.
Teasing again. The man had the worst timing for it, he really did. And obviously, he wasn’t going to let her go off about her business. He should be just as embarrassed as she. At the least, he should be upset that the love of his life knew he’d spent the night with another woman. But no, he stood there grinning at her.
“Did you want something in particular?” she asked in a tightly constrained tone.
“Aye, I’m wanting tae know
how you concluded that Canston set the horse stealing up just tae blame me? No’ once did I think o’ him.”
So that was it. He still had the thieving on his mind, and his relief over being cleared. She’d had no time to relish her own relief, what with Megan’s mention of wedding plans setting her mind back to her own problems. But she allowed that he’d had a bit more to lose if the truth hadn’t come out about the theft.
So she shrugged. “I’m really not sure what made me come up with his name there at the end. Possibly because I’d finally thought of everything that had happened that day, rather than just from the theft on. And I included your punching him that morning.”
“One blasted punch and he wants tae see me in prison?” He snorted.
“Well, you see, I knew that he did want to press charges against you for it. I also knew that the duke talked him out of it.”
“St. James did?” he said in surprise, then derisively, “No’ on my account, I’ll warrant.”
She had to agree with that. “No, he probably did it to avoid a scandal among his guests,” she replied pointedly, since she could lay each of the scandals she had been and would be involved in at his door. “However, Megan claimed Howard was—well, she called it ‘pouting’ after that. But I never gave it another thought until today.”
“And that’s it? You save me from prison because the duchess claimed he was ‘pouting’?”
“Well…there were a few other things that when viewed all together, finally added up. Such as yesterday, when I was talking to Will Ables in the breeding stable, Howard showed up. He said he’d been told he would find me there, that he’d been looking for me to invite me riding, but—he seemed surprised, actually, when he first saw me there. It was more like he wasn’t expecting to find me there a’tall, and yet the only one else there was the groom.”
“So he was there to talk to Ables, but your presence stopped him?”
“Something like that. And then when we did go riding, I couldn’t help but notice how ill-used his horse was. Its hide was liberally laced with spur and whip scars.”
He lifted a brow at her at that point. “What has that tae do wi’ horse stealing?”
“Nothing, except when I was reviewing all the facts, I remembered Megan told me the horses had been left in that hut without any effort made to keep the stallion separate from the mares—”
“Faith, the beastie mun have had him a fine time, I’ll warrant.”
She glared at him. “I believe the duke was quite furious about the condition the animals were in as a result.”
“That mon is always in a fury, Kimber, or havena you noticed that?”
“I wouldn’t say always, more like only when you’re around. But I digress. The fact that the horses hadn’t been cared for properly suddenly reminded me of Howard, who also showed little care for horses. And to top that off, when we came upon that hut yesterday in the woods, and I wanted to examine it, he suddenly recalled an appointment that he was late for, and rushed us back to the mansion.”
Lachlan shook his head, grumbling, “’Tis no wonder I gave no thought tae the viscount in this matter. All these things you’ve mentioned, I wasna aware of.” And then he grinned. “’Tis well for me that you were on my side, rather than his, and were able tae piece it all into a whole picture ’afore my time ran out.”
“It still wasn’t enough to point a finger at Howard. It was merely a good guess, and fortunately, Ables was gullible enough to believe that the viscount might have confessed. And I wasn’t on your side,” she stressed. “I just wanted the truth to come out.”
“Well, I’m thanking you, darlin’.” He took her hand and squeezed it very gently. “No matter the how or why behind it, you’ve kept me from the magistrate’s clutches—so I can remain in yours.”
She blushed. There was no accountable reason for it, other than he always seemed to make her blush. And there was a warmth in his light green eyes now that…
“Kimberly, might I have that private word with you now?” Lord Travers asked from the bottom of the stairs.
James, she mouthed, and remembered…Good God, he was going to propose marriage to her—at least, she had assumed that was his intention. And if it was, she’d have to tell him about Lachlan. But it was going to be so unexpected for him, such a blow, especially if he really had intended to ask her to marry him.
She groaned inwardly. Who would have thought she’d end up facing a situation like this, when she had come here doubtful of getting even one proposal?
She turned to face James. She offered him a smile, though it came out very weak.
“Certain—” she began.
“Nay,” Lachlan said behind her, cutting her off and placing his hands possessively on her shoulders. “Kimber and I have wedding plans tae discuss just now.”
“Whose wedding?” James frowned.
“Ours,” Lachlan replied, and Kimberly could almost feel his wide grin. “You’re now among the first tae be told, the lady has agreed tae marry me. So I’m thinking anything you have tae say tae her can be said in my presence—if it willna take tae long. We’ve much tae discuss.”
“No—it wasn’t important and…my felicitations, of course. This is rather…unexpected news.”
“Och, well, I’d been after asking her for some time now. Wearing her down was no’ easy, you ken, but my luck finally changed.”
If Lachlan hadn’t sounded so happy about it, she would have murdered him on the spot. She was still furious. And poor James was utterly shocked. He tried to conceal it, but he simply couldn’t. There’d been no call to tell him so abruptly.
She would have eased into the subject, prepared him, but no, she hadn’t been given a chance to say a word. And Lachlan had no right to be that high-handed with her—yet. Even when he did have that right, she wasn’t going to meekly accept him speaking for her. He even knew her well enough to know that by now.
She tried to lighten the blow, saying, “I’m sorry, James,” but he had already turned away and was now hurrying off.
“Sorry, are you?”
She swung around, her eyes as stormy a dark green as they could get. “Sorry you shocked him! You didn’t have to do that. He could have been told more gently.”
“Nay,” he disagreed. “These things are best dealt with quickly.”
“How would you know?” she demanded, then, “Damn it, the man wanted to marry me himself. He had no idea that you and I—that we—”
“I am aware of that, Kimber.” Lachlan’s hand suddenly gripped her face. “But you’re mine now.” He kissed her hard while he held her thusly. “And I’ll be making sure anyone else who had designs on you knows it.”
She was dazed for a moment, but only a moment. “Do you realize that smacks of jealousy?”
“Do you realize that you’re going tae be mine forever?” he countered, his hand now caressing her cheek before he let go of her. “That you’ll love me forever? That I’ll—”
“Don’t say something that we both know isn’t sincere, Lachlan,” she cut in, sounding disgusted. “We’re both being forced into this marriage—”
“Speak for yourself, darlin’,” he interrupted right back. “I’m rather pleased that I’ll be marrying you myself. Now go feed that noisy belly of yours. Faith, but you’re a veritable termagant when you’re hungry,” he complained, though there was laughter in his tone.
He then turned her about and gave her a soft whack on her behind, to send her on her way. Kimberly didn’t move a step, mortified that someone might have witnessed his audacity. No one had, but by the time she finished blushing and looked back, he was gone.
35
“Bloody hell!”
“Somehow I knew you’d say that,” Megan remarked from the doorway where she stood watching her husband pace back and forth in his study.
It was several hours after he’d been told about Will Ables’s breakdown and confession. Both men had already been turned over to the magistrate, with Howard protesting
his innocence, of course.
In fact, he’d had the gall to ask, “You aren’t going to believe a servant’s word over mine, are you?”
As if that wasn’t exactly what he’d expected to happen when he’d set up Lachlan. And that was exactly what had happened.
Through it all, though, Devlin had contained his emotions quite admirably. But in order to do so, he had to revert to the duke of old, the stuffy, unflappable one who never lost his control, when Megan knew he’d wanted to tear into Canston just as he had the Scot, if not more so.
The viscount, after all, had arranged a situation that allowed Devlin to release his fury on the Highlander, something he’d wanted to do but couldn’t—without a good reason. And now he was faced with making amends to a man he could barely tolerate, and that stuck in his craw but good.
But now that he was finally alone in his study, or almost alone—he wouldn’t count her—he wasn’t containing any of those emotions any longer. And Megan knew well enough that he’d be working himself into the dark side of a rage if he weren’t distracted very quickly. But that wouldn’t do at all, since Lachlan had been sent for and he would be arriving shortly for some of that amends making.
So she cleared her throat to get his attention. “Did you mean it, what you said earlier, that you were finished with this matter, that Canston and Ables could fight it out in the courts themselves?”
He didn’t bother to stop, just nodded curtly. “I have the animals back. I don’t intend to waste my time further. And besides, Canston has got some powerful relatives. I don’t doubt his uncle will endeavor to sweep this under the rug. But his family will know they now have an enemy in me that they’ll regret. They won’t let him off without some punishment because of that.”
“And that’s enough for you?”
“I made a bloody fool of myself, Megan. I would just as soon not be reminded of it further.”
“Well, perhaps this will make that crow you’re going to eat taste a little better.”