Page 24 of The Last Debutante
“Why? I have my theories. But the lady will tell you it was quite by accident.”
Duff’s face darkened as he stared at Mrs. Moss.
Mrs. Moss, however, had made a slight recovery. “And who areyou,sir?” she asked imperiously.
“One of my men.” Jamie coaxed Miss Babcock forward. “Duff Campbell is his name.” The pain in his leg was excruciating now. But Miss Babcock’s loyalties lay elsewhere, and she tried to wrest herself free of him. Jamie clamped his arm around her, pulling her back against his chest, her bum against his groin. He clenched his teeth against the pain—or something else, he wasn’t certain. “My horse is somewhere nearby.”
“Aye, we found him. Robbie’s gone to fetch him,” Duff said. “He’s well, he is.”
Relief swelled in Jamie; at least the old woman hadn’t harmed his horse or his dog. “Good. We’ll have one more with us.”
Miss Babcock cried out in alarm and struggled again, causing him such discomfort that he let go of her. She leapt to stand before her grandmother, her arms outstretched, and declared dramatically, “You’ll have to shoot me. I will not allow you to harm her!”
“Ach,lass, there’s been enough shooting,” Jamie said.
“And just where do you propose to take me?” Mrs. Moss demanded. “This is Brodie land! They’ll not abide your savagery!”
Jamie groaned at that word. “I am well aware it is Brodie land, but that has little bearing on the wrong done to me. Rest easy, old woman—I donna mean to take you. I mean to take her,” he said, nodding to Miss Babcock.
Both women cried out in unison. “Me!” Miss Babcock exclaimed. “What haveIdone? You can’t take me against my will!”
“You have made your argument for it yourself, lass. Your desire is that I do no harm to your grandmamma. My desire is that we handle this matter by applying the rules of Highland justice. Plainly put, if your grandmamma wants to see you returned to England, she will repay the money she took from Uncle Hamish.”
“What?”Mrs. Moss cried. “Are you implying that you intend to hold her forransom?”
“No’ implying it at all. I am stating it quite plainly.” Jamie reached for a chair to hold himself up at the same moment Duff moved, with startling quickness, to apprehend Miss Babcock before anyone could pick up another blunderbuss. The lass was no match for Duff. She struggled, but Duff clamped her to his chest with one arm so that she could not move.
Mrs. Moss began to panic, gasping for breath. Duff stoically placed his free hand on her head and pushed it down, forcing it between her knees. “Breathe, then,” he ordered.
“Youcannottake me as your hostage!” Miss Babcock shouted, struggling futilely.
In no mood to argue, Jamie began his arduous journey to the door, thankful to see his cousin Robbie and MacKellan there, wearing twin expressions of surprise.
“This is unlawful!” Miss Babcock shouted. “If you so much as try to remove me from this property, I shall see that you are brought to the courts to answer for your actions!”
“I donna see how you will do that.” Jamie nodded at the men who were gaping at him, looking rather startled to see how oddly bent over he was, wearing nothing but a plaid. Even his boots were missing.
“I will send for the authorities at once,” Mrs. Moss said. “I shall have the Brodies down around your ears before you even crest the hill!”
“Aha, so now they are as near as that, are they? Go on, then, madam. Bring them round. You are very fortunate I donna hand you over to Hamish’s children to be dealt with privately. Robbie, a hand.”
“But I haven’t any money!” Mrs. Moss cried as Robbie grabbed Jamie around the waist.
“Where are your boots?” Robbie asked.
“Donna know,” Jamie said. “Let us go. MacKellan, the horses.”
MacKellan disappeared into the garden as Duff began to move with Miss Babcock. The lass screamed so loud that the four men winced. “I amnotgoing with you!” she shouted, and began to kick at Duff’s legs.
“Ach,scream your head off your shoulders, then. No one will hear it,” Duff said.
“No!”Mrs. Moss shrieked, and threw her weight against Duff. It scarcely moved him. “All right, allright,” she said desperately, reaching for Jamie’s plaid before Robbie swatted her away, “I beg you, leave my granddaughter and take me! I am the one you want! Give me to Hamish’s children, so be it, but leave Daria be!”
Jamie was fast running out of patience. He wanted home, where Rory Campbell, the clan’s doctor, could tend him. “I think you will be a wee bit more compelled to return the money you stole if we hold her as collateral.”
Mrs. Moss let out a wail unlike anything Jamie had ever heard and sank to her knees, her hands braced against them, her shoulders stooped as she sobbed.
The sight of her sobered Miss Babcock. She stopped fighting and tried to reach out to her, but Duff would not allow it. “Mamie! Mamie, I shall write to Charity in Edinburgh and she will send for Pappa straightaway—”
