Page 102 of The Scottish Duke
“I believe that the dear boy is on his way to being happy. Surely you don’t begrudge him that?”
“Happy?” She rounded on him again. “Why did he remain in Edinburgh for months? Why did he only now come home? Or do you consider it normal for a bridegroom to marry and immediately leave his bride?”
Alex’s actions had been strange, but perhaps understandable. They were the last dying gasps of a man who was fighting the inevitable, just like he was.
Hadn’t he done the same thing by coming home to Scotland this last week? He’d escaped London with a feeling that the Hounds of Hell were on his heels because a certain woman named Gloria was tightening the noose with a smile, the sound of her laughter, and the sparkle of her blue eyes.
When Louise had sent him after Alex, he went with the full understanding of how his nephew felt. What he didn’t know was how to convey it to Mary.
“No doubt he’ll fill the nursery,” he said. “Louise will be ecstatic.”
“She was complicit,” Mary said. “She’s as bad as Lorna.”
He stared at her, the whiskey in his hand forgotten. His sister-in-law had his undying admiration, not to mention a genuine fondness. She’d adored his brother Craig, which had been obvious to a blind man. After his death and the deaths of her children, she refused to fall back into self-pity but had rallied to become the heart of Blackhall, beloved by everyone. Except, perhaps, this sour-faced, sour-hearted woman.
“I won’t hear anything said against Louise. You should have better sense than that, Mary.”
“She conspired to marry that creature to Alex.”
“Watch your words, Mary.”
“Why should I? The whole world will be talking about it soon enough. Did she care? No.”
Louise had opened up her home to Mary with no reservations, and this is how the damn fool repaid her kindness?
“Something should be done.”
The tone of her voice struck him as wrong. He sipped at his whiskey, watching her. She had resumed her pacing the length of the library, turning, and retracing her steps. When she passed by the fireplace and the wing chair where he was sitting, she didn’t even seem to notice him. Her brow was furled with concentration, her lips thinned.
“Why are you so angry now? Because Alex has returned without a bill of divorcement? Or because Alex returned at all? Did you have fond thoughts of joining him in Edinburgh?”
She looked startled at his words. Could that be the reason? Damn fool woman. Did she honestly think Alex gave a fig about her?
“Something should be done,” she repeated.
“What do you plan on doing, Mary?”
That question stopped her. She glanced at him, her smile a poor rendition of a genuine expression.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Thomas. Whatever could I do? Alex is married, isn’t he? A union until death. At least in my poor sister’s case.”
Mary hadn’t cared about Ruth all that much, he remembered, being so occupied with carrying tales about her infidelity to anyone who listened. Now, however, Ruth had ascended to the role of saint in Mary’s eyes.
“Don’t you want Alex to be happy?” A foolish question, perhaps, to ask of someone so occupied with her own thoughts and feelings.
“Of course I do,” she said brightly.
A lie if he’d ever heard one.
She blessedly left the room a few minutes later, taking his peace of mind with her.
He didn’t like the feeling he was getting. It felt like an itch in the middle of the back of his neck, a hint that something was wrong and that he might be in danger.
A talk with Alex in the morning wouldn’t be remiss. While he was at it, he’d speak to Louise. Perhaps there was a way to rid themselves of the busy bird in their midst, a bird with talons and a razor sharp beak.
Chapter 26
Alex woke to the sound of rain and wind against the window. The curtains hadn’t been closed completely, revealing flashes of lightning assaulting Loch Gerry. He was immediately grateful for two things, that he wasn’t out in it, and that the storm had awakened Lorna.
