Page 13 of Christmas in the Scot's Arms
Chapter Four
Liam strolled back to the Rochburns’ thinking about Cecelia and her accusation that he had thought she wished for a romp because Lord Tarrymount had said something to him. So Cecelia not being in theton’sgood graces had something to do with a gentleman, or perhaps with her having been perceived unfairly after likely failing to behave exactly as thetondeemed proper. From what he had seen of thetonso far, it seemed to be made up of pretentious, judgmental, vain people with too much money and not enough heart.
He nodded to the butler as the man opened the door, and then he strolled through the entrance hall, intending to find Aila and see if she had managed to secure Cecelia an invitation to the ball. He wanted to see her again and spend more time with her, but her mother’s cold attitude toward him made him certain he would not be welcome to call there. That left the ball. At such an occasion, he could dance with her and possibly speak to her alone again in a quiet corner.
He started to make his way toward the stairs to Aila’s room but paused when he saw his sister hunkered over with her ear pressed to the drawing room door. Chuckling softly, he quietly went to her and tapped her on the shoulder. With a jerk and a gasp, Aila stood so fast she nearly knocked him on the chin with her head.
She stepped back and to the side, and scowled up at him. “Ye gave me a fright!” she accused in a whisper.
He smirked. “Ye’d not be in the position to be frightened if ye were not eavesdropping at a door. What is it ye’re trying to hear?” As the question left his mouth, a distinctly feminine, distinctly irate voice rose from within the study and drifted toward them in murmured, indistinguishable words. A louder, clearer male voice followed. It belonged to Aila’s betrothed.
Aila pressed a finger to her lips and leaned forward as if to hear what Aldridge would say, but the gesture was not necessary. He fairly bellowed at his mother. “Aila has made a friendship! It is her first here in England, and she is joyful because of it. I will not have you ruining her happiness with your harsh judgment of Miss Cartwright!”
“Harsh judgment?” the duchess exclaimed. “I saw it with my own eyes. Right here in our home!”
“Enough, Mother!” Aldridge thundered at the same time another male voice, deeper and laced with even more irritation than Aldridge’s had been, chimed in.
“Penelope,” the man—it had to be the Duke of Rochburn, Aldridge’s father—said in a gruff tone. “I have sat back and said nothing as you joined the ranks of busybodies that passed judgment on that young lady, but I’ll not sit silent now and watch as you drive Aldridge away.”
“I would never drive Aldridge away!” the duchess exclaimed.
“Not intentionally, my dear, but unintentionally…”
A loud sniff came from within, which Liam assumed was the duchess displaying her wounded feelings.
“Our son,” the duke continued without commenting on his wife’s sniffling, “has only just returned from a war I let him leave for with anger between us, and now that God has seen fit to bring him home to us, and with a lovely woman he wishes to wed, I’ll not let you cause more anger and division in our family. I have learned my lesson, and you should, too.”
“I’m not a child to be scolded, Rochburn!” the duchess wailed as a child would.
Liam and Aila exchanged an amused look.
“I will cease the scolding when you cease acting like a child,” the duke replied to his wife’s declaration in a stern tone. “Miss Cartwright will receive an invitation to the ball because it will please Aldridge’s bride-to-be and therefore our son, which will please me. I daresay the young lady has learned her lesson, if there ever was one to teach her. I for one, am not certain there was.”
Silence reigned for a minute, and Liam and Aila exchanged a long look. Whatever had occurred with Cecelia, it seemed she had at least two men who championed her.
“I’ll do as you command,” the duchess said in a dramatic tone, “but don’t blame me if thetonsnubs your betrothed because of her choice in friends.”
“I’m positive, Aila will manage the snub,ifshe should receive it. She is a Scot and, therefore, has a backbone of steel.”
Liam grinned at Aila. “I like him,” he whispered to his sister.
She nodded as the duchess spoke again. “I better go see about the invitation, then,” the duchess said with a sigh.
“Excellent, Mother.”
“You should tell Aila about Miss Cartwright, though, so that she is prepared to be snubbed.”
“I do not believe anyone would dare,” Aldridge countered. “They all know if they did such a thing, they’d have to face you, and are you not the Ice Duchess?”
Liam had heard enough. Cecelia was going to be invited to the ball, and that was what mattered to him. And from what Aldridge had said, it seemed that what had occurred with Cecelia had been overblown. Liam took Aila by the arm and guided her upstairs to her bedchamber where they might talk in private. Once the door was shut, they faced each other.
Aila quirked her lips, as was her habit when she was contemplating something. “What do ye suppose occurred with Cecelia?”
He shrugged. “I’ve no notion. Why would I?”
Aila smirked at him. “Well ye did insist we go to that bookstore today for ye to buy her a book, and then ye did have time alone with her, did ye not?”
“I did,” he agreed, not ready to speak of what he and Cecelia had discussed.
