Page 53 of A Bonny Pretender
Lachlan jabbed Frank with his elbow.
“RISE UP AND BAR THE DOOR!”shouted Frank.
Laughter bubbled up her throat and spilled out. She saw a light in the hall and knew her aunt was awake. “It’s all right, Aunt Maeve. It’s just our sodden family.”
“I’m bringing them in before they wake all of Glasgow.”
“I’ll order coffee and tea.” Brigid tied her robe and grabbed her brush.
Downstairs, the men stood sheepishly in the parlor. Colin sported a goose egg on his forehead, Lachlan’s lip and cheek were swollen, and Frank’s eye was puffed and turning a lovely shade of purple. Boy-O sat on a chaise longue with a cap in his hand and smile on his clean face.
“How did ye come to be with these hooligans?” asked Brigid. She walked over to the lad and ruffled his hair.
“Master MacNaughton decided I’d stay wi’ him since he’s got nobody.”
“I said I lived alone, no’ that I had nobody,” bellowed Colin.
To Brigid’s relief, Boy-O grinned and shrugged. Apparently, the giant Scot didn’t intimidate him. “They changed their clothes, and I helped His Lordship put on the kilt. They were all so wobbly, I thought it best if I came along.”
“To keep them from toppling over?” she asked.
“Aye, miss. I like my new friends, so I don’t want nothin’ to happen to ‘em.”
“What?” asked Aunt Maeve, adjusting her mob cap and turning to the adult men. “Now that ye’re inside, ye’ve lost yer voices?”
“Did ye have to fight with him?” asked Brigid, pushing at Lachlan’s chest. “I asked ye to be nice.”
“They wwere.” Frank defended them with an emphatic nod. “It was a rabble rouser and his gang.”
“Frank has something to say to Brigid,” blurted Lachlan.
“And then he has something to ask her,” added Colin.
Frank tottered and grinned, then belched. His one gray eye widened. “Beg yyyour pardon, ladies.”
“Here, ye blethering oafs,” said their aunt. She held a tray of biscuits, cold beef, and cheese that a sleepy maid had delivered. “Eat and get some hot coffee in ye. Then we’ll give Brigid and Lord Raines some privacy.”
*
The fire crackledand popped in the library hearth. Frank seemed in much better condition than an hour ago. His stare was making her uncomfortable. What had they told him? What was he thinking? “Weel, out with it.”
“Perhaps we should wait until morning,” Frank hedged, crossing his legs before hurriedly covering his knees with the wool material.
“Itismorning.”
He turned to the window, the sky beyond turning pink and orange. “It is indeed.”
“How did ye come to wear a kilt?” It must have been Lachlan’s since it was a wee short on him.
“I’m not quite sure. It happened when we were moving my belongings to your family’s townhouse. Colin said he was there alone, and they were paying the cook to feed one man.”
“Verra practical of him.”
“He’s also taking in Boy-O. Says the waif will be a gift to his lady.” He smiled proudly, as if he’d just solved all the world’s problems. “She won’t marry him, you know.”
Brigid sat back with a smile. Colin’s wife died in childbirth. He’d also lost his son the same day and never remarried. After a decade of bachelorhood, he was on a merry chase after Fenella’s maid. The woman, Rose, thought she was barren and refused to marry the Scot, sure he would want a family. Colin was resourceful, she’d give him that.
“Aye, and it might work. But I dinna think that’s what ye had to tell me.”Or ask me,she thought, as dragonfly wings battered her stomach.
