Page 34 of A Dash of Scot
He’d had enough. Politeness didn’t seem to be the appropriate way to respond now, and it certainly hadn’t gotten him anywhere in the last few days since he’d found out that Lucia was coming to make good on a flimsy comment at best.
“I hardly think using the word ‘serious’ in conjunction with a drunken nineteen-year-old’s ramblings is appropriate, sir, and yet here we are. I have some business to attend to, so while this meeting has been…interesting, I’m afraid I’ll have to ask ye to depart.”
The older man bared his teeth, smacking his lips together the way Dougal had seen a rabid dog do once. Lucia, too, started to hem and haw. Before either of them could say something that they’d regret, Dougal stood.
“I’ll remind ye that ye came by unannounced. And if I were I no’ a generous man, I might have denied ye entry merely on the rudeness of such an act, and by society’s mark, I’d have been within my rights to do so. I am, however, gracious when needed.”
Lucia stood, understanding that Dougal was annoyed and quite serious, before her father did. She also seemed to understand that if she were to get what she wanted, she needed to behave—not that Dougal had any plans to give her what she wanted.
“Come along, Papa, we needn’t take up any more of my fiancé’s time.” When she said fiancé, she looked hard at Dougal. “Besides, I need to get ready for tea at my dear friend Lady Leven’s. I quite look forward to getting to know my future sister-in-law better.”
Dougal kept his smile placid, not interested in engaging in whatever mind game she was attempting to start. He’d said his piece, and he intended to find a way out of this and to get to the bottom of her sudden interest in him.
“Oh, by the way,” Lucia said as she neared the door to the drawing room, “Lord Campbell sends his regards and congratulations to the two of us.”
Dougal turned his back to hide his bristle. Campbell had been present during the unfortunate evening Dougal had drunk too many whiskeys and then made the most idiotic declaration of his life. Campbell also hated Dougal for beating him out of several honors at Oxford and warning Mary against him. The man didn’t understand Dougal was doing him a favor, for he’d not wish his sister on anyone.
How interesting that he was still in touch with Lucia. Again, he glanced toward her midsection, wondering if it was Campbell who might have planted his seed there. The web of who was involved with the reminder of this ridiculous proposal grew wider.
11
One week later
The countryside was lovely. That wasn’t a lie.
Nor was it a lie to say that the village of Skerray was quaint.
The house was also quaint.
But when Poppy told herself that she could be happy living in the country in the quaint village in the quaint cottage, she was lying. And it wasn’t because any of those things in particular, or even put together, made her unhappy. It was merely the circumstances that had brought her here and the uncertainty of a future none of them had planned.
And the fact that it did not appear anyone had kept up with the cottage since she’d visited as a child.
Several shutters were hanging off the hinges, and the door looked as old as William the Conqueror. Creeping vines had rooted their way up the sides of the house, which could be pretty, but so many of the vines’ leaves had browned and grown tangled that it looked messy rather than magical.
The yard was overgrown, too, and while it looked as if someone had attempted to hack at the overgrowth to create a path, they had given up.
“Oh, my,” Mama said. “Perhaps inside will look better.”
Poppy and Anise exchanged a look. The servants had been sent ahead of them to prepare, but they might have had only a day or two in advance, given the time of their departure, and from the looks of it, they needed a whole month to get it into working order.
As the carriage came to a stop, several people rushed from the house to make a line. Their clothes were dust-covered as they’d already been working hard to prepare the place.
“This will be an adventure,” Poppy said. “We just have to remember that, and who doesn’t love an adventure?”
Anise and her mother gave her skeptical looks, and then the three of them bustled out of the carriage.
They were introduced to their small staff—a housekeeper/cook, a scullion/maid, and a lady’s maid for the three women to share. A man would also work as a groomsman, butler and gardener, calling himself a Jack of all trades.
And that was it.
The servants themselves were a family. Mother and father and their two children, who all lived in a small house a little bit away from the property, meaning that at night, when the lights were doused and all were abed, the house would be empty, except for Poppy, Anise and their mother. She’d never slept in a house without servants. And the idea of doing so was rather unnerving.
Who would protect them should something go awry?
What if they needed something? Were hungry?
The realization had not hit her before. How very spoiled she was, not even used to making her tea.
