The Scottish Lord’s Secret Bride Read Online Free Page A

all.
    ‘Ah yes.’ Her mama’s redness increased. ‘Well as you say, almost there now and then we can unwind.’
    You might be able to; I fear I’ll be as tense as a wound-up spring.
Why on earth had she agreed to accompany her mother and sister? The castle held mixed memories. It was simple. Her mama had given her no choice, and with her brother busy elsewhere she had no one to agree with her plea to stay in Rutland.
    He handed me into the carriage and bade me have a good journey. I never thought I’d be happy again. I was not too young to know my mind.
    ‘So,’ Morven said in an attempt to deflect her mind from things best not thought about at that time. After all, perhaps a face-to-face meeting would help her to know her own mind? ‘How long is it since you have seen Lady Napier? I forget.’
    ‘Senga? Oh a year perhaps, just under. She was in London just before her husband died and I came up for the funeral.’ The duchess sighed dramatically. ‘Poor Senga. Her son, the heir, was in Barbados and she was all alone.’
    ‘Apart from her younger children?’ Morven asked mildly. ‘I thought there were several?’
    ‘Ah, yes, but young,’ her mother blustered. ‘Such a hard time. Of course Fraser was not able to return in time to see his father buried.’
    Morven remembered that. She’d thought she might get a letter or a note but had received nothing. It was as if she no longer mattered.
    Perhaps just as well.
    ‘Then it will be good for you to be together again,’ Morven said in a composed voice. ‘I suppose the laird is away? The new laird.’
    ‘What?’ Her mother blushed and didn’t make eye contact with either of her daughters. ‘No, I believe he is now home.’
    ‘Was he away again?’ Morven asked straight-faced. ‘Or has he not returned since his…’ She hesitated. Banishment sounded much too harsh, and it hadn’t been that. She just felt it was. ‘Sojourn in the Indies,’ she said finally.
    ‘Er, I think he returned, went to do some estate business elsewhere and now is home. Tell me, do we need to stop in the village to freshen up?’
    ‘No,’ both her daughters chorused together.
    ‘Let’s just arrive and then freshen up, Mama,’ Morven said.
I need to get it over and done with.
‘I assume we are expected today?’
    Their mama blinked. ‘Ah, yes of course we are. Very well, let’s just head to the castle.’
    ‘As we have for the last goodness knows how many days?’ Murren said sotto voce to Morven. ‘On and off.’
    Morven nodded. There wasn’t really anything else to add on the subject. She was on edge and worried that if anyone said anything even slightly controversial she would break down and scream.
    The coach trundled along the tiny village street linked to the castle and the estate. A few locals watched as they drove past and one urchin whistled and shouted. ‘Aww, bonnie horses, fair braw.’
    Morven chuckled. ‘That child has sense.’
    ‘I’ll never get the hang of the dialect,’ Murren said, despairingly. ‘Did it take you long?’
    Morven shook her head. ‘No, but I have an ear for voices. And you won’t be here long enough to need to understand everyone, will you. After all Mama will want to be back in London in time for your coming out.’
    ‘Oh but…’ The duchess took one look at Morven and stopped speaking abruptly. ‘Ah yes, but who knows what will happen by then?’
    ‘We’ll be eaten by midges and smell of garlic,’ Morven said sweetly. ‘And hope to lose the marks and bites before Murren’s ball. She is having one, isn’t she? I’m sure Brody agreed. At the town house no less.’
    ‘I haven’t asked your brother yet, but…’
    ‘That’s fine,’ Morven said firmly. ‘I did and he said of course.’
    Her mother opened and closed her mouth like a codfish. ‘Are we there yet?’
    Morven couldn’t help it. She began to laugh. ‘Almost, Mama, almost.’
    It wasn’t much more than half an hour later that the horses began the final