Devil in Disguise (The Ravenels #7) - Lisa Kleypas Page 0,108
and look over the ground.”
“Is Ethan staying here?” she asked. “With us?”
His lips twitched. “No. That would be a bit crowdit. He and his two men are staying down the road at a wee auld change-house.”
“Change-house?”
“Ale-house, you could say, where a man can stay for a penny-fee if his wife has denied him her bed.”
“Why did Ethan bring only two men?”
“’Tis all that’s needed, he says.”
“That’s not enough,” Merritt said, frowning. “Not nearly. What could he be thinking? It’s a good thing I’m here to protect you.”
With a long-suffering expression, Keir took her back to the main room, where the Slorachs were busy in the kitchen. Fia had put a kettle on the stove, and was carrying items from the kitchen worktable to a cupboard.
Slorach was peeking into a group of baskets and crocks that remained on the table.
“Ranald,” Fia warned her husband, “dinna touch one morsel of that. ’Tis food the neighbors brang for Keir, now that he’s returned from his travels.”
“So have I returned from my travels,” Slorach protested, “and I’m hungert.”
“Keir’s travels were to England,” Fia said tartly. “You went only as far as Tarbert.”
Keir intervened with a grin. “Let him have a bite, Fia.”
While the other three talked, Merritt went to a tea table and chair, positioned in front of a window that revealed a view of the sea and a distant lighthouse. She sat in the cushioned chair, and Wallace came to rest his chin on her knee, his round dark eyes twinkling at her. Her hand moved gently over his head. It was darkening outside, and she shivered pleasurably at the comfort of being in a warm house.
Keir came from the kitchen with a mug of tea and set it before Merritt. She glanced up at him in mild surprise, and smiled. “Thank you.” As she took a sip, she realized he’d made it exactly how she liked it, lightened with milk and just the right amount of sugar.
Staring down at the terrier, Keir asked softly, “What do you think, Wallace? She’s one to be keepit, aye?”
The long, silky tail fanned vigorously from side to side.
Soon Ethan arrived with the sheriff, a ruddy-faced giant of a man with abundant red hair and a handsome thick mustache.
“A reet winsome lady, she is,” MacTaggart exclaimed, grinning. “I was told English ladies were pale and sickly, but here you’ve found a dark beauty with roses in her cheeks.”
Keir smiled briefly. “Let’s no’ make this langsome, MacTaggart. Lady Merritt is weary, and as you know, I’m no’ one to stand on ceremony.”
“’Tis a haisty affair, aye?” the sheriff observed, some of his good cheer fading as he looked around the room. “No flowers? No candles?”
“No, and also no ring,” Keir informed him. “Let us say our pledge, give us the certificate, and we’ll have done with it in time for supper.”
MacTaggart clearly didn’t appreciate the younger man’s cavalier attitude. “You’ll be having no signed paper until I make certain ’tis done legal,” he said, squaring his shoulders. “First … do ye ken there’s a fine if you’ve no’ posted banns?”
“’Tis no’ a church wedding,” Keir said.
“The law says without the banns, ’tis a fine of fifty pounds.” As Keir gave him an outraged glance, the sheriff added firmly, “No exceptions.”
“What if I give you a bottle of whisky?” Keir asked.
“Fine is waived,” MacTaggart said promptly. “Now, then … do the rest of you agree to stand as witnesses?”
Ethan and the Slorachs all nodded.
“I’ll start, then,” Keir said briskly, and took Merritt’s hand. “I, Keir MacRae, do swear that I—”
“No’ yet,” the sheriff interrupted, now scowling. “’Tis my obligation to ask a few questions first.”
“MacTaggart, so help me—” Keir began in annoyance, but Merritt squeezed his hand gently. He heaved a sigh and clamped his mouth shut.
The sheriff resumed with great dignity. “Are the both of you agreeable to be wed?”
“Aye,” Keir said acidly.
“Yes,” Merritt replied.
“Are the both of ye single persons?” the sheriff inquired. When they both nodded, he pressed, “You’re no’ brother and sister?”
“No,” Keir said curtly, his patience wearing thin.
“Nor ooncle and niece?”
“MacTaggart,” Keir growled, “you know thunderin’ well I have no nieces.”
The sheriff ignored him, focusing on Merritt with a deeply searching gaze. “Milady, has this man used force or false representation to carry you away against your will?”
Merritt blinked in surprise.
“What’s the matter with you, MacTaggart?” Keir demanded. “Of all the goamless questions—”
Fia interrupted. “This lass has no’ been abducted, sheriff.”