Hit Me With Your Best Scot (Wild Wicked Highlanders #3) - Suzanne Enoch Page 0,25
cut in. “And have Loki saddled.”
“Aye. Right away,” the valet said, and vanished again.
Niall watched him go. “Ye’ve got poor Oscar terrified of ye, ye ken.”
Aden shrugged out of his nightshirt and dug into the immense wardrobe that dominated the room. “I warned him to leave me be. If I’d truly wanted to do him harm, I would have thrown something heavier than a boot at him.”
“And while I’m certain he’s thankful ye didnae, it still knocked him out cold.”
“Th—”
“There you are, Niall,” Eloise said from the doorway behind him. “Mama asked—Oh!”
Niall looked from his sister’s startled face to Aden’s bare arse as his brother searched for clothes. Aden straightened, grinned at her, and went back to his task. With a sigh Niall stepped between them, heading for the door. “Ye’ve just allowed several arses to move into yer house, Eloise. I reckon ye’re bound to catch sight of one or more of ’em from time to time.” Nudging her backward into the hallway, he shut the door behind him.
Her pink cheeks darkened further. “Here in London we close our doors while we’re dressing,” she snapped. “What if I’d had a friend with me?”
“I doubt Aden would’ve minded. What did yer mother want with me?”
She sent another glance at the doorway, then visibly shook herself. “She’s your mother, too, you know.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“Really, Niall? You’re going to put me in the middle of this?”
He’d hurt her. Niall reached down and took her hand. If there was one thing all three of the MacTaggert brothers could agree about, it was that none of this mess was Eloise’s fault. She’d grown up, and she’d fallen in love. Not one of them could fault her for that. “Thank ye for the sandwich last night. Ye saved my life.”
That earned him a smile, at least. “I left one for Coll, as well, but it was still there this morning—or at least it was until I caught that valet of yours wiping crumbs from his shirt. Coll hasn’t been back. So he didn’t escort Amy—Amelia-Rose—for coffee. And since Mrs. Baxter hasn’t sent over a note complaining about that fact, I am willing to surmise that someone else did escort her daughter.”
“Clever lass. Coll’s still settling in,” he said, not knowing whether he was lying or not. “He’ll come around.”
“Amelia-Rose could be a good match for him. She’s very witty, though I think she tries not to be.”
“Why is that?” he asked, his interest immediately snared.
“Well, I wasn’t out last Season, but I heard that she … wasn’t scandalous, really, but spoke a bit boldly. For a lady. I haven’t asked her about it, of course. I have noticed, though, that she’s very cautious with her speech, especially in front of men. There are a few of us that she speaks with more freely, and she is delightful.”
Amelia-Rose did sound like a perfect match for Coll—if he’d been looking for a lass who could counter his recklessness and wouldn’t tolerate his heavy-handedness. Interesting that his brother would say the woman she’d been attempting to be, and had failed at being last night, would suit him better.
His sister continued to look at him, so he nodded. “They just need to have a chat where half of London isnae staring at them.”
“I hope so, for his sake. For Aldriss Park’s sake. I’ve always wanted to go back there. I was nine months old, I’m told, when Mama and I left.” She retrieved her hand and placed it over her heart. “I did not know about this agreement between Mama and Father. The first I heard of it was after we had dinner to celebrate the engagement. I found Mama writing a letter, and she looked up at me and smiled, and she had tears in her eyes. She said, ‘That stubborn old man has to come here now. And your brothers, too. We finally get our boys back, Eloise.’”
That was interesting, and he put it in the back of his mind where he could contemplate it more closely later. He damned well didn’t have time to unravel any of it now. “That letter wasnae quite so joyous for us,” he countered. “Da swears it’s killed him, and…” Niall trailed off at the alarmed look on her face.
“You weren’t just jesting about that? I thought you were trying to point out how little you all wanted to be dragged down here.”
“I’d nae put too much stock in Da turning up his toes, piuthar,” he went on. “I’ve killed him