Hit Me With Your Best Scot (Wild Wicked Highlanders #3) - Suzanne Enoch Page 0,39

visited from time to time. That was only one of several regrets she had. Balancing the life Eloise had in London against what she would have found in a wild corner of the Highlands couldn’t be measured, though. That had been her compromise.

Francesca looked toward the stairs. From the ease with which Niall had stepped in to keep Coll’s disappearance a secret—to give Amelia-Rose a satisfactory-enough explanation that Miss Baxter had apparently not only accepted his presence but lied to allow it to continue—he’d done it before. Given a choice between calling him charming and crafty or charming and protective, she would of course prefer the latter.

She took a breath, standing and pulling Eloise to her feet beside her. “You must tell me how Niall and Matthew got along. I have no doubt that he’ll tell Aden and Coll exactly what he thinks of your betrothed, and if there’s to be warfare, I would like to know in advance.”

Now all she needed to do was set aside all of her private reservations—which could well be her own nerves and nothing more—and settle Coll with Amelia-Rose Baxter, and she could claim aloud that everything was proceeding much better than she’d expected.

“Ye said ye would do what was necessary to save Aldriss,” Aden pointed out, picking up a billiards ball and rolling it across the table.

“That’s nae how ye play,” Coll countered, still squinting a little in the reflected morning sunlight even after a night to sleep off his misadventure. “And I reckon I’ll see her for that damned party.”

Niall hefted the cue in his hands, beginning to wonder if cracking it across Coll’s skull would do more damage to the viscount or the wooden stick. “So ye’ll wed her, but ye willnae bother to become acquainted with her first?”

“Doesnae seem to be a point to that, since Lady Aldriss has decided it’s to be. I’d nae try to choose a man for Eloise without figuring out who she is, first, but who gives a damn, anyway.”

Well, one person came to mind, but Niall reflected that he did seem to be the only one interested in becoming acquainted with his brother’s bride-to-be. “Here,” he said, tossing the cue to Aden.

“Where are ye off to?”

“To find a bride, I reckon. Or get some air, at least.”

He saddled Kelpie himself, despite Gavin’s hovering, and trotted off toward Wigmore Place. He had no idea what Amelia-Rose’s schedule might be, and given that she seemed to have nearly every moment of every day filled with social engagements, the odds of her being home seemed abysmal. Still, Coll was supposed to be courting her. It was supposed to look like a love match. And so for the sake of appearances, which Amelia-Rose valued almost to the point of obsession, he would attempt to make it look like one.

Hughes didn’t look particularly happy to see him when he swung the Baxter House knocker against the door. “Mr. MacTaggert. No calling card, I presume?”

“Nae. Is Miss Baxter in?”

“Wait here. I shall inquire.”

The door closed. Ah, back to exile again. Before he could decide whether to invite himself into the foyer or not, the door opened again, and he found himself face-to-face with Amelia-Rose. “Good morning,” he said, grinning, refusing to examine too closely why the day had just become brighter even if he couldn’t ignore the fact that it had.

“Good morning,” she returned, leaning against the door. “What brings you here?”

He hadn’t really thought that far ahead, damn it all. “I … Coll and I, that is, were about to go riding, and I reckoned with a mount like Mirabel ye’re a rider, yerself. Care to join us?”

“I…” She glanced over her shoulder. “I have a luncheon at one o’clock.”

Niall pulled out his pocket watch. “It’s nae even ten o’clock. We’ll have ye back here in plenty of time.”

The door swung back and forth slowly, mimicking her indecision as she clearly weighed coming with him. “Very well,” she whispered. “Please go have John saddle Mirabel and a mount for himself. I’ll meet you by the stable.”

“And yer shadow?”

“My shadow hasn’t risen yet. Hush.” With a slight grin she softly closed the door on him again.

So the lass was ready to be a bit brave then, was she? Good for her. He and Kelpie made their way around the house, where he helped John saddle Mirabel and a gray gelding. If she meant this as a morning’s escape, the sooner they could get away the less likely anyone else would