But Alec would be damned if he could remember it. Not with Sorcha standing directly beside her. “Let the man have his fun. It appears as though he and Miss Ferguson have been in one another’s pockets for quite some time.”
“Young man, if I find you anywhere near Miss Ferguson’s pockets, I will—” the duchess began.
“Yer Grace!” Sorcha protested. “He has never been anywhere near my pockets. I can assure you it’s the furthest thing from his mind.”
But it wasn’t, though he felt more comfortable keeping that to himself.
The duchess held up one hand to stop Sorcha’s diatribe.
“If I find you anywhere near Miss Ferguson’s pockets…” she said as she threaded her arm through his and started down the corridor, leading him along. The duchess dropped her voice down to a conciliatory whisper. “…I will be most delighted.”
Good God. Now he had Sorcha to watch after and a surprise for the duchess to create out of thin air. If that wasn’t bad enough, Her Grace had him thinking lascivious thoughts. And she clearly wasn’t at all ashamed for having placed them in his mind.
The duchess reached for his lapel. “Where did you get that flower, Mr. MacQuarrie?” she asked. “It’s quite remarkable.”
He wasn’t wearing a flower. Well, he hadn’t been a few minutes earlier. He glanced down at his jacket to find the happiest white orchid peeking out of his buttonhole. Alec looked back over his shoulder to find Sorcha grinning at him. That little witch was trouble. Beautiful, beguiling trouble.
Chapter Two
“Why were you quarreling with Mr. MacQuarrie?” Maddie asked as a groom helped her onto her sidesaddle.
Sorcha, already atop her spirited chestnut, tossed her head back to look at the clouds as though she hadn’t heard her friend’s question and let the sun warm her skin. After all, what was she to say? Well, the irritable vampyre doesn’t care for werewolves since one stole the love of his life last year. Hardly. She might as well ride for London and admit herself to Bedlam. She lowered her head, smoothed her hand over her horse’s neck, and cooed to the animal.
“There you are, milady.” The groom took a step backward and smiled at Maddie. “Don’t go too far. You know how Her Grace worries.”
“Thank you, Johnny.” Maddie urged her bay closer to Sorcha. “But there’s no need for concern. Miss Ferguson and I will be careful.”
The lad nodded and then started back for the stables.
Maddie’s green eyes twinkled when they landed on Sorcha. “I know you heard me. Am I to take from your silence that you don’t wish to discuss your handsome neighbor?”
Sorcha looked down at her reins and shook her head. “It was nothin’ important, Maddie. Mr. MacQuarrie and I simply doona see eye ta eye about the Marquess of Eynsford.”
That, at least, was the truth.
Despite Alec’s assertion that she had lost her mind, Sorcha felt a tug of guilt in her heart. She hadn’t meant to blurt out Eynsford’s name, and she couldn’t quite forget the look of pure torture that had flashed across Alec’s face when the name left her lips. If she could have snatched the words back, she would have done so. Poor Alec had been devastated when Cait chose Eynsford over him.
They started toward the west side of the property at a slow trot, and Maddie sent Sorcha a sidelong glance. “Your neighbor is in good company then. Grandmamma is a bit wary of the marquess as well. He was quite estranged from his father before the old man’s passing. Did you know?”
Yes, Sorcha was quite aware of Eynsford’s rift with his father, or at least the man all of society believed to be his father; but that was neither here nor there. She shrugged her response. “Many men choose paths their fathers do not agree with.”
Maddie agreed with a nod. “True. Papa has been quite put out with Nathaniel and Robert most of their lives. What about your Mr. MacQuarrie?”
“My Mr. MacQuarrie?” Sorcha somehow managed to keep from tumbling from her seat. She’d never thought of Alec in those terms before.
Maddie giggled. “Does he follow his father’s path? Or is he more the rebellious sort like my brothers?”
She’d heard quite the scandalous tales about the Earl of Bexley and Lord Robert Hayburn ever since she’d befriended Maddie, always in very hushed tones, however, to keep anyone else from hearing. Their exploits certainly didn’t sound like Alec, at least not the man she’d once known. “He always