A Scot to the Heart (Desperately Seeking Duke #2) - Caroline Linden Page 0,94

same way.” Even though she sped up, he kept pace with her. “What a dark day this must be for you, Madam Proud and Haughty.” He laughed. “Although, just wait until he’s caught and hanged!”

Never had she hated someone as much as she hated Liam in that moment. He was deliberately baiting her and drawing attention to her; people were turning to watch. Tomorrow the gossip rags would be full of this, she thought in despair. “Don’t say such a thing,” she whispered harshly. “That will never happen!”

“No? Why not? Mrs. Ramsay,” he said with sly, affected surprise, “did you help Deacon Fletcher escape?”

It felt like the entire street full of people, shopkeepers, chairmen, running boys on errands, ladies with servants at their heels, gentlemen on their way to the counting house and coffeehouses, had stopped to watch and listen—and judge. Her face burned and her skin crawled. “Stop,” she pleaded again, low and furious. “Please.”

“Am I making you uncomfortable?” His eyes gleamed mockingly. “Not so proud and disdainful anymore, are you? All these years you’ve thumbed your nose at me and now you’re begging for my help.” He clicked his tongue. “Not that it’ll save him from the hangman.”

She whirled on him, shaking with fury. “How dare you?” she demanded. “I don’t care if you hate me—I certainly despise you—but how could you walk the Canongate exclaiming that Papa will be hanged, at the top of your lungs? After all he did for you? He’s treated you like his own son!”

Liam smiled bitterly. “Hardly. But I suppose it might look like that to a spoiled daughter. I daresay he took to me because you were such a disappointment.”

Her throat was raw and her hands were in fists. “Stay away from me,” she said, quietly but clearly, “or I will summon the law.”

“Oho!” He laughed as she turned and walked away, slipping on a cobble in her haste. “Summon the law as much as you like! I daresay they’ll be coming for you soon in any event.”

She reached home and slammed the door behind her, leaning against it until her shaking subsided. She hid her face in her hands and squeezed her eyes shut to hold back tears of humiliation. It was no secret Liam disliked her, but Papa had been his mentor, his patron. He had taken Liam into the shop when he was a young man, training him and grooming him to manage the business himself someday. How could Liam betray Papa like that?

“Ma’am.” Mr. MacLeod approached with sympathy in his eyes. “Are you well?”

“Yes.” She swiped at her face and untied her cloak.

“This was left on the step earlier. I took the liberty of peeking inside very briefly, to make certain it wasn’t . . .” He paused. “Dangerous.”

She gave a joyless huff and took the slim wrapped packet, the string loose. “Thank you, Mr. MacLeod.”

Inside was a familiar book. The Widower and Bachelor’s Directory. Puzzled, Ilsa checked the wrapping, but there was no note. Only when she held the book in her hands did it fall open, to a heavily marked page.

Madam Ramsay, Edinburgh, had a thick black line drawn through it. As to her fortune, the amount had been circled and labeled embezzled, and the stocks had been marked stolen. Across the page was one phrase, writ large: mad, immoral, and spurned by all decent men.

She stared at that for a long moment.

For twenty-five years she had followed every rule, every stricture. She had obeyed her aunt as a child, married the man her father chose, done her best to honor and obey her husband. All those years of following the rules had left her with a pristine reputation, but no friends. Her marriage had been distant and cold. She’d been desperately lonely and unhappy. All she had asked, in the months since her mourning ended, was to have a few friends, wear what she liked, and have some fun. Mad? She’d got a pet pony and learned golf, which everyone played. Immoral? She’d gone to oyster cellars and taken walks on the hill, like so many other ladies did. Spurned by any decent man? She’d fallen in love with Drew, the most honorable and decent man she knew, and she’d thought he might be falling in love with her . . .

She ran to the drawing room and burned the horrid little book and its spiteful words. If only she could wipe out the tide of rumor and gossip so easily. William has ruined