01 Highland Fling by Amanda Scott

Author:Amanda Scott [Scott, Amanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-07-22T16:00:00+00:00

XV

MAGGIE WAITED IN THE hall for MacDrumin to return, hoping he would not attempt to delay a confrontation. She was certain he would not simply go off to bed after seeing Rothwell to his chamber, for he was likely to have more orders to give his men once the Englishmen were not right at hand. He might not want to take time before that to speak with her, but she intended to see to it that he did.

She could not believe she was legally married to Rothwell. The whole notion was ludicrous. Not that marriage by declaration was new to her, for she had often heard of couples resorting to that means when there was no priest or parson at hand to perform a proper wedding, which was frequently the case in isolated areas during the wintertime, when what roads and tracks there were lay under a dozen or more feet of snow; but she had never heard of any couple being married by such a means against their will.

Her father must have been joking, punishing Rothwell for his impudence in coming to claim his estate. She would confront him, and he would admit it, and she would tell him precisely what she thought of such pranks, and the whole business would be over. The marriage would be disavowed, and there would be no need to suffer the indignity of annulment or divorce. Otherwise, she had seen enough of Rothwell to know he did not make idle promises, and could not doubt that he would seek one or the other. And from what she knew of him in London, she was certain that whatever he demanded would be granted to him.

The thought of divorce chilled her, but at least annulment was possible, and she thanked God that the earl had not decided to use the excuse of his so-called marriage to ravish her. Other men given such an opportunity would certainly have done so, but whether from principle or out of sheer temper, he would not take advantage of her even now, and for that she must be grateful.

Hearing rapid, familiar footsteps echoing on the stairway, she moved quickly to intercept MacDrumin as he came down the steps, but he made no attempt to avoid her. He was grinning from ear to ear, and before she said a word, he caught her up off the floor and whirled her around in a near-crushing embrace.

“Och, lassie,” he said, chortling as he set her down again, “what a thing it is to win a hand again! Thanks to you, we MacDrumins will hold Glen Drumin for yet another generation.”

“How can you say so, Papa? Even if this so-called marriage somehow continues one day past Rothwell’s appeal to Parliament, his heirs will not be MacDrumins. They will be Carsleys.”

“Bah, ’tis all the same. His sons will be my grandsons, with MacDrumin blood running through, their veins, and they’ll not be Englishman, whatever his lordship tries to make of them. Indeed, and it would be all the better for you to keep your own name and give both to your sons.

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