A Rake at the Highland Court: The Highland Ladies Book Four
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A Rake at the Highland Court
The Highland Ladies Book Four
Celeste Barclay
A Rake at the Highland Court Copyright © 2020 by Celeste Barclay. All Rights Reserved.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Cover designed by Lisa Messegee, The Write Designer
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Celeste Barclay
Visit my website at www.celestebarclay.com
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing: May 2020
Celeste Barclay
Kindle Digital Edition
“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” ~Ernest Hemingway
An open heart and an open mind is sometimes the best we can ask for.
Happy reading, y'all,
Celeste
The Highland Ladies
A Spinster at the Highland Court
A Spy at the Highland Court (De Wolfe Connected World/Series Companion)
A Wallflower at the Highland Court
A Rogue at the Highland Court
A Rake at the Highland Court
An Enemy at the Highland Court (June 2020)
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Epilogue
If you’re intrigued by the members of The Clan Sinclair…
Thank you for reading A Rake at the Highland Court
The Highland Ladies
The Clan Sinclair
Pirates of the Isles
Viking Glory
Chapter One
Eoin Gordon raised his chalice once more to toast his twin brother, Ewan, and his new sister-by-marriage, Allyson. As he did, he had a sense that someone was watching him. As the hairs on the back of his neck rose, Eoin passed a quick glance over the diners seated below the dais, but no one seemed to be paying attention to him. He raised his chalice again but didn’t take a sip; instead, he continued to scan the crowd. He looked for anyone doing the same: studying him while attempting to ensure no one else noticed.
“What’s amiss?” Ewan, the elder twin by five minutes and the heir to Clan Gordon, leaned toward him. The brothers had been inseparable since the day of their birth. They possessed an uncanny intuition for one another and seemed to share the same thoughts more often than not. Until Ewan fell in love with Allyson, neither trusted anyone more than they did each other. As he heard Allyson laugh, Eoin’s memory flashed to her courtship with Ewan. Their relationship started poorly when Allyson ran away rather than consider a marriage to Ewan. More than once during that time, Eoin had wanted to shake Ewan, whose views on marriage and fidelity had changed all too slowly. Eoin was grateful for Allyson’s influence; he was certain his brother was a better man for it.
“Naught. I just have a sense that someone is watching me,” Eoin explained. “It’s making me want to squirm.”
“I haven’t a clue why women find you so attractive, but it’s probably some bored wife or lonely widow,” Ewan grinned. His reputation as a rogue was entrenched in many women’s minds, but his obvious devotion to Allyson no longer caused Eoin concern that his brother intended to stray from his marriage vows. “You do have a reputation as a rake. One of them is hoping they’ll warm your bed tonight.”
“Only one?” Eoin cocked an eyebrow and grinned. “My charm must be slipping.”
“You assume you had any to begin with. Perhaps it was my charm that lured the women, and they figured two is better than one,” Ewan teased. The twins were mirror images in every way except for their battle scars. Ewan had a scar that split the left corner of his lip, and Eoin had a less noticeable scar above his left eyebrow. While their scares weren’t in the same place, they were still on the same side. There was little to distinguish them apart, and they’d relied upon that throughout their lives, often trading places.
“That very charm had me running for the hills,” Allyson elbowed her husband as she leaned around Ewan to speak to her brother-by-marriage. “It’s Cairstine Grant. I don’t have a clue why she keeps looking at you, but she can’t seem to distract herself.”
“Cairstine? Why would she be staring?” Eoin wondered aloud.
“Perhaps she’s accepted she’ll have to settle?” Ewan once again teased but threw his hands up in surrender when Allyson pinched his wrist. He responded by pulling her in for a searing kiss that had many banging their chalices on the tables. Ewan’s undivided attention returned to his bride as he whispered something in Allyson’s ear that made her blush and nod her head. With that, Eoin turned his attention back to the crowd, once again pretending to drink wine from his cup. At court, neither twin overly imbibed. While they allowed others to believe they were sotted half the time they were in attendance, it was a ruse to learn more that they could report to their father, Laird Andrew Gordon, who sat to his right. Shifting his gaze to his father, Eoin wondered if he might soon have a betrothal thrust upon him. Ewan’s betrothal to Allyson had come as an unpleasant shock to everyone. Andrew arrived at court and within an hour, his sons were facing down an irate young woman in the king’s Privy Council chamber.
Eoin grimaced as he recalled the scene in the passageway between Allyson, her friend Cairren Kennedy, Ewan, and himself only a brief time before Robert the Bruce summoned them to that dreadful meeting. The young ladies discovered the brothers leaving a young widow’s chamber, tucking their leines into their leggings. There was no mistaking what they’d been doing. He and Ewan had taunted the ladies, but only a few hours later, Allyson was retelling the tale in front of the king, her father and his own, and anyone within earshot. Ewan abandoned any charm he might have possessed as he defended himself. Eoin had wanted to drag him out by the ear and shake him for antagonizing Allyson.
“Your brother is a lucky mon,” Andrew clapped Eo
in on the shoulder. “He’s found more than I ever did. The love of a good woman.”
Eoin nodded. “That he did. We should all be so fortunate.” He raised his chalice.
“There’s time yet for both of us,” Andrew chuckled. A widower for many years, the twins’ parents had been very unhappily married. “Would that I could change the past, but your mother was better suited for the life of the nun she longed to be. I can’t entirely blame her for refusing my attention once you lads were born. But neither should she have encouraged me to stray nor should I have done it so eagerly. I can see now how my disastrous marriage influenced both of your views on marriage. It still surprises me how it did so in opposite ways. Ewan entered his betrothal seeing no reason to pledge fidelity because, to him, marriage was a business transaction. But you’ve always believed marriage is a sacred institution, one that both parties should protect and honor.”
It stunned Eoin to hear his father not only to speak aloud what he’d been thinking, but to hear him admit to the errors of his ways. His father was never so introspective, and it was disconcerting. Eoin leaped to the assumption that he was next.
“You needn’t scowl as though you’re aboot to be tossed in the dungeon.” Andrew continued. “I won’t arrange a betrothal for you; not until you ask for one. I learned my lesson with your brother. I’m lucky to have a daughter-by-marriage who doesn’t want to kill any of us in our sleep.”
“Allyson isn’t that underhanded. She’d kill us while staring us straight in the eye,” Eoin mused. Ewan and Eoin learned not to underestimate Allyson when they rescued her from capture at Chillingham Castle. She killed a man in her chamber while Ewan fought two others. “I should be so lucky to find a woman like Allyson.”
Andrew cocked an eyebrow at Eoin as he cast a skeptical glance over his younger son. “Covetousness is a sin, son.” Andrew warned.
“Oh, no,” Eoin shook his head. “I might be lucky to find a woman like Allyson, but I don’t want a woman just like her. I don’t want her. Ewan and I might be alike in everything else, but we’re not exactly the same.”
“Didn’t you threaten to marry her yourself?” Andrew asked pointedly.
“Only if Ewan didn’t pull his head out of his arse. She didn’t deserve an unfaithful husband, and someone had to knock some sense into him. He wasn’t too keen on the idea that someone else might want her. It made him take a long, hard look at his own beliefs.” Eoin stopped there, not wanting his father to feel he was being judgmental about Andrew’s past choices.
“You are right, and I wish I’d given you lads a better example. I would have saved Ewan and Allyson a great deal of heartache if I’d done a better job as a father. You’ve taken the more honorable path from the beginning.”
“There was nothing honorable aboot the way Ewan and I teased Allyson and her friend that day. And I’ve made plenty of excuses for bedding married women. A marriage in name only. Their husbands have mistresses. I never forced them. They approached me.” Eoin shook his head as he looked his father in the eye. “I may have pledged to myself that I will never stray from my marriage vows, but I’ve done little to prove I care aboot the sanctity of anyone else’s marriage. I’ve been a hypocrite.”
“Do you intend to mend your ways?”
“I believe I must.”
“You’re not one to visit whorehouses, and you’re refusing married women. That leaves you widows or celibacy.”
“I’ll take the widows, but I can accept celibacy.” When Andrew shot him a knowing glance, Eoin added. “At least for a little while.”
Their conversation faded as the music began. Ewan and Allyson left the dais to dance, and Eoin joined the line of dancers. He avoided Lady Bevan, the woman whose chamber he and his brother were leaving when Allyson and Cairren had discovered him. He wouldn’t revisit that part of his past; he would never slight Allyson. He spotted Cairren and attempted to partner with her. He owed her an apology and a debt of gratitude, since she was the one to inform them of Allyson’s disappearance. They’d danced numerous times, and he liked the young lady-in-waiting, but the women’s line shuffled down, and he found himself staring at Cairstine Grant, who looked uncomfortable staring back at him.
Chapter Two
Cairstine Grant couldn’t believe her luck--in this case, rotten luck. She’d been lost in thought for most of the meal and caught herself staring off into space, except that Eoin Gordon had filled that space. He’d sat in front of her on the dais, and she realized he must have thought she was staring at him rather than knowing her mind wandered. Her cheeks heated as she stepped forward, and she curtseyed while he bowed. As their palms touched with their arms raised, Cairstine glanced at Eoin, who gave a knowing smile. She wanted to kick him in the shins for his smugness. He knew nothing.
Wretched mon, taunting me. He will trip over his own ego one of these days. At least his brother isn’t as obnoxious now that Lady Allyson has reined him in. O-en and U-en. How original.
Cairstine narrowed her eyes at Eoin, but that only broadened his smile. She resolved to trample on his toes as many times as she could. They’d spoken together a week earlier and even slipped away to share a kiss, but she’d ended their tryst before it could go beyond that.
“If you frown, you’ll give yourself wrinkles,” Eoin whispered. Cairstine’s eyes widened before narrowing into slits.
“If you’re a horny toad, you’re likely to have warts,” Cairstine flung back.
“I’m definitely horny,” Eoin cast her a wolfish grin that turned his already-too-handsome face devastating.
“You’re despicable. We’ve all heard now why Lady Allyson ran away. What you and your brother were up to.”
“I prefer to think I’m incorrigible.”
“You don’t deny what people are saying aboot you and Ewan? And Lady Bevan?”
“How can I deny the truth? Lady Cairstine, what is done is done. Lady Bevan is part of both my and Ewan’s past. My brother has eyes for no one but his wife, and I will never betray Allyson by having aught to do with a woman who attempted to hurt her. Even after we returned, Lady Bevan propositioned Ewan right in front of Allyson. That liaison was never meant to hurt anyone, but it did, so it can’t happen again.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“In this case, it is. But why are you so sour to me this evening? You weren’t while you sat watching me.” Eoin offered her another smile, but Cairstine didn’t find this one charming, and her blank stare said as much.
“I wasn’t staring at you. I was staring in your direction. I was thinking.”
“Aboot?”
“Aboot none of your business.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t aboot me? Or perhaps those kisses we shared?”
“Shh,” Cairstine hissed as she glanced around to ensure no one was listening. “You are despicable. Watch what you say; someone could hear you.”
Eoin opened his mouth to say it was no great secret that Cairstine offered her kisses to plenty of men, but he snapped it shut. Insulting her wouldn’t gain him any favors. “You’re right, my lady. I beg your apology.”
Cairstine nearly missed a step at the sincerity in his voice, and her honey-blond hair whipped across her face. Eoin brushed it away without thought, but both paused when they realized the intimacy of the act. Cairstine once again glanced at those around them, but no one appeared to be paying them attention.
“It seems I owe you yet another apology. I wasn’t thinking.” Eoin had the good grace to look sheepish as he glanced down at their feet.
“It’s fine. It was kind of you, even if inappropriate.” Cairstine offered a warm smile as she relaxed. Perhaps she wouldn’t tread on his toes after all. “I fear I’m rather short-tempered this evening, and it’s not entirely your fault.”
“Not entirely?” Eoin attempted to lighten the mood.
“You are rather incorrigible,” Cairstine’s grin told him her comment was tongue-in-cheek rather than scolding, as it had been before.
Cairstine turned such a blank stare at Eoin that he wondered if she was aware of where she was. He maneuvered them toward the doors that led to a terrace. He debated whether to offer Cairstine privacy by stepping into the shadows or remain in the light, so no one could question them. He opted to stand in the light and pressed Cairstine into the shadows before stepping back. Eoin squeezed her hands, hoping to bring her back to the present.
“Hmm? I’m well, Eoin. Really. I’m dreadfully distracted this eve,” Cairstine mumbled.
“It’s more than just distracted. What’s wrong?”