The Heiress Bride

by Catherine Coulter

  “All right, you’re no longer a brat,” Ryder said. “I would like another brandy, Colin, if you please. Sinjun, do remove your arms from him, it might save him from further pummeling by Douglas.”

  “This isn’t settled yet,” Douglas said. “I’m very upset with you, Sinjun. You could have trusted me, you could have spoken to me. Instead you just stole out of the house like a damned thief.”

  “But Douglas, I understood your position, truly, and I respected it. But the fact was and is that Colin is innocent of any wrongdoing, and what’s more, he had instant need of my money and simply couldn’t wait for some sort of resolution that probably would never come. I was rather concerned about that, since both you and my money would still be in London. But that’s not the case now, thank God. I am glad you came—albeit you weren’t happy when you arrived—so that you and Colin can work it all out.”

  “Joan,” Colin said very quietly, “one doesn’t speak about settlements in such a way. Certainly not in front of ladies, and not in the drawing room, under such oddly unconventional conditions.”

  “You mean because there’s a hole in the ceiling?”

  “You know very well what I mean.”

  “But why ever not? It’s my dowry, and you’re my husband. Let’s get on with it.”

  Douglas laughed, he couldn’t help himself.

  “I think,” Ryder said, “that this means your hide just might remain on your body, Colin. Sinjun, take yourself off and the gentlemen will deal with all the money matters.”

  “Good. Don’t forget Great-Aunt Margaret’s inheritance to me, Douglas. You told me once it was an impressive number of groats and all invested on the ’Change.”

  “We’re as good as married, Colin.”

  He turned to face her in the dark-cornered earl’s suite at the end of an equally dark and quite dismal corridor on the second floor of Kinross House. There was but one branch of candles lit and he was holding it. He set it down on a battered surface that had once held all his father’s shaving objects.

  He just shook his head. “I know we must pretend that we are, and I intend to do so until your brothers leave. I will sleep with you in that bed, and as you can see, it’s large enough for a regiment. You will keep your hands to yourself, Joan, else I’ll be displeased with you.”

  “I simply don’t believe this, Colin. I do hope you aren’t the sort of person who makes a decision, then sticks to it whether it’s good or miserably bad.”

  “I’m right in this decision.”

  “You’re ridiculous.”

  “A wife shouldn’t be so disrespectful to her husband.”

  “You’re not my husband yet, damn you! What you are is the most stubborn, the most obstinate—”

  “There’s a screen in the corner. You may change behind it.”

  When they were lying side by side in the mammoth bed, Sinjun staring up at the dark bed hangings, which smelled moldy, he said to her, “I like your brothers. They’re honorable and quite fit as friends. As relatives, they’re superlative.”

  “So nice of you to say so.”

  “Don’t sulk, Joan.”

  “I’m not sulking, I’m cold. It’s damp in this dreadful room.”

  He wasn’t cold, but then again he was rarely cold. But he knew that if he pulled her into his arms, he would make love to her, and he wouldn’t break his vow, particularly with her brothers here under his roof, flesh-and-blood reminders of his perfidy.

  He leaned up and grabbed his bedrobe that he’d tossed at the foot of the bed. “Here, put this on. It will wrap around you twice and keep you very warm.”

  “I am overcome with your generosity and reasonableness.”

  “Go to sleep.”

  “Certainly, my lord. Whatever you wish, whatever you demand, whatever you—”

  He began snoring.

  “I wonder why Douglas didn’t demand to see our marriage lines. That isn’t like him not to be thorough.”

  “He just might, mightn’t he? Shall we wed tomorrow, whilst your brothers are visiting the Castle? It turns out Douglas has a friend who’s a major there, and he wants Ryder to meet him.”

  “That would be just excellent,” Sinjun said. “Colin?”

  “What now?”

  “Would you just hold my hand?”

  He did, and felt very warm fingers. So she was on the verge of freezing to death, was she? He imagined that his soon-to-be-wife would do just about anything to gain what she wanted. He would have to watch her carefully. “I hope you enjoy my dressing gown.”

  “Oh yes, it’s soft and smells like you.”

  He said nothing to that.

  “Wearing it, I can fancy you’re touching me everywhere.”

  At ten o’clock in the morning the following day, Colin and Sinjun were wed by a Presbyterian preacher who had been friends with Colin’s uncle Teddy—not his father, Colin explained to her, because his father had been all that was sinful and a rotter. Reverend MacCauley, an ancient relic, was blessed with more hair than any old man should have, but best of all, he was fast with his lines and pronouncements and dictums, the latter being the most important consideration. When they emerged as Lord and Lady Ashburnham, Sinjun gave a skipping little step. “ ’Tis done, at last. Now, shall I volunteer to show my brothers our marriage lines?”

  “No. Stop, I want to kiss you.”

  She became still as a stone. “Ah,” he said, gently taking her chin in the palm of his hand and raising her face. “You’re no longer hell-bent on being bedded, are you? It was all an act. But why?” He stiffened then, his fingers tightening a bit on her chin. “I see now. Even last night you were worried that Douglas and Ryder just might discover that we weren’t yet wed. You wanted to protect me, didn’t you? You wanted to get your dowry into my hands.”

  “No,” she said. “Not entirely. I could look at you naked until I die. Even your feet are lovely.”

  “You’re always taking me off-stride, Joan. I like it sometimes. Also, just being naked isn’t the same thing. What will you do when you’re lying on your back in bed naked and I’m standing over you, ready to come to you?”

  “I don’t know. Close my eyes, I suppose. It sounds rather alarming, though, but not repellent, at least not with you.”

  He grinned. “I should like to do something about this right this minute. At least within the next hour, at the most. But your brothers are here and I don’t think Douglas would take it kindly were I to throw you over my shoulder and haul you upstairs. Tonight then, Joan. Tonight.”

  “Yes,” she said, and stood on her tiptoes, her lips slightly parted. He kissed her lightly, as he would an aunt, and released her.

  Abbotsford Crescent was only a fifteen-minute walk from Reverend MacCauley’s residence. Colin had stopped Sinjun and was pointing out an old monument from James IV’s reign when suddenly, without warning, there was a pinging sound and a shard of rock shot up to strike Sinjun, slicing her cheek. She’d moved in front of Colin and bent over to look at those age-blurred words just a moment before. She jumped now with the shock of it, and slapped her hand to her face. “What was that?”

  “Oh hell,” Colin shouted, and pushed her to the ground, covering her with his body. Passersby stared at them, hurrying their step, but one man ran over to them.

  “A man shot at ye,” he said, spitting in the next instant in disgust. “I saw him, standing over there by the milliner’s shop, he was. Are ye all right, missis?”

  Colin helped Sinjun to her feet. Her hand was pressed to her cheek and blood oozed between her fingers. He cursed.

  “Ah, the lassie’s hurt. Come along to my house, ’tis just over there, on Clackbourn Street.”

  “No, sir, thank you very much. We live just in Abbotsford Crescent.”

  Sinjun stood there numb as a frozen toe, listening to them exchange names and addresses. Colin would come by and speak to the man later. Someone had shot at her. It was incredible. It was unbelievable. She still felt no pain in her face, but sh
e felt the wet, sticky blood. She didn’t want to see it, so she just kept her palm and fingers pressed tightly to her cheek.

  Colin turned back to her, frowning. Without a word, he picked her up in his arms. “Just relax and rest your head against my shoulder.”

  She did.

  Unfortunately for both of them, Ryder and Douglas had just returned when Colin walked in with her. There was no way to hide the blood still seeping from between her fingers, and thus there was pandemonium and flying accusations and questions and yelling, until Sinjun calmly said, “That’s quite enough, Douglas, Ryder. I fell, that’s all, I just fell like a clumsy clod and cut my face. Stupid, I know, but at least Colin was there with me and carried me home. Now, if you will both just be quiet, I should like to see how much damage there is.”

  Of course the brothers weren’t at all quiet. Sinjun was carried to the kitchen, just as she had once taken Colin to see to his cut lip in the London Sherbrooke kitchen, a fact that wasn’t lost on him, she saw. She was set down on a chair and told to hold still.

  Douglas automatically demanded warm water and some soap, but it was Colin who firmly removed the soft cloth from his hand and said, “Take your hand away, Joan, and let me see how bad it is.”

  She closed her eyes and didn’t make a sound when he touched the damp cloth to her flesh, wiping away all the blood. The shard of rock had grazed her, and not deeply, thank the good Lord. It looked like a simple scratch, and for that he was grateful, what with her two brothers hovering over him, watching his every move, ready, he supposed, to fling him aside if he didn’t do things as they would have done them.

  “It’s not bad at all,” Colin said.

  Ryder moved him aside. “An odd cut, Sinjun, but I don’t think you’ll be scarred. What do you think, Douglas?”

  “It doesn’t look like a simple scratch; rather, it looks like something sliced across your cheek with great force. How did you do it, did you say, Sinjun? You really didn’t expect me to believe this is from a fall?”

  Sinjun, without hesitation, collapsed against Colin and moaned. “It hurts so much. I’m sorry, Douglas, but it does hurt.”

  “It’s all right,” her husband said quickly, “I’ll see to it.”

  While Colin was dabbing some alcohol on the cut, Douglas was frowning.

  Sinjun didn’t like that frown at all. “I don’t feel well. I daresay I’ll be ill very soon. My stomach is turning over.”

  “It’s only a small cut,” Douglas said, his frown deepening. “Something that wouldn’t even slow you down.”

  “True,” Colin said, “but sometimes a sudden injury knocks the body off its bearings. I do hope she won’t retch.” It sounded like a threat, and Sinjun said, “My stomach is settling even as you speak, Colin.”

  “Good. Look, Douglas, she’s very tired, as I imagine you can understand.”

  There was dead and utter silence. Both brothers stared from their new brother-in-law to their little sister—their little virgin sister, their former little virgin sister. It was a huge pill to swallow. It was difficult. Finally Douglas said on a loud sigh, “Yes, I suppose so. Go to bed, Sinjun. We will see you later.”

  “I won’t bandage the cut, Joan. It will heal faster.”

  She gave her husband a brave smile, yet a smile so pathetic and wretched that Ryder began to frown.

  “I don’t like this at all,” he said to the kitchen at large. “You have no more guile than a pot of daisies, Sinjun, and you’re a wretched actress and—”

  It was then that Agnes walked in and Sinjun closed her eyes in relief. The three men were given to know in short order that they were all next to useless and they’d gotten blood on the kitchen table. And here was the poor little missis, all hurt and them carrying on like three roosters with only one hen.

  Ten minutes later Sinjun was lying on the bed in the earl’s suite, two blankets pulled over her.

  Colin sat down beside her. He looked thoughtful. “Your brothers suspect your retching and moaning was an act. Was that an act?”

  “Yes, I had to do something quickly. I wanted to faint, but neither of them would have believed that. I’m sorry, Colin, but I did as best I could. We can’t have them know the truth. They’d never leave here, else they’d cosh you on the head and steal me. I couldn’t allow that.”

  He laughed even though he was amazed. “You’re apologizing because you got shot and tried to pull the wool over your brothers’ eyes. Don’t worry, I’ll maintain the charade. Rest whilst I speak to them, all right?”

  “If you kiss me.”

  He did, another light, disgustingly brotherlike kiss.

  Sinjun wasn’t sleeping when Colin came into their bedchamber. She was scared, excited, and at the moment she was holding her breath. He strode to the bed and stood there, staring down at her, the branch of candles raised high in his hand.

  “You’re turning blue. Breathe.”

  Her breath came out in a whoosh. “I forgot to for the longest time.”

  “How does your cheek feel?”

  “It’s fine, just throbs a bit. I thought dinner went off smoothly, don’t you?”

  “As well as can be expected with each of your brothers taking turns studying your cheek. At least Agnes sets an excellent table.”

  “Is all my money in your hands now?”

  He thought it a rather odd way of putting it, but merely nodded. “Douglas has written me a letter of credit. In addition, we will visit the manager of the Bank of Scotland tomorrow. He will have his man of business send me all the information I will need for any future financial transactions and the status of all your investments. All is done. Thank you, Joan.”

  “Was I as much an heiress as you hoped I’d be?”

  “I’d say you were more than an adequate heiress. What with your inheritance from Great-Aunt Margaret, you are one of the plumpest-in-the-pocket young ladies in England.”

  “What are you going to do now, Colin?”

  He set the branch of candles down and sat beside her. “Are you cold?”

  She shook her head and said, “Yes.”

  He lightly touched his fingertips close to the now-red slash across her smooth flesh. “I’m very sorry about this. We must talk about it, you know. I hope the bullet was meant for me and you were in the way at the last moment.”

  “Well, I certainly don’t hope that! I don’t want anyone trying to shoot you. On the other hand, I don’t particularly want to be shot, either.” She fell silent, from one instant to the next, silence, and she was still as a stone, frowning.

  “What is it?”

  “The knife wound in your thigh. What if it wasn’t just a robber? What if it was another attempt on your life?”

  He merely shook his head. “No, don’t go so far afield for blame. London is a nasty place, truth be told, and I wasn’t in a very prime location at the time it happened. No, it was just a little bully trying to line his pockets and I was his mark, nothing more. Now, would you like to be made love to? This is your wedding night, after all.”

  That certainly gave her thoughts a new direction, Colin thought, looking down at his bride of one day. She was wearing a virginal white lawn nightgown that very nearly touched her chin it was so high. Her long, tousled hair was loose to the middle of her back, with several tresses over her shoulder. He lifted a handful of hair and brought it to his face. Soft and thick and the scent of jasmine, if he wasn’t mistaken. “So many different shades,” he said, quite aware that she was leery about the entire business now, since there was no more need for bravado and self-sacrifice in order to save him. He knew if he’d allowed it, she would have very likely stripped off her clothes, stretched him out on his back, and done the deed herself. And all to protect him and give him her money. She was sweet and guileless and determined and smarter than she should be. He would have to deal strictly with her, this wife of his, else she would take him over, and he would never allow that. Somehow, though, he couldn’t quite see himself locking her in a musty t
ower room.

  He was lucky to have found her, no doubt about that. Then he thought about that bullet hitting the rock and the shard slicing her cheek. What if the bullet had hit her? What if the rock shard had struck her eye? He drew back from those thoughts. It hadn’t happened. He intended to take measures to protect her, beginning the moment her brothers left on the morrow. They would leave shortly thereafter for Vere Castle. That was the one place in Scotland he could be sure she was safe.

  He leaned down and kissed her mouth. She started, then opened her lips, just slightly, but he didn’t take her invitation. He continued to kiss her lightly, his tongue stroking her bottom lip but not entering. He continued to kiss her until he felt her begin to relax. He wasn’t about to touch her yet. He just held that thick tress of hair in his hand and rubbed it against his face.

  He raised his head a bit and said, “You’re quite pretty, Joan, quite pretty indeed. I would like to see the rest of you now.”

  “Isn’t my face enough for the moment?”

  “I should like to see more of the picture.” He should have lit a fire in the blackened fireplace, he realized. He would have liked to stretch her out on her back and look his fill at her, but she’d freeze, and that would never do. Instead, he helped her lift the nightgown over her head, then he gently pressed her again onto her back and drew the covers to just beneath her breasts. He wanted to see and touch and kiss her breasts.

  “Now, let me look at you.”

  Sinjun didn’t like this. She covered her breasts with her hands, realized how ridiculous her action was and dropped her arms to her sides. He was completely dressed and here she was like a white lump just lying here. She wasn’t in control, he was. She didn’t like it one bit.

  He straightened and looked at her breasts, not touching them, just looking. “Very nice,” he said, a vast understatement. He was surprised that they were so full. She walked like a boy, a coltish walk that was free of the coquette, free of any feminine swaying and teasing. Ah, but her breasts were very nice indeed, high and full and the nipples a soft deep pink.