Page 14 of Hit Me With Your Best Scot
Niall shrugged. “They’re naeourpeers. They’re yours. I dunnae think Coll cares to be welcomed into most Sassenach houses, anyway.”
“I do,” Eloise said. “And so does Amy. And Miranda. It’s not just you three and the Highlands any longer, Niall.”
The youngest MacTaggert male’s expression slowly shifted from one of amusement to one of concern. “Amy doesnae like people looking askance at her.”
“It would be one thing if he loved her,” Eloise pursued, “but I’ve never even heard him mention her name. And with the way he keeps leaving the theater as soon as the play begins, I don’t think he’s ever seen Persephone Jones in a performance. He’s only trying to make trouble.”
If this was simply bluster, Coll’s last bellow of defiance before he chose someone acceptable—well, that could be managed. But Francesca had overheard several conversations between the brothers, and she knew the originalplan for each of them had been to find some empty-headed thing, wed her, bed her, and then leave her behind in England in favor of Scotland. If that remained Coll’s plan, then she supposed it wouldn’t matter to him who he married, because he wouldn’t be in London to face any of the social consequences.
“I hope you and brothers know, Niall,” she said slowly, “that I will move heaven and earth to see you happy. At the same time, I am the daughter of the ninth and last Viscount Hornford, a very well-respected man from a very well-respected family. I am a MacTaggert, and a proud one, but I am also an Oswell. This… No. It cannot happen.” She lifted the pen again. “And that is why I am writing your father to inform him of Coll’s intentions.”
Eloise gasped. “You’rewriting Father?”
“I must. He is free to enjoy his brawls and drinking and… whatever carousing he’s been up to. He may choose to continue the pretense that he is presently on his deathbed due to the shock of your engagement, Eloise. But whatever he wishes to pretend, this will not sit well with him.”
Niall’s expression deepened into a scowl. “Nae, it willnae. It may even come to blows. But if ye think this’ll stir him from the Highlands,màthair, I’d suggest ye nae hold yer breath.”
“I stopped holding my breath a very long time ago where Angus MacTaggert is concerned, my darling. And I will place more hope in you and Aden being able to reason with Coll than I will in your father doing anything the least bit reasonable and responsible. But as a mother, and an Oswell, and a MacTaggert, I must do whatever I’m able. And that includes writing a letter to Angus.”
“Reasoning and Coll arenae close friends when he’s got his back up,” Niall commented.
Francesca didn’t often admit that she didn’t know whatto do. This, in fact, might be the first time in seventeen years that she’d done so. If Coll was serious about that woman, she needed more reinforcements than the formidable MacTaggert brothers—the remaining two of them, anyway—could provide. Even if the reinforcements consisted of Angus MacTaggert, Lord Glendarril. Her husband.
Chapter Four
“Such welcome and unwelcome things at once
’Tis hard to reconcile.”
MACDUFF,MACBETHACT IV, SCENE III
“But when the Scottish play gives his grand soliloquy about the brief candle, he should be—”
“It’s the play that’s referred to as ‘the Scottish play,’” Persephone pointed out, lifting her gaze from her well-marked folio. “Not the character, dear.”
Gordon Humphreys scowled at her as the rest of the assembled cast chuckled behind their pages. “Say what you will, but when I last performed the Scottish play, three actors came down with the ague, and our Lady the Scottish play broke her arm when a coach nearly ran her down.”
“The name is said in the play by Macbeth himself, Gordon,” Charlie Huddle pointed out. “You can’t go about onstage saying ‘I am the Scottish play.’”
“At least I’m attempting to avoid ill fortune,” their Macbeth retorted. “I heard you last night, Huddle, telling that big Highlander we were about to begin rehearsals for the Scottish play, only you didn’t call it that. Informing a Scotsman will likely mean even more peril for the rest of us daring to pretend to be Scottish.”
Everyone had noticed the Highlander, apparently. She’d barely stopped thinking about him for long enough to fallasleep herself. Fighting the grin pulling at her lips, Persephone sat forward. “What did Charlie call it, Gordon?”
“He called it by its name, Persie. You can’t trick me.”
She lifted her folio again. “It’s early yet. Give me some time.”
“If Gordon won’t say ‘Macbeth,’ I’m happy to take that role,” Thomas Baywich announced, as he arrived backstage. “Though I still think my idea to set the play in the Pacific Islands would gain us the raves you’ve been after this Season, Charlie.”
“I am not performing Lady Macbeth bare-breasted, which is all you’re after anyway, Baywich,” Persephone retorted.
“The play refers to its own setting in Scotland countless times. We cannot ignore that for the sake of seeing Persie’s tits,” Gordon agreed. “No matter how spectacular they likely are. AndIam playing the title character. You make for a fine, stout Duncan, Baywich, and I will so enjoy stabbing you every night.”
“Offstage,” Thomas Baywich countered. “Macbeth stabs Duncan offstage.” Taking the seat beside Persephone, he paged through his own folio. “Clive, trade with me. You play Duncan the king, and I’ll play Macduff. Macduff gets to cross swords with Macbeth on stage.”
Persephone glanced at the tall, red-headed man seated to her right. Clive Montrose had only joined their company this morning, lured to the Saint Genesius by, from what she’d heard from him, a rather generous purse and a promise of the lead role in the next play performed after the Scottish play.
Considering that he generally played at the Covent Garden Theatre and had done so for the past five or six years, she had to surmise that he’d either been asked to move on, or Charlie Huddlehadoffered a great deal of money to bring him over. The former made more sense,though it was true that acting troupes thrived on fresh blood. It helped them avoid falling into the trap of making every performance the same, no matter the play.
