Page 82 of Hit Me With Your Best Scot
“The idea of ye being hurt scares me,” he returned softly. “The idea of someaught that I cannae fight coming between us scares me.”
“The last two days have gone from being a nightmare to a happy dream,” she said. “I’m afraid I’ll wake up and find none of it to be true.” Shakespeare would have adored it—the woman who’d given up on the idea of love and marriage while playing romantic heroines, and the man who’d seen through all the characters to her heart and awakened her again.
“I have upended things for ye, I ken.”
“And I love you for that, you know.”
The smile beneath his fierce mask made her grin in return. “Aye. And I love ye. Ye upended a few things for me, as well. And I’d nae change any of ’em for gold.”
Neither would she. Before she could say that aloud, though, a thin man in a fox mask passed her, and a shiver went down her spine. She tightened her fingers around Coll’s arm without even realizing it.
“Is that him?” Coll asked immediately, stopping and turning around. “Yer cousin?”
“No,” she whispered, beginning to shake. “That was my father.”
“Damn.” They reversed course yet again, and he strode in the opposite direction, practically lifting her off her feet as she tried to keep up. “Let’s get ye back to Oswell House. Now.”
Swallowing, she pulled on his arm. She might as well have been poking at a thundercloud, but he slowed, looking down at her. “This is still our best chance to find Robert,” she breathed. “The play opens tomorrow, and I can’t—”
“It’s too risky, Temperance.”
“It is what it is. I’m here. He walked right by me without batting an eye. We have to stay.”
From his clenched jaw and aggressive stance, he wasn’t at all pleased with her conclusion. Even so, after a moment he nodded. “Dunnae move a step away from me. If it comes down to it, Nuckelavee is outside. Iwilltoss ye over the saddle and make off with ye to the Highlands. All I need is a wee excuse.”
That was far more tempting than it should have been. “My parents are far more averse to scandal than yours are,” she said, doing her best to keep her voice steady and not sound like a scared mouse. “I doubt they’d care to make a scene even if they did recognize me.” That made sense, at least, and she clung to the thought. If they recognized her, they might try to approach her in private, but never in public. And tonight, she didn’t mean to be caught in private with anyone.
“Aye,” he grunted. “Let’s tell the others, though. We dunnae need Aden or Niall tackling yer da.”
As they found Aden and Miranda and let them know that at least Lord Bayton was in attendance, Lady Aldriss joined them. “Your cousin is here, my dear,” she said, “wearing a rooster mask. And don’t be alarmed, but your parents are here, as well.”
“She saw her da a minute ago and nearly went out the window,” Coll provided.
“I did not. He startled me, is all. I’m finished running.”
It all sounded very brave, but it felt terrifying. At the same time, she meant it. She’d run eight years ago and had been in hiding ever since, even if her best disguisehappened to be hiding in plain sight. Now she had a reason to stay and fight for what she’d found. The only problem was that a fight might actually be involved.
“Then you know your father is a fox. Your mother is a swan, like Eloise.”
“She should’ve been a hen to go with his fox,” Aden suggested with a brief grin.
“That’s far too whimsical for my parents. Come, Coll, I want to find that rooster and get this over with.”
“And I’d like to wring his neck,” Coll put in.
Now that they knew which animal to look for, it didn’t take long to spy cousin Robert. He stood by the refreshment table, sampling each one of the treats methodically, one after the other. He looked so… familiar, as if it had only been a week since she’d last seen him, and not eight years. He had put on a bit of weight around his middle and his chin had doubled, but even with the mask on, it could be no one else.
Beside him stood a blonde duck, and every so often he would hand a treat to her and she would pop it into her mouth. His betrothed, Caroline Rilence. Temperance hadn’t been particularly close with her at school, and she doubted she would have recognized Caroline on the street, but she couldn’t think of anyone else to whom Robert would be giving sweets.
“That’s him?” Coll murmured from close beside her.
“Yes. I’m certain of it.”
In response, she felt his muscles tense, a crackle in the air as the tension rose around him. Turning her back on her cousin, she put a hand against Coll’s chest. “No hitting. We need to speak with him first.”
He took a hard breath, her hand moving as his lungs filled and emptied. “I’ll signal Eloise, then.” Pulling a button from his pocket, he turned, looked, and flipped it through the air. As she watched, it flew halfway across theroom to strike young Matthew Harris on the back of the head. He turned, startled.
“Over here,” Coll mouthed.
