Page 61 of Hit Me With Your Best Scot
“You might ask Amy or Miranda; they know as well as I do. And I’m trying to find a hat, for heaven’s sake.” Sending him another glare, she moved off deeper into the milliner’s shop.
Following her, Coll made another note to himself. The half dozen other women in the shop parted before him like sheep before a shepherd, but other than trying to avoid knocking any of them over, he ignored them and their curious stares. “What about this one?” he asked, returning to the list of names that actually interested him. “Maria Vance-Hayden? She’s the Duke of Dunhurst’s granddaughter, aye?”
Eloise stopped so quickly he nearly ran into her. “Maria Vance-Hayden?” she whispered, sending a glance past him, no doubt to see if anyone might be listening. “She’s the one you’re…Her?”
“I dunnae know yet, lass. What’s her grandda like?”
She wrinkled her nose. “He’s a duke,” she commented, as if that explained everything.
“I know he’s a duke. Is he pleasant? Serious? What?”
Moving closer, she wrapped a hand around his forearm so she could lift up on her toes and reach his ear. “He’s not very nice. I haven’t spoken more than two words to him, but he’s married to Penelope Vance, who I think is the same age as Maria, and he always has a hand on her. It’s not like he’s worried she’ll run away, but more as if he… wants her beneath his heel or something.” She lowered herself to the floor again, releasing her grip. “I suppose one can’t actually blame him for that. He was supposed to marry Lady Temperance Hartwood, you know.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Who’s that?”
“My goodness, you don’t knowanyof the good gossip, do you?”
“Apparently. I dunnae.” Temperance wasn’t on his list, but he wasn’t about to pass up a chance to learn more about her. “Speak.”
“I only know rumors and such, since I was… ten or eleven, I think, when it happened. But she was supposed to marry Dunhurst, and instead she ran away from home in the middle of the night the evening before the wedding.”
It had been a week before the wedding, according to Temperance, but he only nodded. “Where did she end up?”
“No one knows. She hasn’t been seen since. I heard that she fled to the Americas and married a French trapper and dresses like an Indian.”
“How does anyone know that if she’s nae been seen since she ran off?”
“Oh, don’t be so logical.” Eloise grinned at him. “Imagining where she went is half the fun, don’t you know.”
Fun. Temperance hadn’t seen it as anything amusing, but at the same time, the wilder the speculation, the safer she likely was. “Do her parents have any other bairns?”
“No. Just her. I heard another story that she married a butcher up in York and has six fat children.”
“She’s nae sent word to her mama and da that she’s well?”
“I told you, no one’s heard anything. You would think that shewouldtell them where she is, because even though her cousin, Robert Hartwood, will get the title, she’s still the one who’ll get most of the money. After Mr. Hartwood’s marriage, though, he’ll probably push Lord and Lady Bayton to have Lady Temperance declared dead. I would; if she can’t be bothered to claim a hundred thousand pounds or whatever it is, the next marquis should get it.”
The tip of Coll’s pencil broke.A hundred thousand pounds?That much blunt—or half, or even a third of it—made for one hell of a motive to kill a lass. Why hadn’t she said anything? He’d been doing his investigating based on someone being embarrassed if she was discovered. “Are ye certain she’s worth that much?” he forced out.
“That’s the rumor. I think her parents haven’t disowned her yet because having that much money still attached to her might encourage her to return, wouldn’t you think?”
“Aye, ye’d think so.”
Abruptly, Eloise laughed. “If you’re thinking of finding her for yourself, Coll, you’d best get a move on—and hope the rumors about the butcher or the French trapper aren’t true.”
It took every bit of willpower he had to grin back at her.“That much money does make the lass sound a wee bit more attractive, doesnae?” He clenched his jaw beneath his smile. “Her cousin—what’s his name again? Have ye met him?”
“Robert,” she repeated. “Robert Hartwood. I’ve danced with him a time or two. He’s very serious. I’m not certain what Caroline Rilence did to get him to propose to her. Maybe she made him laugh, and that addled his brain.”
“When are they to wed?”
“At the end of summer, I think. I’m sorry I don’t know all the gossip, but I’ve been planning my own wedding, you know.” She took his arm again, squeezing it. “And I need a new hat to wear for Aden and Miranda’s wedding. I thought I had one, but it’s very like the one Miranda said she’s wearing, and I don’t want to look like I’m aping her.”
“Aden said the wedding was to be a wee affair with nae but family and the pastor.”
“And a few of mama’s friends. And luncheon afterward. People always talk about weddings, regardless of who they’re for, Coll. I don’t want anyone to be talking about my poor choice of hat.” She put her hands on her hips. “So either help me look for one, or go away.”
“A few of mama’s friends” could mean anywhere between five and five hundred people. He hoped Aden knew that, though his crafty brother likely did. Which meant Aden had agreed to it, and he and Francesca were well on their way to making amends.
