“How would ye know of that!” she demanded.
“Poor lass,” Hugh said and laughed roundly. “Everyone knows of his interest in ye. Everyone knows that Anderson would have ye as his mistress. Really, then, did ye think he’d marry ye? A woman of yer age and situation?” He laughed again and patted her on the arm. “Ye really are a lamb, leannan. Run back to the Highlands, aye? Ye’re too good for the likes of Edinburra, and ye are far too na?ve to play the games that amuse people here.”
Mared bristled at the condescension in his tone. How dare he speak to her as if she were an ignorant child! She glared at him icily. “I beg yer pardon, Mr. MacAlister, but I should have thought twice before renewing my acquaintance with a roué!”
Hugh chuckled, grabbed her hand and lifted it to his mouth, kissing her knuckles fondly. “That, mo ghraidh, is me point precisely,” he said, and let go her hand. “Go home, then. Ye’ll be happier there, I assure ye. Ye’ll be eaten up here,” he said, and with a wink, he clasped his hands behind his back and walked away to join his companions.
Would that Mared had taken his advice and left at that moment, too, for she would have been spared the humiliation that occurred a scant quarter of an hour later, when the father of the happy bride gained the attention of the room by tapping a spoon to his champagne glass. “Ladies and gentlemen, if ye would be so kind,” he called loudly.
The room quieted. Mared stepped back, leaned against the wall, apart from the rest of the crowd. More from habit than need, really, but she’d spent a lifetime standing apart.
“On this occasion, I’ve another happy announcement to make,” he said, and a murmur instantly ran through the crowd. “I am pleased to say that another fine young couple has made known their plans to wed.”
Now the crowd tittered with delight and pushed forward to see which couple. “May I present to you the future Mr. and Mrs. David Anderson!” he exclaimed, and Mr. Anderson, the very man who’d whispered such decadent and witty remarks in her ear, and the young woman to whom he’d been speaking, stepped forward to receive hearty good wishes from the crowd.
The floor seemed to dip at Mared’s feet. What of all the flirting? The many calls to her apartments? She was shocked, completely shocked, to learn what Hugh had said was true. And she realized with a sickening feeling, glancing around at the people in the hall, that she was the woman who had come down from the Highlands to reclaim her happiness, only to be made the fool.
It was all so suddenly clear to her now! Ellie’s warning, Liam’s concern, Mrs. MacGillicutty’s remarks. And it was likewise crystal clear to her now that in all the years she had thought her happiness had been robbed from her by some silly curse, it had been hers to have and to hold. With Payton. But no, she’d let fear and stubborn clan pride drain that from her. She’d allowed the dream of being someone other than herself to cloud her judgment. She’d destroyed the one chance at true happiness she might have had with her embrace of her so-called freedom.
All because she thought she had not yet lived.
But she had lived! She’d lived freely and she’d had the love of a man who had adored her. And she had tossed it away to seek something that had been in her heart all along, exactly where Donalda had said. Oh, what a bloody, silly, fool she was!
She wanted out of that stuffy room, away from Edinburgh. She wanted Payton. But first, she had something to say to Mr. Anderson. She lifted her chin and marched across the room to him. He could not help but acknowledge her.
“Congratulations, Mr. Anderson,” she said with a smile.
“Ah…thank you, Miss Lockhart. May I introduce my fiancée, Miss Linley.”
Mared turned a blindingly bright smile to her. “Miss Linley! May I offer my heartfelt condolences!”
“Wh-what?” the poor lass stammered, looking helplessly to Mr. Anderson, who was turning a rather unbecoming shade of red.
“Oh, I am certain ye shall have all that yer heart desires—a fine house. Children. His father’s fortune. But ye seem like a very nice lass, and I hate to see ye married to a liar and a blackguard all yer days,” she said pleasantly.
Miss Linley was too stunned to speak, but she gasped.
“Miss Lockhart!” Mr. Anderson protested.
“Mr. Anderson!” Mared replied pleasantly. “Ye seem rather surprised that someone might call ye on it! I assure ye I donna do it for myself, but on behalf of Miss Bristol and Miss Williams, who have likewise suffered yer perfidy.”
“Miss Bristol?” Miss Linley said weakly, looking at Mr. Anderson.
“And donna forget Miss Williams,” Mared said brightly. “He had quite a full plate at Charlotte Square, aye?”