“I told ye my motives, adae. I didnae lie to ye. Nae intentionally, anyway. I reckoned I was doing my duty. I’m glad being a friend to ye on Coll’s behalf isnae my duty any longer, and I can simply declare that I like and admire ye.”
She sighed. “You look rather magnificent,” she commented, coming forward and setting a green straw bonnet over her honey-colored hair.
He glanced down at himself. Scuffed Hessian boots, his work kilt, a plain white shirt, plainer cravat, and a gray waistcoat and jacket. “I’m being myself. In honor of propriety I’m wearing the jacket and waistcoat, but otherwise this is how ye’d find me on any given day.”
“Boots and not ghillie brogues?” she asked, gesturing at his boots.
“Ghillie brogues arenae very practical in the mud. I prefer walking in these.” Stepping backward, he made room for her and the butler to move past him to the door. “Have ye decided where we’re going?”
“Yes.”
He pursed his lips. “I reckon ye can keep it to yerself for a time, but eventually ye’ll have to tell Robert our driver.”
Hughes handed over an off-white shawl to her, then pulled open the front door. “Will you be home for luncheon, Miss Baxter? I believe you have several…” He trailed off, looking toward the empty hall table, then bending to look beneath the furniture.
“I don’t know,” she returned, and sent a glance over her shoulder at Niall. “Will I be home for luncheon?”
“I’d like to dine with ye,” he said, starting forward and then coming to a stop again as a tall, dark-haired figure pushed past him in the hallway. The companion. Jane something. Bloody hell.
Amelia-Rose caught his annoyed expression before he smoothed it out again, and she stifled a grin. He may have decided to toss propriety out the nearest window, but she hadn’t. Even if for a bare moment the idea of going somewhere alone with him had been frighteningly tantalizing. “Is something amiss?” she asked, lifting an eyebrow.
“Nae. I forgot we’re back to being a trio again, is all.”
“We were never not a trio. Your sister simply served as an adequate chaperone previously. Unless you’ve brought Eloise with you?”
“My brothers stole her today.” After a second he lifted his chin again and followed them out the door. “Go whisper where we’re going to Robert, if ye’re nae of a mind to tell me.”
Instead she stepped up into the barouche and settled herself on the rear, forward-facing seat. Jane would have sat beside her, but Amelia-Rose gestured her second cousin to the opposite seat. With an ill-concealed sigh, Jane sat facing the rear of the carriage. “You might as well know,” she said aloud as Niall climbed in and sat beside her without even asking her permission. “I thought we should tour the Tower of London. They have a very interesting display of armor and artillery.”
“Yer aim’s nae to get me thrown into a cell there, is it?” he asked, giving the direction to his driver.
“Oh, only very notorious villains are detained in the Tower,” she returned, giving in to the urge to grin. He made it very difficult to remain annoyed, blast it all. However little time they might have together, she might as well enjoy it. “I’m not at all certain you’re of their caliber.”
Niall snorted. “I once tied a thimble to a rat’s tail and set him loose in the wall of Coll’s bedchamber. The clicking and knocking kept him awake for a week. He had to chop a hole in his wall to get it out.”
“Did he know who did it?”
“Nae. He still doesnae. So now ye know someaught about me that could get me walloped.”
“I shall use the information judiciously,” she returned, her smile deepening. Good heavens, he was charming, but she already knew that. He knew it as well, no doubt. If not for all the things wrong between them, all of them attached to him like a thimble to a rat’s tail, having this man pay her attention, having him declare that he wanted her, would have already turned her head. That might well be the case, anyway.
“I reckon ye will.” Niall grinned, shifting a little so that the edge of his slightly faded red, black, and green plaid brushed against her green muslin.
That was who they were: one of them rough about the edges and definitely, undeniably, and proudly not English, and the other carefully and expensively proper—and very English. He wasn’t even trying to fit in.
“Have you heard from your father?” she asked. “You said he was in poor health.”
“I havenae. Between ye and me, I think he didnae want to face my mother again.”
This could be interesting. “They’ve been estranged for a long while, I understand.”
“Seventeen years. She didnae like the Highlands, and he wouldnae leave them.”
It abruptly occurred to Amelia-Rose that she needed to have a conversation with Lady Aldriss. If anyone could understand why she felt drawn to Niall but not to his life, it would be the countess. Of course the one obvious solution would be to wish Niall MacTaggert a good day and refuse to see him again, but that idea … The idea of not seeing him, of not conversing with him or wondering if he might brush his fingers against hers or kiss her again, tore at her inside.
“That’s sad, don’t you think?” she said aloud when he continued looking at her.
“Aye.” He narrowed one eye. “Are we finished with ye nae trusting what I say to ye, then?”
“I’m still curious what might have happened if I had accepted Coll’s horrible proposal. Up until two days ago I genuinely thought you were serving as his surrogate.”
“I dunnae ken when I stopped, exactly. He was a convenient excuse for me going to see ye. If ye’d agreed to marry him…” He took a breath looking away from her. “I adore my brother. I’d lay down my life for him. But if I’d seen ye in his arms … I’ve a cousin who lives north of us, up in Skelpick. I reckon I’d move up there.”
Her heart stuttered a little. “We’ve known each other for a very short time, Niall.”
He sat sideways, compelling her to meet his gaze. “Is it just me, then? I dunnae think it is, but ye tell me, Amelia-Rose. When I first set eyes on ye I couldnae breathe for a good five minutes. And when I sat beside ye, when I jested with ye, ye gave right back to me. I reckon ye’re smarter than the lot of us lads put together, and that sometimes ye get tired of hearing all the nonsense we spew. Ye bite yer tongue, but then ye cannae any longer, and ye let fly. Tell me I’m wrong.”
Goodness. He’d seen all that? Mostly she just felt like she was staving off chaos, but she did try, for heaven’s sake. All the time. “I don’t know if I’m smarter than you are, but you’re not wrong about the rest of it. Thank you for pointing out my shortcomings.”
“They arenae … Bloody Saint Andrew,” he muttered. “What am I to ye, then?” Niall pursued. “Just a loud Scotsman keeping ye in the good graces of a louder Scotsman and now ye dunnae require my services any longer? I’ll nae deny that I had an idea like Coll’s, to find some lass just to satisfy that damned agreement between my parents and go home to nae think of her again. But I didnae expect to meet ye.”
“Of course you’re not some Scotsman. I do like you.” “Like” didn’t seem a strong-enough word, but it was the only one she was willing to give him at the moment. “I’m simply certain we’re incompatible.”
“Ye like me,” he repeated. “The way ye like a dog?”
Amelia-Rose flipped a hand, hitting him in the chest. Goodness. That might well have bruised her. “Stop it. I’m being cautious. My parents would be livid. I told them I’m simply being polite to you to avoid further antagonizing Lady Aldriss.”
From his expression he didn’t like that, but at least he nodded. “That makes sense. I’m feeling lucky that ye and Coll dunnae suit, and ye’re wondering why one brother is after ye when the other one isnae.” He sank back against the seat again, the fingers of his left hand brushing across hers. “I’ll convince ye.”
A slow thrill went up her spine. “I shan’t make it easy on you. I have some serious concerns about your … heritage.”
“My kilt-wearing, bagpipe-loving heritage?” he queried, lifting an eyebrow.
“Yes. Precisely that.”