She scowled at him now. “You know how I feel about this, Lachlan. My mother made the wrong choice, obeyed her parents and married a man she despised rather than the one she loved. Because of that she lived her life miserable until the day she died. I do not want that happening to my daughter. I named her after my mother as a sort of second chance for her, not to have history repeat itself. So be very, very careful in your decision about this young man she wants.”
“Ye’re saying ye’ll side wi’ her if I forbid the match?” he asked.
No comment, but she did present her back to him to get her dinner gown fastened, which meant, in her mind, she didn’t think it was going to come to that. He didn’t think so either, but then, he hadn’t heard yet what had her brothers so set against Melissa’s choice. Kimberly knew, but when he’d asked her for a full account, she’d merely told him she hadn’t been given one, just a few facts, so he should wait and hear what her kin had to say. Since they were going to be chewing his ear off over the matter, he didn’t need to hear it a dozen times or more.
She’d added only, “Melissa has heard both sides and still wants the fellow. That’s a lot in his favor, you must admit. And remember your own first impressions of him. You did give him permission to court her, after all.”
Lachlan had said no more on that account, because he hadn’t wanted to admit that his first impression of the lad had been influenced by his own preferences. Lincoln was a Scot, and he had an estate nearby, which meant Melissa wouldn’t be moving so far away, at least not permanently. That alone had put Lincoln Ross Burnett in his good graces.
He didn’t know enough about the man to judge him by anything else. He’d given him his blessing to court his daughter, leaving it to her to decide if she wanted him or not. And that would have been the end of it if Kimberly’s brothers hadn’t found something wrong with him.
Once Kimberly finished fastening her gown, Lachlan put his hands on her shoulders before she could move away. He rested his chin on the top of her head.
“Are we done fighting?” he asked.
“Yes, I do believe we are,” she replied in her prim, English manner. But then she turned and wrapped her arms around his waist. “We weren’t really fighting, you know. I just couldn’t stand not being able to help our daughter. It’s the first time we weren’t able to fix immediately something that upset her.”
“This ‘upset’ doesna come close tae the upsets she had growing up, Kimber,” he replied cautiously. “This is one we may no’ be able tae fix.”
“I know.” She sighed. “And that’s part of it, that she’s grown up and the problems she has now aren’t the kind that can be soothed away. This is such a far cry from what I expected. She’s a pretty girl. She had a sponsorship other girls could only dream about. I expected us to come to London, give her ‘choice’ our blessings, and go home and plan a wedding. The thought of not approving her choice never once occurred to me. She’s a sensible girl. How could she not make the right choice?”
“We dinna know yet that she hasna. Just because all o’ yer brothers dinna like the mon—”
“But that’s just it, Lachlan,” she said in a worried tone. “They overreact, true. They go overboard. But when have you known them all to agree on something? There’s always a few dissenters and reason for them to be fighting among themselves. But they’re all opposed to Lincoln Burnett. That doesn’t say much for the man.”
“Except that Meli still wants him anyway.”
“Well, yes, there’s that.” She leaned back, frowned at him. “Did we suddenly reverse our positions?”
He laughed at her. “Nae, we just see eye tae eye where our daughter is concerned. We’ve both the same worries. We both want what’s best for our lass. If this Scot-turned-Englishmon isna right for her, we’ll know it and agree on it, I dinna doubt. There’s no need tae be arguing o’er it afore it comes tae that.”
“I know, and I’m sorry for taking my worry out on you,” she said, giving him a hug.
“Ye didna. Ye bottled it up instead,” he scolded lightly. “Next time spill it out as ye should, so we can mop it up.”
She chuckled. “Let’s hope there isn’t a next time. And let’s hope my overprotective brothers show up for dinner, so we can get this matter settled and done with.”
“I’m all for ‘settled’,” he said and kissed her cheek, then the side of her neck. “Are ye sure ye were wanting this gown fastened?”
“Well, now that you mention it…”
Thirty-Two
“SHE’S angry,” Ian Six cautioned his brothers before they entered the dining room where the MacGregors and St. Jameses were already gathered. “She arrived angry, I could tell. Which means Lachlan probably isna in a good mood either.”
William, first to pass through the doorway and take note of the congenial atmosphere in the room, whispered behind him, “Kimber looks tae be in a good mood tae me.”
Charles, the second through the door, whispered next, “Her cheeks are blooming, and we know what that means.”
“She’s caught cold?” Neill said.
“Nae, ye ass, she probably made love afore coming down tae dinner. Bless Lachlan, he couldna hae picked a better time.”
The room fell silent as the rest of them crowded through the doorway. The duchess stood up to welcome them. Now that she knew them better, she wasn’t joking when she cautioned, “No arguing until after sweets.”
That started a few blushes. Kimberly said nothing yet, simply looked them over. Her eyes passed Dougall, then came immediately back to him.
The first words out of her mouth weren’t a greeting. “What the devil did you do to your poor nose, Dougi?”
“Lincoln smashed it for him again,” Neill volunteered.
“Again?”
“We’ll get tae that—after sweets,” Callum said with a sheepish look cast toward the duchess.
“And your eye, Malcolm? Did he smash that, too?” Kimberly asked.
“As it happens,” Malcolm mumbled.
“You, too, William?”
A blush in answer. Lachlan burst out laughing then, which caused sixteen scowls to turn his way.
He ignored the dirty looks as he usually did. “I’m impressed,” he said.
He inspected the rest of them as they took their seats. There were four of them with black eyes—Jamie even sported two. A few more were wearing split lips and assorted facial bruises.
“Verra impressed,” Lachlan continued. “I wouldna want m’daughter tae wed a mon who couldna defend her, who’d wet his breeches if I looked at him wrong. But it’s a decided plus, in my opinion, that he no’ be afraid o’ the MacFearson side o’ her family either.”
“There’s no’ afraid and then there’s too stupid tae be afraid,” Adam pointed out.
Lachlan nodded thoughtfully. “Aye, but ye’d respect the first and be leery o’ the second, sae either way I’m still impressed. And ye likely are as well, though I’m thinking ye willna admit it.”
Silence. Lachlan chuckled again, but ended with a cough when he noticed that all three women at the table were frowning at him. “In deference tae our hostess, we’ll be discussing her fine cuisine, the awful state of overcrowding in this city, and the appalling state o’ the roads getting here.”
“Must we?” the duke said dryly. “This was just getting interesting.”
And Megan replied with a sweet smile directed at her husband, “If you weren’t sitting on the other end of the table, Devlin, you’d be wincing. Do keep in mind how pointed the toes of my new shoes are.”
He winced anyway. The others at the table began to relax. Servants started arriving with the first course. And if Lachlan’s three subjects didn’t get discussed during that long and excellent meal, neither was any more mention made of Lincoln Burnett.
After sweets were served, however, Devlin stood and announced, “My wife has reminded me—without words, mind you, she’s quite good at that—that I do not want to get involved in what i
s essentially a family matter. So if you will excuse us, Megan and I have a great deal to catch up on after my extended absence.”
Several of her uncles glanced Melissa’s way, expecting her to take the hint and leave as well, but she crossed her arms and said stubbornly, “I’m staying. I’ve heard it all, sae dinna hold back on m’account. You’ll no’ embarrass me by talking about me, and I’ll try no’ tae interrupt—easy enough tae do, since I’m no’ talking tae any o’ you anyway. I’ve heard the other side as well, but I’ll be letting Lincoln get tae that. Uncle Dougi, though, has a confession tae add, I’m thinking, which is going tae come out when m’da talks tae Lincoln, sae he may as well mention it now.”
That, of course, had everyone turning to Dougall, who merely looked confused. “What confession?”
Melissa sighed. “Well, when you hear Uncle Ian—I’m assuming he’s going tae be your bearer o’ bad tidings—give his account o’ what happened, you’ll be figuring out what needs tae be added. I’m saying no more.”
She ended by staring at Ian One, who took the cue and cleared his throat, addressing his sister and brother-in-law. “First, we made a number o’ mistakes since we found oot who was courting Meli and came tae London tae put a stop tae it. We warned Linc tae stay away from her, which, tae give him his due, he was doing—until he found oot we neglected tae let her know what we’d done.”
“And why didn’t you tell her, when she was the one being courted?” Kimberly asked.
“There were two good reasons—at least we considered them good at the time. We didna think she was sae set on him yet that she couldna easily forget aboot him and find someone else, wi’oot having tae be told the nasty details o’ why she should. But Linc went and told her everything.”
“So that’s why she was upset?”
“Nae, she got o’er that—anyway, she said she’d wait on yer decision and wouldna see him again until then. Then there was m’own personal mistake, in no’ letting all o’ m’brothers know her decision soon enough. Half o’ them took it upon themselves tae get rid o’ Lincoln, since he obviously wasna going tae abide by our warning.”
“Rid o’ how?” Lachlan asked with a frown.
Ian explained about the trip to China, and before Lachlan could blow up about it—and he looked as though he was about to—quickly added that Lincoln managed to get back to London on his own. “I sent the note off tae ye afore he returned, when Melissa was sae upset she was locking herself in her room and speaking tae no one.”
Kimberly scowled at her brother. “Can ye blame her?”
“Nae, it was a blunder all the way ’round. However, afore ye disown them for it, keep in mind that in their view Lincoln had defied us. He was going to continue courting Meli e’en though we’d warned him off. They didna know yet that a standoff had been agreed tae. They figured that getting him oot o’ the country was better than beating the tar oot o’ him. They were attempting tae be civilized and avoid violence.”
“From the look o’ some o’ ye, violence was certainly avoided,” Lachlan said dryly.
“After Linc got back tae town, he made an attempt tae get us tae leave it,” Ian One said, explaining the bruises. “It didna work.”
“He figured if he could whip us all, the matter would be done,” Adam added.
Charles snorted. “As if a mere whipping would get us tae stand down from protecting one o’ our own.”
“He was wanting tae fight all o’ ye?” Lachlan asked incredulously.
“It wasna such a crazy notion as we first thought it was,” Ian One allowed. “He damn near pulled it off. Wi’ just a wee more luck on his side, he might hae succeeded.”
“What was crazy aboot it,” Ian Three added, “was that he took damage and dished it oot for no good reason. He said it wasna for revenge for the boat trip. He said it was for Meli and tae get us tae stop interfering wi’ his courtship. But we assured him we’d leave the matter tae ye, and ye’d be arriving soon. Sae there was no point tae him fighting us. It was purely a crazy thing tae do.”
Melissa started to open her mouth but then clamped it shut again. Ian One noticed and smiled at her.
“Ye dinna hae tae hold yer tongue, Meli, just because ye said ye would. If ye can think of a reason Linc would insist on fighting us when he didna hae tae, we’d be glad tae hear it.”
Charles added first, “He denied it, but revenge is the only sane motive.”
Melissa shook her head. “He had no reason tae lie about it. He was owed retribution. You expected it. He declined tae take it. That says much for him. And mayhap it was no more than that once again you are trying tae keep him from something he really wants, only this time he’s more capable tae deal wi’ it than he was nineteen years ago.”
“Sae you’re thinking it was just a demonstration? Tae show us he’s now a mon tae be reckoned wi’?”
“Let me ask you instead, what made you think you could come tae town and warn him off and he’d simply back off and forget about me? That he’d no’ fight for me? Because there are sixteen o’ you and only one o’ him? That he did stay away at first was because he thought you had the right tae be making such decisions and that I would meekly abide by them. Well, you’re m’uncles, and I love you, and I may e’en talk tae you again someday, but you dinna have the right tae be deciding m’life for me. And perhaps he was showing you that you dinna have the right tae be deciding his life either.”
There were a few guilty looks, but no one spoke up to say they were wrong in their original intention. To a man, they all still felt justified in their stand against Lincoln.
“Before ye confuse me e’en further wi’ all o’ this,” Lachlan said impatiently, “dinna ye think it’s time ye told me what ye’re talking about?”
Thirty-Three
IT took nearly a half hour for a full accounting. Ian One started it, but his brothers added to it from their own personal observations and participations. Melissa heard new information herself—a more detailed list of Lincoln’s injuries, that he’d only skimmed over in his telling, described in full by those who caused them.
They were leaving nothing out—how they’d befriended him and then how he turned on them, starting that first fight and every fight thereafter. Melissa was a bit pale by the time they were done. Even she could see clearly now why they didn’t want him in the family. She’d made her own assumptions, had come up with her own reasons for what happened, but what if they were right and she was wrong? What if he really had gone crazy during that period—and could again?
Melissa thought that for only a moment, then scoffed at herself for thinking it at all. They knew him only from before. She knew him now. Nineteen years had come and gone without any similar incidents. Whatever had caused his abnormal behavior back then was an isolated occurrence, no more likely to happen again than she was to go crazy herself. Why couldn’t her uncles see that?
She wasn’t the only one to have lost some of her coloring. Dougall did as well, hearing much of the account for the first time himself. He’d been kept out of it back then, since he was the one they were “protecting.”
“Why was I ne’er told all o’ that when it happened?” he asked Ian One now.
“Because we didna want ye feeling sorry for him and befriending him again, after what he did tae ye. Ye’re too softhearted by half, Dougi.”
“But he ne’er did anything tae me.”
“He broke yer nose,” William reminded him. “Ye were bleeding like a stuck pig.”
“It wasna broken that time, merely bleeding a lot. Ye know how easily I bleed.”
“He started the fight. He knew damn well ye couldna win it, him being sae much bigger than ye.”
Dougall slumped down in his chair and said in a meek voice, “I’m thinking I started it.”
“Like hell ye did,” Callum replied. “I was there, remember? I heard what he said.”
“He insulted me, aye, but knowing him, he was probably only teasing. Ye e’en laughed yerself, as I rec
all. Any other time and I’d hae laughed it off, too, but Charlie and Malcolm had just teased me aboot the same thing the day before, aboot how pathetic I am at fighting. They would hae beat the crap oot o’ me if I’d tried tae prove them wrong, but I knew Linc wouldna hurt me too bad if I fought him.”
“Ye call all that bleeding ye did no’ hurt too bad?” Callum demanded.
“Ye’re missing the point. He didna really start it, and he didna e’en bloody m’nose. Och, I’m glad tae hae this oot in the open finally. For a long while I was too embarrassed tae mention it tae any o’ ye, then it didna matter anymore, after Linc was sent away. But, aye, he didna bloody m’nose, it was m’own doing.” He paused, his cheeks filling with bright color, before finally admitting, “It happened when I tripped and fell into him.”
“Ye didna think tae tell William and Callum, before they lit into him?” Adam said.
“They were too quick, already beating on him, but I did try,” Dougall said. “They were just in a blood rage and didna hear me.”
“Jesus, Dougi,” William said in disgust. “I felt guilty for the longest time for whipping him sae bad that day, and now ye tell me I shouldna hae whipped him at all? I’ve a mind tae break yer nose again.”
“The start doesna cancel the end,” Ian One reminded them. “I’d like tae say it does, but it doesna change the fact that Linc displayed behavior far beyond normal, that can only be called crazy. He was seriously hurt, yet he still tried tae get through us tae get tae Dougi.”
“Probably tae wring his neck,” Callum said, glowering at Dougi as well.
“It was tae apologize,” Melissa said. “I’m sorry, I know I said I wouldna interrupt, but that’s all Lincoln wanted. He was desperate tae make things right wi’ Dougi, but none o’ you would let him.”
Dougall flushed guiltily. Some swearing made the rounds. A few arguments started. Before it got too loud, Lachlan stood up to draw their attention.