Bridegroom Wore Plaid Read Online Free PDF Page B

her sitting beside him—and moved puzzle pieces around in his mind.
    Her situation had changed because when her mourning was over, her cousin Genie had been preparing to emerge from the schoolroom, and it was Genie’s papa, not Miss Merrick’s grandfather, who would control the purse strings, and both English and Scottish baronial titles.
    “Your uncle refused to dower you.”
    She looked down at her hands where they rested in her lap, her shawl again slipping to her elbows. “Perhaps.”
    Ian followed the line of her gaze, noting that from beneath the damp hem of her nondescript walking dress, he could see the first two naked toes of her right foot.
    A lady of hidden daring, then. He stifled a smile and brought his attention back to the conversation. “Miss Merrick. I have a sister, I have a young niece, and more cousins than you can count. I understand that family can be a trial.”
    She nodded, eyes still downcast. “Uncle explained he would have the support of me for all my years, and then he did the math. Several Seasons plus a dowry would be a much greater burden on the barony than were I to accept the alternative, and he did give me the option of marriage to my cousin Matthew.”
    Interesting tactic on the baron’s part. Ian stored that insight away for further consideration.
    “You were not inclined, Miss Merrick? Her Majesty married a cousin, and the union appears to be prospering.”
    “She married a cousin she’d never met until courting was in the air. Matthew was like a brother to me growing up, and I could not do that to him, not even for the promise of children and the eventual title of baroness. So I am a poor relation, and larking about half clad in the morning dew does not comport with my role.”
    A minor puzzle formed in Ian’s mind: children and a title were probably the greatest inducements that could have been dangled before her, a gently bred English lady—and she’d turned them down.
    “I understand costumes and roles.” He reached over to pull her shawl up around her shoulders yet again, as she seemed determined to let the thing fall where it may. “I’m disguised as an earl, for example, one who’s pleased to open his home to guests each summer when Her Majesty is in residence next door.”
    It was an admission. Not one he’d planned to make, but her smile told him she was pleased to accept it.
    “You should not judge yourself for taking Uncle’s coin. He’s a trial on a good day, and he’ll dine out on his summer with the Queen for years.”
    “And I’m not really an earl, not yet.” He glanced over to make sure she was paying attention, because this truth was one he did not want hidden. “My half brother, Asher, holds the title, but he’s been missing for almost seven years. We’ve started the proceedings for having him declared legally dead, though at the last moment, I expect him to come strolling off a boat, thanking me for my impersonation of him.”
    “Uncle knows this. He’s been spying on you for a bit.”
    A confidence for a confidence. Miss Merrick rose a notch in Ian’s estimation.
    “Has he now? I suppose that’s to be expected.” And Miss Merrick no doubt feared such an uncle would also spy on his niece. “Come with me, and I’ll show you where you can pick up a trail in the woods that will allow you all the solitude you want, most of it within shouting distance of the house and stables.”
    “Another time perhaps.” She rose, her expression genuinely rueful. “If I’m seen gadding about with my hair in disarray and my hems getting soaked, there will be questions at breakfast. You won’t tattle?”
    This was important to her, her eyes suggesting it was tantamount to a matter of safety and peace of mind.
    He got to his feet. “A gentleman would never reveal a lady’s confidences, Miss Merrick. Never.”
    She looked relieved, and then indecisive, as if she might say more or take his hand to solemnize the exchange. But she turned, pulled the