Kilgannon Read Online Free PDF Page B

simple since until recently I had been in mourning.
    I stretched and remembered Alex sitting next to me, his hair a golden frame around his face. I'd wondered what it would be like to touch that hair or the lean cheek it caressed, and then he'd asked me something and I realized I'd not heard anything he said. I began to pay attention. Alex would be returning to Scotland soon, but he'd come back to London to see members of Parliament. He did not say when. I'd asked if he were a member of Parliament and had been met with an icy look. "There're 154 peers in Scotland. I'm one of 75 earls, but we are allowed only 16 peers in the House of Lords. Ye English have 190. We have 45 in the House of Commons, and ye have 513. How much representation do ye think we have? We must buy our votes from the English peers. It's why I'm in London and why I go to these evenings. 'Tis not my choice. I've had a bellyful of English politics." His expression had been grim.
    "I see," I'd said, and he brought his gaze back to me, his expression lightening.
    "Well, lass, that's not completely true." He'd smiled. "I came tonight because ye'd be here."
    I couldn't think of an answer and at last stammered. "Why?"
    "Why?" He'd paused again, looked at the ceiling and back at me. "Have ye no’ seen what ye look like, Mary? I'm sure ye've been told that enough times." I felt my cheeks go scarlet. He straightened his back and looked at his hands as he brushed imaginary lint off his kilt. "I surprised myself. I thought I was here on business, but when I saw ye at the Duchess's party I thought ye were very beautiful and I could not stop looking at ye. I dinna do that sort of thing. I'm a bit old for it, don't ye think?" He shot a glance at me and then looked across the room, the lace of his cuffs falling on the back of his hands, white against the tan skin. Long, slim fingers, one crested ring. "I left, thinking I'd forget ye straightaway. But I dinna forget ye, and I came here tonight to see ye, to see that ye were not as beautiful as I'd remembered." He'd raked a hand through his hair and disarrayed it. "But ye are, and I dinna think ye would be so pleasing to be with. And everyone tells me yer spoken for." His eyes met mine. "But ye dinna behave like a woman who is promised elsewhere."
    "I'm not."
    "Good." He'd nodded and then laughed. "Dinna look so afraid, Mary. I'll not steal ye off, though it's no’ such a bad idea. How would ye like Scotland, lass?" He leaned on one elbow and smiled. I wasn't sure if he was joking. I wasn't sure of anything except that I wanted to keep him talking to me.
    "But you do not even know me, sir!"
    "And we must change that. I do know a bit about ye, though."
    "Such as..."
    "Such as ye like to dance and ye dance verra well, but ye dinna like that Jonathan man. Yer fairly new to London again since yer mother's death and yer travels, and all the lads think yer verra beautiful, but Lord Campbell says yer his, and all of London seems to think ye are. Yer brother inherited lands through his wife's family in addition to Mountgarden and will probably inherit your uncle's Grafton title and estate as well. Yer currently living here with yer aunt Louisa, but when her husband comes back from France ye'll probably leave. Ye have no lands of yer own, and yer verra fond of chocolate. Shall I go on?"
    "No. That's certainly a bit more than I thought." "Aye, and there's more."
    "I see." I'd watched him, wondering what was next.
    "Aye." He'd looked at the carpet for a moment. "Mary," he said, raising blue eyes to me. "May I see ye again, or shall I leave? Tell me now, lass, before I make a fool of myself."
    I wasn't sure if I was wise to keep talking to him, but the thought of never seeing this man again was unacceptable. I should tell him to go away, that any romance between us was unlikely and ill-suited. We were too different, our worlds incompatible. I'd watched him watch me, his eyes clear and honest, and I took a deep breath.
    "Yes, Alex, you