The Heir Read Online Free PDF Page B

couldna dishonor her by breaking her promise. Even after she died, and the choice was truly mine, I still couldna dishonor her memory.”
    “The choice is
mine,
Archie, no’ yours tae be making for me.”
    “Nae, ye dinna hae any more choice than I did, because ye loved yer muther, tae, and wouldna put such a stain on her memory, would ye now?”
    Duncan didn’t answer that. What he wanted to say stuck in his craw. Of course he couldn’t dishonor his mother. But he was hating her at the moment, for putting him in this despicable position, and that put another knot in his throat that was nigh choking him.
    His silence, however, prompted Archie to add, “Yer no’ seeing the benefits yet, that I gained for ye by delaying yer going. Had auld Neville got ye when he wanted ye, three years ago, ye’d hae been at his complete mercy. Now he’ll find that he mun be careful in what he asks o’ ye, tha’ he could as easily get a nay from ye as a yea. For yer muther’s sake, ye’ll be taking over the duties she was sae happy tae dump on ye, but ye can accomplish wha’ needs doing in yer own way, no’ as Neville would hae it.”
    As appeasements went, that one didn’t hit the mark for Duncan, when what he wanted was to kick Henry Myron on his way back to England—without him. That thought was so appealing, he almost left the kitchen to do just that. None of them, not his mother nor either grandfather, had taken his own preferences into account. He’d lived all his life in the Highlands. How could any of them think he could possibly want to live anywhere else? Title or not, great wealth or not, he did
not
want to live in England.
    But if there was an easy way to manipulate Neville Thackeray as Archie had apparently done, he wanted to know it. So he picked up his chair and sat again, asking Archie, “And just how did you manage putting this off?”
    Archie smiled then, proud of his accomplishment and how he’d gone about it. “First I pointed oout tha’ yer my heir as well, and since I already had ye, he’d hae a bluidy hard time getting ye away fromme.”
    “When you already planned tae sacrifice me?” Duncan said bitterly.
    “Och, laddie, I wish ye werena sae upset by this. Twas a bluff, aye, wha’ I told him, but he didna know tha’. Nigh six months o’ some serious threats passed atween us, then anither nine months o’ arguing when I told him I’d settle for yer firstborn, that he didna want tae relinquish. I ken he was thinking tha’ if ye didna settle in proper like, he’d hae yer bairn tae mold tae take yer place. The mon wasna thinking clearly, though, if he thought he’d live long enough tae do any molding.”
    “And you will?”
    Archie chuckled. “Yer no’ thinking clearly yerself, Duncan lad. As my heir, as well as his, ye’ll be glad o’ a son or tae or three, tae pass on all we’re leaving ye. Tae send yer firstborn here early will only be tae his benefit. But aye, I’ll be outliving that auld bastard by many a year, and he knows it.”
    “You mentioned only fifteen months,” Duncan mumbled. “What put him off till now?”
    “Well now, the talk o’ bairns naturally led tae talk o’ brides. He was insisting ye marry an English lass. He wouldna budge on that, though anither five months passed while we . . er, ‘discussed’ it. Then I insisted the lassie be the most bonny tae be found, and it took him a good long while tae find her.”
    “An English lady, I suppose?”
    Archie chuckled. “Aye, tha’s wha’ took sae long. Titled and the most bonny was no’ easy tae come by.”
    “Yet a pure waste o’ time,” Duncan replied, adding, “I may go tae England, but I’ll no’ be marrying some handpicked lass that I’ve ne’er set eyes on.”
    “Dinna fash yerself on tha’ account, laddie. ‘Twas only anither delay on my part, insisting he find ye a bride. If ye dinna want tae marry the prettiest lass in all o’ England oout o’ stubbornness, nae one is going tae insist on