Marblestone Mansion, Book 4 Read online

  Elizabeth drew in another exasperated breath and let it out. She brushed a loose strand of hair away from her daughter’s forehead and smiled. “I want you to be happy, you know I do, but promise you will not let him rush you. Will you do it for my sake, and for your father’s?”

  She wasn’t happy about it, but Paulette nodded just the same.

  “Good, now go see what Wade is up to. You know he loves you best.” That brought a smile to her daughter’s face and soon, Paulette was out the door and down the hall to her little brother’s room.

  *

  Marblestone mansion was as busy as ever. After the weekly sewing circle meeting at Abigail’s, McKenna came to get to know her new cousins better. Nicholas met her there with plans to stay for dinner and for the third day in a row, Swinton arrived as well. While the others visited in the parlor, Hannish motioned for Moan to come to the study where they could talk privately.

  “I have never seen a lad fight like Prescot did the other day,” Moan said. He looked at the pile of invoices on the table and assumed they would talk about him taking charge over Marblestone’s expenses.

  “Nor had I until the day I took the butlers to Colorado City for a little…shall we say, entertainment?” Hannish closed the door, bid Moan to sit and took his usual chair in front of his roll top desk. “American’s dinna take kindly to titles, Alistair called me ‘your grace’ and that begun it. Prescot took on three at a time and walked away with nary a scratch. Alistair and I were not that fortunate.”

  Moan chuckled. “If you go again, do take me with you.”

  “I doubt I shall go again anytime soon. Leesil would not approve, nor will Elizabeth when she learns of all the brothels there.”

  “Aye, you are right. Elizabeth would have my head.”

  Hannish glanced at the pile of new invoices on his desk, picked up one from the general store, looked it over and set it back down. “I fear I must discuss a rather delicate matter with you.”

  “Delicate? Has someone in my family…”

  “Nay, do not be alarmed. ‘Tis delicate because I am about to say of somethin’ you might find interfering. It concerns Mr. Swinton and Paulette. Shall I go on?”

  “Cousin, if there is somethin’ I should know, please dinna hesitate to tell me.”

  Hannish smiled. “I suppose I might look at it as bein’ a good laird instead of being an interferin’ cousin. Nevertheless, Mr. Swinton troubles me, and not just me, some of the servants find him lackin’.”

  “In what way?”

  “They feel he is too engagin’ and not just with Paulette, but with other lasses as well.”

  “You mean he is a rogue?”

  “There are rumors of his affairs with married lasses. Small towns talk and there is little we do not eventually learn.”

  Moan blinked a couple of times and then stared at the floor. “Shall I send him away?”

  “Sendin’ him away would be easy. “Tis Paulette and her attachment to him that may prove difficult.”

  “I see what you are sayin’. If I forbid it, she might try to see him in secret. She might even run off with him.”

  “‘Tis a circumstance that has plagued fathers for generations.”

  Moan drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out. “She is my eldest daughter. Have you a suggestion?”

  “I have no experience in these matters either. Perhaps you might ask your wife?”

  “I shall. Elizabeth is a wise lass, she will know what to do.”

  *

  Wade normally played with Traitor in the backyard, and Gretchen sometimes left her sewing to watch the sheriff hone his skills through her window. He wore his tin star on the shirt she mended just yesterday, had on his cowboy hat and held his twine lasso at the ready. Still, there was no sneaking up on Traitor and the moment Wade threw his lasso, the dog rolled over on his back, put his paws up and made the capture impossible.

  Wade’s defeat always made Gretchen smile. He was a delightful little boy and all the servants enjoyed him. No one ever knew when young Mr. Wade might appear, and it kept all of them on their toes.

  Wade apparently had an urgent need, tossed his lasso aside, hurried into the house and left Traitor outside. There was nothing the dog could do but sit by the door and wait. Traitor tipped his head to one side and then the other, but still his playmate did not come back out. At length, the dog lay down and started to go to sleep, but the door magically opened and Traitor slipped in just as Mr. Swinton and Paulette came out. This time, the dog ignored Swinton the way he had in the beginning.

  Paulette seemed happy, let Swinton take her hand and walked with him to the horse corral. Gretchen didn’t like him any better this day than she had all the others. Still, it was not her business. When she told butler Prescot of her concerns, he promised to pass it on, but so far, neither Mr. Hannish nor Paulette’s father put a stop to Swinton coming around.

  Gretchen was about to turn away from the window and go back to her sewing, when she saw Swinton take Paulette behind the high stack of bailed hay. There could only be one reason to do that and Gretchen was immediately alarmed. She hurried down the hall, went out the back door and then casually walked across the back lawn, trying not to unduly alarm anyone. She just wanted to make certain Swinton was being a gentleman. At the end of the haystack, she stopped.

  “Nay.” She heard Paulette moan. Gretchen peeked around the corner and what she saw was exactly what she feared. Swinton had Paulette backed against the bales of hay, and his lips were searching for hers, even though Paulette kept turning her head from side to side to avoid him.

  Furious, Gretchen picked up Wade’s new baseball bat, quietly moved closer, positioned it just so, and then hit the back of Swinton’s knees. His legs buckled and he cried out in pain, but it wasn’t enough to make him let go of Paulette.

  “Go to the house, Paulette,” Gretchen ordered. She positioned the bat again and held it steady, while Paulette eased out of Swinton’s grasp.

  As soon as Paulette rounded the bales of hay, she stopped and looked back. Swinton and Gretchen were squaring off and it looked like Gretchen was going to hit him again. She put the back of her hand to her mouth and screamed, “No!”

  In the study, her scream instantly brought Hannish to his feet. He flung open the back door, raced to her and grabbed a sobbing Paulette by the shoulders. “What is it, what has happened?” As soon as she pointed toward the haystack, Hannish released her and ran that direction. He expected to find something wrong with Swinton or perhaps one of the horses, but what he saw instead was Gretchen still holding the bat and Swinton standing only an arm’s length away with his fists doubled ready to strike.

  Hannish quickly moved to stand between the two. “Dare you hit her?”

  “She hit me.”

  Hannish narrowed his eyes. “Had she good cause to do so?”

  “I was only kissing Paulette.”

  Gretchen moved to the side so she could see Swinton better. “She was refusing you, but you wouldn’t let her go.”

  A crowd of onlookers was quickly gathering and among them were Wade and Traitor. Traitor growled and looked as though he was about to lunge at Swinton. Just in time, Lenox knelt down, grabbed the dog and held him back.

  “Do you deny it?” Hannish asked Swinton.

  “I do deny it. I was not hurting Paulette.”

  “But you meant to hurt Gretchen,” Hannish shot back.

  Like a little child, Swinton whimpered, “She deserves it; she hit me with that bat.” It was the wrong thing to say, he realized when he spotted Judge Mitchel’s frown. It was never a good thing to get on the wrong side of a judge he might someday stand before to settle an argument. The pain in his legs became more serious and he started to sway just as Prescot grabbed one of his arms and Shepard took the other.

  “Get off my land,” Hannish ordered through gritted teeth.

  Swinton returned with a glare of his own, “I mean to marry Paulette and you cannot stop me.”


  “Truly?” Paulette asked, her eyes brightening as she started to go to Swinton.

  Moan quickly grabbed his daughter around the waist. “I’ll not have you married to a lad like that. He is not worthy.”

  Tears began to well up in her eyes and she struggled against her father’s hold. “He only tried to kiss me, Father.”

  “He only tried to kiss you – this time,” Gretchen corrected.

  “Get him off my land,” Hannish said again. He watched Prescot and Shepard take Swinton away, commanded the barking dog to lie down, and then turned around to look at Gretchen. She still had the bat in her hands ready to strike. Gently, he eased the bat away from her and tossed it on the ground. “You hit him first?”

  “I wacked him good, right behind the knees,” Gretchen bragged.

  “You are right handy to have around,” Hannish said.

  “I could use another lamp in the sewing room,” she said ignoring all the faces watching her, “and a bigger table to work on, if you please.”

  Hannish smiled. “Consider it done. Are you hurt?”

  “Just angry,” Gretchen answered. “I’ll have the day off too, if you don’t mind.”

  “Take two,” said Hannish. He hadn’t spent much time with Gretchen and decided he liked her more than most. She was bold where others were timid, and he admired that about her.

  As if there was no one in the world but the two of them, Gretchen nodded toward Paulette. “She’ll be a might unhappy for a while; lost love is like that.”

  “You know a lot about love, do you,” Hannish asked.

  “I’ve seen my share of it,” she answered, although from her it didn’t sound boastful. “Miss Cathleen tried to warn Paulette, but the young ones never listen. A man like that is a danger to us all.”

  “I do not believe it,” a teary-eyed Paulette said.

  “The young ones never do,” Gretchen continued, still talking to Hannish. “Oh, I’ve seen all kinds. There are those who say they love, but don’t, those that plead, and those that just take what they want. The takers are the worse. They walk away without any scars, while a woman is haunted by it all the days of her life.”

  Leesil put an arm around Gretchen. “Is that what happened to you?”

  Gretchen closed her eyes for a moment. “Not to me, to my sister. A man left her dead beside the road with all her clothes torn off.”

  There was not a soul in the yard who did not bow his or her head at the image that brought to mind.

  Gretchen finally glanced at their faces and regretted telling them. “Well now, that was years ago and I did not mean to make you sad.”

  “But you do mean to warn me,” Paulette said, wiping her tears away with the cloth Cook Halen handed her. At last, her father loosened his tight grip around her waist.

  Gretchen finally looked at her. “If you will hear it, then yes, I mean to warn you and all the young women of my acquaintance. My sister was so in love and he thought she would be willing. I suspect she denied him and it angered him, just like Mr. Swinton.”

  “But Mr. Swinton was not angered until you hit him,” Paulette argued.

  “Did you not feel his muscles tighten when you began to reject him?”

  It took a moment, but Paulette finally admitted, “I…I might have.”

  “There, you see. He was already angered. That’s the first sign of trouble –when they tighten their muscles.”

  “Did they catch the lad who killed your sister?” Cook Jessie wanted to know.

  Gretchen nodded. “Two days later, they found him beside the road just as naked and just as dead.” She quickly turned her attention back to Hannish. “Now, about that new table for my sewing room. I want a square table smooth as silk on the top, but one that I can mark up with measurements.”

  Hannish smiled. “I’ll have the men build you one, and I shall make the marks myself if you show me where.” He was relieved she so ably changed the subject bringing a smile back to all their faces. “Come back in the house, ‘tis a chill in the air this afternoon.”

  *

  Hannish was not the only one who admired Gretchen that day. Shepard stood behind the others and seriously looked at Gretchen for the first time. She was more pleasant looking than he had noticed before. She was brave and she had a head on her shoulders, but she wasn’t as old or as experienced as she led them to believe. If a man had been thinking about taking a wife who would be a good mother to his children, as Shepard had, Gretchen fit the bill.

  From that day forward, Shepard began to pay a lot more attention to Gretchen. He checked on her several times the first day, and brought her dinner up to her room when she mentioned she was going up to take a nap for a change. When the new table arrived, he helped Hannish carry it into her sewing room and then helped hold the ruler steady while Hannish cut grooves in it an inch apart along the bottom edge.

  Hannish noticed Shepard’s sudden interest in Gretchen and he was not the only one. It wasn’t long before the whole household was abuzz with the news. Hannish guessed he might need to bring a crew to build more cottages in the back, but he was getting used to that. Young couples needed their privacy and it was true - he needed to have a large family and friends to care for.

  *

  Swinton didn’t come back, but he called. After Hannish told Paulette Swinton carried the cane gun to protect him from jealous husbands, she was finally convinced he was not the man for her. With her mother standing beside her, Paulette took the call and told Swinton she was no longer interested in seeing him. He sounded mad when he hung up, but she felt nothing but relief. She set the earpiece back in the holder and happily went outside to play baseball with Wade and Traitor.

  It was time she learned just how to swing a bat.

  *

  It took a day or two to book passage on a ship bound for England and the duchess was none too pleased about it. Of course, had she been willing to settle for steerage or even second-class, she could have easily bought a ticket. Neither of those would do, not for a woman of her supposed importance. At least, she managed to buy a few new articles of clothing suitable for a winter voyage in New York City, and about that, she was pleased.

  She was not pleased, however, when the ship set sail and was immediately plagued by freezing winter storms. Amid the choppy waters, she soon succumbed to a condition she saw as a definite failing in others, particularly when it happened to her fifth husband, Charles Whitfield. Her stomach churned, she couldn’t keep her food down and vertigo made the world violently spin.

  The duchess was seasick.

  It took three miserable days before the sea calmed and the morning sun peeked out from behind the dark clouds. At last, she felt better, got dressed, wrapped herself in a warm winter coat, put on her rabbit fur lined hat, grabbed her matching muff and went up on deck.

  A young couple stood in the bow with their arms wrapped around each other and for a moment, she desperately missed Jedediah Tanner. The duchess actually envied the young couple - until she realized who they were. Of all the luck, Cameron MacGreagor was on her same ship.

  She thought to hide in her room for the remainder of the voyage, but that thought truly repulsed her. After weeks in a prison, the last thing she wanted was to be encased in a little room, even of her own choosing.

  She would not hide; she refused to. Instead, the duchess found a deck chair, sat down and covered herself with the red blanket a steward handed her. She was stuck on a ship with a man who knew exactly who and what she was, but one thing was for certain – Cameron would not make it public, not if he wanted to protect that precious, unyielding, reprehensible brother of his. She took the glass of rum the steward handed her next, quickly down half and let him light her cigarette. Then she waited.

  *

  Cameron stood next to his bride and watched the expressions on Cathleen’s face change. “What is it, my love; you seem to be distracted this morning. Are you not happy?”

  “I am deliriously happy, as you well know. ‘Tis just
that I worry for Paulette. I saw something unpleasant in Mr. Swinton’s eyes when I announced our engagement and I made no mention of it.”

  “You did not warn Paulette about him?”

  “I did, but she dinna listen.”

  “Try not to fret, you can always write a letter to Hannish and ask that he keep an eye on her. I shall mail it for you as soon as we set foot on land.”

  “Can we not cable him?” Cathleen asked.

  “Of course we can, I shall send one directly.”

  She snuggled closer and watched the bow of the ship part the bright blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The wind was chilly but she was so happy, she hardly noticed.

  “I forgot to tell you,” he said at length. “James will not be there when we get home. I arranged for him to go off to school in the south of England. He reads well enough, but his figurin’ is sorely lackin’. He promised to come home for the holidays, however.”

  “Well then, I shall miss him but ‘tis for his own good.”

  “And mine. He is a big help at the shop and he will be even more so with a better education, that is, unless he goes to sea instead. I let him choose the school and he chose one near a shipyard. He was quite fascinated with the ship’s engines when we sailed to America last spring.”

  Behind them, a server dropped a tray, causing both to turn and look. A moment later, Cathleen caught her breath. “Cameron, is that not the duchess?”

  “Where?”

  “In the deck chair with a red blanket spread over her.”

  Cameron heavily sighed. “Aye, ‘tis the duchess.”

  “What shall we do? Alistair is bringing Blair to the dock to meet us.”

  “I know. I will send a cablegram and tell him not to. I best notify Lord Bayington as well. Come, I have kept you in the cold air long enough,” When she smiled and nodded, he removed his arms, took her gloved hand instead, and led the way to the other side of the ship where the duchess could not see them.

  “I cannae believe it,” Cathleen said as they walked down the stairs to a lower floor. “I wonder where she has been all this time.”

  “At least my brother will be happy to hear she is no longer in Colorado.”