Beloved Secrets, Book 3 Read online

  As much as Blair feared and mistrusted London Society, she had to admit they certainly knew how to throw a ball. Hoping not to outshine the bride, Blair opted for a simple, pale pink taffeta gown and only one diamond pendant necklace. She needn’t have bothered, for everyone gave their attention to Robin and Johnathan. Blair was delighted.

  As soon as each had a glass of Champagne, the guests toasted the bride and groom, and then allowed them the first dance. Robin looked as though she was floating on air, and Blair thought Johnathan could not be more in love.

  Someday, Blair hoped to have a love like that – one that was not being paid to be with her. Even so, when David held out his hand to her, there it was again – that overwhelming feeling of exquisite delight, and when he put his other hand on her back, she feared her knees would soon buckle. In that instant, she cared not that he was being paid, only that she was in his arms.

  Once more, she found her emotions ridiculous. The least he could do, she imaged, was dance so poorly as to dissuade any feeling she might have for him. To her chagrin, David was an exceptional dancer. So overcome was she, she could not bear to look him in the eye and concentrated on his bowtie instead.

  “Have I done something to upset you?” he asked.

  “What?” she returned, finally daring to look at him.

  “You seem distracted and I feared...”

  “Nay. You have been...you are a perfect gentleman and I shall be sure to tell my father so when he inquires.” David did not look satisfied with that answer, but she knew not what else to say.

  “I read the story last night.”

  “The one Aunt McKenna gave you to read?”

  “That’s the one. She is right, it is an unpleasant story.”

  At last Blair relaxed and smiled, “And now I am even more intrigued. I fear I must wait to read it until after we board the ship, for there is far too much going on to begin it now.”

  “I would rather you enjoy the voyage home instead.”

  “And do you intend to be guard me every moment we are on the ship?”

  He chuckled. “I doubt your father would approve of my being with you every moment.”

  She tried not to blush. “I dinna mean it like that.” He was still smiling and so was she when the music stopped.

  The next two dances Blair gave to Robin’s fiancé and her step-father. By then she had calmed down considerably, or at least thought she had. Before David had a chance to hold out his hand to her again, Robin whisked Blair off to the refreshment table in the other room where they could talk.

  “He is in love with you,” Robin whispered, as she accepted one half full glass of Roman punch for her and another for Blair.

  “You are mistaken,” Blair scoffed. The alcohol in Roman punch was exactly what Blair needed to further calm her nerves, so she took a long sip.

  “Perhaps, but I do not think so. Would it not be divine if the four of us could get married at the same time?”

  “My dear Robin, you have read far too many romance novels. Even if David fancied me, I promised my father I would not marry until he met the lad and gave his permission.”

  “Fathers are such a bother.”

  Blair giggled, took two more sips of her drink, set it down, and followed Robin back into the ballroom. She danced with David twice more, with the help of more Roman punch, and had a marvelous time the rest of the evening. David, she noticed, smiled a great deal more than usual, but she saw no hint of love in his eyes, not that she actually knew what that was supposed to look like.

  ROBIN’S NOON WEDDING, held in the same hotel ballroom, was a relatively simple ceremony. Her dress was white with tiny pastel pink and blue flowers sewn into the bodice and along the hem. Her train was all of six feet, and she carried a large bouquet of flowers, which she handed to Blair once the ceremony began.

  Blair wore a white satin gown as well, with a wide blue sash. Both the sash and blue band around her wide-brimmed white hat were tied in the back. Her new white shoes matched perfectly.

  The ring Johnathan put on Robin’s finger was gold with one large diamond. It was, Blair imagined, the best money could buy. Too soon, the cake was cut, the goodbyes were said, and just as Blair suggested months ago, the Bride and Groom set out for their honeymoon in a grand carriage covered with fresh cut flowers.

  At last, Blair remembered to breath. She was happy for Robin, but not so happy for herself. “’Tis a good thing I have a voyage to look forward to,” she told David, “or I would suffer devastatin’ loneliness without Robin.”

  “I shall try not to let that happen,” said he. “We best be going. The RMS Mauretania waits for no one, I have heard.”

  “I have heard that too.” She took his arm, wished Robin’s tearful mother and bold step-father a fond farewell, and then let David seat her in a waiting automobile. On the drive to the vast ship dock, neither of them said anything, and it was just as well, for Blair was about to cry. Nevertheless, she brightened right up as soon as the huge ship came into view. She had forgotten how awe-inspiring and magnificent it was, with its gigantic smoke stacks and huge red letters on the side that spelled the ship’s name.

  Once they were aboard, she went to the railing on the upper first-class deck and looked upon the city and the shores of the United Kingdom – for likely the last time. Who knew when or even if she would ever come back? She was a bit tearful about that too, until David took her hand and wrapped it around his arm. “Thank you,” she whispered. He only nodded.

  Both were just as fascinated with the way the ship was tugged out to sea, and the way the ship slightly shuddered as the massive engines began to turn the giant propellers, just as they had been in New York Harbor. Still they stayed at the railing to watch the United Kingdom grow small in the distance until they could see it no more.

  When Blair became a little teary-eyed again, David pointed toward the bow. “Home.”

  AT DINNER THAT NIGHT, they talked but not about anything significant. The captain had not changed, but the clientele certainly had. To her relief, she recognized no one.

  “You are tired,” he said finally.

  “I am,” she admitted. “My head is swimmin’ with everythin’ that happened and I know not what to think of first.”

  “I understand. We should both get a good night’s rest and then see what trouble we can get into tomorrow.” He returned her smile.

  On the voyage home, Blair’s cabin was on the other side of the ship and was one of the larger ones. She supposed, and rightly so, that fewer holiday seekers set out for America at that time of year.

  When they reached her door, she turned to David. “You need not escort me everywhere, but I do thank you for bein’ so attentive.” Before she realized what she was doing, she leaned forward and lightly kissed his cheek. Suddenly horrified by her thoughtless actions, she started to back away. Before she could David wrapped an arm around her, drew her close, and then kissed her the way a woman should be kissed.

  Then again, he looked as though he was just as startled by his actions as she was by hers. “Forgive me. I should not have done that.”

  Her first real kiss and David was apologizing? She was not about to let him get away with that, so she took his hand, wrapped his arm around her again and kissed him back. Too soon, he released her, waited until she stepped inside, reached for the knob, and closed her door.

  Blair waited, half hoping he would knock and welcome her back into his arms, and on the other hand hoping he would not. Never had she been so confused. Was it just an ordinary kiss on his part, or as Robin suspected, was it the kind of kiss that meant he was in love with her? If so, why did he apologize?

  “Father,” she whispered. “He fears what father might say – or worse, that Father shall not pay him if he thinks David has been the least bit improper.” She sat down on the edge of the bed and folded her hands in her lap. “For us, fallin’ in love is far too complicated.”

  THE NEXT MORNING, BLAIR made up her mind not to put Da
vid in an uncomfortable position ever again. Indeed, the answer was to wait until after they arrived in New York, her father paid him in full, and then see what David would do.

  She let the maid help her dress, and when she went to the dining saloon, he was waiting for her. For the next three days, they played chess, she learned how to play cribbage, he constantly beat her at poker, and unless it was too cold, they took long walks around the entire ship on the deck. The gentleman that he was, he kept his hands clasped behind his back and she kept her arms folded. To her, he seemed content with the arrangement, and she did her best not to let her misery show.

  They talked of all manner of things save what she really wanted to talk about. They laughed, walked, and ate every meal together. Occasionally, she caught him looking at her, but he quickly looked away. She wondered if he felt as wretched as she, but she dared not ask him.

  After dinner each night she declined to stay for the dancing, refused to let him see her to her cabin, and went to her room alone. She thought about reading the story, but chose a lighthearted book in the ship’s library instead. Reading something unpleasant would probably make her feel worse. Even then, she could not concentrate no matter the story. David was constantly on her mind and although she was with him for hours at a time, she desperately missed him when she was not.

  It was not until their last night aboard, and after their last dinner, that David put his hand over hers and said, “I have sincerely tried, but I cannot seem to stop loving you.”

  Blair’s heart jumped for joy. “I...” she started.

  “I know it cannot be. I know it all too well. I have a dangerous job, very little to offer you, and we live miles apart. Marriage for us is out of the question.”

  That was the last thing she ever expected to hear. All this time, she thought it was because he feared her father would not approve. It was not that at all, it was because David himself did not approve. “I know not what to say.”

  “Nor do I. It is madness.” He released her hand and stood up. “I beg you to forgive me. Tell your father to keep my pay. I cannot accept it now anyway.”

  “David, I...”

  He was gone.

  Blair sat in a room full of strangers and had to fight to keep her tears from streaming down her cheeks. She set her napkin in her plate, grabbed her shawl, and calmly walked out of the room. In shock, she somehow found her way to her room, opened the door and went inside. For a long time, she sat in a chair still clutching her shawl in her hand, and tried to understand what just happened. Now, the tears would not come. Instead, a kind of anger rose up in her the likes of which she had never felt before.

  Her next decision was an easy one. She would rush off the ship, fly into the arms of her father and insist he take her away from New York City with all due haste. She would never think of David Steele again. No one knew and no one need ever know how her first real love had so cruelly rejected her.

  There was only one problem. How was she to explain to her father that David did not want his pay? At last, she set her shawl aside, got up, and began to pace the floor. “How dare he lay this at my door?”

  Furious, she marched out of her room, down the hallway and up the stairs. She searched the library and the music room, and looked for him among the dancers in the dining room, but he was not there. The barber shop was closed so she tried the poker room. David was not there either.

  It was blistering cold outside, but she did not care. Instead, she yanked open the door and headed up the deck toward the bow. There he was with his collar turned up and his hands stuffed in his pockets. As soon as she reached him, she grabbed his arm and made him turn to her. She let go of him and put her hands on her hips. “I would have happily endured your profession and lived in a barn just to be your wife, but not now! Furthermore, if you dinna want my father’s money, tell him yourself. Dinna lay it on me to explain!” As abruptly as she came, she turned and started to walk away. Just in time, he took hold of her hand. Blair stopped, slowly turned around, and when she finally saw the look of love in his eyes, she rushed into his arms. “Dinna ever do that again.”

  “Never,” David promised as he held her tight and his lips finally and blissfully met hers.

  CHAPTER 10

  MACGREAGOR GLEN

  During the next few days, more and more people came from miles around to see what there was to see in the MacGreagor glen – which wasn’t much more than an unfinished castle and a graveyard. Charles had the men put up a short picket fence around the graveyard to keep the strangers from walking through it. It did not always work, but for the most part they stayed out.

  While some of the townspeople made money off the visitors, others found the whole thing annoying. Traffic clogged up the main street, which was once the only highway north from Edinburgh. Now, it was more of a forgotten back road and the town had learned to like it that way. The people trampled flower beds, things began disappearing from the shops, and naturally, everyone wanted to complain to Charles.

  It was his fault, after all.

  It was then Charles suggested they hold a town meeting so all of them could decide what to do. That suited everyone just fine, so on Thursday evening, they gathered at the church. Every pew was filled with more standing two deep along the walls and in the back. The men preferred to stand for seeing over the women’s hats was nearly impossible and this meeting was important.

  Instead of Charles, it was Nicholas who walked to the front and stood behind the podium. Some of the townspeople looked friendly enough, but others were obviously angry. The air was already muggy with the coming rain and several of the women were fanning themselves.

  “How be the twins?” a woman shouted.

  Nicholas grinned. “Loud,” he answered. That made everyone laugh and seemed to break the ice a little with those who were upset. “As you know, we are here to decide what to do about the traffic and where to bury the bones.”

  “And,” said Charles as he left his spot along the wall, “to decide on a monument for our fallen lads in the battle of Branxton Moor.” He had previously given the amount collected to Nicholas and most had already donated, but he wasn’t shy about passing the donation box around again. “If anyone objects to commissionin’ a monument, raise your hand?” No one did. “I suggest a committee to design and purchase the stone. Provost Knox has agreed to head the committee so if you wish to volunteer, talk to him.” Charles smiled, nodded, and went back to his place along the wall. That was one worry he managed to pass along to others and he was greatly relieved.

  “Good, I am glad that is settled,” said Nicholas. “Now, about the bones...”

  “If only we knew whose bones they are?” A woman whom Nicholas had not yet met, sat on the front row and sighed.

  “I say we bury them in the graveyard no matter whose bones they are,” said the man next to her.

  “What?” several of the others shouted.

  “I’ll not see the likes of him next to my beloved mother and wife!” Elder Justin shouted. He looked in the box and then passed it down.

  “Do you deny it could be Jamie’s wife?” the same man seated on the front pew asked. “A proper burial is the least we can do for Lexine. I looked, and naturally there is no grave for Jamie, but there is a small one next to where the warriors were put to rest. There is a small cross there too and I wager that is where they buried Jamie’s wee son. We owe it to Jamie to put Lexine...”

  “And put Hendry next to the child he likely killed? I’ll not hear of that!” a man Nicholas could not see loudly said.

  “There is no room next to the child,” the man scoffed. “We’ve another two or three hundred years of burials that came after. In fact, it looks as if they started a new row sometime back.”

  “Anywhere in our sacred ground is too good for Hendry,” said Carla from three rows back.

  “Wait,” said Provost Knox. “I think I have figured it out.”

  “Go on,” said Nicholas.

  “Well, Hendry ran in
to the forest. Lucus and Shaw would not likely have carried him all the way back to the castle for fear someone would see them, so the bones must be Lexine.”

  Eric disagreed. “Except the story says Hendry was too lazy to dig a grave. Therefore, the bones are Hendry’s.” He too passed the box down without making a donation.

  “Either way, there would have been fresh upturned dirt, and someone would have noticed,” Maude mentioned.

  “Not if there were bushes there to begin with. Lucus would have known that. Dig up the bushes, bury Hendry, and plant the bushes back where they were. No one would be the wiser,” Eric argued.

  “I agree,” said Raymond. “A fresh grave in the forest would have been easy to spot.”

  “Could be the hard rain smoothed the dirt and no one could have found either grave.”

  “I wonder what they did with Hendry’s things,” Egan muttered.

  “Threw them in the river, would be my guess,” said the Provost.

  The woman on the front row said, “If it was Hendry, what do you suppose happened to Lexine then?”

  “He probably drowned her and left her in the river,” said Charles.

  “They searched the river,” Angus argued.

  Provost Knox was not convinced. “Perhaps the body floated farther down river than they bothered to look.”

  Bodies in the rivers,” said Charlotte. “Such things give me the shivers.”

  “Me too,” Gloria agreed.

  The preacher frowned. “What are we to do then? We cannae just throw the bones away. ‘Tis unthinkable.”

  It was time, so Charles stepped forward again. “I know the answer, but you are not goin’ to like it.”

  “The answer to what?” Egan asked.