Her Highland Protector. Ann Lethbridge
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have managed to see himself clear, I suppose.’ He shook his head and took another swallow of his drink. ‘I gave him my word I would do my best by the lass and make sure the family fortunes were improved. And I will. I just wish he hadn’t brought her up more like a son than a daughter. My wife could handle her, no doubt, but Mrs Preston …’ He subsided into silence. ‘She’ll need a strong hand on the reins, I’m thinking.’
‘She reminds me a bit of my youngest brother, Logan. The more you tell him “no”, the more he insists on his own way.’
Carrick puffed out his cheeks. ‘Wildness is a Gilvry family trait.’ He gave Niall a sharp look. ‘Except for you.’
As a child, Niall had sometimes wondered if the faeries had taken the real Gilvry son at birth and left him in its stead. A changeling. Pure nonsense, of course. His childish way of explaining why he never quite felt as if he belonged, why he preferred to read when his brothers wanted to rampage out of doors. ‘I’ve had my moments,’ he said, refusing to be thought any different to his brothers. And besides, while he might counsel caution, he always stood shoulder to shoulder beside them even if they did laugh at his occasional bouts of cowardice.
‘Drew was the worst of ye,’ Carrick said.
Niall stiffened. ‘Drew is dead.’
‘Let me down badly, too. He had letters of instruction for my agent in Boston. A position waiting for him. Instead he took off on some wild adventure.’
Niall frowned. This was the first he had heard about letters. ‘Drew might have been a bit reckless, but he usually kept his word.’
‘Not this time. He sloughed my task off to another, I know that. The letters arrived far too late to be of any use and cost me a great deal of money.’
Niall flushed at his sour tone. Carrick was famous for turning all his ventures into gain. He did not like to lose a groat, but he was right—Drew had been reckless and in this instance clearly careless. ‘I’m sorry to hear it.’ Though there was little he could do to rectify something that had occurred so long ago. He had the feeling this was something Carrick would always hold against the rest of the Gilvry clan. Particularly Ian.
Carrick gave Niall a glance sharp enough to skewer him to his chair. ‘You will not be following your brother’s example and letting me down, now will you?’
Niall returned the stare steadily. ‘Not if I can help it.’
Carrick chuckled. ‘Aye, I know. Lady Jenna willing.’ He lifted his glass in a toast and swallowed deep. ‘I can see you’ve a head on your shoulders, young Niall.’ He leaned back in his chair, his eyes narrowed, his lips pursed. ‘What I don’t understand is why you are willing to undertake the lowly position of under-secretary. I’ve been giving it some thought since you arrived. Was it Ian’s idea?’
‘No.’ He hoped he didn’t sound too defensive as he recalled Ian’s request for information. ‘I have my own plans.’
‘What are they, then?’
‘Once I earn enough money, I am going to Edinburgh to study law. A man can make a good living as a lawyer. And it would help the clan.’
‘Aye, help keep them out of gaol.’
Niall bristled. All right, so it might have been one of the things at the back of his mind, but that didn’t mean he would admit it.
Carrick leaned forwards, twisting the glass in his hand between finger and thumb, sending ruby rainbows dancing across the table as the port reflected the light from the chandelier. ‘My journey to London could not have come at a worse time.’ He watched the port continue to swirl above his now-still fingers. ‘I am relying on you to keep a close eye on the Lady Jenna. Her encounter with those footpads on the road has me worried. Why was she out of the castle without her groom?’ He looked up. ‘Did she say?’
Niall shook his head. ‘I did not think it my place to ask.’
He gave Niall a sharp stare. ‘I am making it your place. I want to know what mischief she is plotting. Who she is meeting. I want you to call a halt to any nonsense before she comes to harm. Do that for me and I’ll consider myself in your debt.’
‘I can only do my best, my lord.’
‘Do it well and I’ll see about recommending you to a solicitor of some standing in Edinburgh. My own.’
Niall’s mouth dried. It was something he would never have expected, not given the strained relations between Carrick and the Gilvrys. The offer of the position of under-secretary had been a surprise as it was. ‘Thank you, my lord. I will, of course, do everything I can—’
Carrick held up a hand to stop him with a nod of satisfaction. ‘I’ll tell you this, then. I’ve an idea in my head of a way to satisfy Lady Jenna without any of us traipsing off to Edinburgh.’
Niall raised a brow.
Carrick grinned. ‘I don’t want to say too much in case I cannot match deed to thought.’ He hesitated, then leaned closer, touching a finger to the side of his nose. ‘She will insist on a choice, but I’ve in mind a way to limit that choice to a few good prospects. I’ll write to you with the details when I know I have the matter in hand. And I’ll trust you to ensure all goes off without a hitch. In the meantime, you will make sure she does nothing to ruin her chances.’
Did he have to be so damned mysterious? Perhaps he feared he would tell Lady Jenna what was in store. ‘You can trust me to do my duty.’ The words sounded as stiff at he felt, but if the man thought he wasn’t to be trusted, it was no wonder.
Carrick nodded and raised his glass towards Niall. ‘To the women who plague us.’
Niall accepted the toast and swallowed what was left in his glass in one go. It was always better to down bad-tasting medicine in one go. He wasn’t sure which tasted worse. The port. Or his bargain with respect to keeping an eye on the Lady Jenna.
Still, he’d be foolish to turn down such an opportunity to further his prospects and be of use to his clan. And no one ever called him a fool. His task didn’t have to be difficult. Provided he made sure she didn’t meet anyone beyond the castle walls, he would have nothing to report. But God help him, unless he managed to keep her within doors, it seemed he would be spending a great deal more time in her company.
Something inside him didn’t exactly regret it.
And therein lay the danger.
Chapter Three
‘Begging your pardon, Mr Gilvry, but the Lady Jenna sends her compliments and wonders if you have forgotten your appointment to ride out with her?’
Niall lifted his head and glanced at the clock on the shelf on the opposite wall and groaned. Damn. He hadn’t realised how the time was passing.
The blotches of red on the young stable-lad’s cheeks darkened the hundreds of freckles on his milk-white skin. ‘She says if ye are no ready to go in ten minutes, she is leaving.’ He ducked his head.
‘Did she, now,’ Niall said calmly. ‘You can tell Lady Jenna she will not set a hoof outside of the castle without me. Then take a message to have the gate closed and not to be opened without my word.’
The boy fled.
Niall put down his pen and stuck his head through into McDougall’s office-cum-bedroom next door. The secretary was so fat he had had a bed installed against the wall in his office to save himself the effort of walking to his assigned chamber. He must have heard the conversation because he shrugged resignedly, making his multiple chins wobble like a dish of blancmange. ‘You have your orders.’
Niall met McDougall’s small twinkling eyes with a rueful smile. ‘I’ll finish off entering the receipts when I get back.’
McDougall waved a pudgy hand in dismissal.
Niall shrugged into