The Highlander Is All That (Untamed Highlanders #4)(44)

Again.

Had he not made their position more than clear?

They were here for one reason and one reason only. To oversee the St. Claire girls’ season for the duke. Not to seduce them.

It infuriated him that Hamish had ignored his command to stay clear of Elizabeth.

And not only because Ranald had taken such great pains to keep his hands off Anne, although that did factor into his frustration.

“This is not acceptable,” Esmeralda crowed, for the hundredth time. They sat in the library, the four of them, without even a tea tray.

“No’. Acceptable.” Ranald frowned at Hamish. “I told you to keep clear of her.”

“I tried.”

“He did,” Elizabeth said, taking Hamish’s hand, which was a mistake because it made her aunt glower even more. “It was totally my fault.”

Esmeralda reared back. Her nostrils flared, and, heavens, they were . . . large. “What do you mean it was your fault?”

“I . . . pursued him.”

“She hunted me, more like.” Hamish grinned like a man who had no idea what deep trouble he was in.

Elizabeth nodded. “Yes, that is true. Please forgive me, dear aunt, but I do love him.”

“Love. Bah. You’re a child.”

“Not hardly. And I know my own heart.”

Esmeralda put her hand to her forehead. “The duke will be devastated.”

“Will he be?” Hamish asked with an edge to his tone. One Ranald could understand. He knew the duke, while she did not. Lachlan was not given to social snobbery.

Ranald figured he’d better intercede before Esmeralda lashed out at the lad. “The duke was hoping for the earl.”

Hamish’s expression tightened and he glared at Ranald. “You told him about Twiggenberry?”

“He asked to be kept apprised.”

“Has he met Lord Twiggenberry?” Elizabeth asked.

“I doona believe so.”

“Then how can he have a preference either way? For me? Whom he has also. Not. Met.”

“Elizabeth. You have to understand, this is not what is best for you.” Esmeralda waved at Hamish somewhat dismissively. When she caught his wounded expression she huffed out a breath. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

“Then how did you mean it?” Hamish failed at keeping the bitterness from his tone.

Esmeralda sighed. “You have to realize you are not a wealthy man.”

Hamish swallowed. “Ah, so it’s money, is it?” God, Ranald hated the look on his face. The devastation, the fear, the courage. It was clear his friend would face anything, sacrifice everything, for this woman. And that was frightening indeed.

“I want what is best for Elizabeth,” Esmeralda said.

Elizabeth threw up her hands. “How can you know what is best for me? I’ve never cared for balls and jewels and prancing with the ton.”

“Heresy.”

“I would rather live in Scotland.”

Esmeralda clutched her pearls. “Never say it.”

“It’s true.”

“Scotland is lovely,” Ranald felt obliged to put in, which earned him a grateful glance from Hamish and a glower from Esmeralda, who rose and began to pace.

“This is a disaster,” she wailed. “A disaster of monumental proportions.”

Hamish and Elizabeth exchanged a glance. “It’s not that bad, really,” Elizabeth said.

“It is. It is. What on earth will we tell Twiggenberry?”

“The very thing I was planning to tell him all along. No.”

Hamish nodded. “He does stink.”

Esmeralda whirled on him. “That does not signify!”

“It does if his intended throws up on him,” Hamish said.

Ranald cleared his throat to cover a laugh. “That does tend to put a damper on a wedding.”

Esmeralda’s face went from red to an odd shade of purple. “Stop it. Both of you.” She was speaking, of course, to Hamish and Ranald. “Please go. All of you,” she said. “I feel a megrim coming on.

And, for the first time in the St. Claire household, Ranald suspected, a megrim really was a megrim.

*

Anne found Ranald in the study nursing a whisky. There was no doubt something had happened—their aunt’s howls had been unmuted—but Anne had no idea what it was.

It was clearly bad.

When she stepped into the room and closed the door, he turned. “Ah. It’s you,” he said with a hint of relief.

“Who did you think it might be that you would dread so?” she asked with a smile.

He chuckled, but it was a sound bereft of humor. “Anyone else. I swear. I couldna handle anyone else right now.”

She took the seat next to him by the fire. “What happened?”

His grimace was dark. “Are you sure you want to know?”

“How will I know,” she said on a chuckle, “until you tell me?”

“Excellent point.” He caught her gaze and said solemnly. “You willna like it.”

“There are many things I do not like that I still manage to live with.”

“Another excellent point. All right then, your aunt and I walked in on Elizabeth and Hamish and they were kissing.” He stared at her as though he expected a fit of the vapors. He seemed disappointed when she did not comply. “Did you know?”