Page 77 of Hard-Hearted Highlander
“No!”
Lady Kent’s voice was so unexpected that everyone stared at her with surprise. She was glaring at her husband. “Youare the stupid clown, Raymond!” she said hotly. “You have used your daughter very ill, indeed. You’ve gone against herexpresswishes and have forced her into an untenable match.”
Rabbie sighed to the ceiling.
“I won’t stand for it a moment longer. Not one moment longer!” Lady Kent said loudly.
Lord Kent was so stunned that he was, for once, quite speechless.
Lord Mackenzie was not. He was leaning heavily on his cane, and yet he still seemed the most authoritative figure in the room. “Given the turn of events, there will be no wedding, aye? We’ll take our leave now, we will. Aulay, Cailean...go and bring the horses round.”
Cailean gestured for Lord Chatwick to follow, which he did, reluctantly. He could not tear his eyes away from Avaline, nearly bumping into a chair in his distraction.
“Margot,” Lord Mackenzie said softly.
“Yes,” Lady Mackenzie said. She walked to where Avaline had now collapsed onto her side on the settee. She seemed to debate whether or not to disturb her, then finally looked at Lady Kent. “You have my sympathies,” she said, then looked back at Catriona and Mrs. Mackenzie, nodding at the pair of them. They quit the room with her, their gazes politely averted from Avaline and Lady Kent.
Lord Kent was panting now, the exertion of his anger having exhausted him. He sank onto a settee across from Avaline, next to his brother, who had been the first to find a seat in all the commotion.
Rabbie walked to where Avaline was laying and squatted down beside her. “My apologies, lass, if you found this union wanting. I think it is better for us this way, aye?”
She nodded mutely.
Rabbie stood up. He looked at Bernadette for a moment. She tried to understand his expression, but it was useless. It had all been too shocking. He exited the room with his father.
Their guests gone and the wedding called off, the Kents were spent. Lady Kent sank down onto the settee beside her daughter. Lord Ramsey poured himself two whiskies, but remarkably, Lord Kent shook his head to the one he was offered. He seemed as downtrodden as Bernadette had ever seen him. He pushed himself off the settee and moved to the door with heavy steps. With some effort, he lifted his arm and pulled off his wig, letting it hang from his hand as he made his way out.
Avaline watched him a moment, then sat up. “Pappa—”
Lord Kent threw up his hand, still holding the wig. “I can’t bear to even look at you now. Do not complete my utter destruction byspeaking,” he said, and disappeared through the door.
Lady Kent whispered to her daughter, and the two of them stood, leaning against each other, and walked slowly from the room.
Only Lord Ramsey remained in addition to Bernadette, Renard and Charles. Lord Ramsey sipped his whisky, then looked up at Bernadette. “What has happened to our supper?”
She wished she knew how to tie a noose so that she could hang this buffoon from the rafters. What had happened to his supper, indeed? What had just happened to all their lives?
CHAPTER TWENTY
THEREWASANair of celebration and liberation in the Mackenzie household that night as they gathered to dine on ham and bread, all of them famished after the calamity at Killeaven. Their concerns over the MacGregor land notwithstanding, they were, all of them, relieved.
Aulay told them of the extraordinary meeting in the garden, how Avaline, unbeknownst to him, had believed there was something unstated between them, and believed it equally felt by him as well.
“It’s my fault, it is,” Rabbie said. “I left her too often in your company, Aulay. I couldna bear it otherwise.”
“Aye, ’tis your fault,” Aulay agreed, but then shook his head. “But I canna fault you, lad. She was bloody impossible, that one.”
“Be kind, Aulay,” Rabbie’s mother said. “She is young yet. I feel quite bad for her, really, for she’ll have a very uncertain future now. If word were ever to reach certain societies in England about the disaster that occurred at Killeaven tonight, she might never wed.”
“How would anyone in England ever know of it?” Catriona asked.
Rabbie’s father snorted. “I’d no’ put it past Ramsey. Or a servant.”
“They will hear of it,” Daisy said sagely. “Everyone knew she came to the Highlands to marry and it will not go unnoticed that she didn’t. People will sort out why.”
They all fell silent a moment.
“What of Killeaven now?” Cailean asked of no one in particular. “He has negotiated for the MacGregor land. What will he do now, then?”
