Harlequin Historical May 2021--Box Set 1 of 2 Read online

  ‘I am sorry if this hurts you, but we must see how bad it is.’

  She closed her ears to his muttered curses as she eased the coat from his shoulder. The left shirtsleeve was already blood-red. She drew a small silver dagger from her pocket and hacked off the sleeve.

  Despite his obvious pain, Grant laughed. ‘Do you always travel so well prepared?’

  ‘Of course,’ she told him, using the small amount of unbloodied linen to wipe around the wound. ‘We are fortunate, the bullet has missed the bone and come out the other side of your arm. I will need your neckcloth to bind it up.’

  ‘Since we used yours to bandage the wounded soldier, I suppose I cannot complain.’

  ‘It is all my fault,’ she muttered, close to tears. ‘If I had not stopped to tend him, we would have been safe.’

  ‘Stop that foolishness, do you hear me?’ he barked at her. ‘What’s done is done.’

  He was breathing hard, his eyes closed, and she glanced with concern at his grey face.

  ‘We must find a surgeon for you. Perhaps we should return to Beauly.’

  ‘No. We go on. There is a house I know. About three miles from here. Take me there.’

  Maddie did not argue. This was Grant’s country. She trusted he knew what he was doing and could only hope the family would be in residence. She bandaged the wound tightly, then helped him put his good arm back into its sleeve and fastened the coat about him, holding the injured limb in place across his chest. She knew he must be in pain, but, apart from a sharp intake of breath as she helped him to mount up, he said nothing.

  Their progress was necessarily slow, but Grant directed her to move off the main track and they struck out into a narrow glen where the hills rose steeply from either side of a small loch. She glanced behind occasionally, but there was no sign they were being followed.

  The route was little more than a sheep track beside the water, but after a mile or so the landscape softened and at the end of the loch there were fertile plains and a pale, turreted house standing tall against a backdrop of thick woodland.

  ‘Calder House,’ Grant told her. ‘Sir Edmund McBinnie lives there. He knows me well.’

  His words faded as he collapsed over the pony’s neck. With a cry Maddie dismounted and ran to his side. With some difficulty she managed to lead her own pony while supporting Grant in the saddle for the final few hundred yards to the house.

  She had no energy to skirt around to the service buildings at the back and took the most direct route to the main entrance. As she approached, the solid double doors opened and two liveried servants ran out. She called out to them.

  ‘Quickly, we have been attacked and need help.’

  Grant was already sliding from the saddle and they ran forward to catch him.

  ‘Is your master at home?’ asked Maddie.

  She was about to explain that Grant was known to the family when two ladies ran out of the house.

  ‘Good heavens, Mama, it is Mr Rathmore!’

  ‘Yes, yes, so it is.’ The older lady, a grey-haired matron, summed up the situation in a glance and immediately took charge. ‘Robbins, take Mr Rathmore to the blue room, if you will, and ask Hanson and Mrs Forbes to attend him.’ She turned to Maddie and gave her a kindly smile. ‘You must come in too, young sir. Anne, take these animals to the stables, if you please. And send someone to find your father. He went off to the home farm this morning.’

  Maddie realised she was still clinging to the ponies’ reins and it took no small effort to make her fingers loosen their grip. She then discovered it was even more of a struggle to speak, but she forced the words out.

  ‘Do I have the honour of addressing Lady McBinnie?’

  ‘I am she.’ The matron took her arm. ‘Now, no more talking until we have you both safely indoors.’

  * * *

  Grant was close to collapse and more servants appeared to help carry him up the stairs. Maddie followed with her hostess, but when they reached the half-landing, Lady McBinnie detained her. ‘We can safely leave Mr Rathmore to the ministrations of my husband’s valet and my housekeeper. I assure you, he could not be in better hands. But you and I must talk. Come along, my dear.’

  Maddie watched Grant being carried away before her hostess’s grip on her arm tightened and she was escorted to what was clearly a lady’s boudoir. When Maddie hung back in the doorway, Lady McBinnie regarded her with a frank look.

  ‘I was only for a moment deceived by your male apparel, madam. Come in.’

  They entered the boudoir and Madeleine heard the door click shut behind them.

  ‘Now,’ said Lady McBinnie, waving her to a seat, ‘you will explain to me, if you please, who you are and how you come to be here, dressed in that outlandish manner. Oh, I am not shocked,’ she continued, when Maddie blushed. ‘With so much upheaval in the country nothing surprises me these days, but I should like to know the truth, then I can decide how best to act.’

  She sat down, an enquiring lift to her brows, and Maddie perched on the edge of a chair, twisting her hands together as she considered just how to begin.

  ‘My name is Madeleine d’Evremont. I am trying to get to France, to join my father, and Mr Rathmore agreed to help me. He—we thought it would be safer if I travelled as a boy. We pretended to be brothers.’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘Grant—Mr Rathmore—has behaved with the utmost propriety,’ she said quickly. ‘He was only trying to protect me. In fact, that is how he came to be wounded. We were waylaid by soldiers soon after leaving Inverness. One of them sh-shot him in the arm.’

  Her head dropped and she rubbed her fingers across her cheek to wipe away a rogue tear.

  Lady McBinnie pursed her lips. ‘I have known the family for years and what you tell me is no more than I would expect from young Grant Rathmore. He was always a generous boy. And most loyal to his friends. Did the soldiers believe you were a boy? You are certain they have no suspicion of your true sex?’

  ‘I am sure of it, but they will be searching for us.’

  ‘Then it is clear you must change your disguise and become a lady again. The first thing we must do is to find you more suitable clothing. Ah, Anne, just in time.’

  The door had opened and the young lady Maddie had seen earlier came into the room. She was a little younger than Madeleine, very pretty with a dainty figure and an abundance of soft, curling light brown hair. When she spoke, her voice was as cheerful as her countenance.

  ‘The ponies are stabled, Mama, and young Seb has ridden out to find Papa. How is Grant, have you sent for a surgeon?’

  ‘I do not believe his injury is serious enough to endanger his life, but Hanson and Mrs Forbes are looking after him, they will decide if he needs more expert help. I had him taken to the old nursery wing.’

  ‘Oh, good. He can be safely nursed there without anyone knowing he is even in the house!’

  ‘Quite.’ Lady McBinnie rose. ‘Now, my dear, will you please take Miss d’Evremont to your room? I depend upon you to find something in your wardrobe that she might wear.’

  The young lady turned to stare at Maddie, her grey eyes wide as saucers, but she recovered quickly.

  ‘It would be my pleasure, Mama. If you will come with me, Miss d’Evremont, we are much of a size and I am sure I can find a suitable dress for you.’ She smiled. ‘If Papa is to be believed, I have more gowns than I can ever wear!’

  She carried Maddie off, chattering merrily, and almost before they had reached the bedchamber they were on first-name terms and getting on famously.

  Anne insisted upon hearing Maddie’s story in its entirety.

  ‘You need keep nothing back,’ she said as she began pulling gowns from the linen press. ‘If you are travelling with Grant Rathmore, then we already count you as a friend.’

  ‘You know him well?’

  �
�Oh, I have known him all my life,’ Anne replied. ‘Our families have been friends for ever, you see. In fact...’ She trailed off, colouring a little, before repeating the request that her new friend should tell her everything.

  When Madeleine demurred, Anne insisted, and she capitulated. In truth, it was a relief to be able to talk to someone about what had happened to her since she and her maid had ridden out of Inverness. Maddie thought it best to leave out some details, such as the names of those who had helped them. She also omitted any mention of sharing a room with Grant. And that kiss. In fact, she was at pains to emphasise that she was paying Grant to escort her to the coast.

  Nevertheless, the story was long and involved. Anne listened, and asked any number of questions, but all the time she was looking out suitable clothes for Madeleine and helping her to dress, so that by the time the tale was told, Maddie was fully attired.

  ‘But will the servants not think it odd that I have changed?’ she asked, gazing at her reflection in the glass. ‘Will they not gossip?’

  ‘Oh, no, they have all been with us for years and their parents, too, in some cases,’ Anne told her. ‘They know the importance of discretion and can all be trusted to keep secrets. Heaven knows we all have them.’

  Maddie did not miss the downward lilt of Anne’s last word, the almost imperceptible sigh.

  ‘Even you?’ she asked gently. ‘Forgive me, I do not mean to pry, but...do you have a fondness for Grant Rathmore?’

  The sudden flush on her cheek and look of alarm in Anne’s grey eyes told their own story.

  ‘I beg your pardon,’ said Maddie hastily. ‘I should not have spoken; it is none of my business!’

  ‘I did not realise it was so apparent,’ muttered Anne, looking bereft. ‘I am generally so careful.’ She perched herself on the edge of the bed. ‘I do like Grant, very much, but he has never shown the slightest interest in me. He has always treated me like a sister. And that is just as well, really, because Mama and Papa have said how relieved they are that there has never been the least hint of anything stronger between us. Not that they will not do all in their power to help Grant, of course, but they had heard he went off to join the rebels, which puts his family and everyone connected with him at risk. So you see, it has all worked out for the best, a connection between us would not do at all.’

  ‘I am so very sorry,’ murmured Madeleine.

  ‘There is no need,’ Anne told her, pinning on a brave smile that did not quite reach her eyes. ‘I am quite resigned to the fact that my feelings will remain unrequited.’ She said anxiously, ‘You will not say anything to my parents, will you, or to Grant?’

  ‘No,’ Maddie assured her. ‘I shall not say a word to anyone.’

  ‘Thank you. It would only cause them to worry about me, you see, and there really is no need. Now...’ she jumped off the bed ‘...I think I have some red ribbon somewhere, that will look very well with that cerise gown!’

  * * *

  Thus it was that when the two young ladies went downstairs shortly before the dinner hour Madeleine was most suitably gowned in a crimson robe with white lace trim and worn over snow-white linen. They entered the drawing room to find Lady McBinnie already there, together with a thin gentleman in Highland dress whom she presented to Maddie as her husband, Sir Edmund.

  He took her hand and bowed over it.

  ‘Miss d’Evremont, I do hope you will forgive me for not being here to welcome you today.’

  His kindly manner was very reassuring and Madeleine replied with a smile.

  ‘Since you could not have known we were coming I could hardly expect it of you, sir. I am only grateful that you and Lady McBinnie are able to take us in.’ She turned to her hostess. ‘I must ask you, ma’am, how is Mr Rathmore? When may I see him?’

  It was Sir Edmund who answered her.

  ‘I looked in on him before coming downstairs, Miss d’Evremont. His wound has been dressed and there is no sign of infection, but he is very weak.’

  ‘And may I see him now?’ she persisted.

  ‘Alas, my dear, I think it best to wait a little. Mrs Forbes has given him a sleeping draught and he would not know you.’

  A servant came in to announce dinner and Lady McBinnie rose.

  ‘You shall see him before the night is out, you have my word, but for now come along to the dining room. It would be a pity for Cook’s efforts to be ruined by delay.’

  Maddie swallowed her disappointment. She did not wish to appear ungrateful and she was indeed feeling hungry, so she allowed herself to be escorted to the dining room where she ate well and drank sparingly. Her hosts said and did nothing to arouse any suspicion. They were kindly, generous people and she felt herself beginning to relax in their company, although she could never forget that Grant was somewhere in the house, his arm ripped open by a bullet, and all because of her.

  * * *

  Once the meal was over and they had all returned to the drawing room, she felt sufficiently at home to voice her concerns that her presence was putting the family in danger.

  ‘My dear, there is danger in merely being alive in these dark times,’ was Sir Edmund’s blunt reply.

  ‘But I am a Frenchwoman,’ she said, trying to make him understand. ‘Our countries are at war.’

  ‘You have been travelling in disguise,’ argued Lady McBinnie. ‘We must hope no one will connect our female guest with any skirmishes that have occurred recently.’

  ‘It is more concerning that young Rathmore fought with the rebels,’ put in her husband. ‘However, we will take the risk and gladly.’

  ‘You see,’ said Anne, smiling at Madeleine, ‘I told you they will do all they can to help.’

  ‘Indeed, we will!’ Her mother gave a heartfelt sigh. ‘I saw Grant’s poor mama shortly after his departure last summer. She told me he had gone quite without warning.’

  Sir Edmund looked very grave. ‘I have never seen Ardvarrick so shocked. We know so many families who were destroyed by the Fifteen Uprising and Ardvarrick has always done his best to keep his people out of the way of such things. He had no notion his heir would run counter to his advice and fight with the Jacobites. They will be fortunate to escape retribution now.’

  ‘His heir?’ Madeleine repeated, her heart sinking.

  ‘Their only child,’ explained Lady McBinnie.

  Maddie felt matters were becoming even worse. If Grant had not changed his plans to help her, he might have been in France by now. He would have been able to inform his parents that he was safe, at least.

  ‘They must be sick with worry,’ Lady McBinnie continued. ‘I am sure they would dearly like to see Grant again, just to assure themselves that he is well.’

  ‘We heard from some of our people who saw him on the road last year,’ put in Anne, looking up. ‘On his way to join the Prince at Glenfinnan. He was with Jamie Cowie. They told us there were plenty of men from Contullach in the party, but no one other than Grant from Ardvarrick.’

  ‘He mentioned a friend called Jamie,’ said Madeleine. ‘I believe he fell at Culloden.’

  ‘As did so many good men,’ remarked Sir Edmund. ‘But that won’t be the end of it. The British will exact the severest penalties from the families of all those involved in the uprising and from anyone seen to be supporting them.’

  ‘All the more reason then that we should not be here,’ Maddie persisted.

  Lady McBinnie reached over to pat her hand. ‘Patience, my dear. You must stay here now until Grant Rathmore is fully recovered.’

  ‘But the soldiers might come here, searching. Even if they do not know me, they will certainly be suspicious of Grant.’

  ‘I am sure they might be, if they found him.’

  ‘This is all my fault,’ exclaimed Maddie, jumping up. ‘He would be safe in France by now, if it was not for me. As it is, he is severely wounded and in ev
en more danger. I will never forgive myself if anything happens to him!’

  ‘Hush now, nothing is going to happen, to either of you,’ replied Lady McBinnie in soothing accents. ‘You are both perfectly safe here.’

  ‘Forgive me, ma’am, but how can you say that? There are soldiers patrolling throughout the Highlands. They are savage, merciless!’ She shivered. ‘I beg your pardon, but it cannot be right to put you in such danger.’

  Sir Edmund gently but firmly escorted her back to her chair.

  ‘Nothing is going to happen to anyone, Miss d’Evremont. You could not be in a safer house.’ He chuckled. ‘Did my wife not tell you? We have two English officers billeted with us.’

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Madeleine stared at him.

  ‘English officers, here?’ She looked about her, as if expecting them to step out from the shadows.

  ‘They are here as our guests,’ explained Sir Edmund. ‘But it was an invitation we could not avoid extending to them. Colonel Sowton and Major Rutter arrived here two weeks ago. The rank and file are billeted in the village about two miles yonder, but it is a poor place with few good dwellings, so I was obliged to offer them hospitality. They were also grateful when I said Hanson would attend them. He is a very superior gentleman’s valet and that makes them feel they are enjoying a stay in the country with friends rather than on military manoeuvres.’

  ‘We made it clear that we did not have room for any more of their people, of course,’ added his lady. ‘Thus, we have avoided having their servants wandering around the house, spying on us.’

  Madeleine stared at her in horror. ‘And you took us in, knowing the danger?’

  ‘What would you have me do? There is not another house for miles I would trust to look after you. If you had carried on to the village, you would have ridden straight into the soldiers. No, I had no choice and when I saw Grant Rathmore, a boy I have known all his life, it was all the more imperative to keep him safe.’

  Anne spoke up. ‘You really do not need to worry, Madeleine. As I have already told you, there is not a servant in this house who would betray any secrets. And by having the officers here, under our eye, Papa can ensure that others are safe, too.’