A Bewitching Bride by Thornton Elizabeth

Author:Thornton, Elizabeth [Thornton, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, General, Historical, Fiction
ISBN: 9780425237809
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2010-11-02T07:00:00+00:00

“This is the man I’m going to marry,” said Kate.

They were in a small private parlor with Kate’s family on one side of the room and Gavin on the other. Kate’s eyes were on Gavin, but his gaze was riveted on Magda. Kate had seen that look on men’s faces before, but she’d never felt this hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach. He was bowled over by Magda’s beauty. Wasn’t everyone?

Magda took after their father and the rest of their Cameron kin. She was tall and willowy with an abundance of delicate blond hair and cat’s eyes the color of emeralds. Not one freckle marred her perfect skin. Her generous mouth was turned up in a smile, assessing, inviting, and reveling in the admiration she no doubt saw reflected in Gavin’s eyes.

“Well, sit down, sit down!” said Kate’s father, and everyone found a chair. “Have you had breakfast, Mr. Hepburn?”

“Ah, no sir.”

Kate’s mother interjected, “Iain, that can wait until Kate gives us an explanation of her bizarre behavior.”

Gavin crossed one ankle over the other and relaxed against the back of the chair. He wanted to see how this family worked. Kate had piqued his interest. She’d called them larger-than-life characters who enjoyed drama. She’d said that she was an audience of one. Well, she was center stage now. He wondered how she would handle it.

“Well,” said Kate carefully, “it was like this—”

Magda cut her off. “Why do we have to listen to this? We know what happened. She slipped away from her maid and spent the night with Mr. Hepburn in his cottage. They were caught in flagrante delicto.”

“Flagrante what?” asked Hamish.

Magda threw him a quelling glare. “They were caught in the act.” Her cat’s eyes flashed to Kate. “Don’t try to deny it. It’s common knowledge all over Deeside. You’re a scarlet woman, Kate.”

Gavin was sorely tempted to intervene, but he crushed the impulse. He wanted to hear what Kate had to say. Magda, he reflected, was a sad disappointment. At first sight, her beauty was staggering, but he saw it now as a cultivated gloss that concealed a mean-spirited mind. What puzzled him was Magda’s spleen. He smelled jealousy. Magda jealous of Kate?

His gaze shifted to Kate, and everything inside him softened. Her borrowed brown dress was crumpled and mired along the hem. The jacket had lost a button. Her hair was a mass of tangles.

“Katie,” said Mrs. Cameron gently, “no one who knows your character would dream of calling you a scarlet woman. Now tell us what happened.”

Kate’s chin lifted in a gesture that Gavin knew only too well. He uncrossed his ankles.

“It’s just as Magda said. I spent the night in Gavin’s cottage. Make what you will of it.”

Gavin silenced her with a scorching look. “It was all very innocent,” he interjected, cutting across the cousins’ hoots of derision and Magda’s gasp, and he went on to give them the story they had concocted for the police.

“A likely story,” was Hamish’s provoking comment. “We found them in bed together in Rankin’s clinic!”

“Hush, Hamish!” commanded Mr.

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