Once Upon a Highland Summer by Lecia Cornwall

Author:Lecia Cornwall [Cornwall, Lecia]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2013-11-04T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

“I want Caroline Forrester dismissed.”

Devorguilla looked at her stepson in surprise. “Has she done something wrong?”

“She’s the Earl of Somerson’s half sister, a lady, not a servant.”

Devorguilla studied her nails. Now what did he have against her choice of governess for her daughters? She hadn’t known Caroline was a lady when she arrived to claim the post. Not that it mattered—in fact, it was even better this way, even if Alec did not approve. The household and the girls were her responsibility, surely. She was not about to allow him to interfere. Besides, Lady Caroline’s connections to the Earl of Somerson would be just the thing to launch her daughters into English society. She just had to keep Caroline here until the next London Season.

Of course, Alec would be dead by then. The thought made her smile.

“All the better for the girls to keep her, don’t you think? The more high connections they make, the better their chances of success on the marriage mart. Lady Caroline came here of her own free will, and she has not tendered her notice. I will invite her to stay as a guest, if that’s more appropriate, and ask her to help me prepare the girls for the Season out of kindness. Will that do? Besides, what if Lord Somerson took exception to our dismissing his sister without cause?”

“I doubt he even knows she’s here. She doesn’t belong at Glenlorne. She should be in London, making her own connections on the marriage mart.”

“Megan will make her come-out next spring. Lady Caroline is helping her learn what she needs to know. Would you have her stop now? Megan will need to know how to speak proper English, how to dance and flirt and behave if she’s to have any chance of success. Caroline has agreed to teach them some French as well, in fact—an added skill.” She got to her feet.

“Sophie can help them,” he said.

“Sophie doesn’t speak French, and she cannot play the piano like Caroline can.”

She read the frustration in Alec’s eyes and wondered at it. Why should he care whether Caroline Forrester stayed or went? It was, she decided, an attempt to usurp the small amount of power she had, and she wouldn’t stand for it.

In the few short weeks he’d been at Glenlorne, he’d lit a spark in the people. She’d never seen such hope, such joy. She’d woken this morning to the sound of pipes somewhere in the hills. Pipes! It was as if he were William Wallace come again. Clansmen she hadn’t seen for years had come to pay their respects, to bend their knees to him and pledge their loyalty to Alec MacNabb. Brodie would never inspire such awe, such hope. Brodie was an ordinary man. She understood ordinary men, the kind driven by lust and greed. She had no idea what drove Alec. He was like his grandfather, honorable. She recalled the old man’s bluster over honor and the pride of the MacNabbs. While Alec would try to save the world, Brodie wouldn’t quibble about governesses or land sales or sheep.

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