Questions for a Highlander by Angeline Fortin

Author:Angeline Fortin
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: CreateSpace Publishing
Published: 2014-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

They arrived back at the mews of the Glenrothes townhouse and dismounted near the waiting grooms. Evelyn led the way inside and offered a smile to Hobbes. “Can you see this prepared and have it brought to my sitting room, please?” she handed him the burlap sack of coffee beans.

“Of course, my lady.”

Arm in arm, Kitty and Evelyn climbed the stairs with their heads together, up to Evelyn’s private room where they relaxed against the sofa as they waited for the coffee to be brewed. “Can I ask you a question, Evie?”

“You know you can.”

Kitty toyed with the lace cover over the arm of the settee, frowning. “Have you ever regretted remarrying so quickly? After knowing William, I am surprised you succumbed again.”

“No,” Eve responded in a moderate tone. “I do not regret it. Francis is nothing like William.”

Eve’s first husband had been a horrible one. Shaftesbury had crushed her under his exacting demands regarding her appearance, behavior, deportment. “I knew very quickly Francis is nothing like William. He loves me just as I am. He doesn’t want to change me and he would never dream of harming me.”

“But to remarry so quickly,” Kitty speculated.

“Yes,” Evelyn said with twinkling eyes, “it wasn’t at all proper.”

Kitty laughed, thinking that Eve had to be joking. “Do you always do what is proper now? That is not at all how I remember you.”

“Always,” Evelyn nodded genuinely. “Mama always said reputation is everything and, frankly, William insisted on it. I am trying to branch out a bit, however, and Francis encourages it. He says my reputation was too good before I married him. Of course, I’ve told him an excellent reputation will bring his young sister Fiona out into society more successfully than a tarnished one.”

A knock at the door announced the arrival of Hobbes who had come personally with the coffee tray. Kitty watched as Eve poured out the coffee and added the cream and sugar Kitty preferred.

“Well, here’s to reputation,” Kitty toasted her with her cup.

“To sisterhood,” Evelyn countered, eying her sister gravely.

“Aye, to sisterhood.”

Kitty sipped, and eased back with a contented hum. Evelyn sipped more cautiously and found herself, too, relaxing a bit. “My goodness, I’d nearly forgotten.”

“It is the answer to life’s greatest questions,” Kitty confirmed. “Everything seems brighter.”

Eve decided to tentatively approach the question. “Would you like to answer my greatest question?”

“Like why I am here?” Kitty’s voice sounded guarded and tense, as if she were unsure of Evelyn’s reaction.

“Well, yes.”

This isn’t going to be easy, is it? Kitty thought. To reveal her most personal humiliation even to her sister? But perhaps if she trusted, Eve would help her in turn. She looked again at her companion and realized that their lives had been very much alike and somehow Eve would understand. “Freddie was always so charming when we were growing up. Do you remember?”

“Yes, I remember,” Evelyn told her, recalling him from her memory. “He idolized you, Kat. I thought that someday I would marry a man who adored me as openly as that.

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