Through the Fire by Elizabeth Johns

Author:Elizabeth Johns [Johns, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Elizabeth Johns

Margaux listened to her mother giving instructions to the cook and the housekeeper, interspersed with frequent exclamations. “La! I know not how we will manage anything approaching a decent ball!” she declared with Gallic gestures of her hands. “There is no time to send to London for anything!”

“We doona need anythin’ so fancy,” Mrs. Ennis dared to protest once, but she was given a quelling look by Lady Ashbury.

“My daughter will also be presented as Lady Craig. I want it to be parfait.”

After that, Mrs. Ennis sniffed in occasional disparagement and muttered darkly that anything Glasgow had was as fine as could be found in London.

Margaux suppressed a smile and did not bother to protest. In the past two-and-twenty years, she had learned it was useless.

She decided her time would be better served elsewhere, and that she would like to tour the castle and become more acquainted with her new home. She would prefer to explore rather than sit here.

She stood up; at once, her mother ceased the list of instructions and directed her attention.

Margaux held up her hand and whispered. “Do not trouble yourself, Maman. I am only going to the parlour.” She shook away the offer of assistance. It was time to prove she was made of sturdier stuff—to her mother and herself. She knew she was not ready for stairs, but surely she could manage a room or two. She had never been beyond the first floor, except for her new bedroom—a chamber which adjoined her new husband’s, she had noticed for the first time last night. He had brought her back there and walked through it to her own after kissing her on the cheek and whispering to her in Gaelic again. Sometime soon, she would gather the courage to ask him what he was saying. She was not quite ready to know.

She walked upright as normally as she could for her mother’s benefit and sought the nearest chair as soon as she was beyond the door. Her wheezing sounded loud enough for the entire castle to hear. Once her breathing had settled, she looked at the room about her and felt a pang of guilt. She had entered a private study. Even her kind and loving father did not allow his children into his private study without permission. She could not help but be curious about her new husband, and there was something about a man and his sanctuary that drew her to it.

She had never met anyone quite like Gavin. No man had ever been so kind or gentle with her. Men of society were, of course, never allowed the intimate liberties—unless they were doctors. She blushed when she thought of how Gavin had respected her privacy in the bathing room, although he had likely wanted to laugh. Perhaps his experience as a doctor explained much of it. But Sir Henry, the doctor her family occasionally employed in London, was not particularly kind or gentle. He was direct and to the point.

She looked about her from a comfortably worn leather chair.

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