Beguiled by Arnette Lamb Read Free Book Online Page B

to take Hannah, but Agnes stopped him. “Let her stay here and sleep with me. She’s frightened—being in a strange place.”
    He tried to ignore the alluring vision of Agnes MacKenzie and his sleeping daughter. “How do you feel?”
    â€œMuch better.” She caressed his daughter’s head. “Hannah put a good spell on me. Tis powerful magic, she assured me. Upon our arrival in Glasgow, I should be well enough to climb into the manger and see the mouser’s newest litter of kittens.”
    Edward entertained the urge to keep his distance. He was still pondering the thought as he sat down on the edge of the bed. “She’s a sound sleeper. I doubt our talking will wake her.”
    â€œShe’s a delightful lass.”
    The smell of exotic blossoms filled his senses, and he knew that Agnes MacKenzie had acquired both the garment and the unusual fragrance in China. “How do you truly feel?”
    â€œThere’s stiffness, but I’m making progress.”
    â€œChristopher tells me you collect knives.”
    â€œMy contribution to a MacKenzie tradition.”
    â€œBegun with?”
    â€œThe first one out of the cave. He collected clubs.”
    Her candor disarmed him. “Do you all hoard weapons?”
    â€œOh, nay,” she said, as innocent as a child. “Lottie doesn’t have to. She was born with a razor-sharp tongue.”
    Edward remembered the elegant and efficient countess of Tain. With the duke and duchess of Ross attending the wounded Agnes, Lady Lottie had taken charge of the MacKenzie brood. She had also taken Christopher and Hannah under her wing. Edward had spent an edifying few hours in her company. “If I’m remembered of it correctly, the countess assured me that you were beyond reformation and could not be trusted in polite society.”
    â€œThe word ‘polite’ left Lottie’s vocabulary long before we left the nursery.” Her expression turned pensive. “But there’s no one better in a crisis.”
    â€œTell me about the Lady Mary. Michael Elliot swears she’s the finest artist on the isle.”
    Agnes raised her eyes to the beamed ceiling. “Sarah’s new husband is correct, but poor Mary fell in love with a man who belittles her devotion to art.”
    â€œAnd her political views.”
    â€œAccording to the earl of Wiltshire”—Agnes stiffened her neck and lowered her voice—“a woman hasn’t the intelligence to comprehend the deep subject of politics, or the soul to paint with the skill of the great masters.”
    â€œLet us hope he has a change of mind soon, else her child will be branded illegitimate.”
    Absently, she combed her fingers through Hannah’s hair. “ ’Tis not so heavy a cross to bear.”
    Abashed, Edward said, “I’d forgotten.”
    â€œAs do most people worth counting. What other family secrets, besides Mary’s condition, did Lottie tell you?”
    â€œA doctor would recognize Mary’s ‘condition’ without a word from Lottie. She did, however, tell me all of your secrets.”
    â€œAll of them?” Her finely arched eyebrows rose. “From your tone, ’twould seem you think of me as notorious.”
    â€œWhat I think of you will be my secret. But I’ll tell you this, you have an interesting family, to say the least.”
    Fondness glimmered in her eyes. “Aye. Tell me how you came to know Sarah’s new husband.”
    â€œI met him in India about twelve years ago. I went there to learn more about the cotton industry. For centuries the Napiers have dealt in textiles—I now manage our Glasgow mill. Elliot convinced me to invest in the East India Company, and together with Cameron Cunningham, we’ve done very well in the trade.”
    â€œâ€Šâ€™Tis a small world. Cameron promised to marry my sister Virginia—when she grows up.”
    â€œThe