Tender Rebel
Page 26

James was the first to notice her entrance and rose immediately to make the introductions. "Good morning, dear girl. As you can see, the elders have arrived to look you over. My brothers Jason and Edward— the blushing bride."
Jason was scowling already, but at James' choice of words. Both men were big, blond, and green-eyed, with Edward the stockier of the two. Jason appeared an older version of James, serious, even to having that aura of ruthlessness about him. Edward was the exact opposite, as she was to learn, good-humored, easygoing, certainly jolly, but staid where business was concerned.
Both men rose, Edward to give Roslynn a hearty hug; Jason, more reserved, bringing her hand to his lips. Jeremy, who didn't need another introduction, simply winked at her. Thank goodness he and James hadn't been home last night to overhear that embarrassing scene in the hall.
"You can't know what a pleasure this is, my dear," Jason was saying, giving her a warm smile as he led her to the sofa to sit next to him. "I had despaired of Tony ever marrying."
"Didn't think the lad had it in him to settle down," Edward added jovially. "Delighted to be proved wrong, though. Simply delighted."
Roslynn didn't know what to say to that, under the circumstances, because Anthony was anything but ready to settle down. But they wanted to believe he was, obviously, so she wouldn't set the record straight on that score. However, she couldn't let them think this was some sort of love match either. It certainly wasn't that by any means.
She began to speak hesitantly. "There were reasons why we married that you should be aware of—"
"Already know, my dear," Edward interrupted. "Reggie's filled us in about your cousin. Doesn't matter, you know. If Tony wasn't ready, he wouldn't have taken the plunge."
"He did it to help me," Roslynn said, only to get three doubting-Thomas smiles, making her insist, "Well, he did."
"Rubbish," Jason replied. "Tony's not the sort to play hero, saving damsels and all that."
"Just the opposite." Edward chuckled.
James added his opinion. "One has only to look at you, dear girl, to know what motivated the lad. Can't say as I blame him in the least."
Jason intercepted the wolfish grin bestowed on Roslynn that had her cheeks blooming. "None of that, now." He scowled at James.
"Oh, give over, Jason. She became safe from me the moment she married."
"Since when did that ever stop you?" Jason demanded brusquely.
"True." James shrugged. "But I draw the line at seducing sisters-in-laws."
Roslynn had no way of knowing this was only bantering. But then she had no way of knowing that these brothers were happiest when they were arguing, even in jest.
"My lords, please," she intervened. "I'm sure James meant no offense."
"There, you see, old man," James said smugly to his brother. "She knew not to take me seriously. What's a look, anyway?"
"Usually an extension of one's true feelings," Jason retorted, still scowling.
"Ah, but never mine. I find it much more amusing not to give myself away so obviously—as you do, brother."
Edward laughed. "He's got you there, Jason. You do look rather fierce at the moment."
"Yes," James agreed, rubbing it in. "You look fierce enough to make the newest member of the family thinkyou'reserious."
Jason's brow smoothed out as he glanced at Roslynn. "I'm sorry, my dear. What must you think of—"
"That you're a tyrant, and she wouldn't be far off the mark," James couldn't resist saying, even if it did bring Jason's narrowed gaze back to him.
"Not at all," Roslynn intervened again. "I'm an only child myself, so it's… interesting, seeing how a large family interacts together. But tell me, who in the family is the referee?"
The question brought hearty laughter, more than she had hoped for. It transformed James, making him even more handsome, if that were possible. It softened the lines on Jason's face too, showing her he was still a devilishly good-looking man at forty-six and not nearly as intimidating as he had seemed. Edward, it just made more lovable. Gad, these Malorys were dangerous to a girl's equilibrium. And, heaven help her, she had married one.
"I told you she was a gem," James said to his brothers. "Has Tony met his match or hasn't he?"
"It would seem so," Edward agreed, wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes. "But I thought you said she was Scottish. I detect no brogue."
A quiet voice from the doorway answered before James could. "It comes with a temper, in moments least expected."
James couldn't let that one pass. "You know from experience, no doubt?"
"No doubt at all," Anthony replied, looking directly at his wife.
Roslynn's fingers clenched into fists, her reaction to seeing him there, oh, so casually leaning a shoulder against the doorframe, arms crossed, one knee bent to cross his feet at his ankles. How dared he? So he wanted to play with words, did he?
She gave Anthony a syrupy sweet smile as she took up the challenge. "Dinna fash yourself, mon. I only hold grudges when they're truly deserved."
James twisted the knife. "Well, then, you've nothing to worry about, Tony, have you?"
"Whendoesyour ship sail, brother?" was Anthony's retort, gaining a hoot of laughter from James.
The two older brothers and Jeremy came forward then, offering congratulations and good-natured ribbings. Roslynn watched this happy scene, fuming. So he was going to pretend nothing was wrong, was he? Well, she could too, she supposed, as long as his family was here, and as long as he kept his distance from her. But he didn't. He joined her on the sofa, taking Jason's place, and put his arm around her shoulder in a too-husbandly fashion.
"Pleasant night, sweetheart?"
"Go to the devil," she hissed under her breath, but she was smiling as she said it.
Anthony chuckled, managing to keep from wincing when the effort nearly split his head open. He had a royal hangover, thanks to his little wife's stubbornness last night. He would have preferred to simply remain in bed, but couldn't after Willis informed him the elders had arrived. Bloody inconvenient. He couldn't very well have it out with Roslynn with an audience present.
What he should have done was finish it last night. But, fool that he was, he had thought a night's sleep would make her more receptive to reason, and so he had gotten smashed to keep him from breaking her door down. He should have broken the door down. She was nursing her grudge anyway, so it couldn't have made her any angrier. Bloody hell. He'd like to shoot the man who ever said women were malleable creatures.
For the moment, Anthony chose to ignore his wife, but perversely, he kept his arm around her. "So, Eddie, where's the rest of your brood?"
"They'll be along as soon as Charlotte can round them all up. By the by, she wants to give you and Roslynn a party, since we missed the wedding.
Nothing too big, mind you. Just family and friends."
"Why not?" Anthony agreed. "Might as well spread some of our happiness around." He smiled to himself as he heard Roslynn choke.
Chapter Twenty-seven
"I came by yesterday, you know, but you had so many guests—"
"So you just left?" Roslynn stopped buttering her muffin to stare pointedly at Frances. "I wish you hadn't."
"I didn't want to intrude."
"Fran, it was just his family, come by to meet me and wish him well. You would have been welcome, believe me, especially by me. Can you imagine how alone I felt, meeting the whole Malory clan?"
Frances said nothing for a moment. She took a sip of tea, fooled with the napkin on her lap, played with the pastry on her plate that she hadn't touched. Roslynn watched her, holding her breath. She knew what was coming, what hadn't been said yet. She was dreading it, especially now, when she was so regretting her hasty marriage to Anthony. And this was the first she had seen Frances since that marriage. When she had stopped by unexpectedly this morning, just as Roslynn was sitting down to breakfast, she knew she would be eating a dose of censure along with the cook's tempting array of food.
She tried delaying the subject. "I hope you weren't too worried the other night." Hell's teeth, was it only four days ago that she had woken up in Geordie's clutches?
"Too worried?" Frances laughed bitterly. "You were taken from my own house. I was responsible!"
"That you weren't. Geordie was just too tricky for us. But I hope you understand why I had to leave before you got back."
"Yes, that I understand. You couldn't stay with me after he had discovered your whereabouts. But that note you sent me two days ago.ThatI'll never understand. How could you do it, Ros? Anthony Malory, of all men?''
Well, there it was, the question she had dreaded, the same one she had been asking herself. The answers just didn't hold up, at least not for her, but she owed them to Frances.
"The night Nettie and I left, I stopped by here to see Anthony."
"You didn't!"
Roslynn flinched. "I know I shouldn't have, but I did. You see, he had offered to help me when we were at Silverley. Regina's husband didn't know my gentlemen that well after all, but Anthony did. He was supposed to clarify certain rumors about them—well, anyway, after that run-in with Geordie, I had run out of time. I came here for a name, nothing else, just a name of the one man out of the five who was most suitable for me to propose to."
"All right. That's reasonable, I suppose, even if highly improper," Frances conceded. "You were frightened, upset. You couldn't have been thinking very clearly that night. So how could it have gone
wrong? How did you end up with Sir Anthony instead?"
"He lied to me," Roslynn said simply, her eyes fixed on the uneaten muffin still in her hand. "He convinced me that all five of my gentlemen were so unsuitable, I couldn't possibly marry one of them. Oh, you should have heard some of the horrid stories he invented, the regret he managed in the telling. I never once suspected that he might be lying."
"Then how do you know—"
Roslynn laughed shortly. "He admitted it later, after we were married. Arrogantly confessed the whole thing."
"The cad!"
"Yes, he is that." Roslynn sighed. "But that's not the point. That night I was already desperate when I came here, and then to be told that I was more or less back to the starting point, well, I truly didn't know what to do."
"So you asked him to marry you." Frances drew her own conclusion. "Well, at least I understand now—or think I do. I suppose you felt you had no other choice."
"That's not exactly how it happened," Roslynn admitted, though she decided then and there not to mention her seduction. Frances didn't need to knoweverything. "Even then I didn't consider Anthony as a solution to my problem. Hell's teeth, I was ready to go home to Scotland and marry a crofter. It was Anthony who suggested I marry him instead."
Frances' mouth dropped open. "Hedid?" She collected herself quickly from her surprise. "Well, I naturally thought you would have… I mean, you did say before that you wouldn't be afraid to make the proposal, that it would probably be necessary since you had so little time for courting. And here you had run out of time, so I naturally assumed… He really did?"
"Yes, and I was just as surprised. In fact, I thought he was joking."
"But he wasn't?"
"No, not at all. I refused, of course."
Frances' mouth dropped open again. "You did?"
"Yes, and went on to Silverley." Frances didn't need to know this had happened the next morning. "But as you can see, I changed my mind. He was offering me a solution, and I decided to treat it as a business arrangement. I still haven't figured out why he did it, but there you have it, the whole story." Less the parts Roslynn couldn't bring herself to mention.
Frances sat back, herself again. "Well, I just hope you don't come to regret it. For your sake, I'll pray for a miracle, that Sir Anthony might somehow turn out to be another Nicholas Eden."
"Good God, bite your tongue, madam," Anthony said as he casually sauntered into the room. "I can barely tolerate the fellow."
Poor Frances turned beet red. Roslynn glared furiously at her husband. "Taken to eavesdropping, my
lord?"
"Not at all." He smiled at her, belying the denial. "So the reinforcements have arrived, eh?"
He had Roslynn blushing now as he looked pointedly at Frances with that question. She was remembering that all day yesterday, every time he had tried to talk to her, she had moved off to speak with a member of his family, all of whom had stayed for dinner and much later, giving her excuses to avoid him the whole day. Now they still weren't alone, only this time the visitor was firmly in her camp.
His use of the word "reinforcements" was apt, though Frances didn't know what he was referring to.
"You're on your way out?" Roslynn asked hopefully.
"Actually, I'm off to continue the hunt for your dear cousin."
"Oh? And another detour?" She jabbed for blood. "Then I'll see you—when I see you, I suppose."
Anthony braced his hands on the table across from her, leaning forward, his eyes dark with meaning as they locked with hers. "You willseeme this evening, my dear. You may depend upon it." And then he straightened, his smile tight. "Good day, ladies. You may continue raking me over the coals now.''