The Scottish Bride - Catherine Coulter [29]
He’d had to admit to her that no, he couldn’t begin to imagine. He had escaped without rudeness, surely a remarkable feat, given the lady’s perseverance.
“Miss Vallance—”
“My lord, since we are neighbors perhaps you should call me Donnatella.”
He said, “Very well, Donnatella. I am still very sorry about Ian. In the course of things he would be Lord Barthwick now, not I, and you would be his wife. It was a tragedy.”
“But now you are here, my lord.”
“Yes, now things have changed utterly, and I am here. To be honest, I had forgotten all about Kildrummy. I am a widower, ma’am. Perhaps you did not know that I am also a vicar. I am Reverend Sherbrooke of Glenclose-on-Rowan.”
She gaped at him. It was particularly charming since it make her look silly, rather dull-witted, and thus quite human. “You are a vicar?” He’d never heard such incredulity in his life. He smiled at her and said, “Yes, Miss Vallance, I am a vicar.”
She was looking at him, studying his face, still uncertain, still questioning. “But how is such a thing possible? Goodness, sir, I have seen paintings of John Knox, and let me tell you that he looked like what he was supposed to look like. But you do not. You, a vicar? No, it isn’t possible. You are teasing me because you do not wish to engage at present in a harmless flirtation and thus you are trying to put me off.”
He cocked his head at her. “Why isn’t it possible, Miss Vallance?”
She looked at him as if he’d lost his remaining wits. She shook her head at him. “Because you are very handsome. You are also rich.”
His Sherbrooke looks again. Well, there was nothing he could do about the way he looked or about the money that filled his coffers. Now that he thought about it, he himself had seen renderings of John Knox. The man’s face made him shiver a bit. A fanatic in Presbyterian’s clothing. He said, a smile in his voice, “You wish to see handsome gentlemen, you should meet my brothers.”
“Well,” she said slowly, looking even more closely at him now, trying perhaps to see if there was some sort of sign on his face that fit what a man of God should look like, at least in her view. “Thank heaven that you are not a priest, my lord,” she then said, and touched her fingertips to his sleeve. “You are a widower. Do accept my condolences. We will have a late luncheon at Vallance Manor. My father requested that you come.” She cocked her head to one side, the ostrich feather curling around her cheek, and said, “You may say grace to bless our food. It is rarely done. I cannot wait to see Papa’s face.”
Vallance Manor was an upstart, Donnatella told him as they reined in their mounts in front of a compact gray-granite house that looked more English than Scottish and wasn’t old enough to have enjoyed a single soldier pouring boiling oil down on an enemy. It was a neat property, surrounded by pine trees, a graveled drive in front of it, beech trees lined up along the sides. It was inland from the sea, a good half-mile, but Tysen could still smell the sea air, and he liked that.
Donnatella tossed her mare’s reins to a young boy who was missing his front tooth and was gazing at her with naked adoration.
She ignored him, waiting until Tysen dismounted and handed the boy Big Fellow’s reins as well.
He realized he would soon see Mary Rose. Odd that he didn’t think of her as Miss Fordyce. No, she had been Mary Rose from the moment he’d heard her name. He couldn’t very well call her Miss Fordyce now. He would feel like a complete fool. He said, “I trust Mary Rose’s ankle is healed today?”
Donnatella shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“I will soon see for myself,” Tysen said.
“You are very kind to be concerned about her.”
“She took a very bad fall. I was worried she had done herself a lasting injury.”
“She didn’t. She is fine.”
He wanted to tell her that since she’d admitted that she didn’t even know, how could she say with such certainty that Mary Rose was fine? Because no one had called for a physician?
He was met and briefly entertained by both Sir Lyon and Lady Margaret in the drawing room, a very modern room