Read Kilgannon for Free Online Page A

and at last faced Will, her hands clasped at her waist, her manner brisk.
    "Mary and I are going to walk in the garden," she said.
    Will laughed. "I believe I have been dismissed," he said and, bowing, left the room. Louisa gestured to me to follow her.
    But in the garden she was silent. I walked with her through the roses, then sat with her on a bench. Still she said nothing, and I grew worried. When at last she did speak, it was in a bemused manner. "I hardly know what to say to you, Mary."
    "I am certain that you are angry with me, Louisa...."
    "No, dear, I am not angry." She looked at me, her beautiful eyes serious and her tone quiet. "I am afraid for you. When I sat you together, I thought Alex MacGannon would be an interesting diversion for you for the evening, a change from the men of London. I thought you would find him good company for a few hours while Robert was gone. I did not expect to see you gazing deeply into his eyes after a few moments of acquaintance. I have underestimated his charms, it would appear." She frowned as she looked across the gardens. "And yours. I should know better."
    I flushed at her description of our behavior. I did not remember gazing deeply into his eyes. Or perhaps I did, I thought, as a sudden vision of Alex's face appeared in my mind, his eyes brilliantly blue. I sighed. "He is fascinating."
    "So it would appear." She glanced at me. "'But he's Scottish."
    "Louisa, you married a Scotsman and were very happy."
    Her gaze grew distant. "I was very happy," she said, nodding. "But, my dear, Scotland is not England, and Alex is not your uncle Duncan. I was not joking when I told Alex that Scotland was too dangerous and too far away." She sighed. "I have known Alex since he was a boy, and he does not appear to have changed a bit. He was as straightforward at ten as now, but he told me only last week that he was not planning to remarry yet and I believed him."
    "Perhaps he's not, Louisa. All we did was talk. He's not proposing, nor am I accepting."
    She sighed again. "When I received his note today, I realized that he is considering courting you. I hardly know what to do."
    "There is nothing to do."
    "You mean there is nothing to be done."
    "Louisa, you are worrying too much. I've only met him once."
    "Why isn't Robert here, the fool? I should not have listened to the Duchess. I'm afraid I'll lose you to Scotland."
    I shook my head. "I intend to marry no one at the moment. And besides, if I married Robert I might live in Scotland."
    "No, dear, if you married Robert you would live in London or at his estate, and you'd visit Scotland once a year as I did, and no matter what happened in that strange country you would be safe in England. If you marry Alex you will live in the back of beyond, and I might never see you again. It is well-known he is devoted to his sons. He comes with a ready-made family and many responsibilities. And apparently—whether he knows it or not—he is seeking a wife." Her shoulders slumped. "I have been very foolish." She drummed her fingers on her lips and straightened. "I shall tell him he may not see you. Then he will go home and marry some Scotswoman with rough ways who will suit him infinitely better, and you and Robert may continue your eternal courtship. That will solve the problem."
    My first reaction was anger, then I paused. The fact that I was reacting so strongly meant she was right to worry. Perhaps my interest in Alex was a sudden infatuation that would fade upon further acquaintance. Perhaps I had simply been dazzled by a handsome newcomer in foreign dress. But never to see him again? I could not bear it. I would not. "Louisa—" I began.
    She put up her hand. "I knew you would object. Very well. We'll tell him he may come. But you will not be left alone, and I will speak to him. Mary, you do not know what his life is like at Kilgannon. Being an earl in Scotland is hardly the same as here."
    "How can you say that? Duncan was a Scot, and you were