Before she could say anything else, he took the few steps toward the door. Tabitha was looking at him in amusement, while Harriet’s eyes blazed hatred. Angus bent toward Harriet and said softly, “How is your brother? Living well?”
In a second, Harriet’s face went from anger to fear, and she glanced at Edilean, as though terrified that she’d heard him.
Angus left the house, the door was slammed behind him, and he hurried down the stairs. There was a crowd of people outside, all of them having heard the shots.
“What’s going on in there?” a man asked.
“Gun cleaning,” Angus said as he made his way through them. He hitched a ride on a milk wagon and went back to the tavern where he’d once worked. He knew that Malcolm would want to know where he was staying, so it would be better to be somewhere known. Besides, Dolly kept her ears open and she’d know as much as anyone, and Angus wanted some information.
When Malcolm had told him that Harriet was paying her brother James to stay away from Edilean, Angus had been so concerned about having to confront Edilean that he’d not thought about it much. But now it was taking over his mind. He’d only mentioned the matter to Harriet as an afterthought. He hadn’t liked the way she’d been looking at Malcolm. What was the woman after by throwing herself at his uncle?
But when Angus had mentioned James, Harriet’s anger had changed to fear. So, he thought, Edilean didn’t know anything about the payments going to Harcourt. If Harriet was taking care of Edilean’s money as Tam had said she was, did that mean she was embezzling from Edilean?
If Edilean knew nothing about Harriet’s treachery, then how did Malcolm know? When it came to that, exactly what had they been doing in America for three whole months? And who had paid their passage across the ocean, and their room and board once they got here?
Angus knew that there was a great deal more to why Malcolm, Tam, and Shamus were in this country than just signing some papers—and Angus meant to find out what they weren’t telling him.
23
HARRIET WAS MOVING quickly around the dining room, putting out the best china, polishing the silver with her apron, checking the glasses for smudges.
Edilean was sitting at the end of the table, reading the newspaper, and finishing her tea. “Harriet, will you please stop fidgeting? I’ve seen where those men live, and I can assure you that they don’t know Wedgwood from Limoges. They’d be happy if you dumped all the food on a slab of bread.”
“There is such a thing as lineage, and even though the men have no money, their bloodline still tells.”
“Bloodline? Whatever are you talking about?”
“Tam is to be the laird of the McTern clan,” Harriet said. “Didn’t you know that? When Angus relinquishes the title, it will belong to young Tam.”
“And if anything happens to Tam, it goes to Malcolm,” Edilean said softly. “Are you thinking of being the laird’s wife?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Harriet said as she turned away, but not before Edilean saw the blush that rose in her cheeks.
“I hope a bloodline doesn’t mean as much to you as it does to your brother.”
“Why would you mention him?” Harriet said, turning back to look at Edilean. “Have you heard anything from him?”
“No,” Edilean said. “I merely mentioned him because your love of bloodline reminded me that he chose an earl’s daughter over me. Are you interested in Malcolm because of his ancestry?”
“Interested in him? I have no idea what you mean,” Harriet said haughtily.
“You—” Edilean began but stopped herself. Harriet was so mad about Malcolm that they caused giggles wherever they went. All the girls who worked for Edilean’s company saw it and tittered behind their hands. Harriet was what one thought of when an old maid was mentioned. She had a look about her of someone who had dried up inside. But since she’d met Malcolm three weeks before, she’d begun to blossom. She was like a plant that hadn’t been watered in forty years, but at the first drops of rain it was coming back to life.
Harriet had always been stern with the girls who worked for them, but they’d found that under her harsh-seeming ways she had a good heart. In public she might berate one of them for not keeping a good account of her expenses, but they knew that in private she often slipped them a pound or two when one was in desperate need.
And it was Miss Harriet who met the ships and bought the contracts of the young women who arrived in America. Some were frightened, some looking forward to adventure, but some were hardened criminals looking out for what they could get. Miss Harriet had a good eye as to which ones to employ and which to leave to their own fates. She took care of the women, arranging where they were to live and often overseeing their health. Sometimes the conditions on board the ships were so bad that they arrived barely alive. Harriet saw to it that they were given good food and a clean room. When they were well, they went to work on the farms.
Because of her kindness to them, they were happy for her to have found Malcolm. They loved to see her nearly skipping with happiness, and they smiled when they saw Malcolm pick a flower and hand it to her.
As for Edilean, she’d only returned last night. After that day when she’d thrown Angus out of her house, she and Malcolm had spent hours together, and he told her about her uncle dying and their plan of making Tam the laird. Edilean had readily agreed to return the property her uncle had stolen from them, but she felt sick at the idea of appearing before a judge and saying nice things about Angus. She’d have to say that she willingly ran off with him, that he’d treated her well, and that he’d never used any force on her. Malcolm said she’d probably be asked to embellish the story so it sounded as though Angus had done her a good deed, that he was the best of men, and deserved to be released from an unfair accusation.
It all made sense, but Edilean still hated the idea of spending any time with Angus. They’d have to rehearse their story before going to the judge to make sure they said the same things, so that meant hours together.
After Malcolm finished telling what they wanted of her, Edilean mumbled that she needed time to think about it all. But she couldn’t bear thinking about it. That evening, she tossed a few clothes into a case, called for the big green carriage with the crest on the door and Cuddy as her driver, and headed south to the colony of Connecticut. She’d heard of a farm for sale there that had acres in fruit, and she wanted to look at it. Originally, she’d decide
d that it was too far away from Boston to be of interest to her, but after seeing Angus, after trying to kill him, she wanted to get away.
Harriet, who so loved overseeing every aspect of Edilean’s life, hadn’t protested her leaving. Harriet had, in an instant, turned all her motherly affections to Malcolm. She hovered over him in the kitchen and had four girls running up and down the stairs as she had a room prepared for him.