“Och, but she was in her own gentle way.”
“Then this is the story of how she met your grandfather?”
“In a manner of speaking, aye, so it is. However, she was not supposed to marry m’grandfather. Her sister Carmen was promised to him. It had all been arranged, ye see.”
“Oh. Oh? Arrangements.” Lady Bess clucked her tongue and shook her head, and he could see she did not approve of ‘marriages of convenience’.
He had the most absurd and sudden urge to throw caution to the wind, take her into his arms, and kiss her lush, full lips. Why shouldn’t he? It was only a kiss. She had a London Season, so surely she had been kissed?
He did, in fact, allow himself to stare at her mouth a moment too long and heard her intake of breadth with a great deal of pleasure. She was, of course, untried, and it was going to be a difficult task to keep his hands off her once he kissed her. D
id he want to suffer any more than he already was? No.
With an effort, he shook himself free of these thoughts and decided to re-start the story.
“Mary Margaret had two sisters—one, Carmen, a year older than she and as I just mentioned was promised to m’grandfather, and the other one five years younger than herself. Both sets of parents wanted the union, but Carmen didna, nor did he. There didn’t seem to be anything they could do about it. Such was life back in the day when one couldna go against their parent’s wishes.”
“So what did they do?” Bess urged him to proceed.
“Mary Margaret took charge. She hatched a plot to save Carmen from the marriage. Ye see, an additional complication was in the mix.”
“What? What …?”
He smiled at her anxious interest and lowered his voice conspiratorially. “Carmen was madly in love with the young minister of their parish. However, he was an honorable man and couldna be prevailed upon to accept an elopement, as that didna mesh with his rules and principles.”
“Dashed annoying,” said Bess, shaking her head.
He laughed and said, “Aye, lass. So it was Mary Margaret went to m’grandfather and asked if he would abduct the minister and Carmen and keep them overnight somewhere. To hush up the scandal, she reasoned, her parents and his would allow Carmen to marry the man she loved.”
“Brilliant! Zounds, but Mary Margaret was brilliant,” Bess said in approval.
He chuckled and continued, “Aye then, plans are just that—plans. Life will ever intrude on ’em. The minister havin’ no idea what was afoot, and no knowin’ he was bein’ taken to his ladylove, escaped his bondage.” The earl paused and then said with a wicked grin, “I’ve always wondered if indeed Carmen’s minister knew what was afoot and pretended otherwise to preserve his façade of dignity.” He chuckled over this and then shook his head. “At any rate, it all went awry when the mask m’grandfather was wearing came off in a struggle that ensued, and the minister faced him hard to ask what he was a-doing. It all fell apart then, ye see.” The earl shrugged and said, “M’grandmother told me he was made of stern and sturdy stuff, Carmen’s minister. He told m’grandfather that as much as he wanted and loved Carmen, he could not fall in with such a scandalous scheme.”
“Oh no, then what happened?”
“Aye, so the minister was no longer a hostage, ye see. M’grandfather hurried to the yacht he kept in m’grandmother’s small village and where her sister Carmen was awaitin’.” He put up a hand to stall her question. “Carmen saw him cooming alone, without her minister and took it into her head that he meant to shuck their plans and run off with her to sea. She thought he had decided to force her into marriage with him.”
“Oh no, how complicated. Then what?”
“He came on board, and she hid behind the door with a very large vase in her hands, and when he entered her room from the companionway, she hit him soundly on the back of the head. Down and out he went. Mary Margaret, who had heard that the minister had escaped, arrived at the yacht just at that moment. There she found her sister, quite hysterical. She threw water in Carmen’s face and sent her home, telling her she just had time enough to get home before anything was discovered. So it was that Mary Margaret took on the business of reviving m’grandfather while he lay there bleeding and unconscious. All at once, she realized they were at sea.” The earl grinned ruefully. “Ye see, the crew had orders to set sail promptly at five o’clock, and that was what they did.”
“All she had to do was tell them to return,” Bess offered.
“Not so easily done. Their orders were to set sail for France. M’grandfather, ye see, was fading in and out while Mary Margaret nursed him. He didn’t coom to entirely until they were nearly at the French coastline, and his crew took orders only from him.”
“Oh dear …”
“Precisely. He escorted Mary Margaret to Paris, where we have a bevy of relatives, but by then the damage was done. Her reputation would be ruined if he didna marry her, so he still had a bride on his hands.”
“Oh my … how awful for them both.”
“Ah, but it wasn’t. By the time they docked in France, they were hopelessly in love with each other. Theirs was a solid and happy marriage.” He smiled over the memory.
Bess clapped her hands. “I adore this story—but what of Carmen and the minister?”
“Aye, Carmen did in fact marry her minister.”
“Wonderful. I love happy endings.”