The Heiress Bride (Sherbrooke Brides 3)

Colin said, “It would be simple if the castle were to be locked up tightly every night, but it isn’t. Anyone who’s remotely familiar with the castle could get in and go anywhere he pleased.”

“That,” Sinjun said, “is a great pity. I did fancy Serena, blast her eyes.”

They talked and debated and argued until finally the children interrupted them, their faces pale because they’d heard of Aunt Arleth’s death from the servants.

“Come here,” Colin said. He gathered both children to him and hugged them. “It will be all right. We’ll figure out what happened. I’m smart. Your uncles and aunts are smart. Your stepmother even occasionally comes to proper conclusions, once she’s been nudged onto the suitable path. Everything will be all right.”

He held them for a very long time. Then Dahling looked up at him and said, “Papa, let me go now. Sinjun needs me.”

Dahling fell asleep in Sinjun’s lap. Philip took up a stand at her side, her protector, she thought, and smiled at him with all the love she felt.

Aunt Arleth’s body was removed by her brother, Ian MacGregor, the following afternoon. If he was surprised or upset by the news that she’d been murdered in her own bedchamber, he hid it well. It became c

lear very quickly that he simply wanted to leave Vere Castle as soon as possible. He didn’t wish to involve himself. It was that simple. He had a wife and seven children, after all, he told them all in a pious manner that made Sinjun want to slap him. He had no time to spend here. He had to return home. He would bury Arleth, yes he would, but he would let Colin—as was only proper since she was dispatched in his home—solve the mystery of her death. She’d always been odd, she had. Always wanted what her sister had. Aye, a pity it was, but life was many times a pity.

He said to Sinjun as he prepared to leave, “I trust you won’t get yourself killed like poor Fiona did, although I suppose it’s not all that important now that Colin has married you and has your money in his pockets.”

They watched him ride beside an open wagon that held Aunt Arleth in a casket covered with a black blanket.

“He’s my uncle,” Colin said more to himself than to anyone else. “He’s my bloody uncle and I haven’t seen him since I was five years old. He’s married to his fourth wife. He has many more than seven children. It’s seven children from this, his fourth wife. One wife dies from too many births in too short a time, and he immediately weds another and does the same thing. He’s a paltry fellow.”

There was no disagreement to this pronouncement.

“You have something of the look of him, Colin,” Douglas said. “Odd that he is so very handsome and such a rotten man.”

Sinjun turned to burrow against Colin’s chest. “What are we going to do?”

“What truly disturbs me is that someone came into the castle and murdered Aunt Arleth. It couldn’t have been Serena. At least I pray it wasn’t.”

“But I tell you Serena couldn’t have managed it,” Douglas said. “I even looked at her upper arms last night. Skinny arms, no muscle at all. Sinjun could have managed it, but not Serena.”

Colin didn’t find that observation to his liking. He gave Douglas a look, but the earl of Northcliffe only shrugged.

“It’s true, Colin,” Sinjun said. “I’m very strong.”

“I know,” Colin said, kissed Sinjun’s forehead, and sighed.

Sinjun was sitting in a pile of straw, playing with some kittens whose mother, a stable cat called Tom, had delivered in the third stall, thankfully empty, some four weeks before. She heard Ostle speaking to Crocker. She heard Fanny snort in her stall two doors down, doubtless wanting some hay.

She was tired but also blessedly numb, although the fear was still waiting deep inside her to come out again. She’d left Colin speaking with Mr. Seton. Her brothers were with the crofters doing hard physical labor. “It calms my mental works,” Ryder said when Sophie asked him why he was doing it.

“Douglas wanted to sweat as well,” Alex had said. “It’s frustration. It’s been two days since Aunt Arleth’s death.”

Sinjun had left the two wives arguing even as they went about the castle checking every door for possible clues. She wanted some private peace of her own. The kittens soothed her. Even now, two small toms were climbing up her skirt to settle into her lap, purring while kneading her legs through her many petticoats.

She patted them absently. Ostle’s voice was far away now, growing dimmer. Had he said something to her? No, surely not. And Crocker was hard to hear now as well. Fanny snorted again, but Sinjun only dimly heard her. She felt very relaxed. Soon she slept.

When she awoke, not much time had passed at all. The kittens were asleep in her lap. The sun was very high in the sky, shining fully through the big window in the stable.

MacDuff was on his haunches beside her.

She shook her head, smiling up at him. “Hello, what a wonderful surprise. Let me get up and greet you properly, MacDuff.”

“Oh no, Sinjun, you needn’t move right now. Have some consideration for the kittens. Cute little buggers, aren’t they? No, just stay there, I’ll join you.”

“All right,” she said, and yawned. “So much has happened, so very much. I just wanted to get away from everyone for a little while. Have you seen Colin? Do you know about Aunt Arleth? Are you here to help us?”

“Oh yes,” he said. He leaned down very close to her. He gently lifted the sleeping kittens from her lap and placed them on an old blanket.