Niall stood up. “All right, time for us to be on our way then. Heather, got all your things? I suppose that’s not a tall order.”
Heather laughed, for she was wearing all her things. “I’m ready to go.”
“You’re keeping her?” Tavish asked, then quailed at Niall’s glower. “I mean, aye of course you’d keep her with you…why not….”
“We’ve discussed it, and she’ll hop off when she finds a town she likes the look of. Provided we can evade this radge following her.” He stretched out one arm in invitation. “Come, Heather. No time to waste.”
She put her own hand in his gigantic one, and allowed him to lead on.
* * * *
In the carriage, traveling at a frankly dangerous speed, Heather looked out the back window nervously every few minutes.
“This is never going to work,” she said at last. “Whenever I stop anywhere, Brom will scoop me up a moment later. And you can’t keep dragging me around with you like an extra traveling trunk. What am I going to do? Brom will take me back to Uncle Cyril, and I’m going to be married off before I know it.”
Niall said, “I’ve actually been thinking about that. The solution to your problem is simple.”
“It is?” Heather asked warily, looking over at him.
“You won’t have to marry that man you despise. Instead, you will marry me.”
Heather stared, wondering if he’d hit his head when she wasn’t looking. “Are you mad?”
“Are you game?” he countered, smiling at her enticingly.
“Did you just propose to me? We’ve only known each other for a day!”
He shrugged. “Sometimes when you’re outmaneuvered, you have to make a dramatic move to stay in the game.”
“Life isn’t a game.”
“Of course it is, and right now, you’re about to lose—unless you change the rules. So what do you say? Marry me, and watch your uncle’s face crumble? Or give in to his strategy, and regret it for the rest of your days?”
Heather slowly shook her head. “You’re joking. And it’s not kind of you.”
“It’s no joke, Heather. Unusual, I grant you. But you have a problem that I can solve. Why not let me?”
“Perhaps because I don’t trust you. Marriage to a woman with no assets to speak of…what would possess you to do such a thing? And even if this plot succeeded, and I was able to take control of any inheritance I do possess…we would both be shackled to a stranger for the rest of our lives.”
“You haven’t heard the whole plan.” He leaned forward. “We’re already heading north, and we’re close to the border. We can have a little marriage ceremony at Gretna Green. It’s right on the way to my home, in fact, and there you’ll be as safe as a queen in a castle. But we’ll remain married only until your birthday, and you will be able to pick and choose your own husband. When you’re safe, we’ll have the marriage annulled. Simple.”
“Is an annulment simple?” Heather frowned. “I have heard that it is a difficult and expensive sort of transaction.”
Niall shook his head, waving it off. “Shouldn’t be. Annulments only become expensive if one partner fights it. We won’t be doing that, since it is in our plans all along. I promise you, this will work.”
“You still haven’t told me why.Whywould you do this?”
Niall smiled slowly. “Let’s just say that marrying you, if only for a few weeks, would make a few other people scream in frustration. And that will make this little scheme completely worth it to me. And if I can also perform a genuine favor to a damsel in distress—that’s you, by the way—I can practically call it altruism.”
“I suppose,” Heather said doubtfully. “Are you sure this would work?”
“Come, Heather. It will be an adventure. We’ll take this game and turn it on its head. What do you say?” He held out a hand across the space between them, just as though they were conducting a business deal.
Hesitantly, she put out her own hand and shook his. “Very well.”
“Excellent. Let the game begin!”
Chapter 6
