The meal was served, and the talk around the table resumed, as the family members were in general too spirited to remain silent for long.
Robert asked Heather if she rode, and she replied that she did. “I learned at school. Mrs. Bloomfield—that’s the headmistress—felt very strongly that girls needed plenty of exercise, and riding is excellent for that.”
“School?” MacNair said suddenly. “What’s the point of sending a girl to school? Is that what the English do now? Soft! We should launch an invasion next week. We’ll sweep the whole island under our rule, if the English are spending good time and money educating girls.”
She stifled a laugh, imagining him attempting to besiege Wildwood Hall. Mrs. Bloomfield would likely have him tarred and feathered by sundown.
Maeve also chuckled. “I went to school, Father.”
“To learn your letters so you could run the house. A girl needs only to read a ledger and figure the household expenses. All else is a waste.”
“I shall inform Mrs. Bloomfield of your opinion in my next letter to her, sir,” Heather replied. “She certainly will give it all the consideration it is due.”
Niall covered a snort of laughter behind a cough.
MacNair slammed his fork down. “Food is cold.”
Behind the table, a maid scurried forward, intending to take the dish from him.
“Leave it! It is not cold,” Heather said, before the maid could take the plate. “I can see steam rising from the bowl.”
“Don’t tell me what’s true in my own home, girl.”
“True is true, no matter what. That food is fine, it’s your attitude that needs warming.”
“You insult me.”
“You invite it.” Heather gave him a tight smile. Spar with a Wildwood girl? He’d learn to regret it.
“This is intolerable!” He got up and stormed out.
“My goodness, does your father drink vinegar before breakfast?” Heather burst out the moment his hunched form disappeared through the door.
There was a moment of silence, then the whole table rippled with laughter.
Ian said, “I always thought he started with whisky, but vinegar would explain it.”
As everyone turned to their meal and began to talk normally again, Niall leaned over to her. “No one’severspoken to my father that way.”
“That’s because everyone else wants something from him,” she murmured back. “I don’t care. In a few weeks, I’ll never see him again.”
“I don’t want anything from him,” said Niall.
“Of course you do. He’s your father. You want his approval.”
He snorted. “I assure you I don’t. There’s no love lost between us. And anyway, he’s always seen me as a failure.”
“You seem successful to me.”
Chapter 10
Successful?Was he?
Niall leaned in toward Heather, interested in her assessment of his relationship with his father, which she couldn’t know anything about. She also didn’t know the MacNair, though she’d certainly managed to needle him in the most painful way at the dinner table. Niall couldn’t get over how her lovely brown eyes sparkled when the old man got up and left the table.Round One goes to the English contender, he thought.
“Why do you say—” he began to ask.
He was interrupted by the banging of forks against the pewter cups.
