“It concerned me the moment ye held a pistol in yer hand, brother,” she retorted, her emerald eyes blazing with defiance as her dark blonde locks whipped around her in the howling wind. “I willnae let ye become a killer.”
“Move out of the way, my lady,” the Duke said, his voice sharp. “You will get hurt if you do not mind your place.”
“Me family is me place!” she snapped, surprised at her tenacity.
“Ye say ye came to discuss, Yer Grace,” Callum said, his eyes narrowed on the Duke as he waved the gun in the air. “If that is so… then why did ye bring a weapon at all?”
“I have a son,” the Duke replied, his eyes briefly flicking to Isla with an expression she could not read, yet it burned deep in her belly. “I have a family. I will not stand here undefended. I seek a peaceful resolution, but I am not daft.”
“Please,” Isla begged as she turned to the Duke. “Lower yer weapon.”
“What are ye doin’?” Callum snarled at her. “This man must either marry Eilidh or die! Ye shouldnae protect him, Isla!”
“He has a family, Callum! And so do ye! Can ye nae see the risk in this foolishness, for all of us? All because some gossipmonger decided to target our sister and His Grace?”
“I can shoot him without harming ye,” Callum said, taking a step forward. “I am the best shot this side of Loch Ness. Now, get out of the way!”
“No,” Isla cried, and with a brave, determined tilt of her chin, she stepped closer to her brother with a finger pointed at him. “If ye are going to fire, it must be throughme.”
A long moment of silence stretched between them as no one dared to move.
Then, the Duke’s voice cut through the stillness, cool as ice.
“There will be no duel. There is another solution.”
Callum and Isla turned to him, their eyes wide.
“I will marryyou, Lady Isla,” he said, his gaze fixed on her.
Chapter Two
“Marry… marryme?” Isla’s voice was a shocked gasp, the words tumbling out of her rosy lips as they trembled. “What in the name of the selkies are ye talkin’ about?”
“Aye! What are ye talkin’ about, Ealdwick?” Callum yelled, his pistol still pointed at the Duke’s chest. “Eilidh is the one who is ruined, nae Isla!”
“It is crystal clear that you are not willing to end this duel with anything other than murder or matrimony, Lord Dalrigh. Since I have no intention of dying for a paltry rumor, I offer the only other solution I see fit. Take it or leave it.”
“Ye think marryin’ me sister, Isla, will solve the problem?” Callum scoffed. “Me other sister, Eilidh is the subject of the rumors. This will solve nothin’!”
“Ah, but it will,” the Duke said, a flicker of something unreadable in his azure eyes. “I shall claim that I was interested in yoursister, Lady Isla, all along. But since I had not been formally introduced to her in public, and she was not present at the cursed social gathering, I needed to observe her and her family before I made a formal approach.”
“I still daenae understand!” Callum yelled.
“I’ll say that I used the gathering to observe Lady Eilidh. To gauge the temperament of her family, Lord Dalrigh. We can then claim that the rumor was nothing more than a simple misunderstanding; a clumsy bit of gossip from a nuisance who saw me speaking with your sister and assumed the worst. Someone who wanted something more interesting to talk about.”
“This seems a bit farfetched,” Callum pressed.
“Thetonloves scandal and mystery, but they also love a tale of romance. This will satisfy them, I assure you. This is not my first dalliance with the gossipmongers, and likely will not be the last. This is the solution I see fit.”
“But something has escaped ye, Yer Grace.” Isla looked down, her cheeks burning with a fresh wave of humiliation. “No one will believe a Duke is interested in a scarred spinster.” The raw honesty of the words hurt as she said them, as if the scars were ripped anew. “They would ask why ye would do this. What ye stand to gain from such a… an unlikely union.”
“A scarred spinster?” the Duke repeated, the words rolling over his tongue with disdain. “I care little for theton’sjudgments,Lady Isla. As for what I gain,” he paused, his gaze meeting hers with unnerving intensity. “I have a son who needs a mother. A giddy, young debutante would do little to help him.”
“Ye will nae say such things about Eilidh!” Callum roared, and Isla shot him a warning look—his pistol still aimed at the Duke.
“Ye make me little fond of ye if ye speak about me sister thusly, Yer Grace,” she told him.
“I mean no disrespect to your sister, Lady Isla. I am only speaking in terms of life experience,” the Duke offered, “And a woman as fiercely protective as you? A woman who would put herself before the barrel of a pistol to save her brother, and her sister? It is a rare, but admirable quality. My son would benefit greatly from having you as his stepmother.”
