“Are you feeling well, Mari?” Maddie asked. “You look a bit flushed.”
If she only knew. “It is just quite warm in here.”
“I was just thinking I might need my shawl,” Maddie answered. “Are you sure you are not ill?”
“I…I am fine.” Mari laid a card down, wishing she could openly glare at Jamie, but that would just draw unwanted attention. She settled for a quick kick to his ankle, although her soft slipper hardly made an impact against Jamie’s boot. A corner of his mouth lifted at the effort, and then he shifted his leg away.
She felt cold from the sudden removal of his body heat and shivered.
Maddie looked worried. “I really think you are coming down with something.”
“No.” Mari gave Jamie as deliberate a look as she dared. “I am sure I will be fine for the rest of the evening.”
“If ye need anything, lass, ye just have to ask,” Jamie said.
What did he mean by that? Was he implyingmore? Mari could not tell since he kept his face impassive. The man truly was insufferable. What she needed was to put some space between herself and him, but that would hardly be proper before they had played all thirteen tricks. What if he started up again?
To her relief—or at least she thought it was relief, for the pulsing between her legs had subsided—Jamie behaved himself for the rest of the evening.
As the four of them went to get punch later, Nevin and Yancy approached.
“Are you quite recovered, Miss Barclay?” Yancy asked.
“Very much so. I was just a bit shaken,” Mari replied as Nicholas returned.
“Nae thanks to either of ye,” Jamie nearly growled.
Both men had the grace to look chastised. “We should not have crowded your mount so closely,” Nevin said.
“Ye would be wise to remember that the next time ye approach a lady mounted side-saddle.”
“You were on a horse?” Nicholas interrupted. “Whatever were you doing riding?”
“My sister is an excellent horsewoman,” Mari answered. “Mr. MacLeod has been trying to teach me those skills.”
“N’est nécessaire pas,” Nicholas exclaimed with a narrow-eyed look at Jamie. “A lady should ride in a carriage.”
Jamie frowned and stood taller. “A woman should ken how—”
“Actually,” Mari said quickly to avoid what seemed to becoming a confrontation, “I am learning rather to enjoy riding.”
“Good lass,” Jamie said smugly.
Mari refrained from glaring at him.Good lass? Like she was some kind of house pet? The next thing he’d be patting her on the head. “Jillian always wanted me to learn.”
“’Tis a wise lady,” Jamie said. “My brother chose well.”
A muscle twitched in Nicholas’s jaw, and he didn’t look pleased. Mari wondered why, but before she could ponder the problem further, the Duke of Argyll approached.
“So sorry to interrupt, but might I have a word with you, MacLeod? Your brother passed by Inveraray on his way to Cantford, and I should like a little more information on the horses we discussed. That is, if you could spare a few moments from such lovely ladies?”
For a moment, Mari thought Jamie might actually refuse. Surely he must be aware that George Campbell was a powerful man. The duke might be Scottish, but Argyll, being so close to the Borders, had often sided with British kings in the past. Besides, the duke’s wife was the daughter of Countess Frances Jersey who, in turn, was one of the prince regent’s mistresses. Mari had little interest in politics, but juicy gossip of the royals was another matter. That the former Earl of Jersey’s wife was also the mother-in-law of the current Lady Jersey, who was quite conservative, made the whole thing even more intriguing.
“I do not think we are in danger of being abducted from Lady Castlereagh’s ballroom should you accompany His Grace,” Mari said lightly to Jamie.
“You have my assurance she will not be out of my sight,” Nicholas said.
Jamie fixed Nicholas with a look that made Yancy and Nevin take steps backward before he turned to Mari. “Ye will remain in this room, lass, and nae stray to the veranda. Aye?”
