“Remember when you had to spend the night in that wee cottage with Isobel? The next morn you were blushing the same way.”
“You’re daft.”
“Nay. Your face was as red as your hair.” Rebbie dragged another chair forward and sat down.
“Pay him no heed,” Dirk muttered.
“So… are you going to marry the lass?” Rebbie asked.
“Indeed,” Keegan said. “If her father will allow it.”
“Well.” Rebbie sat back and crossed his arms. “I like that. A decisive man.”
Dirk nodded. “’Twould be an ideal match, if only Keegan can gain her father’s permission.”
Rebbie hissed a breath between his teeth. “Ambrose Murray is a wee cantankerous.”
“You know him?” Keegan frowned. This was news to him.
“Not well. When I was a lad, he came to our home to buy a horse from my father. They argued for half the day about the price. Murray got a bit vexed at my father, although in a veiled way. I remember him saying ‘with all due respect, my laird,’ several times. My father was the Earl of Rebbinglen at the time. ’Twas before his father passed and he gained the marquess title. And Murray was newly chief and Baron of Gillenmor.”
Isobel burst into the room. “Keegan, I cannot believe what you did.” She smacked him lightly on the arm as she passed by, like a sister might. “Seona is mortified. Lady Patience is having a fit.”
He caught a glimpse of the smile she was trying to hide,realizing she was halfway teasing. Still, his face burned. “I am sorry. ’Twas not my intent.”
“It never is,” Rebbie muttered.
“I but wished to speak with her. She’d locked herself in her room for two days. I feared she was ill. I ken you said she wasn’t,” he told Isobel. “But I had to see for myself. I also wondered if she was angry with me, or if I had offended her in some way.”
“Considering all the ruckus, I hope you had time to steal at least one kiss,” Rebbie said.
Keegan narrowed his eyes at the devilish earl. Aye, ’twas all a grand jest to him.
“He did,” Dirk said.
Rebbie smiled, then quickly sobered. “How about this? I will go with you to take her home and I’ll put in a good word with her father. I’ll tell him what an exceptional husband you will make for the lass.”
“I like the sound of that,” Keegan said. Indeed, Rebbie enjoyed needling others, but he was a good man who wished to help when he could. “Do you think he will listen?”
Rebbie shrugged. “He is no doubt a stubborn man, but I outrank him. I don’t think he will tell me to go to the devil.”
Keegan relaxed a bit. “I thank you for your offer of help.”
Aye, perhaps the earl could convince her father to see reason.
“And I thank you as well,” Dirk said. “If you two would take the stallion to her father as a gift from me, I would appreciate it.” He glanced down at his swollen calf. “With this injury, I fear traveling that far would be a problem.”
“Aye, send me to soothe Beelzebub himself while you remain here in this floral and lace bower, coddled by this lovely lass.” Rebbie waved a hand toward Isobel.
Dirk grinned. “Not to worry, my friend. One day you will have a sweet wife to see to your wounds.”
“Och. Not a wife. Nay.”
“You will need a wee Rebbinglen heir, will you not?” Keegan asked.
“Aye.” Rebbie grimaced, then shook his head. “I pity the lady they saddle me with. I pity myself as well, for she may be as homely as George.”
Imagining Rebbie’s lanky servant dressed up as a woman, Keegan chuckled.
