A door slammed, and hard stomping to rid boots of snow echoed through the room.
Merry tore her attention away from the horrible conversation and stretched to look at the doorway. “Hush! He is coming.” She hurried to pick up her tea as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Serendipity assumed an admirable nonchalance, and so did Malcolm.
As Jasper and Duncan approached the table, Merry looked up and managed a smile. “Well? What is the verdict, gentlemen?”
The men exchanged glances as if uncertain whom she was addressing.
“I think we can make it, depending on the carriage,” Jasper said.
Duncan’s scowl darkened. “The snow is too deep. Ye canna even see where the road might be.”
Jasper jutted his chin higher, keeping his focus on Merry rather than the marquess. “Them Suffolks can find it. Both them and I know where the road lies. I’ll not fail ye again, Lady Merry.” He tipped a nod at Serendipity. “Shall I see what carriages might be available to let, my lady?”
“If all they have are yellow bounders,” Duncan said, “how do ye expect to drive the team, since ye have no saddles for postilions? Ye know as well as I that post-chaises have no driver’s seat.”
“Well,” Merry interjected before Jasper could respond to the marquess, “he cannot possibly answer that until he asks them, now can he? There is no need to worry about something that might not turn out to be. It’s foolish to borrow trouble.” She understood Duncan had not had an easy way of it, but she refused to join him in his darkness.
“See what they say,” Serendipity told Jasper, “and then we can sort out what to do.”
“Ye need to stay here until some of the snow melts.” Duncan flicked a hand at the nearest window. “’Tis already warmer than yesterday. It should be clear enough in a day or so.”
“A day or so?” Merry couldn’t imagine sleeping on that bench another night. “And when it melts, it will become a muddy mess. Better that we leave now so as to travel on the packed snow rather than sink axle deep into mud.”
“Know much about axles, do ye?” Duncan snatched up a chair, thunked it down beside her, and threw himself into it as if preparing to give her a stern lecture.
“Anyone with good sense knows that when the roads become a quagmire, they are more difficult than traveling on packed snow.” She pointed her teaspoon at him. “Admit it.”
The muscles in his squared jaw rippled, and his narrow-eyed glare hardened.
Merry couldn’t help but laugh. “Stop glowering at me, my lord. I do not find you the least bit frightening.”
With a frustrated growl, he jumped up from his chair and stormed off, shoving patrons out of the way.
Malcolm beamed at her. “Well done, Lady Merry. Ye’ve gotten under the beastie’s thick hide. He’ll not soon forget ye. I grant ye that.”
“I am sure you are wrong about that.” A heaviness settled in herheart as she freshened her tea. “When I told him that you and he would be quite welcome at both Broadmere Hall in the Lake District and Broadmere House in Mayfair, he made it quite clear that he rarely traveled south past Gretna Green.” She picked at a steaming bun, not even bothering to butter it. “We have been a nuisance to him, my sister and I. The quicker he is rid of us, the better.”
With a seriousness that didn’t suit him, Malcolm shook his head. “Ye have the wrong of it there, lass. I promise.”
Merry passed the warm, yeasty buns to Serendipity, along with the small plate of butter. She sat straighter, lifting her chin and assuming a smile she didn’t feel. “If your brother wishes to come visiting, the invitation stands, but know this—I shall not hold my breath and expect him to darken our doorstep anytime soon.” She twitched a shrug. “I am not a desperate debutante who begs gentlemen to come calling. If they come to visit, they come. If they don’t, they don’t.”
“Merry.” Serendipity angled a disapproving look her way. “We must not be ungrateful.”
“I am not ungrateful,” Merry said. “But I am also not some silly girl who swoons at the sight of a handsome man.”
“So, ye think him handsome?” Malcolm asked, his eyes twinkling with mischief.
“Do you not have somewhere else to be?” Merry shooed him away with a flick of her hand. “Go see to your brother.”
Malcolm laughed, took a bun out of the basket, and bit into it as he stood and took her advice.
“Perhaps Lord Kirkston is brusque because of his history,” Serendipity said as she drizzled honey onto her bread.
“I can understand and tolerate such behavior up to a point, but the man should be better able to handle himself now that the worst of our ordeal is over.” Merry bit into her bread and slowly chewed while watching the door for one of the males of their party to reappear. “And he even warmed a bit earlier, actually teasing me about snoring.But then he retreated into his darkness and became all aloof and growly again.” She ran her finger through the butter puddling on her plate, then licked it. “I cannot tiptoe around people. You know that about me, Seri.”
Serendipity shifted with a heavy sigh. “Perhaps that is why you get along better with children than adults.”
“Children are honest and open. Adults play too many silly games where the rules keep changing.”
