“It will be good to have us all at the townhouse,” Malcolm said, “and she needs to meet Lady Merry. When do ye plan on asking her to be yer wife?”
“It is too soon.”
“In whose opinion?”
“Everyone’s opinion.” Well, everyone’s opinion but his. Even Merry had requested they go a bit slower when he suggested he would carry her off to Gretna Green and marry her. “Besides, she hardly knows me, and she has already made a request I dinna know if I can do.”
Malcolm eyed him as though he’d sprouted a horn between his eyes. “What request?”
“She wants me to smile more often.”
“Ye never smile.”
“I rarely know of anything to smile about.” Duncan allowed himself a heavy sigh.
“Well, ye do now. Ye’ve yer own bit of English sunshine thawing the icy cockles of yer heart. Dinna be a coward about it. Be thankful and smile.”
Duncan glared at his brother, willing him to shut his gob.
“Well?” Malcolm threw up a hand. “Try it. Smile.”
Duncan bared his teeth.
“Ye look as if ye’re straining to have a shite.”
“A fine help ye are.”
“Try again, and dinna bare yer teeth. Ye’re not a rabid dog, growling at being cornered.”
Doing his best to lift the corners of his mouth until his cheeks ached, Duncan aimed hissmileat his brother. “Better?”
“’Tis better than the toothy one, but not by much. Think of something that makes ye happy—as if I dinna know what that might be.”
Duncan relaxed his face, took a deep breath, and blew it out while visualizing Merry. A peacefulness washed across him, along with an aching need to see her again. A moment out of her company was an eternity too long.
“That is much closer,” Malcolm said. “Ye dinna look as though ye could bite through iron. In fact, ’tis the happiest I can ever remember seeing ye. Maybe that is yer smile, and we just dinna recognize it because we’ve never seen it.”
As long as Merry thought it was a smile, that was all that mattered. Returning to the subject of their mother accompanying them, Duncan shifted in the saddle. The very idea of packing the entire household made his arse twitch. “I dinna wish to carry everything we own to London, ye ken. We must restrain her.”
Malcolm eyed him as if his mind had left him. “Ye may tell her that when ye speak with her.”
“Coward.”
“’Tis not cowardly to know an unwinnable battle when I see one.”
“None of the servants will stand against her either.” Even though Mother was a demanding sort, she was fair and good to her people, and they all loved her for it. Duncan envisioned them packing up the entirety of Galkirk as though they were never to return. “Even if Ispeak with her about it, she’ll have them slip things in, thinking I’ll never notice.”
“If the weather improves, we can tell her we mustn’t load the carriages too heavily because of all the mud.”
“I will speak with her,” Duncan said, knowing the cause was lost. He cast a pointed look at his brother. “And ye best back me on this rather than siding with her, ye ken?”
Malcolm grinned. “Of course.”
“Liar.”
“Ye know she’ll insist on taking her cats.”
“She can take the feckin’ cats. They keep her company.” Then Duncan reconsidered. They would be in London. Would she not be attending teas and parties and those sorts of things? “Will she truly wish to bring the cats? All of them? Will she not be busy with whatever women do in London?”
